By Catherine Tadina

AP teachers and past students alike stress how challenging AP classes are, with an emphasis on the workload and a college-level curriculum. Lowering the prerequisites to admit more students into AP classes is counter-effective.

Contrary to the belief that admitting more students in AP classes provides equal opportunity for students and motivates them to excel, it might actually be detrimental to their overall success in high school, as they plunge into the courseload unprepared and often end up struggling, and in extreme examples, failing.

Once students realize they do not have to work as hard to meet the prerequisites, the advanced classes become less legitimate and are taken less seriously. Keeping high prerequisites might actually encourage students to challenge themselves in order to meet the classes’ admission requirements. It is unfair to students of the past years who had to work hard in order to meet the previous requirements, only to find that they have been lowered to accommodate the needs of other students.

Unprepared students also have an effect on the day-to-day teaching of an advanced class. Students who take AP classes are expected to have a strong grasp of the basic subject matter. However, what often happens is teachers often end up giving remedial lessons, having to cover basic topics such as “how to write a thesis statement” (APWH), “common spelling mistakes” (English 3-Honors) and “solving basic algebraic equations” (Calculus)—topics that students should have already mastered. The class time spent reviewing for these unprepared students could have been spent on getting students ready for the AP exam.

Source: The WASC Self-study Report, available at the ECHS School Loop page.

Are all students at El Camino prepared to take on college-level courses? According to the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) Self-Study Report last April 2009, less than half of the students in El Camino who took the 2008 AP exams passed, with 78 out of 177 getting a three or higher, which is 44% of the total number of test takers in El Camino. Although the number of students who took the 2009 AP exams rose to 265, only 118 students passed, which is 44.5% of all test takers.

“The number of students who were prepared for all aspects of post-secondary study was less than the anecdotal perception,” the WASC report states. “The Advanced Placement scores of three or higher indicate that our students are achieving below the national average in most courses.” This means that the amount of students prepared for college-level coursework turned out to be less than expected, and that our school performs below-average compared to other AP students across the country.

Source: The WASC Self-study Report, available at the ECHS School Loop page.

The WASC Self-Study Report also indicates that “the percentage of students scoring three or higher on AP exams has fluctuated since 2004.” The greatest decline has been in AP World History, with 57% passing in 2008 to 40% of passers the following year, a 17% decline. In most of the AP classes, about 80% of students enrolled got a “B” or higher, but when it came to the 2009 AP exams, only about 40% in each subject passed. Colleges like to see students challenge themselves by taking AP classes, but high class grades coupled with low AP test scores diminishes a school’s academic standing in the eyes of college admission officers, as it may indicate grade inflation owing to lax academic standards or a lack of rigorous curriculum.

One of the important questions that WASC raises in their report is, “What can be done in order to raise the AP scores across all content areas in order to reflect parity with the national average?” One solution is that placement testing should be implemented to determine a student’s readiness for advanced courses. Or perhaps our school calls for a more rigorous curriculum. Another solution is that intermediary classes such as honors classes (e.g. Modern World History Honors) should be implemented to fill in the gap between CP level classes and AP classes and give students an adequate preparation for taking AP classes in subsequent years. If students take honors courses first, they might feel more prepared and less intimidated to take an AP course in the future.

As promised, here’s the next tutorial, with one change: this baby’s so big we’ve split it into 2 parts. Part one now, part two later this week (hopefully).

On with the show! (Or tutorial, in this case.) Tute! Tute! (Yes, I know it’s toot, toot; but this is my abbreviation for tutorial. Cut me some creative license, will ya’?)

I was asked to make a cake for a local cake auction. They wanted a sax, natch- that’s what the band geek plays, after all. The guidelines were: sheet cake size, flavor doesn’t matter, and stay within the budget. I knew they knew what size a sheet cake really is, so I knew it had to be a mondo-big cake.

 How to make one, though? I didn’t want a sheet cake with a picture of a sax on it. I used to chair this auction so I know this cake has to be spectacular. The point of the auction is to raise as much money as possible in a short amount of time and to try to get your donation noticed. It’s a friendly competition amongst the town folk and the students. Whose cake sold for the highest amount? What cake was the coolest one there? Knowing all this, I put on my detective hat and did some research. I put the chicklet on the detail work because when it comes to music and instruments, she’s just anal enough to make it “right.” No pressure, the band geek would know if anything is missing or out of place or whatever. We can do a replica in cake, right? Of course we can!

 My research turned up this wonderful cake here: http://www.cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1229817

Debster's Awesome Sax

Look how shiny it is! I’m digging that ligature, too! Check out how the poster carried through the theme into the covering for the board. Most excellent job, doncha’ think? Man, I hope I can do this cake justice.

I saved that picture and imported it into Microsoft Publisher. From there, I made a poster that was three pages across and three pages down- for a total of 9 pages. Publisher has a nifty ruler on the screen, so I measured my cake pans and enlarged the photo to the size I needed. Once that was done, it was time to print that bad boy and see if it worked.

Yup! The size is correct, so get out the tape and let’s attach the pieces together.

Now, time to cut it out. Hmm, I think I need darker lines. If you need that, too, take a marker and draw the outline before you start cutting. See? Better now, huh? Once you have the template cut out, check once more to ensure your cakes will be large enough ‘cause it would really stink to make the cakes and have to re-bake them or re-size the template. Hmm, let’s see. It doesn’t fit straight up and down. What happens if I move it like this? Yeppers, that’ll work! It fits if I lay the template at an angle. A little tougher to manipulate once it’s cut, but this will work.

Now, it’s baking time. Wow factor is great, but it has to taste good, too. I don’t want nasty rumors spread like, “Sure, she can decorate but have you tasted them?” I’m going to go wild here and make 2 flavors: White Almond Sour Cream (AKA WASC) and Chocolate Decadence. Get your pans sprayed and floured, get your ingredients out, and don’t forget the bake even strips and flower nails (from Wilton). What? You’ve never used them before? *Sigh* (just kidding)

Okay, a short tute within a tute for the uninitiated. Bake even strips help cakes bake evenly-just like the name says. Although my personal experience has been that they will dry out a smaller cake, they are almost a must for the big daddys. You’ll get less of a hump on your cake, too- which means less leveling. I’m all for that! The flower nails will draw heat to the center of the cake which will help the center bake faster and almost at the same pace as the edges of the cake. You prepare the nails like you do your pan- spray and flour them. Some people don’t do this step, but better safe than cursing, I always say. Place the nail pointed end up in your prepared pan. They should be evenly spaced near the center. Simple enough. Before you do that, I suggest you do the strips. Otherwise, the nails will flop over and you’ll have to do it again anyway.

Strips

 These eel looking things in my sink are the strips soaking. You have to wet them to get them to work properly. You’re going to pin these around the perimeter of your pan using these pins:

Pins

If your pins are new or you are better than me, they are all probably still straight. Hey, they work bent, too!

Once the strips are wet, pick them up and run your hand down the length of them while squeezing a little to remove the excess water. You want them wet- not dripping wet. I suggest you pin them around the pan before you put the batter in there. That way you won’t worry about spilling the batter as you’re pricking your fingers trying to get those blessed pins stuck into the strips.

Okay, are the strips on and the nails in place? Cool, now onto the batter! How much will you need? A lot! I used 2 cake extender WASC recipes per flavor. Especially since we’ll be carving this cake, you want it high enough to keep it from breaking on you. Here’s my ginormous bowl I used for the batter.

It was filled twice- once per flavor. Most of us don’t happen to have the industrial mixer handy (where would you store it even if you could afford it?). I have a “thing” about consistency so I made each mix separately in my mixer and then combined them in my big bowl. That’s per flavor. I made 2 batches of WASC, stirred them together in the bowl, and poured it into one pan. Then I repeated the process for the Chocolate Decadence and poured it into the other pan. Color varies from batch to batch- just like yarn, frosting, and paint. It may not be much variation, but for me it’s enough that I don’t want anyone to notice so I combine the batches for even color. When you’re pouring the batter into the pan, pour around the flower nails. If the nails flop over, don’t worry. Set them back up and go on from there. Some people don’t even put the nails in until after the batter is in the pan, so it’s honky dorey if you need to do that. Ok, you got all that? Let’s get these puppies into the oven!

Okay, let’s speed this up a bit. We’ve got a long way to go and we’re just now getting the cakes into the oven. I started baking them at 325 degrees for 40 minutes. Then I added another 20 minutes and then another 10. Finally, they both tested done so out they come! Here they are fully baked in the pan. Can you see that they are high enough to be workable?

I used a large cooling rack and a large rimless baking sheet to flip them out of the pan. Whatever you do- make sure what you are using is big enough and strong enough to wrestle these suckers out of the pan without breaking them. No tears of frustration in the kitchen today! I can’t afford any more chocolate calories!

WASC Half-Sheet Baked

Chocolate Decadence Half-Sheet Baked

Level them, flip them, cool, them, get them wrapped and in the freezer. Yes, in the freezer. It’s my first time carving and I’ll be danged if I’m going to struggle with tons of crumbs and mistakes. Mamma don’t like patchwork.

While we’re waiting on the freezer to do its job, let’s sit down with a cuppa and chat about boards for a moment. These cakes don’t seem too heavy at the moment because they are separate. Once they are joined, they’re going to weigh more than that toddler that has glued itself to your hip. Cardboard ain’t gonna cut it here. Neither will foam board. Do you doubt me? Do you think I’m going overboard? Consider this: you have already spent a couple of hours doing this. You have many, many hours left to go. You want the end result to be spectacular, right? What you don’t want is to be on your knees scraping cake off the floor while that toddler dances around in the frosting “helping” you. Board this cake like you’re transporting the Pope on a dais! I used 2 foam boards plus a wood board that’s about ½” thick. All three layers were glued together with wood glue. The wood board was smaller than the foam board so I could slide it around and pick it up easier. Plus, I didn’t want the hassle of gluing a ribbon around anything to keep the wood from showing. So, man up, get thyself to the garage, steal a board, I mean borrow a board,  and get gluing!

Alrighty, the cakes are as hard as Aunt Annie’s biscuits, so it’s time to move on.

 Warning: scary stuff ahead! Not for the fearless, this carving thing!

 I know I just lectured you about the board, but we’re not going to use those just yet. Unless you have time to carve, crumb coat, and final coat today,  leave them on the cardboard for right now. If you have to put the cake in the fridge or the freezer again, I doubt it’s going to fit if it’s placed on what we’ll call “The Pope Board” -especially if your freezer door doesn’t open all the way since he-who-shall-remain-nameless placed it too close to the basement steps when you moved in 13 years ago and there it remained.

Place the cakes on the counter in the position you want them to be once the “two become one.”  Position your template on the cake where it needs to be so it all fits on the cakes.

Now, let’s talk about knives. Think more “shive” rather than “serial killer machete.” While you do want a sharp knife, you only need a blade the depth of the cake. The big watermelon/bread cutting knife isn’t going to give you the control you need to go around curves, keep from cutting the board along with the cake, and if your upper cabinets are hung too low like mine, you won’t be able to cut straight up and down without a lot of banging and jerking.

Since this is some scary stuff, we’re going to start easy. Make sure your template is placed correctly and isn’t going to shift on you and then score around the template. We’re not going to dig (or stab as the case may be) right in and start hacking off cake. Ease into the carving to gain confidence and get used to the consistency of the frozen cake. It’s tough to see in the picture, but I outlined the cake first by cutting lightly into it.

If you start carving right away, there’s no room for correction and back to patchwork you go. Ugh! Okay, round and round you go. Once it’s scored all the way around, lift part of the template and check that you can see the marks. Only lift part of it! If you have humongous sections that didn’t mark, and you take the whole thing off, you’ll have to be anal and line everything up again. No, you’re not a failure if you didn’t score deep enough. You’re just cautious and ensuring the wow-ness of the end product. So, lift and check, correct, lift and check, correct. All done? Good, now take off the entire template and check one last time.

Whew! Take a break, you deserve it! Besides, that toddler probably needs fed or removed from the toilet or something by now.

Are you back? Is the house still standing? Great! Shoo the kiddos outside ‘cause now you’re going to channel your inner Freddy Kreuger. The first cut is the scariest so take a moment to enjoy it and relax into the process.

I stuck the knife in all the way, and let it stand there for a moment so I could take a deep breath and tell myself, “that wasn’t so bad.” I’m a wuss that way.

Move one of the cakes out of the way, but keep the template handy. You want your work area to be clear enough to turn the cake without knocking stuff off the counter. When you cut, think about carving a pumpkin: in and out and straight up and down. If you cut at an angle, you will have to cut it twice to get rid of that angle so: straight up, straight down. If the cake is thawed enough, you can even slowly slide the knife while following the pattern. Don’t take the curves like Earnhardt. Slow down and remember it’s better to drive the knife too wide rather than too tight. Too wide and you can go back and trim; too short and well, you’re out of luck. ‘Tis far, far better to cut twice than to change the final shape of the cake. Feel free to slice out to the edge a couple of time to get the excess cake out of the way. However, if your spatial thinking skills are a tad below par, like mine, I wouldn’t risk it. It wouldn’t be the first time I cut where I should not and end up having to fix a mistake. Once all the lines are cut all the way through, scooch over the excess cake and check it for fine tuning. Place the template back onto to the cake and check that you’ve made all the right cuts.

One cake done? You alright? Kids still alive? Move on to the next one and cut it the same way.

Whew!!!! Glad that’s done and over, aren’t ya’? Get both cakes back on the counter and place them together as they will sit for the finished cake. Look good? Do you need to fix anything? Place the template on once again and check, check, check. The separation between the flavors is a lil funky on mine, so I’ll take a picture to include with the delivery sheet. The end consumer will want to know where one flavor stops and the other starts, so take that picture now.

So, the carving is complete but you have lots o’ cake left. What to do, what to do?

No need to sugar overload you or the fam with the cake scraps. Put them in Ziplocs and hide them in the freezer. On another day you can use them to make cake truffles or cake pops. There are a lot of scraps and there’s no point in wasting them. We’re in a recession after all. LOL

That’s enough for one day. The animals are probably getting hungry or getting into stuff. Wrap the cakes for freezing, put them in the freezer, find your counter top again, and order take out for dinner. You deserve it!

Part deux coming soon!

By Jim Shimabukuro
Editor

K-12 school systems, such as California Virtual Academies (or CAVA), are providing completely online programs. Obviously, colleges are very different from K-12 schools, but are there lessons to be learned from the school model? At a time when budgets are being slashed, colleges are forced to look closely at their online programs as a possible means to reduce instructional costs. If existing programs aren’t as effective as they ought to be, colleges may want to examine K-12 models for elements that could be adapted to college programs.

In this article, I provide resources and links to information about CAVA and how California public schools are approaching completely online learning. After reviewing the information and, perhaps, conducting your own research, please join the discussion on the question, What can colleges learn from online K-12 school systems such as CAVA? To post a comment, click on the title of this article. This will take you to a page that displays the article, the ongoing discussion, and a box to compose your comment. Alternately email your comment to me at jamess@hawaii.edu, and I’ll post it for you.

The California Virtual Academies

The California Virtual Academies is a completely online K-12 charter public school system. CAVA is fully-accredited by the Accrediting Commission for Schools (ACS) of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC). In place of an actual campus, the State loans students a complete computer system and textbooks, and pays for broadband connection. “There are no buildings to heat or maintain so costs per student are low. Kids are assigned a teacher and software links them to their class and curriculum. There is also daily attendance and homework.”

According to the general FAQs, “The K-8 program is self-paced and flexible within the parameters specified by state law. The high school program is a combination of self-paced work and scheduled lessons and activities.”

Audio excerpts of Len Ramirez, KPIX reporter, from the video:

Click here for the video.

(Sources: Len Ramirez, KPIX reporter, “Virtual High School” [CBS News 4.7.09] and “More Calif. Kids Schooled at ‘Virtual Academy’” [CBS5  3.9.09]; the California Virtual Academies site)

All high schools (and colleges) must be accredited if their diplomas are to count for anything.  Our state uses Western Association of Schools & Colleges (WASC) for this process.  To receive that accreditation, the school and it staff needs to show that it does what it says it does.  Pretty simple, but the process can be pretty complicated.  We started yesterday on our trek to next March or April when the visiting team arrives to see what we are doing.

I am co-chairing the committee on organization and yesterday we met to discuss the expected student learning results (ESLRs).  About 13 years ago our school spent a long time hammering out the original ones, but over time they have been altered, and needed to be addressed in view of other changes we have made.  It made for some interesting conversations.  The committee numbers about 50 and is made up of staff from all over campus ranging from the principal to one of our housekeeping staff.  We’re all in this together.

By John Sugiyama
Superintendent, Emeryville School District

What skills, perspectives, values, and understandings will our students need to meet the challenges and opportunities of the future and how do we educate for success?

This is a question that all educators grapple with on a daily basis. Over the years, we have seen a number of “white papers” that propose what all students should know, understand, and be able to do. In terms of academic success, WASC’s Focus on Learning accreditation process requires that all schools to be accredited define Expected Schoolwide Learning Results (ESLRs). Every school going through the accreditation process must define schoolwide learning results for all its students. In a sense, schools have responded to the above question based upon the perceived needs of its students. Therefore every school’s student learning results may be somewhat different. However, the following learning results have been defined by a great majority of secondary schools in California;

1. All students shall be academically proficient
2. All students shall be effective communicators
3. All students shall be critical thinkers and effective problem solvers
4. All students shall be responsible citizens in the 21st century

It is interesting that very few schools have identified the arts as an area for which students should demonstrate proficiency or, at least, have a solid foundation of understanding and appreciation. Perhaps this is due to the perception that the arts are a discipline to be studied rather than a vehicle to achieving the above learning results.

It is clear to me that we need to view the arts (visual and performing) in a fundamentally different way than how schools typically consider arts education. The arts provide a powerful context for helping students become academically proficient, effective communicators, critical thinkers and problem solvers, as well as responsible citizens in the 21st century.

In the current educational paradigm where academic achievement is the primary focus, the arts are often neglected or emphasized to a lesser degree than those subjects that are traditionally viewed as “academic”. We need to change that perspective so that “Arts Learning” is viewed as a powerful vehicle to help students achieve the learning outcomes that educators believe are necessary to prepare students for the future.

So, the question that I would ask for your reflection on is, “How can we change the perspectives of educators to understand that Arts Learning is a key component of every student’s education if the student is to be able to meet the challenges and opportunities of the future?

Your thoughts and responses will be appreciated.

WASC has come and gone.  Kudos to everyone. They were very impressed by all of our teaching.  We will find out what our term is some time in June.  Check the  WASC visiting team power point and the final report on the wiki page.

http://wasc2009.pbwiki.com

Here is a list of accomplishments at my current school:

I find it hilarious how much the academic world LOVES acronyms. Actually, everyone enjoys acronyms, businesses, individuals, schools, etc. I think it makes people feel smart when they can speak the lingo. And for the newbies … well you get the fun job of figuring out what everyone is talking about.

I just got this in my e-mail to help teachers understand everything that may arise in our upcoming WASC (see below) visit.  Anyway, I just wanted to share this LUA (List of Useful Acronyms — I just made that up right now).

Useful Acronyms

]]> http://guitarsophist.com/2009/02/28/assessing-english/ Sat, 28 Feb 2009 17:47:21 +0000 guitarsophist http://guitarsophist.com/2009/02/28/assessing-english/

I just spent two days at a WASC-sponsored conference on “Teaching and Assessing the English Major.”  WASC is our institution’s accrediting agency, the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, so we have to listen to what they say.  A WASC review is a six-year process culminating in an evaluation of “educational effectiveness” which largely derives from an analysis of the program assessment measures in place throughout the campus.  This conference was the first discipline-specific assessment workshop offered by WASC.  Clearly they think there is something lacking in the enthusiasm and expertise of English departments for assessment.

We were supposed to send a team with a specific project to work on.  However, for the most part the presenters presented to us.  When they gave us time to talk at our tables, it was usually for only five minutes, which meant that one person got half way though presenting an issue, and then we were interrupted.

I came to the conference with more enthusiasm for assessment than when I left.  Originally, I saw program assessment as a simple, commonsensical endeavor based on four questions:

• What are we trying to do?
• How are we doing it?
• How do we know that we are doing it?
• How can we improve?

The first question is answered with a series of outcome statements about what the department wants its students to be and do when they complete the program.  The second is about pedagogy and curriculum.  The third is about data gathering and analysis, and the fourth is about applying what was discovered in that analysis to address any gaps or problems that were revealed.   Faculty are generally very focused on the content and effectiveness of the courses that they teach.  They don’t often think about the cumulative effect of the entire program on the student.  An assessment plan that inspires regular conversations about the design of the whole program  and its results will improve the coherence of a department markedly.  It just makes sense.

The WASC representative at the conference stated that WASC is primarily interested in program assessment, not course assessment, and not assessment of individual instructors.  However, much of the material presented at this conference was about course assessment and student self-assessment.  One of the handouts was a chart that every instructor at Alverno College is required to fill out for every course, listing the mission statement of the college, the major outcomes, the course outcomes, and the plan for assessing those outcomes in the course.  This goes far beyond setting some goals, gathering some data, and discussing it at a yearly retreat.  This is putting the plan and the outcomes in the professor’s face on an almost daily basis.

I don’t know for a fact, but they probably put these outcomes on every syllabus too.  Words that are simply duplicated everywhere become invisible.  As scholars of language, we should know that.

I think it is important to define outcomes and have conversations at the program level, where such conversations do not usually occur, and leave instructors the freedom to teach as they will.  If program outcomes become too rigid and ubiquitous, they will become the material of an elegant cage.  Higher education used to be a refuge for brilliant eccentrics.  If we drive them all away we will have an institution of competent drones.

I can imagine a future in which universities create a non-assessment college in order to attract the best students and faculty.

Our department is fairly well along in developing an assessment plan.  We have nine outcomes, with rubrics for four of them, and a capstone course that helps students develop a portfolio of their work over their career in the program.  They collect papers from previous courses, write a new critical paper, and write a reflective essay about how they have grown in the program.  We also do an exit interview.  We have been assessing two outcomes a year, and developing one new rubric per year.  This year the new one is “Research Skills.”

I do think that English departments must change to survive.  People forget that English departments are only about 100 years old.  What can appear, can disappear. The traditional program covers literature, as they say, from Beowulf to Virginia Woolf,  divided into historical periods, sometimes with genre and major author courses.   Faculty specialize in specific periods and authors.  That coverage model is severely threatened now because departments are so understaffed.  Professors are routinely asked to work up courses outside of their specialties.  The coverage is thinner, and the quality less.

However, is coverage of traditional periods, genres, and canonical authors really what English majors need to have?  Most departments also include practical disciplines such as linguistics, and rhetoric and composition.  We train language teachers and writing teachers.  Faculty in all disciplines agree that students should speak and write English well.  In fact, they think that is what English departments do, the primary purpose.  Perhaps they are right.

Our nine current outcomes are heavily weighted toward coverage of period and genre knowledge.  However, when we designed the capstone course, we realized that there would be gaps in coverage, so we focused on interpretive strategies.  The current instructor for the capstone assigns works by Italo Calvino which the students have never read before, and asks them to use what they have learned from the program to interpret these texts and write about them.  I think we are on to something here.  We are assessing the intellectual tool kit that our students have acquired from the program, and their ability to use these tools to analyze new texts.

Focusing on interpretive strategies instead of coverage is necessary in the reduced circumstances we find ourselves in today.  However, I think that these skills are also more marketable for students.  Necessity may have pushed us in a productive direction.  In order to complete this transition, I think we need to revisit our outcomes statements to reflect this new emphasis.

But let’s leave some room for eccentricity and brilliance and some holes in the elegant cage.  We are, after all, the English Department.

 Thank you to everyone for all your hard work in preparing the WASC Self-Study.  The WASC visiting committee will be here from March 9-11.  They will be visiting our classes.   Our report is now available  online.   Look under the “Links” title in the sidebar on the right and click on JAE WASC Self-Study Report.  You can also look at the Self-Study Report binder. There is one available in the faculty room at Serramonte,  at Jefferson and Westmoor (ask in the office), at Terra Nova (check with one of the evening class teachers) and at Bayshore.  Please do not remove the binders from any of these sites so that everyone has the opportuinty to look at them.

Our school is up for reaccreditation next year.  This happens every six years, and I’ve lived through a number of them.  You form some committees, you look at what you have been doing, what you should be doing, and you write a report.  Then you wait for the visiting committee to come take a looksie and say, “yes, you are a  wonderful school and you get 6 more years to do what you have been doing;” or” listen, you’re pretty crappy in what you do, the kids aren’t learning, the school is falling apart so we’ll give you a year to straighten up and fly right or we’ll pull your accreditation.”

Since our school has always gotten a six year accreditation, I figured that’s what everyone got and no problemo.  Ooops, didn’t happen last year for our cross-town rival.  They got one year with sanctions.  If they don’t fix everything, no accreditation which means their diplomas mean zip, nada, zilch.  Kids will still graduate but the paper they get isn’t worth anything.  Soooo, there is terror in the district.

Mr. Principal called me yesterday and asked if I would co-chair the leadership committee, but before I could say anything, he rattled off who was on the committee.  Smart man.  He knows I don’t suffer fools gladly and I’m very picky about with whom I will work.  I said yes.  This should make for some interesting stories.

New College of California died (lost WASC accreditation and USDOE Title IV financial aid authorization) early this year, ending my 22-year career as a professor of poetics, writing, and interdisciplinary artmaking. New College died because its administration was an autocratic, incompetent, unaccountable patronage-style system run by then-President Martin Hamilton, his mentor and predecessor Peter Gabel, and a group of cronies — mostly staff, not faculty.

NCOC programs operated as separate fiefdoms in a kind of academic feudalism with Hamilton as king. He doled out money and set salaries in a completely arbitrary way, altered budgets without notice, created entire new programs with little or no process, and spent college money on pet projects (like the Roxie cinema) that were quixotic at best. He rewarded two categories of faculty: those who sucked up to him, and those he feared. He repeatedly and persistently undermined the governance structures set up in advance of each WASC accreditation visit by disempowering or simply ignoring them, despite the fact that WASC had repeatedly criticized NCOC for lacking such governance. The patronage system and wild inequality in treatment of programs predictably combined with the lack of authentic academic governance to create suspicion and resentment between programs. It’s pretty clear at this distance that this was deliberate divide-and-rule.

Likewise, Hamilton repeatedly appointed totally unqualified people he just happened to like to two of the most important positions in the College: Registrar and Development Director. NC only had one properly credentialed Registrar in its history, and the last two or three were so bad that when the US Dept of Ed came in to do an audit, they found that academic records were a complete shambles (which accords with my personal experience). Hamilton resisted even having a Development office for many years, preferring to schmooze small gifts out of a few acquaintances he presumably felt were no threat to his power. The next-to-last “Development Director” was a very nice jazz musician who confessed freely that he had absolutely no fundraising experience. In general, there was a culture of cronyism and complete lack of accountability in the administration, again commented on by WASC in repeated visiting team reports and Commission proceedings.

In July 2007 the College was put on probation by WASC in a savage letter that cited “egregious” violations of all four of its accreditation standards. I and a few others put together in the first all-college Faculty Council NC had ever had. We fought very hard to save the College: we forced Hamilton out and got in a very good consultant and an interim CFO to help us through the WASC emergency visit and set our administrative house in order. We did an amazing job, with their help. But it was too late, particularly because the Board, being made up of cronies and drinkers of Gabel’s kool-aid, were utterly ineffectual and divided. And so, at the very moment of its greatest historical opportunity as an an alternative institution, New College was killed off. Those of us that had fought through the winter to try to save it, teaching out the students, were left being owed 3-4 months back pay and benefits. We pursued remedy through the State Dept of Industrial Relations but (surprise!) have gotten basically nowhere. It has taken me a year to get any kind of health insurance because the administration let the premiums lapse on our health plans and didn’t tell us, so we couldn’t get COBRA for that vital continuity of coverage.

So now I am a consulting writer and editor again, as I was before I was hired at New College–that is, a scribe. I don’t imagine that at my age and without a doctorate I will ever teach at the college level again. Oh well… At least I don’t have to deal with the hypocritical self-deluded swine who ran that place any more and be subject to their manipulation and smug cruelty. I am happier, for real, despite some hardship.

By CATHERINE CLARY
News editor

From October 19 to 22, The Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) sent a del­egation of faculty and administra­tors to visit Poly and evaluate its programs for accreditation. Ac­creditation validates the integrity of a school’s program to the pub­lic, and the UC system only gives credit to candidates from WASC-accredited courses.

This accreditation process, which occurs every one to six years based on the recommenda­tion of the committee, requires three main components: a self-study report completed by the school being evaluated, a statis­tical supplement on the school’s proceedings, and an on-site visit. According to Rick Caragher, who led Poly’s preparation this year for the WASC visit, “The purpose [of the accreditation process] is for each school to assess what it does well, [to determine] where it needs to grow and to implement a plan for needed changes.”

Poly has been preparing for this evaluation since December of 2007, when it first set up a steer­ing committee that was selected to oversee Poly’s accreditation process. This self-evaluation was divided into thirteen differ­ent chapters, and each one was assigned a sub-committee com­posed of faculty, staff and admin­istrators who would answer the WASC questions specific to that chapter. All sub-committees then met and drafted their reports for the chapter. Once these were sub­mitted, Rick Caragher assembled all reports and organized them for the WASC visiting team to read. He was grateful for the help he re­ceived, saying, “I was most fortu­nate because the faculty, staff and administrators were extremely supportive in the compilation of this report.”

The final stage of the accredi­tation process was the WASC on-campus visit. Members of the WASC evaluation team tried to visit as many classes at Poly as they could, but mainly attempted to observe at least a portion of one class of each full-time teacher. While it may appear to students that the team was critiquing teach­ers’ performances, Caragher says, “This process is not to evaluate teachers, but rather to gain a feel for the culture of the school and the chemistry in the classrooms.”

The WASC team, after evaluat­ing a school, reports its opinions and observations in two ways. First, an oral report is presented to the faculty, staff, and administra­tors of the school on the final day of its visit. This occurred at Poly on October 22. Second, the com­mittee submits its recommenda­tions to WASC in a combined re­port that includes both the visiting team’s opinions and the school’s self-evaluation. After a thorough consideration, WASC will then determine the length of accredita­tion for the specific school based on this full report. Poly will learn of the results of this final evalu­ation, WASC’s suggestions and its length of accreditation some time in the spring. After the com­mittee and WASC decide on the length of accreditation, the school will then be reevaluated after the suggested time has passed.

By coincidence — or, if you are so inclined, Divine intervention — yesterday, October 30, 2008, marked two very special events in my professional life: my first anniversary at DeVry University in Bakersfield and the day on which I learned that I was hired as an adjunct instructor by the School of Media and Communication at National University.

My tenure at DeVry has been nothing short of life altering. For me, being hired at DeVry marks the moment when I officially became a “real live” classroom teacher. Although I had already been hired to teach online courses for Axia College of University of Phoenix (with my first courses starting in June after several intense weeks of training), there was something incredibly validating about being in a classroom. I suddenly felt like a legitimate teacher – as if I had finally emerged as an educator.

I can partially thank my experience with Axia as one of the reasons why, as a relatively unproven teacher, I was hired at DeVry (though I did teach traffic school, so that must have counted for something, right?!).  Of course, I must also acknowledge Center Dean Barry J. Bailey for taking a chance on me.  His decision to let me initially teach two courses on a trial basis has fundamentally changed the course of my career (and, to be honest, my life).

Since embarking on my relatively new career in academia, each new school at which I am hired leads to another opportunity. There is something affirming and encouraging about this experience (and it is one that I hadn’t encountered for some years prior to venturing into teaching).

I have also realized how intertwined my experiences have been at every school where I have taught and am teaching: I continuously learn from each situation, thereby improving my overall aptitude as an educator. Whether it is sharing best practices with colleagues, receiving guidance from my supervisors or as simple as listening to my students, I am in a constant state of learning.

In the year since I started teaching at DeVry there I have taught 16 sections of the following business, computer and English courses (you can find more detailed descriptions of each on the page titled “My Course Descriptions” on this blog):

• BUSN-115 (Introduction to Business and Technology)
• COMP-100 (Computer Applications for Business with Lab)
• COMP-129 (PC Hardware and Software)
• ENGL-032 (Developmental Writing and Reading)
• ENGL-092 (Intermediate English)
• ENGL-112 (Composition)
• ENGL-135 (Advanced Composition)
• MGMT-303 (Principles of Management)
• MGMT-404 (Project Management)

I continue to grow and mature as an individual and instructor at DeVry and look forward to many more years at this respected and forward-thinking educational organization. I am also anticipating teaching some new courses in the coming months, which should provide added energy and excitement to my experience there.

National University promises to be another exciting step in my career development.  Once again, I have Craigslist Education and Teaching Jobs to thank for this lead — and another inspired individual, Bettina Moss, for giving me another wonderful opportunity.

Again, I can’t stress the impact that a few key individuals have had on my professional progress. Their generosity is even more notable considering that other individuals who I already knew and asked for assistance have sometimes been less than helpful. This is definitely a lesson in “paying it forward!”

As explained on it’s website, “National University is the second-largest, private, nonprofit institution of higher learning in California. Founded in 1971, National University consists of five schools and one college, including the Schools of Business and Management; Education; Engineering and Technology; Health and Human Services; and Media and Communication; and the College of Letters and Sciences.” Additionally, National is regionally accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) and is also non-profit — a notable distinction.

With a wife who has taught at the elementary level, I came to know National University as a resource for individuals seeking a teaching credential and an avenue for active educators seeking advanced degrees. However, National University also offers more than 50 graduate and undergraduate degrees — with more than 1,200 courses online. 

National University courses are a quick four weeks in duration: eight four-hour classroom meetings during the week and two four-hour Saturday sessions. In comparison, DeVry courses are eight weeks in length (with one or two physical meetings a week depending on the course type) and Axia courses are nine-weeks of entirely online education. I am also teaching for another school, Florida Career College, which recently launched an online program with six-week sessions.

At first I will be teaching traditional classroom-based courses at the Los Angeles Campus(which is near Los Angeles International Airport), but eventually I might teach in a hybrid model similar to that which DeVry uses. The courses I was hired to teach include the following (though as of today I have only been scheduled to teach one section of the first course, COM-103, which is set to begin at the end of November):

• COM-103 (Oral Communication): Introduction to the principles and practices of spoken communication, with special emphasis on the skills needed to communicate effectively in the workplace. Topics include platform techniques, interpersonal communication strategies, cross-cultural approaches and small group methods.
• COM-380 (Democracy in the Information Age): A critical examination of the media and power in modern democracies. Covers theories of democratic participation and media responsibility, as measured against contemporary practices around the world. Explores effects of television news, popular access to video and electronic technologies, and global electronic networks on contemporary political and cultural discourse.

And, so it is with great gratitude that I look back to my last year of teaching at DeVry and even more excitement that I look ahead to another year of continued career development!

Here’s a year-to-year attendance comparison by site for Week 14.

Site	2007	2008	Difference	% change
BESST AM	273	292.8	19.8	7%
HSD	71.2	67.5	-3.7	-5%
Satellite (DL, OCC)	17	21	4	24%
BESST PM	401.5	390	-11.5	-3%
Whittier	128	113.2	-14.8	-12%
CMHS	82	54.5	-27.5	-34%
Older Adults	40.6	66	25.4	63%
Total	1013.3	1005	-8.3	-1%

Note 10/23/08:  I goofed on my first posting of the DL attendance and gave you the sum rather than the average.  The totals changed slightly based on this correction.

The WASC Leadership team attended the third and final WASC  Self-Study training. There was a lot of information. After we finish the writing portion of the report, we will be working on our action plan. You will all be hearing more about this in the next couple of months.

Welcome back to the fall semester of 2008.  There will be an all staff lunch from 12:00-1:00 and a meeting from 1:00-4:00 PM. Our project will be to review and revise our WASC  Self-Study report and discuss ways to measure ESLRs.

The Western Association of Schools and Colleges Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges (the body which accredits CCSF) is soliciting applications for two commissioners from the public. Applicants for the positions may not be:

1) An employee, member of the governing board, owner, or shareholder of, or consutant to, an institution or program that either is accredited or pre-accredited by the agency or has applied for accreditation or pre-accreditation;
2) A member of any trade association or membership organization related to, affilitated with, or associated with the agency; or
3) A spouse, parent, child, or sibling of an individual identified in (1) or (2) of this definition.

Applications are available in the Senate office (Conlan 202). More information about accreditation is available at http://www.accjc.org/index.htm.

The WASC leadership team met on July 2 to share progress on sections of the WASC report and to plan for the fall.  The next meeting will be in the fall after school starts.

Summer school classes are ending this week. The Director met with support staff, ESL teachers at the main site and ASE staff to discuss fall planning.

The WASC Leadership Team met today to assess progress on the WASC report and discuss plans for finishing writing of the rough drafts. The group met at the Doelger Senior Center in order to become more familiar with programs held at this community location. The Leaderhip Team will meet again on July 2, 2008 to review final rough drafts. At the back-to-school meeting on August 18, 2008, all staff will have the opportunity to discuss and contribute to what has been written.