DESCRIPTIVE SUMMARY

Los Angeles Mission College’s stated philosophy is "to provide the highest quality education to each student who comes to us," and the new mission statement specifically states that the college will provide a range of programs and services that "meet the changing needs of people in the San Fernando Valley." (4.1) To accomplish this, the college has a long history of seeking input from the community in the development of educational programs. Before the college was built, the Board of Trustees established a task force that conducted a feasibility study, soliciting responses from all segments of the community in both English and Spanish. As a result, the new college offered a broad range of academic and vocational offerings, and more have been added throughout the college’s twenty-five year history.

At the time of the last self-study, the college offered twenty-five A.A. degrees, three A.S. degrees, and twenty-five certificate programs. Today, in addition to a comprehensive lower-division general education for transfer students, the college offers thirty-nine A.A. degrees in academic and vocational disciplines, three A.S. degrees, and twenty-six certificate programs in vocational and technical areas. New programs include Health Sciences, Chicano Studies, Political Science, Sociology, and the new vocational program, Multimedia Studies. The college also provides developmental education, student services, and community services. On a continuous basis, the college seeks input from and interacts with the community to ensure that course offerings are relevant and meet the needs of the communities served. For example, in an effort to seek input, the advisory committees for vocational programs meet regularly, the college meets on a regular basis with feeder high schools, and departments and disciplines meet with CSU representatives.

Varied learning skills programs support the needs of students. For example, the Learning Center provides one-on-one and small group tutoring along with tutoring for specific programs as described in Standard 6.

The Center for Student Success (4.2) provides a safety net for the at-risk student. The college also offers a number of basic skills courses for students with skill levels below that needed for college level work. These include a series of developmental communication and learning skills courses. Additional support services include the Disabled Student Programs and Services (DSPS), Extended Opportunity Program and Services (EOP&S), and Financial Aid (see Standard 5).

Comprehensive, specially funded programs include CalWorks (4.3), which provides basic skills and employment training in a variety of areas, including culinary arts and certified nursing attendant. In addition, the Business and Professional One-Stop Center (4.4) provides skills identification, training for new careers and advancement, and job placement. Training is available in areas such as construction, restaurant/hotel/tourism, business technology, computer technology, and health technology. The Community Extension Program offers an expansive menu of not-for-credit courses ranging from Microsoft certification to voice articulation.

The college has developed a strong relationship with the local high schools and presently offers concurrent enrollment classes in seven feeder high schools. These include Tech Prep courses as well as courses fulfilling transfer requirements. Notable partnerships are the administration of justice and law programs involving James Monroe High School and multimedia classes offered at Verdugo Hills High School.

Finally, the college has established the Bridge to Success (4.5) partnership with California State University, Northridge. This program promotes an increase in the number of underrepresented students entering biological research careers by recruiting students from the local high schools and providing transfer science curriculum with a guaranteed acceptance to CSUN upon successful completion.

Of sixty-eight programs offered that lead to an A.A. degree, an A.S. degree, or a certificate, three-fourths of the programs provide students the opportunity to complete the program as announced in the 1999-2000 Catalog (4.6) within a reasonable period of time (defined here as three years). When program requirements change significantly, when requisite courses for program completion are not available, or, in extreme cases, when programs are eliminated, department chairs refer students to the Counseling Department for formal guidance. Students can then file a petition to request a course substitution or a waiver. The Student Petitions Committee (4.7), comprised of faculty, administration, and counselors, considers the requests and approves or denies them. Students have taken this recourse in a number of disciplines, such as Administration of Justice, Computer Science, and Interior Design.

Counselors, department chairs, and faculty in each discipline also make informal suggestions that students in these circumstances attend nearby colleges, such as Los Angeles Pierce College or Valley College, or they attend adult school when appropriate.

Continuing students with uninterrupted attendance must complete the graduation requirements as stated in the Catalog that was in effect upon their initial enrollment. As soon as students miss a semester, exclusive of the summer session, they must complete any new requirements in effect at the time of re-enrollment.

To support the educational programs, the college currently employs 141 classified employees, including seventy-four full-time faculty and sixty FTEF in part-time faculty. However, the final approved operational plan for 2000-2001 provided funding for six additional faculty positions. Currently, the full-time/part-time ratio for the college as a separate institution from the district is 56 percent full-time and 44 percent part-time.

The college provides funding for the basic operation of programs in a process described in Standard 9 that develops an operational plan and a final budget for all programs, support services, and offices. EOP&S, VTEA, Title III, and various grants augment the final budgets in unpredictable amounts yearly. For example, in fiscal 1999-2000, Partnership for Excellence funds provided funding for supplemental instruction, additional hours of counseling, and materials for the Career Center. In the event of reductions in state and/or district allocations to the college, Administrative Services has historically reduced budgeted amounts in the proposed and approved operational plan. Subsequently, the department chairs, in an informal process, request that the college restore funding levels when allocations rise.

If department chairs need additional faculty or staff positions, they must seek approval for requested faculty positions through the Academic Senate Hiring Committee and for requested classified staff positions through one of the three vice presidents. These requests are then reviewed during the operational plan procedure.

Currently, during the weekday morning and evening hours, the college is quickly approaching full utilization of the forty-two classrooms on campus and twenty-two off campus. Satellite and outreach locations in the community accommodate increased enrollment at these peak hours. However, classroom availability does exist at nontraditional times, such as Monday through Thursday afternoons and all day Friday and Sunday. The new Collaborative Studies Building will provide eleven new laboratories/classrooms and additional faculty offices.

Both the Counseling Department (4.8) and the Transfer Center (4.9) provide comprehensive academic advising. They support the learning process by providing academic, career, and transfer advising; assessment and orientation sessions for new students in the matriculation process; probation intervention; referrals and guidance classes; departmental liaisons and articulation assistance; and information on retention and scholarships. Academic counseling includes assisting students in planning and implementing short- and long-term educational goals consistent with aptitudes and resources. Students on academic probation or those subject to dismissal receive specialized counseling.

Throughout the year, counselors are available by appointment to provide detailed, comprehensive educational planning (4.10). Students seeking general information and answers to simple advisement concerns can utilize walk-in counseling and advisement. Additionally, counselors assist students with class scheduling and other related matters during all hours of registration. Counselors are also available for special needs in DSPS, EOP&S, the Center for Student Success, and the One-Stop Center. The department has formed a "Pass Along" policy that ensures the college will accept units from accredited as well as non-accredited institutions to fulfill certificate, graduation, and/or transfer requirements.

The Counseling Department holds in-service meetings every two weeks to discuss counseling issues and to ensure the accuracy and timeliness of counseling advice. The faculty and staff in all disciplines have open invitations to attend these meetings and use them as a forum for the exchange of information. The goal of these meetings is to maintain up-to-date relevancy on issues pertaining to advisement. In addition, counselors attend conferences throughout the year, including those at the University of California, the California State Universities, and the annual California Community College conference. The counseling staff also regularly participates in flex and staff development activities.

SELF EVALUATION

Even though the college is responsive to the needs of the community in developing new programs, this process is not based on a systematic analysis of employment, earnings, or industry data. However, the faculty and administration have been creative in individual and ad hoc efforts to develop programs. Examples of such innovative programs include the new multimedia studies (4.11) program, the new PACE tracks for business majors (4.12), elementary teaching credential majors, majors in the health science professions, and the new Weekend College. These programs provide evidence that the college's long history of experimentation with learning communities mark it as a trendsetter. In fact, a recently developed English/Child Development venture in cooperative education has created another successful new learning community.

The college may need to address the issue of academic standards. As shown in Table 4.1, the grade distribution for the college shifted slightly from fall 1995 to fall 1999. Among students who completed courses, the proportion of A's awarded has increased and in the proportion of C's has decreased. The proportion of B and D grades has also declined slightly. However, the proportion of grades for students who have completed courses has not significantly changed and the college pattern has paralleled that of the district as whole. The college has experienced a slight upward drift in the W and a small decrease in the proportion of F grades among students who do not complete courses. This is somewhat at odds with district trends, which show an increase in the proportion of F grades and a decrease in the proportion of W's. In terms of absolute levels, however, the college still compares favorably to the district.

Table 4.1: LAMC Grade Distribution Compared to LACCD (Percentage of Grades)

Based on the overall college grade distribution in comparison to the district, serious erosion of academic standards does not appear to have yet occurred. However, some emergent trends, particularly the increase in the proportions of A and W and the decline in F grades merit further attention.

Nearly 92 percent of the college faculty (FSS #58) maintain that their course syllabi specify competencies that the student must acquire upon completion of the course. Although in theory course grades do ensure that students attain competencies, no systematic mechanism independently validates this. The new assessment and planning process contains suggested strategies that, if adopted by a discipline or program, can do so. Furthermore, the faculty can use the results of the assessment to plan improvements that would increase the attainment of competencies.

Over the period fall 1995 to fall 2000 (including spring and summer semesters), 53 percent of entering students were assessed below English 21, the lowest level English course the college offers. These students would have to enroll in developmental communications classes. Over the same period, 41 percent entering students were assessed below Math 115, Elementary Algebra. Yet, an analysis of the Schedule of Classes reveals that the majority of classes Mission College offers are college-level, transferable classes. For example, over the period spring 1996 to spring 1998 (including fall semesters during this period), only 15 percent of section offerings were below English 21 and only 24 percent of section offerings were below Math 115. This mismatch of class offerings relative to student preparation, together with the lack of established communication and computation prerequisites for most college-level courses, has contributed to students enrolling in courses for which they are inadequately prepared. A likely, but as yet not researched, effect of this is low retention and student success and the erosion of academic standards. Establishing and enforcing validated pre-requisites for many of these college-level classes is a necessary corrective action. However, an accompanying need to offer basic skills classes in sufficient numbers to accommodate the realistic needs of the student population is also required. Moreover, developing a degree-applicable, non-transferable curriculum in other subjects may also be necessary to accommodate these students and help them adjust to college-level academic requirements.

College enrollment has increased from 5,502 in the fall of 1995 (the time of the last self-study) to 6,979 in the fall of 2000, a 27 percent increase over this period. Since the end of the recession of 1997-98, the increased allocation to the college budget has allowed selected programs to expand with the hiring of additional, primarily adjunct, faculty. At the same time, the student population is becoming younger, with the proportion of students under age 20 increasing from 15.9 percent in fall 1995 to 21.3 percent in fall 1999. Moreover, during the fall 1995-fall 2000 period, basic skills of new entering students have declined. Additionally, the college has attracted a relatively high proportion of students whose parents did have some college experience (60 percent for the college compared to 53 percent for the district, 1996 District Student Survey #10).

Thus, the college needs better strategies that provide college survival skills. While counselors teach personal development courses that have such skills as a primary topic, not all students enroll in these, and interviews with faculty reveal that those who do enroll often need only portions of the entire course. The college must adopt strategies that individualize the content of these courses such as creating modules that emphasize a specific skill. This would allow students to choose what they need. Putting these same modules online would streamline access for working students.

In a significant change since the last self-study, the college has instituted block scheduling (4.13), which involves conducting classes two, rather than three days a week for an hour and a half each day. This was designed to allow students to schedule their classes more efficiently and has resulted in an increase in WSCH. In addition, while the PACE program continues to provide its pioneering comprehensive program for working adults, the college is augmenting it to provide another choice by scheduling classes in five-week modules on weekends. Also, the college has started to increase outreach offerings in the greater service area. For example, at the new Porter Ranch site in Chatsworth and at Monroe High School in North Hills, Mission College offers a range of classes to a new population. The college has also begun the scheduling of short-term classes. All of these programs provide students with more access to college offerings.

However, students are dissatisfied with the variety of courses offered at the college, as evidenced by performance gaps found in the results of the Noel-Levitz Student Satisfaction Inventory conducted in spring 1996 and spring 1999 (Comprehensive Review of Student Satisfaction p. 18). A performance gap indicates that student ratings of the importance of the service exceed their rating of their satisfaction with the service.

Performance gaps are also evident in the other dimensions of scheduling such as student convenience (NL 1999 # 8) and the degree to which they result in schedule conflicts (NL 1999 #15). However, the offerings of advanced courses do not appear to be a significant barrier to student progress as nearly 67 percent (SS #26) of students maintain that scheduling allowed them to graduate in a timely way.

The Counseling Department works quite closely with the Student Petitions Committee and the faculty to ensure that through the petition process, students have an opportunity to complete programs following any program change or elimination. However, the number of students who move to other colleges to complete programs when Mission College does not offer courses or changes programs is unknown.

Some programs (such as English, some of the Family and Consumer Studies programs, and some of the smaller business majors) have few students who earn degrees and certificates. The college may need to reevaluate these programs to determine whether the school should continue offering the degree or the certificate. When programs lack students who enroll to earn degrees, the college may consider questioning the overall management of the program. Strong programs schedule classes according to program requirements and student needs and are proficient in recruiting. With prudent management, the college could even offer all required courses for some low demand programs. The department chair and the Office of Academic Affairs could develop a comprehensive plan for such programs using an overall strategy that includes marketing, recruitment, and a two- to three-year plan for scheduling beginning and advanced courses. The new assessment and planning process will be instrumental in this effort.

The entire process of developing the operational plan and budget, requesting additional funding, and adjusting to reductions has been described as dynamic--a process in the making. Pressures on the college budget that have resulted from reduced allocations have historically not allowed for the setting of priorities and careful planning. The way the college has allocated money in crisis periods appears to be based on the persistence of individual chairs, faculty, and staff. The result of this process has been wide fluctuation in the actual annual budgets for all programs at the college. The advent of a new district allocation model (see Standard 9) and more adequate state apportionment for community colleges in fiscal 2000 appear to point toward more financial stability for the college and its programs.

In one instance, however, poor planning within the college has contributed to a threat to the viability of a major college asset. While it can be said that the Library and Learning Resource Center is technologically current (as are other technological facilities and equipment on campus), it may not remain so. Early on, the college failed to realize the amount of human and financial resources that such a facility would require for maintenance and to keep it current. The new assessment and planning process detailed in Standard 3 will need to allocate sufficient resources to technological support if the institution is to remain on the cutting edge in technology (see Standard 6). The college should set aside a percentage of all funding for maintenance and update of equipment college-wide. While the campus has exotic technology supporting some activities, in other areas, faculty members complain that basic audio-visual needs are not met. A long-standing request for VCRs and monitors in all classrooms and up-to-date computers for all faculty members has not been accommodated.

In fact, Mission College is often referred to as one of the most technologically advanced of mid-sized institutions on the West Coast. However, no direct evidence that technology has had a significant impact on the majority of classroom instruction exists. Individual instructors do use the Internet, computerized information, and interactivity in their classroom presentations, and the college does offer a number of classes online. The Library Department and the Learning Center use technology largely in managing and providing learning resources. However, many programs at the college rely primarily on conventional approaches to technological support for learning. For most instructors, the VCR and the overhead projector are still deemed adequate. PowerPoint presentations are increasing with the assistance of Title III, but only a few instructors use computerized classroom methodology. That the college is committed to remain at the forefront of the use of technology in education is essentially an act of faith. Again, the new assessment and planning process needs to be brought to bear on the issue. For example, the college has made plans to wire all classrooms for Internet access. However, recent industry developments in wireless technology may preclude this.

A major financial support for the college has been the application for and successful receipt of a second Title III grant (4.14). The grant is funding significant initiatives for faculty to create new support materials for their students.

Finally, an uneven record and a lack of adherence to an established policy for the distribution of state instructional equipment money has been a problem. The assessment and planning process will alleviate this since all requests for resources, including equipment funds, must now be attached to a plan with measurable outcomes.

As discussed in Standard 5, the Noel-Levitz Student Satisfaction Inventory conducted in both spring 1996 and spring 1999 revealed an increase in the performance gap in the Academic Advising/Counseling scale, an aggregation of the responses to survey questions designed to measure the comprehensiveness of counseling and advisement. One dimension of satisfaction is utilization of the service. In this regard, more students need to take advantage of the services the Counseling Department, Transfer Center, and Career Center offer. Although the state mandates matriculation, it is difficult to enforce. Instead of merely making it easy for students to receive counseling, more proactive strategies need to drive a significantly greater portion of the student population to take advantage of counseling services (see Standard 5). In addition, the survey indicates need for improvement in some dimensions of service, such as assisting students with the transfer process and the development of student educational plans.

B. Degree and Certificate Programs

DESCRIPTIVE SUMMARY

The Academic Senate Curriculum Committee (4.15) is responsible for ensuring that all new and existing courses fulfill the standards in Division 6 of Title 5 of the California Code of Regulations. New courses and programs must satisfy the following approval criteria as Title 5 requires: appropriateness to mission, need, quality, feasibility, and compliance with applicable laws. New degree credit courses must meet Title 5 standards in the following areas: level, grading policy, units, intensity, prerequisites and co-requisites, basic skills requirements, and difficulty. The committee must ensure that all courses offered for transfer meet the particular standard of the institutions for which they are to be counted as transfer, especially those put forward for inclusion in system-wide agreements, such as IGETC. Once the Chancellor’s Office receives outlines of record for new or existing programs as part of an application for a new program approval, it is directly responsible for upholding these standards. For vocational programs, community and industry representatives serve on advisory committees (4.16) to ensure that the college is developing and offering courses and programs that will meet the rapidly changing needs of the various industries in the local and regional community.

The Catalog lists all degrees and certificates under the particular discipline responsible for issuing the degree or certificate. It also includes the prerequisite courses or skills required as well as the recommended courses needed to complete the degree or certificate. Finally, the Catalog lists the faculty members and course descriptions of approved courses.

To the extent that the college identifies and publishes expected learning outcomes for its degree and certificate programs, it does so in the Catalog (pages G 1 through G 92). The graduation requirements enumerate broad areas of knowledge and specific competencies for all associate degree candidates, regardless of major. In certain instances, such as in English and in mathematics, passing certain courses and/or examinations may determine competency.

Most of the liberal arts programs listed in the Catalog express these learning outcomes in terms of the students’ completion of course requirements for the undergraduate major/degree. Other academic programs describe learning outcomes in generalized terms and with broad language. Most of the vocational and technical programs express learning outcomes in terms of courses required for completion certificates and the attainment of specific job skills. Program brochures (4.17) employ similar language in describing outcomes.

Department chairs and faculty generally recognize that the most pervasive indicator of whether or not students have successfully achieved the learning outcomes for their major or vocational program is the students’ completion of the requisite courses with passing grades or better.

Degree programs generally provide students with one or more introductory survey courses followed by courses that cover more specific subjects. For example, after taking the introductory level curriculum, child development majors can focus on special education. Psychology majors begin with the introductory survey course and then can take courses in personality and abnormal behavior. Multimedia Studies has two foundation blocks of courses after which students can focus on one or more specific areas, such as animation or interactive multimedia. Additionally, the general education component that all degree programs require introduces broad areas of knowledge outside of the discipline.

According to the Catalog (page E 1), students completing degree programs demonstrate competence in the use of language through the completion of one of the following courses with a grade of "C" or better: English 28, English 101, or Journalism 101. Students can also demonstrate competence through credit-by-examination.

The competency requirement in mathematics may be met by completion of one of the following courses with a grade of "C" or better: Mathematics 113 and 114, 115, or any higher level mathematics course with a prerequisite of Mathematics 115 or its equivalent. However, students can also demonstrate competence through a score of 15 or higher on the District Mathematics Competency Examination.

All students completing vocational and occupational programs must petition for a certificate of completion to be issued by the dean of academic affairs for vocational education. The registrar, the department/discipline representative, and the dean award certificates only after a review and the determination of successful completion of all required and recommended courses.

SELF EVALUATION

No systematic process exists for demonstrating that the college awards degrees and certificates in support of the college mission statement. However, the curriculum approval process measures degrees and certificate programs against Title 5 requirements. Additionally, as articulation agreements demonstrate, transfer programs coincide with the lower division requirements of the transfer institutions (4.18).

Students have shown concern about the clarity and reasonableness of program requirements at the college, as indicated by a performance gap in the spring 1999 Noel-Levitz Student Satisfaction Inventory (NL 1999 #66). Currently, however, no formal process to evaluate program requirements exists. The new assessment and planning process (4.19) will provide a more systematic approach to ensure that programs and degrees support the mission of the institution. Also, all degrees and certificate programs will soon have specific measurable objectives tied directly to the college mission statement and the college goals. In addition, the intent of the assessment and planning process is that all degree and certificate programs will identify and make public expected learning outcomes. A provision allows students to demonstrate achievement of outcomes and the college to use the results to improve the programs involved. Faculty will need training in writing measurable objectives and indicators to demonstrate their achievement and with methodologies for assessing learning outcomes.

The district and the college developed a revised Proposed New Course Request Form (4.20) in 1999 that helps the Curriculum Committee focus on the requirement that individual course objectives be stated in terms that contain both knowledge and skills outcomes as well as SCANS competencies. The new form specifically requires the measurement of student performance. A new Curriculum Committee Handbook will assist faculty with completing the Proposed New Course Request Form that includes the course outline.

Currently, certain vocational programs, such as Multimedia Studies and Child Development (4.21), informally use a student portfolio of work as a mechanism for demonstrating successful completion of expected outcomes. Another evaluative tool for these programs is the dialogue between instructors, department heads, and industry professionals during advisory committee meetings. All advisory committees systematically approve the competency requirements of courses included in each program. Advisory committees also must review examples of student achievement that demonstrate technical and professional competence, as documented in advisory committee minutes (4.22). Vocational programs will use outcomes to demonstrate the competence of successful students and will validate and improve programs in a more systematic way in the assessment and planning process.

To earn a degree in the district and the college, students demonstrate competence in language through completion of English 28 and of computation through completion of Math 115. However, in order to transfer, students must complete English 101 and Math 225. A difference exists in the levels of competence between the student who completes the minimum requirements for the A.A. degree and those who achieve the transfer requirements. Faculty members in the district disagree as to the need for the achievement of an A.A. degree to be an indicator that a student has also mastered the first two years of a four-year degree.

Table 4.2: Reading Placement (percent): Fall 1995-Fall 1998

As the placement outcomes summarized in Table 4.2 reveal, reading comprehension is one weakness of the incoming student body. For example, according to the distribution of placement outcomes in fall 1998, 82.7 percent of those students going through assessment were placed below college level reading comprehension: 5.9 percent placed into Developmental Communications 34, Basic Reading (reading at grades 2-6); 33.2 percent placed into Developmental Communications 36A: Reading I Comprehension and Related Skills (grades 7-9); and 42.7 percent into Developmental Communications 36B, Reading II Comprehension and Related Skills (grades 9-12). However, even if a counselor recommends that a student take one of these reading classes, this recommendation cannot be enforced.

The operation of the basic skills assessment compounds this problem. The college assesses students in both reading and English, and students receive a recommended placement in each course. This dual recommendation seemingly offers the student the option of enrolling in either the English or the reading course. As a result, few students elect to take a reading class. Thus, most students who desperately need intensified reading instruction do not receive the assistance they need. Although English instructors do include some reading instruction in composition classes, it is not sufficient to raise students to college reading levels. One solution may be to require a validated co-requisite of a reading course for every composition course.

C. General Education

DESCRIPTIVE SUMMARY

The Catalog clearly states information on the conferring of degrees under the heading Graduation Requirements (page E 2). Students majoring in programs of study which require 18-35 units in the major must complete Graduation Plan A, which includes a minimum of thirty semester units of general education requirements. Students majoring in programs of study which require thirty-six or more units in the major must complete Graduation Plan B, which includes a minimum of eighteen semester units of general education requirements.

The District Educational Philosophy, clearly stated in the Catalog (page A 2), includes Functions of the Community College, in which a principle of general education is set forth: "A program of general education comprised of associate degree programs and other planned experiences which develop knowledge, skills, and attitudes necessary for the student to be effective as a person, a family member, a worker, and a citizen, thereby enhancing the quality of life for the individual and for the society-at-large." The Catalog states this rationale in the explanation of graduation requirements. "The awarding of an associate degree symbolizes a successful attempt on the part of the college to lead students through patterns of learning experiences designed to develop certain capabilities and insights. Among these are the ability to think and to communicate clearly and effectively both orally and in writing; to use mathematics; to understand the modes of inquiry of the major disciplines; to be aware of other cultures and times; to achieve insights gained through experience in thinking about ethical problems; and to develop the capacity for self-understanding."

General education courses encompass five specific areas: natural sciences, social and behavioral sciences, humanities, language and rationality, and health and physical education. Each area offers a number of courses from which to choose, and students are to select and complete a designated number of semester units. The Curriculum Committee approves these courses as meeting general education requirements.

The college submits courses that the faculty requests in the curriculum review process to meet IGETC and CSU breadth requirements yearly to UC and CSU for evaluation. These transfer institutions routinely approve such courses with only an occasional rejection. In the case of rejection, the college often resubmits the course with modifications, and it is then usually approved.

The Catalog lists the courses that meet the general education requirements in each category under the two plans available to students, Graduation Plan A and Graduation Plan B. Typically, each category has eight or more widely varied courses from which the student can select the number of units needed to meet a specific requirement. For example, under Natural Sciences, the student may select the required three units from among the following: Anatomy 1, Anthropology 101, Astronomy 1, 2; Biology 3, 6, 7; Chemistry 46, 51, 52, 65, 70, 101, 102; Environmental Science 2; F&CS 21; Geography 1, 7, 14, 15; Microbiology 1, 20; Physics 1, 2, 3, 6, 7; Physical Science 1, 14; Physiology 1, and Psychology 2.

The Curriculum Committee evaluates new courses that faculty have proposed to fulfill general education requirements according to guidelines established in Title 5. Faculty proposing new courses must specifically state whether or issues of diversity are addressed in the content.

All students receiving an A.A. degree must demonstrate competence through the completion of courses in the following categories: Reading and Written Expression, Mathematics, Natural Sciences, Social and Behavioral Sciences, Humanities, Language and Rationality, and Health and Physical Education. The category Language and Rationality includes two sub categories: English Composition plus Communication and Analytical Thinking, the last of which includes a choice of courses in English, math, philosophy, computer science, and speech.

Oral communication is taught in speech classes, and while a speech course is listed as an option under Language and Rationality, a student could graduate without having completed a speech class.

SELF EVALUATION

The Curriculum Committee currently evaluates whether proposed courses meet general education requirements by applying Title 5 standards. However, it may be appropriate to review courses that have been approved for general education in the past. Although the committee’s policy is to follow the Title 5 criteria, a review of the courses listed in the Catalog (page E 2) reveals that the level of specificity is questionable. For example, Interior Design is listed as meeting the Humanities requirement and Business 1 meets the Social and Behavioral Sciences requirement.

As course outlines are updated under the new assessment and planning process, their appropriateness for general education will be reviewed systematically. This new process may also include a discipline-by-discipline review of learning outcomes in the general education area. For this to take place, a serious and thorough discussion of the intended measurable outcomes of each general education area will have to take place. The specific knowledge and skills in each general education area will then become more clearly defined.

Students have demonstrated competency in written communication and quantitative reasoning through completion of designated English and math courses. Nevertheless, this has proven to be unreliable due to a lack of consistency in standards for determining the level of competency of, for example, a "C" student across sections of the same course. The English and math departments are currently addressing these problems through implementation of common department finals for English 21, English 28, and Math 115. While students agree that general education courses have led to improvements in communications skills (76 percent favorable, SS #17) and quantitative/scientific skills (64 percent favorable, SS #18), no formal systematic effort to evaluate the effectiveness of the general education curriculum exists.

D. Curriculum and Instruction

DESCRIPTIVE SUMMARY

To establish and revise educational programs, the faculty submits proposals to the Curriculum Committee for deliberation and approval. During the process, the committee distributes proposals to faculty members in the discipline throughout the district for information and discussion.

The new assessment and planning process is now responsible for oversight of the assessment of student learning outcomes and overall program evaluation. The reorganization of this process took place in the summer of 1999 and again in the summer of 2000, and it includes the following components: review of student surveys on effectiveness of programs and courses; review of course outlines, certificate requirements, and degree requirements; analysis of instruments used to assess learning outcomes and skill acquisition; description of the unique characteristics of the discipline; list of major accomplishments; identification of major changes in academic/vocational area; assessment of facilities, financial, and human resource needs; and establishment of measurable program objectives along with key indicators. The process, now called Institutional Effectiveness, includes a schedule to evaluate all programs, committees, and offices (see Standard 3).

A subcommittee of the Curriculum Committee updated the college’s Curriculum Handbook during the summer of 2000. The Handbook is designed to familiarize faculty with Title 5 requirements and to introduce them to changes in the newly revised and decentralized curriculum approval process (E65) (4.23)

To ensure the quality of instruction, academic rigor, and educational effectiveness of the college’s courses and programs, the assessment and planning process will also oversee off-campus instruction as well as nontraditional delivery methods, such as distance education and PACE.

Article 19 of the Agreement between the Los Angeles Community College District and the AFT College Guild Local 1521 (4.24) governs the evaluation of all instructional staff. Article 19 of the Agreement stresses that evaluations, when performed conscientiously, can enhance faculty performance and promote excellence by providing positive reinforcement, constructive advice, and specific recommendations for improvement. The evaluation of instructors includes such items as adherence to syllabi and course outlines. The Academic Senate passed a resolution that requires instructors to teach to the course outline of record, and they may be evaluated on that basis.

Course completion is the basis for evaluating student learning. Instructors provide criteria for successful course completion through a published syllabus (4.25), as the Office of Academic Affairs requires. The syllabus includes course content, course objectives, and grading policies, and the Catalog provides an explanation of letter grades. Syllabi for all courses are in the process of being abstracted and put online for better access.

The counseling office has standard policies for accepting courses completed at accredited institutions, and the Catalog spells out policies for accepting courses from non-accredited or foreign institutions. The college has also established articulation agreements with public and private institutions throughout the state.

The standard mode of presentation of material to students is either through lecture or lecture and lab. However, the college also offers a number of other modes of presentation. For example, the college offers thirteen courses through the Internet. In addition, the PACE program makes use of collaborative instruction, customized videotapes, and CD-ROMs for a portion of the credit hours, and it provides nontraditional scheduling to meet the needs of working adults. English and Child Development have developed a linked block curriculum, and Multimedia Studies has developed a block scheduling strategy with linked, interdisciplinary courses, creating a large learning community. The district has an extensive set of offerings in its instructional television program, in which many Mission students enroll. In addition, the Learning Center offers individualized instruction in various tutorial programs, and DSP&S has individualized tutoring that assists students who have various learning disabilities and learning styles.

The assessment and planning process, as it is being implemented, evaluates all courses at the college, including credit and non-credit, no matter where they are conducted. For instance, the director of community education courses evaluates existing courses and informally discusses any contemplated offerings with related disciplines in the credit program. Non-credit and contract courses, most of which are arranged with either Los Angeles County or Los Angeles City, are audited by those agencies and the dean of academic affairs for vocational education.

The Curriculum Committee approves all courses through the Internet as equivalent to courses offered in the traditional format according to college and district policy. Courses offered electronically are systematically assessed with the discipline during its periodic review. Staff Development offers workshops and other activities to help train faculty in the online presentation of courses.

SELF EVALUATION

Student satisfaction is high with respect to several dimensions of the instructional program at the college. Students are pleased with the effort of instructors to help them succeed (84 percent favorable, SS #25), and with instructors' use of current ideas and instructional technologies (80 percent, SS #21). In addition, over 80 percent of students approve of the fairness of grading practices, instructor accessibility, and receipt of a comprehensive course syllabus (SS #33, #34, #35, #36). Overall, 84 percent are pleased with the quality of instruction (SS #24). Results of the fall 1996 District Student Survey also indicate high levels of satisfaction (in the range of 60 to 70 percent) with various aspects of instruction (see 1996 DSS items #52 through #62). While the surveys are not strictly comparable in terms of items, they do, nevertheless, point to a consistently high level of student satisfaction with instruction.

The new assessment and planning process, which is faculty-driven, will be the mechanism for the evaluation of the effectiveness of all programs. As a result, the college will examine the Curriculum Committee and the curriculum review process, and they should improve.

Since the last self-study, the decentralization of the district has had the effect of placing more responsibility for approving new programs and courses on the individual college. The Curriculum Committee will have to respond to this additional responsibility by establishing a more effective procedure. The Curriculum Committee (4.26) needs to focus on the effectiveness of learning outcomes and perfomance indicators of the courses and programs that come before it. In addition, the details of technical review need to be completed before the committee considers courses and programs so that issues of effectiveness are the focus of discussions.

The instructor evaluation process is one way of ensuring quality of instruction. Instructors are evaluated regularly and generally given satisfactory evaluations, and approximately 50 percent of faculty believe that the evaluation of instruction is effective (FSS #57). But this process does not directly address the issue of academic rigor. Therefore, it is the institution's responsibility to devise strategies to ensure appropriate academic standards. The college, in its new assessment and planning process, will need to tie academic programs and courses to perfomance indicators in order to determine whether suitable rigor has been achieved.

Instructors include objectives and methods for evaluation in course syllabi, but currently these standards are not necessarily uniform across a discipline. For instance, the English and math disciplines discovered wide discrepancies in grading standards among sections of the same course and thus instituted department-wide finals, which has proven effective in increasing consistency. The assessment and planning process contains strategies that will encourage this process to continue.

The articulation function at the college has been assigned to several different offices and individuals in the last few years. In fall 2000 a .5 FTE counselor position has been authorized to permanently carry out the required tasks. While individuals on an ad hoc basis have kept articulation current, this new position will ensure the process is systematic. Currently, about 43 percent of faculty believe that the college articulation effort is adequate (FSS #59).

The college has been successful in increasing retention with learning communities. An outstanding example is the successful pioneering efforts to establish and institutionalize the PACE program as a delivery system tailored especially for working adults. As shown in Table 4.2, this program has exhibited retention rates and success rates of, respectively, 6 and 9 percentage points higher, on average, than those of all college disciplines over the period fall 1995 to fall 1999.

Table 4.3: Retention and Success in the PACE Program

In addition, the new Multimedia Studies program has, in part, based its block scheduling on the successful PACE model. The program has a remarkable retention record; each semester the most advanced block of courses retains approximately 50 percent of the original block of students after four semesters. It is expected that the Child Development/English learning community will have equal success.

Because the assessment and planning process is new, no evidence yet exists that it will improve programs, services, and courses.

However, systematic assessment based on measurable outcomes used for improvement is a nationally recognized successful model. And the college does maintain a record of program review documents (4.27) demonstrating historically that all instructional programs have been systematically involved.

The college offers thirteen online courses, and enrollment in these courses has increased significantly. Students can earn several certificates online, but associate degree programs are not available at this time. The college has learned that electronic delivery systems may not be appropriate for all students. Online courses require students with a higher degree of self-motivation and skills than traditional courses. For example, the online astronomy instructor has found that he needs to design a handout that will inform students of the specialized nature of studying and learning online. Online faculty may need to create a shared means of systematically informing prospective students of the special nature of the learning experience.

PLANNING AGENDA

7. Through the assessment and planning process, the college will establish a systematic procedure for analyzing trends in all factors that could affect program planning and incorporate the findings into the development of new programs. Department chairs and the Office of Academic Affairs will strengthen low-demand programs by developing systematic plans that include marketing, recruitment, and a two- to three-year plan for scheduling beginning and advanced courses.

8. The college will put a high priority on establishing and enforcing validated pre-requisites for college-level transfer classes. It will assess the need to offer basic skills classes and accompanying degree-applicable, non-transferable curriculum in sufficient numbers to accommodate the realistic needs of the student population.

9. The assessment and planning process will systematically ensure that all degrees, certificate programs, general education curriculum, programs, certificate programs, and disciplines will have specific measurable objectives tied directly to the college goals and will identify and make public expected learning outcomes. As course outlines are updated, the college will develop provisions for the review of their appropriateness for general education.

10. The Curriculum Committee will establish an effective procedure for its operations that focuses on the effectiveness of learning outcomes and key indicators for the courses and programs that come before it instead of on technical review.