Creating a TransferGoing Culture: A New Model for Admitting and Retaining Students from Educationall

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Creating a Transfer-Going Culture A New Model
for Admitting and Retaining Students from
Educationally Disadvantaged Backgrounds

• A Plenary Presentation for
• Excellence by Diversity What Does it
• Take to Make Higher Education a Meaningful
  Experience?
• Stephen J. Handel
• University of California, Office of the President
• Alfred Herrera
• University of California, Los Angeles
• Amsterdam -- June 2003

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Preview of Presentation

• Higher Education in California and its Connection
  to the Netherlands
• Diversity and Demographics in the 21st Century
• Challenges to Diversity
• Response Creating a Transfer-Going Culture
• Results

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Higher Education in California

• High Schools (secondary education)
• 3 to 4 years
• Diploma
• Four-Year Institutions (higher education)
• University education
• Baccalaureate degree

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California Higher Education

• Community Colleges (higher education)
• Two-year colleges
• Vocational education
• Preparation for university (AA degree)
• Open admissions
• Geographically accessible
• Low cost

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Eligibility for Public Higher Educationfrom A
Master Plan for Higher Education In California
1960
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How Transfer Works

• Students in a community college may complete the
  first two years of a university education.
• After finishing the first two years, the student
  may transfer to a university to complete the
  baccalaureate degree.

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How Transfer Creates a Diverse Student Body

• Community Colleges are the first choice of non-
  traditional students
• Approximately half of all racial/ethnic minority
  undergraduates enrolled in higher education
  attend a community college.
• Nearly 50 percent of all community college
  students are over 25 years of age.
• Community college attract far more students from
  lower socio-economic backgrounds.

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How Transfer Creates a Diverse Student Body

• Community Colleges possess greatest capacity for
  future growth
• Accessibility Especially for non-traditional
  students.
• Capacity Greater ability to absorb increasing
  numbers of prospective students.
• Adaptability Better positioned to accommodate
  the needs of students with varying levels of
  academic preparation and goals.

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II. Diversity and Demographics

• Greatest population growth is among
  underrepresented ethnic minority groups.
• In the next several years, no ethnic minority
  group will constitute a majority of the
  population in California.
• These new students will be graduating in great
  numbers from California high schools and be of
  college-age.

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Will these new students be eligible to attend
UC?

• Data indicate that there are significant
  differences between groups with regard to college
  eligibility rates.
• Thus, while there are growing numbers of
  underrepresented high school students, fewer of
  them are eligible to attend UC directly.

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How will these students gain entry to higher
education?

• Data indicate that many educationally
  disadvantaged students are not eligible to enter
  UC directly from high school.
• But they can prepare themselves at a community
  college
• Open admissions
• Low cost
• Geographically accessible.

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California and the Netherlands

• Minority students often directed to vocational
  programs.
• In the US, this is sometimes called the cooling
  out function.
• Student diversity will be achieved when we
  understand that the liberal arts (transfer-going
  cultures) serves all students well.

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III. Challenges to Diversity

• Community Colleges and the Rise of Vocational
  Curricula
• Shifting Political Commitments to Diversity

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Community Colleges and the Rise of Vocational
Education

• Transfer rates have remained steady, but
  participation in vocational programs is
  increasing.
• Over 62 of all AA degrees are awarded in
  vocational disciplines.
• Underrepresented students are often funneled to
  these programs rather than university-level
  studies.

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Shifting Commitments to Diversity

• Pre-1995 UC student diversity -- Among the most
  diverse universities in the nation.
• In 1995, 21 of all newly enrolled freshmen
  students came from underrepresented groups.
• In 1995, 19 of all newly enrollment community
  college transfer students came from
  underrepresented groups.

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A Political Paradigm Shift

• 1995 UC Regents prohibited the use of
  race/ethnicity in the admissions process.
• 1996 The California electorate passed
  Proposition 209, which banned the use of
  race/ethnicity throughout the State.

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Impact of SP-1 and 209

• Overall reduction in the number of
  underrepresented students enrolling at UC (i.e.,
  African American, Chicano/Latino and American
  Indian students).
• Reduction had variable effects across the
  University -- Some UC campuses increased student
  diversity.

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IV. Response Creating a Transfer-Going Culture

• Given the paradigm shift away from race/ethnicity
  in the admissions process and
• Given inexorable demographic trends and
• Given a rise in vocational tracking
• How will higher education institutions remain
  accessible to underrepresented students?

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UC Regents Convene the Outreach Task Force

• The charge of the Task Force was
• develop proposals for new directions and
  increased funding for the Board of Regents to
  increase the eligibility rates of those who are
  disadvantaged economically or in terms of their
  social environment

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Outreach Task Force Goals

• Diversity Contribute to the enrichment of UC
  campuses through a diverse student body.
• Access Improve opportunities for California
  students in educationally disadvantaged
  circumstances to achieve eligibility and to
  enroll at UC campuses.

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Task Force Constraints Parameters

• Although diversity remains an important UC goal,
  no other criteria can effectively replace
  race/ethnicity in the admissions process.
• UC student academic development programs must
  assist all students.
• Outreach is the only tool left to create a
  diverse class.

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Task Force Recommendations

• Long-term, systemic change.
• Recalibrate UC outreach away from recruitment
  toward academic preparation.
• Outreach programs become the engine of change.
• Effort is designed to assist all students in
  educationally disadvantaged circumstances.

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Elements of a Transfer-Going Culture

• Establish transfer to a four-year institution as
  a high institutional priority.
• Ensure that transfer is perceived by students as
  expected and attainable.
• Offer a rigorous transfer curriculum for all
  students that includes writing, critical
  thinking, mathematics, and the sciences.

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Elements of a Transfer-Going Culture

• Provide high quality instruction, including
  innovative and research-based pedagogies.
• Develop intensive academic support programs based
  on academic excellence models (e.g., academic
  counseling, peer tutoring, and reciprocal
  learning techniques).

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Elements of a Transfer-Going Culture

• Create an environment of belonging in which
  students feel stimulated to achieve at high
  academic levels.
• Establish strong community and family linkages
  that foster intellectually stimulating, secure,
  and culturally rich environments for students on
  and off campus.

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Programs Developed with a Focus on Creating
Transfer-Going Cultures

• UC systemwide reforms
• Public commitment to transfer.
• Linking transfer enrollment to budget
  allocations.
• Creating new paths of admissions The Dual
  Admissions Program

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Programs Developed with a Focus on Creating
Transfer-Going Cultures

• UC Campus Reforms and Partnerships
• Creating Transfer-Going Cultures in Partnership
  with Community College Faculty (UCLA)
• Academic Development Programs to Enhance Student
  Preparation and Expectations (SITE)
• Professional Development Programs for Community
  College Counselors (ETS)

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UCLA Center for Community College Partnerships
(CCCP)

• The Center is responsible for developing and
  strengthening academic partnerships between UCLA
  and California community colleges. The goals are
  to work with community college administrators and
  faculty to develop a campus-wide transfer culture
  for all students, to strengthen and diversify the
  curriculum, to improve teaching pedagogy, to
  develop strong academic support programs, to
  increase the number of transfer eligible
  community college students, and, ultimately, to
  increase the diversity and academic
  competitiveness of the UCLA transfer applicant
  pool.

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UCLA Center for Community College Partnerships
(CCCP)

• An important focus of the work of CCCP is to
  challenge educators low expectations of
  underrepresented and under-served students, to
  create institutional change, and to foster the
  development of an academic climate and a transfer
  culture that emphasizes excellence and access to
  transfer for all community college students.

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UCLA/Community College Academic Consortium

• Develop a rigorous transfer-focused academic
  culture in order to increase transfer rates.
• Redefine curriculum, pedagogy, and academic
  support services.
• Employ strategies for academic acceleration
  rather than remediation.

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Interactions with Consortium Partners

• Faculty and Staff Development Days
• President and Vice President Collaboration
• UCLA Chancellors Visit to East Los Angeles
  College
• Community College Excellence Conference

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Disciplinary Workgroups

• Composition, mathematics, science, and social
  science.
• Identified barriers to academic development and
  transfer.
• Conducted a review of existing practices and
  services.
• Developed recommendations and pilot activities
  for addressing barriers.

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Peer Counselors

• Serve as role models.
• Provide information about life as a transfer
  student.
• Provide referrals to UCLA Admissions
  representatives.
• Discuss the transition between a 2 year and 4
  year institutions.
• Provide information on success in college.
• Organize visits to UCLA.

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Academic Development /Student Support Workgroup

• Learning Centers
• TRIO programs
• EOPS
• Faculty from English as a Second Language
  departments (ESL)
• UCLAs Academic Advancement Program

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Barriers to Academic Achievement and Transfer

• Students inability to read and write at levels
  high enough to perform successfully in their
  coursework.
• Students lack of motivation, particularly in the
  sciences.
• Inadequate academic tutoring and counseling.
• Emphasis on remediation rather than excellence.

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Barriers to Academic Achievementand Transfer

• Lack  of incentive and support for redesigning
  curriculum and rethinking pedagogical practices.
• Lack of coordination and synergy among academic
  support programs.
• Need for greater communication among academic
  support programs, counselors, and financial aid
  officers.
• Sense that transfer is a remote possibility
  rather than an expected result of community
  college education.

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Outcomes and Activities

• Math
• Supplemental instruction model required two hours
  of mandatory tutoring every other week, allowing
  for additional complex problem solving and more
  time on task and comprising 10 of their grades.
• A UCLA mathematics professor mentored the tutors
  on a weekly basis, reviewing the worksheets and
  quizzes they developed for the tutorial sessions
  and assisting with the Saturday tutoring.

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Outcomes and Activities

• Fast-Track English
• Fifteen students with strong performance records
  in English 57 or placed into the English 60 were
  invited to by-pass English 60 and join the
  English 101 Fast Track class.
• Students enrolled concurrently in a one-unit
  course requiring two extra hours of instruction
  weeklyan hour meeting one-on-one with the
  professor and an hour in a writing lab with
  tutors.

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Outcomes and Activities

• Paired Courses
• English courses are paired with courses from
  other departments such as social science,
  history, psychology, and science to accelerate
  learning.
• Many of these courses involve supplemental
  tutoring.

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Outcomes and Activities

• Writing Seminar
• UCLA Writings Program faculty conduct a
  composition seminar for community college
  faculty. It is an opportunity for a conversation
  centered around composition and writing.
• This collaborative study of theories and
  practices is open to faculty in English and other
  disciplines.
• The seminar is small, no more than 15
  participants so the group can engage in
  meaningful discussions about the use of writing
  in the classroom

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Summer Intensive Transfer Experience (SITE)

• Six day residential and academic program that
  provides academic information and prepares
  students for the road to transfer, prior to their
  enrolling in a community college, or as soon as
  possible.

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SITE Philosophy

• Provide motivation and mentoring.
• Create a sense of belonging.
• Introduce students to the concept of a learning
  community.
• Provide tools to navigate through the system.

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SITE Philosophy

• Expose students to the University of California
  campuses.
• Encourage students to prepare early.
• Provide network of support for achieving
  excellence
• Introduce students to the academic rigors of a
  research university

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SITE Agenda

• Welcome and keynote speech
• Workshop for students and a separate session for
  parents
• Informal BBQ so parents can talk to UCLA faculty,
  staff and students
• Writing workshops conducted by UCLA faculty and
  support service staff.

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Teaching and Learning

• Writing Across the Curriculum -- Students attend
  a 4 session writing workshop taught by a UCLA
  faculty member.
• A UCLA professor provides students with a
  simulated lecture over 3 days. The professor and
  TA discuss note taking, time management and other
  college excellence skills.

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Counseling and Advising

• Students meet with UCLA staff and team leaders to
  discuss the basics of transfer and to develop a
  plan to help them prepare for transfer to
  UC/UCLA.
• Counselors from local community colleges conduct
  workshops on maximizing students time at the
  community college.

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Additional SITE Workshops

• Careers vs. Majors
• Using the Internet for Research
• Overcoming Transfer Obstacles
• Preparation for UC Transfer
• Teaching and Graduate Programs

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Follow-Up Saturday Academies

• Provides students with
• On-going opportunities to interact with UCLA
  students, staff and faculty.
• Introduce students to a variety of academic
  excellence workshops.
• Help students become familiar with a University
  campus and the resources and services available.

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V. Results

• Participation in Outreach Programs
• UC Enrollment Rates
• Persistence and Graduation Rates

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UC Outreach Program Participants as a Percentage
of New UC Freshmen from CA Public High Schools,
Fall 2001
Notes Outreach programs include EAOP, MESA,
Puente and the School/University Partnership
Program.
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New UC California Resident Freshmen
EnrollmentUnderrepresented Minorities
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New California Community College
TransfersUnderrepresented Minorities
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UC Transfer Enrollment 1998 - 2002
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UC Freshmen First Year Persistence Rates
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UC Freshmen Second Year Persistence Rates
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Transfer Student First Year Persistence Rates
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Transfer Student Second Year Persistence Rates
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For more information

• Stephen J. Handel, Ph.D.
• Director, Transfer Enrollment Planning and
  Undergraduate Outreach
• Office of the President
• University of California
• 1111 Franklin Street, 9th Floor
• Oakland, California 94607
• 510-987-9559
• stephen.handel_at_ucop.edu

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For more information

• Alfred Herrera
• Director, Center for Community College
  Partnerships
• College of Letters and Science
• University of California, Los Angeles
• 2217 Campbell Hall, Box 957176
• Los Angeles, CA 90095-7176
• 310-267-4441
• aherrera_at_college.ucla.edu

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