Program & Schedule 

Breakfast on your own

  9:30 – 11:10Welcome and Student Panel with Moderator Dr. Deborah Harrington

11:10 – 11:35Coffee Break, sponsored by BibliU

11:35 – 12:35Breakout Session 1

12:35 – 1:35Lunch, sponsored by eLumen

  1:45 – 3:05Breakout Session 2

  3:05 – 3:30Coffee and Snack Break, sponsored by EAB

  3:30 – 4:30Breakout Session 3

  4:30 – 6:00Reception

Our opening session on Wednesday, October 5, will feature a panel discussion with students from California community colleges moderated by Dr. Deborah Harrington, Dean of Student Success at LACCD and Executive Director of the California Community Colleges Success Network (3CSN). Our student panelists will share stories of their educational journeys, talk about what they have learned about themselves and our institutions, and encourage us with their own successes. Based on their own experiences and those of their fellow students, the panelists will also provide insight into how our colleges can be safe harbors of healing and hope that allow students to THRIVE!

 Wednesday, October 5 | 11:35 am – 12:35 pm

Three Steps to Decolonizing Your Curriculum: Embedding Equity and Antiracist Curricular Practices at the Foundation of the New Structures Emerging in Response to COVID19
Strand:  Achieving Equity in the Classroom — Critical Changes to Address Inequities, Champion Antiracism, and Improve Learning
Room: Garden 1/2

As Santa Barbara Community College (SBCC) developed new systems in response to COVID-19, it discovered that hidden within the chaos of the pandemic was an opportunity to embed antiracist practices at the foundation of new structures. With acute knowledge that students of color were the most disproportionately impacted by the transition to online learning, grant funds provided extensive professional development for equity-based online curriculum development. This transformation of SBCC’s curricular systems resulted from a successful three-part plan: 1) Every faculty member was required to take 18 hours of online teaching training including equity and antiracism training; 2) Faculty experts in online instruction and equity coached faculty to prepare courses for online instruction; and 3) Following training, faculty were required to create an equity-informed online teaching plan for every course taught on campus.

Presenters: Justina Buller, Elizabeth Imhof, and Joshua Ramirez, Santa Barbara City College

Dual Enrollment: An Equity Strategy for Disproportionately Impacted Student Populations
Strand: Collaborating across Sectors and Segments — Antiracist Partnerships and Networks Creating Equitable Outcomes
Room: Garden 3

Dual enrollment can be an equity strategy when thoughtfully and intentionally designed. Join us in exploring how Madera College has successfully increased dual enrollment of male students and how Cuyamaca College has increased dual enrollment of Black/African American students. Participants will learn how these colleges partnered with high schools to co-designed dual enrollment — from recruitment to the classroom experience — to support the success of students from disproportionately impacted populations. Participants will share strategies and begin an action plan to support dual enrollment student populations who are disproportionately impacted.

Presenters: Laurencia Walker, Career Ladders Project; Darin Soukup, Madera Community College; Kristin McKenna, Madera Unified School District; Mark Jeffers, Mount Miguel High School/Grossmont Union School District

A Holistic Vibe: Creating a Culture of Care by Addressing Perceived and Personal Stigmas, Increasing Belonging, and Enhancing Resiliency
Strand: Creating Equitable Support Systems for Students and Employees that Address Basic Needs and Physical and Mental Well-Being
Room: Garden 4

This session will explore strategies to establish healthy and resilient campus communities using an equity and trauma-informed lens to support whole-person well-being. We will share tactics that reduce stigmas and increase help-seeking behaviors. The presentation emphasizes program structures that foster a collective mindset on campus and a sense of belonging to achieve holistic wellness. We will highlight the importance of implementing a wellness team inclusive of multiple professional specializations (i.e., social work interns, nurse practitioners, therapists). Participants will also engage in thought partnership with the presenters and each other to highlight innovative initiatives that address food and housing insecurity to increase student protective factors. The presenters will highlight cost-effective implementation measures and optimal resource utilization.

Presenters: Brandi Avila, Tracy Bennet, Lynnette Sullivan, and Christopher Sweeten, Moreno Valley College

 – Hello, Is It Me You’re Looking For?: ePortfolios as Platforms for Engagement, Persistence, and Equitable Assessment
Strand: Achieving Equity in the Classroom — Critical Changes to Address Inequities, Champion Antiracism, and Improve Learning
Room: Harbor

In this interactive session, students and faculty from Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM), writing, counseling, and the College Promise program will share how ePortfolios — particularly when used as a whole-semester project — have contributed to community-building, healing, hope, and persistence in a time of crisis for students and educators alike. We will explore how they engage students and faculty in what Zaretta Hammond calls “productive struggle,” providing a platform for equitable grading practices, as well as empowering students to assess their own knowledge and growth and supporting their development as independent learners. Join us for a treasure trove of resources and a celebratory sharing of student and faculty work!

Presenters: Trang Abeid, Cosumnes River College; Kelan Koning, CSU Northridge; Diana Bonilla Hein, Los Angeles Mission College; Jacob El Fattal, Fabio Silva, and Melissa Smith, Riverside City College; Jamey Cooper, Victor Valley College/Riverside City College

Meeting Faculty Where They Are: Teaching and Learning Communities to Foster Persistence and Retention
Strand: Building Culturally Robust and Positive Practices that Increase Student Agency — Professional Learning and Leadership Development
Room: Pacific

Do you have a hard time engaging instructional faculty in the work of reimagining the student experience? See the same people at every meeting? We did too! At our college, about 10% of the faculty were doing 100% of the redesign work. We were tempted to frame it as good old-fashioned apathy, but the research suggests otherwise. Our session shows how our new Teaching and Learning Communities address these barriers to connect faculty and leverage their expertise with the goal of increasing student retention and persistence.

Presenters: Jacqulyn Horton, Jennifer McCandless, and Heather Wylie, Shasta College

ALL in: Accelerated Language Learning Methodology
Strand: Redressing Structural Inequities to Achieve More Equitable Institutions
Room: Salon 1

Acceleration in English, math, and English as a Second Language (ESL) is more than just a mandate. It is an opportunity to examine methods of teaching that can increase the engagement and success of students in any class. Increasing language proficiency increases success for students in all pathways of study at the college. Using Accelerated Language Learning (ALL) methodology doubled the rate of student success through transfer-level English. We will share a cluster of techniques that have been in use for years, which ALL puts into practical practice. Anyone can put any part of ALL into practice in their classroom, even if it is not a language course. We will present examples of lesson plans, calendars, and student work from these courses.

Presenters: Guillermo Colls, Cuyamaca Community College; Melissa Reeve, Solano Community College

More than Money: Re-Centering Planning and Resource Allocation on DEIA Principles
Strand: Strategic and Integrated Planning to Create Caring, Equitable, and Antiracist Campus Communities
Room: Salon 7/8

Rio Hondo College adopted an antiracist mission in 2020 and is working to enact this new charge. One way that we are accomplishing this work is through our annual planning and resource allocation processes. Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Access (DEIA) has become a critical component of these processes, based on the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office’s (CCCCO) Vision for Success/Vision for Success Diversity Equity and Inclusion Task Force, Student Equity and Achievement Plan, and the college’s own student equity principles. Participants will understand the importance of DEIA in planning and resource allocation, mechanisms for re-centering planning and resource allocation at Rio Hondo, and learn about resources for implementation at their institution.

Presenters: Lisa Chavez, Sarah Cote, Caroline Durdella, and Stephen Kibui, Rio Hondo College

 Wednesday, October 5 | 1:45 pm – 3:05 pm

Holistic Student Supports as a Foundation for Guided Pathways and Student Equity
Strand: Creating Equitable Support Systems for Students and Employees that Address Basic Needs and Physical and Mental Well-Being
Room: Garden 1/2

Which students have the greatest needs? What barriers are blocking their paths to success? How do we meet a student’s needs if we do not know what they are? In this session, presenters from Norco College will share about their experience with advancing equity through a Holistic Student Support process designed with Achieving the Dream's Holistic Student Supports Redesign toolkit. We will discuss how needs assessment data was used to provide customized support plans for all incoming students and improve student services throughout the campus. Attendees will participate in activities to evaluate their college’s readiness to provide holistic student supports, explore existing technologies to facilitate implementation, and build a framework around internal and external partnerships.

Presenters: Lilia Garcia, Tenisha James, and David Schlanger, Norco College

Open for Antiracism: Using Open Educational Resources to Support Antiracism in the Classroom
Strand: Achieving Equity in the Classroom — Critical Changes to Address Inequities, Champion Antiracism, and Improve Learning
Room: Garden 3

As adoption of Open Educational Resources (OER) continues to gain ground, it is important to understand that, in some cases, existing OER reproduces the biases of larger society. The Open for Antiracism program trains faculty to view OER as an opportunity to improve existing materials and create new materials with an explicitly inclusive and equitable perspective. In addition, participants are encouraged to do this via co-creation with their students. Rather than instructors revising materials so that students may see themselves in their lessons, why not engage students to actively create and integrate openly licensed materials to form the basis of future lessons? We will share our successes and challenges, activities from our classrooms, and the results of our research on faculty perceptions and student outcomes.

Presenters: James Glapa-Grossklag, College of the Canyons; Una Daly, Open Education Consortium; Alyssa Nguyen and Ireri Valenzuela, The RP Group

Helping Students in Distress
Strand: Creating Equitable Support Systems for Students and Employees that Address Basic Needs and Physical and Mental Well-Being
Room: Garden 4

Current research on the impact of COVID on young adults indicates alarming trends: depression and anxiety have risen four times compared to pre-COVID levels. Self-harm has risen six times compared to pre-COVID levels. For some students, personal adversity, challenges, and problems will overwhelm them and prevent academic success. To mediate these issues, our faculty and health center staff worked together to create a process to identify students in distress, communicate with them, and refer them to the campus health center for free counseling and, in some cases, referrals to additional resources. You will hear from students, faculty, and staff on the challenges and benefits of implementing our process and how you can adapt it to your campus.

Presenters: Brittany Applen, Jeannie Chari, Adam Kempler, and Kathy Kubo, College of the Canyons

Pasadena City College’s Title V Abriendo Caminos Grant: Opening Pathways to Institutionalize Equity
Strand: Redressing Structural Inequities to Achieve More Equitable Institutions
Room: Harbor

This presentation will highlight Pasadena City College’s (PCC) Title V grant, Abriendo Caminos: Opening Pathways to Institutionalize Equity, and the transformative work to center Latina/o/x and Chicana/o/x students’ success. The Abriendo Caminos grant operationalizes Dr. Gina Garcia's concept of “servingness,” which is “a culturally enhancing approach that centers Latina/o/x and Chicana/o/x experiences and ways of knowing.” Two initiatives to emerge from the grant include (1) gateway course redesign through faculty inquiry groups focused on transforming curriculum and (2) PCC’s Student Advisory Equipo — student experts and consultants who provide feedback on campuswide processes and policies. Participants will receive an introduction to theoretical frameworks in areas of racial/ethnic equity and will engage in brainstorming practices they can employ on their respective campuses.

Presenters: Cristina Salazar-Romo and Desiree Zuniga, Pasadena City College

Supporting Students Through AB 705 and Into AB 1705: Corequisites, Math Pathways, and More
Strand: Achieving Equity in the Classroom — Critical Changes to Address Inequities, Champion Antiracism, and Improve Learning
Room: Pacific

This session will showcase new research from the Multiple Measures Assessment Project (MMAP) research team on corequisite courses in English and Math across the state. The research focuses on the effectiveness of different corequisite models, their completion rates, and which types seem to maximize completion and for which students. The session will also focus on implementation of AB 1705 and supporting research on the varying math pathways. The session will wrap up with highlights from the MMAP team on the most recent research findings to help colleges with ongoing implementation of AB 705 and AB 1705 and to work toward narrowing equity gaps.

Presenters: Craig Hayward, Bakersfield College; Terrence Willett, Cabrillo College; Giovanni Sosa, Crafton Hills College; Mallory Newell, De Anza College; Loris Fagioli, Irvine Valley College; Daisy Segovia, Orange Coast College

A Virtual Dual Enrollment Hub: Scaling Equity in Fresno
Strand: Collaborating across Sectors and Segments — Antiracist Partnerships and Networks Creating Equitable Outcomes
Room: Salon 1

The promise of dual enrollment as an equity strategy has been out of reach for many students, including many rural students in the Central Valley. The newly launched Virtual Dual Enrollment Hub (VDEH) enables high school students to enroll in a curated list of online college courses that meet A-G requirements with a support structure to ensure their success. The Fresno-Madera K-16 Collaborative (State Center Community College District, K-12 school districts, the County Office of Education, and businesses) and the California Virtual Campus are partnering to carry out this pilot with a goal to improve regional educational and economic equity. This session provides a detailed discussion with participants and presenters on the resources necessary to support students in virtual, non-cohort, dual enrollment. Join us in a dialogue to inform the potential rollout of a VDEH more broadly across the state for California College and Career Access Pathways (CCAP), non-CCAP, and adult dual enrollment students.

Presenters: Sherry Shojaei, Career Ladders Project

 – Building Community and Leadership through Professional Learning: Our ePortfolio Journey
Strand: Building Culturally Robust and Positive Practices that Increase Student Agency — Professional Learning and Leadership Development
Room: Salon 7/8

In this session, students and educators from across disciplines will share their professional learning journeys to ePortfolios during our abrupt pivot online in 2020. The session will highlight the ways in which this virtual professional learning space, the 3CSN ePortfolio design lab, has enriched individual and collective identities and led to more equitable assessment and learning environments for students. Practical examples will be provided. Join us to learn how members of the ePortfolios design lab community have partnered across colleges in the creation and evolution of ePortfolio student design labs as well as how an idea for ePortfolios for College Promise students was developed and implemented through thought partner engagement. Then create a plan for your own transformative learning!

Presenters: Trang Abeid and Angelica Valila, Cosumnes River College; Kelan Koning, CSU Northridge; Diana Bonilla Hein, Los Angeles Mission College; Fabio Silva and Melissa Smith, Riverside City College; Jamey Cooper, Riverside City College/Victor Valley College

 – Facilitating an Inclusive, Data-Rich, and Equity-Focused Strategic Planning Process
Strand: Strategic and Integrated Planning to Create Caring, Equitable, and Antiracist Campus Communities
Room: Salon 6

What makes for a good plan? In the not-so-distant past, strategic plans were often created by a select few and ended up sitting on a shelf after they met compliance requirements for accreditation. But strategic plans should really serve as a college’s North Star, guiding planning and resource priorities across the institution. So, how do you make strategic planning meaningful and inclusive, such that the entire campus has opportunities to engage in a process that yields measurable, equity-minded goals that reflect each member of the college community? This interactive session will demonstrate how Cuyamaca College leveraged its participatory governance structures and campus planning culture to carry out a data-informed strategic planning process grounded in the college's mission and vision of equity, excellence, and social justice. We will share examples, tools, and strategies for engaging various stakeholders throughout the inquiry, analysis, reflection, and strategic plan development process.

Presenters: Tristin Beery, Bri Hays, Tammi Marshall, and Jessica Robinson, Cuyamaca Community College.

 Wednesday, October 5 | 3:30 pm – 4:30 pm

 – Mesa Journeys: An Innovative Tool to Connect Students to Campus Resources
Strand: Creating Equitable Support Systems for Students and Employees that Address Basic Needs and Physical and Mental Well-Being
Room: Garden 1/2

Like all colleges, San Diego Mesa College offers support programs, services, and events to help students inside and outside the classroom. Although we actively advertise them, our data indicate that students are disproportionately unaware of the resources available to them and how to utilize the services. In this session, we will showcase our innovative “Mesa Journeys” tool designed to mitigate the problem. By taking a brief two-minute survey, students can get a personalized list of student support programs and resources for which they are eligible. In addition, the data generated from the brief survey can help programs directly promote opportunities to qualified students. Come learn about how we developed this tool, how we analyze its current results and impacts, and how you can build a similar product at your college to help connect campus services and resources to students.

Presenters: Hai Hoang, San Diego Mesa College; Charles Schimazaki, San Diego State University

Developing Indicators of Educational Equity and Effectively Analyzing Student Equity Plans
Strand: Redressing Structural Inequities to Achieve More Equitable Institutions
Room: Garden 3

Examining the differences between groups in access, persistence, progress, completion and transfer is a necessary element of improving the educational experience and outcomes for all students. In this session, we will demonstrate how to effectively analyze student equity plan data to focus attention on groups that are most disproportionately impacted and for whom progress on educational equity indicators (EEIs) can be used as a holistic measure of institutional effectiveness. Collecting, analyzing, and reporting such measures on a regular, sustained basis can help schools monitor equity gaps and measure the effectiveness of interventions to close them.

Presenters: Craig Hayward and Melissa Myers, Bakersfield College

Interdisciplinary Student Research Collaboration: The Umoja Approach
Strand: Achieving Equity in the Classroom — Critical Changes to Address Inequities, Champion Antiracism, and Improve Learning
Room: Garden 4

In fall 2021, the Umoja faculty at Pierce College designed a collaborative approach to increase outcomes in gatekeeper courses through student completion of an interdisciplinary research project. Utilizing the learning community courses offered in Pierce's Umoja program, the faculty teaching Math 227 (Statistics), English 101 (College Reading and Composition), and History 42 (African American History II) provided students with an opportunity to bridge the curriculum in all three courses to cultivate skills for future scholarly research. Incorporating guest speakers, culturally responsive pedagogy, and antiracist and data-focused practices, the faculty endeavored to build community to increase outcomes in these gatekeeper courses. In this session, the Umoja instructors will share the interdisciplinary approach and extensive collaborative efforts practiced to develop a common student research project.

Presenters: Christopher Corning, Kalynda McLean, Christopher Strickland, and Edouard Tchertchian, Los Angeles Pierce College

Is Transfer Broken? Myths and Truths about Transfer Considering AB 928
Strand: Collaborating across Sectors and Segments — Antiracist Partnerships and Networks Creating Equitable Outcomes
Room: Harbor

In recent years, the CCC, CSU, and UC systems have made numerous attempts to overhaul the student transfer experience to remove barriers and make it more equitable. In this session, members from the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges (ASCCC) will provide updates and insight on new legislation, AB 928, enacted to improve transfer. Presenters will provide information on the general education (GE) pathway changes called for in the legislation and proposed by the Intersegmental Committee of Academic Senates (ICAS), timelines for adoption and implementation of the proposed GE pathway, and updates about the work of the Transfer Committee created by the legislation.

Presenters: Eric Wada, ASCCC/Folsom Lake College; Cheryl Aschenbach, ASCCC/Lassen College

Advancing Equity in Guided Pathways Through Project Teams
Strand: Strategic and Integrated Planning to Create Caring, Equitable, and Antiracist Campus Communities
Room: Pacific

This session will discuss and explore how to use faculty-led project teams to integrate and institutionalize equity in guided pathways to ensure that operational activities are connected to strategic goals. Presenters will share a process for identifying operational gaps and building project teams and will discuss how to best leverage resources to empower project team members in leading transformative work.

Presenters: Melissa Bader, Dominique Hitchcock, Tenisha James, and Elizabeth Lopez, Norco College

Guided Pathways in Action: State-Level Transformation and Modeling
Strand: Strategic and Integrated Planning to Create Caring, Equitable, and Antiracist Campus Communities
Room: Salon 1

Join us for a conversation designed to introduce how the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office is engaging in a student-centered structural realignment process and reimagining the use of regulation, practice, planning, evaluation, communication, and resources to further support colleges in attaining systemwide equitable student outcomes. Participants will have an opportunity to utilize the principles of guided pathways to examine the need for systemic- and organizational-level transformation that is anchored in evidence and focused on serving the modern and diverse student, as well as share their input on how state structures impact local reforms.

Presenter: Aisha Lowe, California Community Colleges Chancellor's Office

Mathematics/Quantitative Reasoning Success Study: Course Success and Implications for Equity
Strand: Achieving Equity in the Classroom — Critical Changes to Address Inequities, Champion Antiracism, and Improve Learning
Room: Salon 7/8

Rio Hondo College received an Aspen Institute grant to support Latinx students in completing transfer-level math courses. To better understand math success, the college’s Office of Institutional Research and Planning examined the variability of success rates across sections of a transfer-level statistics course, given that statistics has high enrollment and plays a pivotal role in AB 705 implementation. The study builds off De Anza College's research on success rates by incorporating a qualitative analysis of instructional factors. In this session, we will share findings about what may account for the wide dispersion of success rates, learn from faculty about changes in course policies, and discuss equity implications. This research can open conversations to unpack instructor influences on success and foster more positive learning experiences for students.

Presenters: Caroline Durdella, Lydia Gonzalez, and Connie Tan, Rio Hondo College

  7:30 – 8:30Continental Breakfast, sponsored by National University

  8:30 – 10:15Morning Plenary and Keynote Address by Dr. Paul Hernandez

10:15 – 10:40Coffee Break, sponsored by Honorlock

10:15 – 10:40Book Signing with Dr. Paul Hernandez

10:40 – 12:00Breakout Session 4

12:05 – 1:05Lunch

  1:15 – 2:35Breakout Session 5

  2:35 – 3:00Coffee and Snack Break, sponsored by Nimbus Learning

  2:35 – 3:00Book Signing with Dr. Paul Hernandez

  3:00 – 4:30Closing Plenary and Keynote Address by Dr. Tammeil Gilkerson

 Thursday, October 6 | 8:30 am – 10:15 am

A Sense of Belonging: The Foundation for Student Success
A sense of belonging is often spoken about regarding its role in student success. But more importantly, how do we as educators create a sense of belonging in our classrooms? Dr. Hernandez will speak about the concept of belonging through his compelling personal story and his applied research. More specifically, he will share what educators must be willing to do in order to create a sense of belonging in the classroom during his keynote and he will go further in-depth during breakout session 5 later in the day.

 Thursday, October 6 | 10:40 am – 12:05 pm

Unpacking the Effects of Extended Opportunity Program and Services on Student Achievement: A Mixed-Methods Study
Strand: Creating Equitable Support Systems for Students and Employees that Address Basic Needs and Physical and Mental Well-Being
Room: Garden 1/2

Extended Opportunity Programs and Services (EOPS) is for students from low-income and educationally disadvantaged backgrounds who are seeking support to reach their educational goals. This session will bridge the research-practice gap to help colleges implementing EOPS programs identify best practices for supporting EOPS student success. We will first share findings from a rigorous assessment of the impact of EOPS participation on student outcomes based on California community college data (2010–2019), followed by best practices for serving EOPS students identified by student focus groups at colleges demonstrating greater success with their EOPS students. Lastly, we will engage participants, researchers, and members of the CCC EOPS Association in guided conversation about how to put this research into practice at individual colleges.

Presenters: Terrence Willett, Cabrillo College; Libby Cook, CCC EOPS Association; Fabio Gonzalez, San Jose City College; Marcela Reyes, The RP Group

Every Flower Has a STEM: How Puente Is Making Math Relevant and Accessible to BIPOC Students
Strand: Achieving Equity in the Classroom — Critical Changes to Address Inequities, Champion Antiracism, and Improve Learning
Room: Garden 3

Learn how Puente is sowing opportunities in STEM by examining gatekeeping practices and reimagining and reclaiming math culture for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) students who have been historically discouraged from embracing math learning, careers in STEM-dependent fields, and becoming STEM leaders within their communities. In this session, you will meet Puente’s math initiatives team and learn about equitable and culturally responsive practices that open gates, shift and grow students’ STEM identity and belonging, and bridge faculty to learning communities beyond their campus communities.

Presenters: Melva Alvarez, The Puente Project/Pasadena City College; Karla Rojas, The Puente Project/Sacramento City College; Rob Rubalcaba, The Puente Project/San Diego City College

Ensuring Equitable Dual Enrollment Access, Entry, and Completion for Underrepresented Students: The Journey of a K12-College Partnership
Strand: Collaborating across Sectors and Segments: Antiracist Partnerships and Networks Creating Equitable Outcomes
Room: Garden 4

Dual enrollment is a critical part of an economic and racial equity agenda to provide an opportunity for students — particularly Black, Latinx, low-income, and first-generation college-goers — to step into the role of college student and prepare for additional education or the workforce. The Dual Enrollment for Equitable Completion (DE4EC) initiative supports 10 high school-California community college partnerships to strengthen and expand equitable dual enrollment. During this session, DE4EC representatives and their students will define equitable dual enrollment and provide examples of how their partnerships have disrupted and dismantled racist and White supremacist structures and systems to create a culture and climate that supports historically underrepresented and excluded students’ success. Participants will have an opportunity to consider how to equitize their own dual enrollment efforts.

Presenters: Blanca Gomez, East Los Angeles College; Rogéair Purnell, RDP Consulting; Ashley Redix, Redix Research Consulting LLC; Darla Cooper, The RP Group

Realizing the Promise of Direct Assessment Competency-Based Education as an Equity-Driven, Equity-Focused Delivery Model for the California Community Colleges
Strand: Redressing Structural Inequities to Achieve More Equitable Institutions
Room: Harbor

California Community College System leaders, policy experts, intermediaries, and college practitioners launched an eight-college pilot, referred to as the CBE Collaborative, to explore how direct assessment competency-based education (CBE) could serve as a transformative educational model aimed at dismantling systemic barriers and closing equity gaps at scale. This session presents collaborative members’ approaches to large-scale transformative design and their reflections on the broad-reaching, transformative shifts needed to realize the promise of direct assessment CBE for the CCC that places the learner experience at the center of transformational change. The examples in this session illustrate broad systemic and educational shifts in all areas of the system including individual institutions, districts, and state regulation as well as employee roles, teaching and learning, funding, and so many others.

Presenters: Anna Melby, Bakersfield College; Aisha Lowe, California Community Colleges Chancellor's Office; Nathaniel Harrison, Coastline College; Amparo Diaz, Foundation for California Community Colleges; Ashleigh Smallwood and Mara Lockowandt, Jobs for the Future

From Transactional to Relational: Building Trust and Community to Facilitate Equity-Minded Inquiry in the Classroom
Strand: Building Culturally Robust and Positive Practices that Increase Student Agency — Professional Learning and Leadership Development
Room: Pacific

The data coaching program at Santa Monica College (SMC), nicknamed the “Equity Avengers” program, is designed to strengthen community amongst racial equity practitioners and expand the capacity of the college to analyze data and engage in inquiry using an antiracist, equity-minded lens to improve the outcomes and experiences of racially minoritized students. This year-long, cohort-based professional development experience focuses equally on intrapersonal growth, community-building, and data analyses and inquiry. The session provides an overview of the work produced by the program’s fourth cohort of faculty (department chairs), who analyzed disaggregated course success data and conducted student focus groups to better understand the underlying root causes of gaps produced for Black and Latinx students in courses.

Presenters: Sherri Bradford, Hannah Lawler, Elisa Meyer, and Sal Veas, Santa Monica College

Bringing Student Voices into the Design of Professional Development Work
Strand: Building Culturally Robust and Positive Practices that Increase Student Agency — Professional Learning and Leadership Development
Room: Salon 1

No matter where we sit in an academic institution, the root purpose of our work is to better serve our students by becoming better practitioners. Although a longstanding goal in Pasadena City College’s Office of Professional and Organizational Development has been to receive student input on the professional learning opportunities provided to the campus community, the recent barrage of external experiences our students are facing has underscored the necessity of more deeply understanding what our students need from us. In this session, representatives from multiple constituencies on our campus will introduce a structural approach/model for centering student voices and demonstrate how that approach/model has been used to inform the design of professional development programs on campus.

Presenters: Nicholas Hatch, Jason Robinson, and Desiree Zuniga, Pasadena City College

Real Talk on Race and Racism in Education: A Guided Dialogue among Peers
Strand: Collaborating across Sectors and Segments — Antiracist Partnerships and Networks Creating Equitable Outcomes
Room: Salon 7/8

In this session, we will review some concepts related to racism and the various ways in which it impacts our society. It is normal for these conversations to make us feel some level of anxiety, stress, and various negative emotional responses. It is important for us to pay close attention to these emotional responses and develop an understanding of the trauma that induces these emotions. In this session, it is critical that we interrogate this trauma and pay close attention to how it impacts our unconscious bodies. By the end of this session, you will be familiar with various impacts of racism in society and be able to identify practices that can be utilized to better understand, confront, and develop an antiracist culture.

Presenters: Luis Chavez, Career Ladders Project; Julian West, Gavilan College

Envisioning an Equity-Minded College of the Future: Exploring Hybrid Possibilities through Many Perspectives
Strand: Strategic and Integrated Planning to Create Caring, Equitable, and Antiracist Campus Communities
Room: Salon 6

This session will share a case study from Cuyamaca College illustrating how an institution can navigate uncertainties related to a post-pandemic, hybrid learning future: campus spaces; budget priorities; pedagogy; culture; equity; and student, faculty, and staff experiences. We will share results from (1) the Gensler Education Engagement Index, a national survey on community college student and faculty experiences and future preferences for hybrid learning; (2) surveys developed and administered by the college to inform course and service planning during the pandemic; and (3) focus groups with students who have historically been excluded and marginalized in higher education. This session will also share the different techniques we used to engage a variety of perspectives and voices from across the campus community and how we interpreted the findings to inform both the college strategic plan and facilities master plan.

Presenters: Bri Hays, Cuyamaca College; Erin Cubbison and Deborah Shepley, Gensler

 Thursday, October 6 | 1:15 pm – 2:35 pm

Student-Centered Program Review: Revisioning through the Lens of Guided Pathways
Strand: Strategic and Integrated Planning to Create Caring, Equitable, and Antiracist Campus Communities
Room: Garden 1/2

Applying the guided pathways framework, Orange Coast College created a student-centered program review process aimed at reducing inequity in outcomes through the students’ journey lens. Using intentional disaggregated data and students’ voices, academic programs identified structural and procedural barriers that created disparate outcomes among student groups and created planning strategies to mitigate inequities. Student affairs and administrative units’ program review processes were also re-envisioned using guided pathways, moving the focus for service evaluation to “who” the departments serve. This approach exposed processes and structures preventing equitable access to services and resources by the department’s intended service population. In this session, participants will learn a collaborative approach to integrating the four pillars of guided pathways as a framework for the college’s program review processes, including how practitioners incorporated students’ voices. Together, we will examine how to reframe program review from a process that memorializes the past to one that looks to the future.

Presenters: Kelly Holt and Sheri Sterner, Orange Coast College

Increasing Student Success by Creating a Sense of Belonging in the Classroom
Strand: Building Culturally Robust and Positive Practices that Increase Student Agency — Professional Learning and Leadership Development
Room: Garden 3

As a continuation of his keynote address, Dr. Paul Hernandez will present on how to create a sense of belonging in the classroom through faculty professional learning in the Faculty Academy. He will share the structure, pedagogical foundation, data collection, and intended outcomes of the Faculty Academy. Additionally, he will be joined by faculty members who are part of a Faculty Academy Consortium of four colleges. They will present on their experience, implementation of the work in their classrooms, and the data they have collected surrounding student success.

Presenters: Paul Hernandez, Achieving the Dream, Nicholas Cochrane and Lara Dowland, Mount Wachusett Community College (Massachusetts)

Building a Nourished Campus: Fostering Resilience and Healing through On-Campus Food Security Programs
Strand: Creating Equitable Support Systems for Students and Employees that Address Basic Needs and Physical and Mental Well-Being
Room: Garden 4

Join us as we push against the notion that food is simply calories and fuel. Instead, we will explore how college food pantries can support long-term nourishment and help students explore the meaning of food in their life. Since 2019, Mt. San Antonio College (Mt. SAC) has supported its students’ food security needs through innovative programming and trauma-informed practices. Learn about the leading approaches Mt. SAC adopted to develop its on-campus food security programs and discuss the important role basic needs providers play in promoting healing and resilience on and off campus. Mt. SAC will present this interactive session in collaboration with Leah’s Pantry, a national leader in trauma-informed nutrition security.

Presenters: Leah Quinn, Leah’s Pantry; Rigo Estrada, Mt. San Antonio College

Racial Justice Through Culturally Responsive Teaching and Learning in STEM
Strand: Achieving Equity in the Classroom — Critical Changes to Address Inequities, Champion Antiracism, and Improve Learning
Room: Harbor

Taking an interdisciplinary approach to STEM learning, where academic concepts are coupled with real-world lessons that help students apply STEM in context, can support students in making connections between school, community, and work. This approach enables students to develop STEM literacy and, with it, the ability to compete in the international STEM economy. It is important that the instruction and interaction in our classrooms allow students to maintain the integrity of their cultural identity. Culturally responsive STEM teaching and learning allows faculty to use students’ cultures to make STEM concepts relevant to them and increase their skill acquisition, engagement, and learning outcomes. Please join us in this very important conversation about decreasing the racial divide and increasing racial justice in STEM teaching and learning.

Presenters: Eric Wada, ASCCC/Folsom Lake College; Robert L. Stewart Jr., ASCCC/Los Angeles Southwest College

 – Creating Equitable Outcomes: How Dual Enrollment and Promise Has Closed Equity Gaps
Strand: Collaborating across Sectors and Segments — Antiracist Partnerships and Networks Creating Equitable Outcomes
Room: Pacific

The foundation of the Cerritos Complete Promise Program (CCPP) is collaborative partnerships, high-touch services, and financial support for students. Disproportionately impacted students who have not met traditional measures of college readiness face a myriad of barriers in the transition from high school to college. This session will demonstrate that the CCPP and dual enrollment helps to address barriers through strong collaboration across institutions. This engaging presentation will review and discuss the high-impact practices that have contributed to the growth in the program and present student success data demonstrating the closing of equity gaps. We will also facilitate discussions about the ways program components can be applied at other campuses.

Presenters: Sasha Leonardo, ABC Unified School District; Katherine Aquino, Marilu Garcia, Amber Hroch, and Colleen McKinley, Cerritos College

Integrating Student Supports with Financial Aid: Lessons Learned in Finish Line Scholars Program Implementation
Strand: Creating Equitable Support Systems for Students and Employees that Address Basic Needs and Physical and Mental Well-Being
Room: Salon 1

Financial aid alone does not assure completion of students’ educational goals. Come learn how the Finish Line Scholars Program catalyzed integration of student supports to scholarship and emergency aid student recipients and what promising practices can be adopted at your college.

Presenters: Angelica Ibarra, Tim Morehouse, Lisa Robles, Jodi Samuels, and Michelle Stricker, Foundation for California Community Colleges

 – A Community College Tutor's Guide to Student Agency, Inclusion, and Accessibility in the Learning Environment
Strand: Achieving Equity in the Classroom — Critical Changes to Address Inequities, Champion Antiracism, and Improve Learning
Room: Salon 7/8

Fresno City College’s tutoring programs promote student agency in the learning environment by utilizing peer educators and partnerships with classroom instructors. Our services include five primary centers, one of which is our supplemental instruction service: Extending the Classroom (ETC). This interactive session, led by an ETC Leader (peer tutor), will include hands-on activities geared towards establishing student confidence and creating a safe atmosphere in which students can take charge of their own education both in the classroom and in tutoring sessions. You will learn how to engage students in crafting their own personal mission statement, help students understand that mistakes are a part of growth, and set up activities and sessions in which students of all walks of life feel heard and supported.

Presenters: Brandi Holcomb, Matthew Islas, and Marine Peters, Fresno City College

 Thursday, October 6 | 3:00 pm – 4:30 pm

Centering Hope and Waging Love for Racial Equity, Liberation, and Healing
As human beings, we are wired for connection, but today we live in the loneliest society in human history. Dr. Gilkerson’s talk will explore the power in recentering our basic need to create quality connections as a social prescription for healing, liberation, and racial equity. She believes that by harnessing our ability to reframe our thinking and center learning as an act of hope, we have the power to wage love and radically transform ourselves, our communities, and our institutions.

  8:00 – 9:00Continental Breakfast

  9:00 – 12:00Post-Conference Workshops

  9:30 – 11:10Welcome and Opening Plenary

11:10 – 11:35Break

11:35 – 12:35Breakout Session 1

12:35 – 1:45Break

  1:45 – 2:45Breakout Session 2

 Wednesday, October 5 | 11:35 am – 12:35 pm

The Puente Project’s Equity Framework: An Audit of Organizational Praxis and the Implementation of Justice-Driven Change
Strand: Redressing Structural Inequities to Achieve More Equitable Institutions

As community colleges across the state continue the work of revising course outcomes and institutional practices from an equity lens in response to the CCCCO’s Call to Action, the Puente Project continues to model equity leadership in service of educational justice. After 40 years, this award-winning equity program undertook the development and implementation of an equity framework to operationalize our commitments to racial and immigrant justice, linguistic justice, LGBTQIA+ justice, disability justice, and environmental justice. Participants will learn why and how to develop an equity framework for their organization/department/college and hear about the challenges and insights that the process has unearthed in real time for Puente staff, practitioners, and students.

Presenters: Jamie Moore, The Puente Project/College of the Sequoias; Elsie Rivas Gómez, The Puente Project/Pasadena City College

Centering Equity and Moving beyond the Choir: Building Successful Communities of Practice
Strand: Achieving Equity in the Classroom: Critical Changes to Address Inequities, Champion Antiracism, and Improve Learning

Five years ago, Los Angeles Valley College began offering the summer Teaching Innovations Academy (TIA) focused on redesigning courses to enhance students’ retention and success. After evaluating and improving the academy each year, we have spun off an online modularized TIA-Express and, in partnership with our guided pathways four pillars efforts, developed Communities of Practice semester-long academies focused on “light the fire” classes. Based on student and faculty surveys and success and retention data, the analysis shows increased student success and retention in most of the redesigned courses. We will share lessons learned and discuss the challenges of getting everyone involved in professional development and meeting them where they are once they get there.

Presenters: Sally Raskoff, Rebecca Stein, and Scott Weigland, Los Angeles Valley College

 Wednesday, October 5 | 1:45 pm – 2:45 pm

Overcoming Silence: Integrating Student Voices into the Community College Classroom and Beyond
Strand: Achieving Equity in the Classroom — Critical Changes to Address Inequities, Champion Antiracism, and Improve Learning

Students are at the heart of the work we do in community colleges across California, and yet their voices aren’t typically centered in their classrooms or in their experiences across campus. Often students who come to our classes have previously had their voices silenced and their lived experiences devalued, but there are many research-based strategies to help address these unspoken challenges our students face. Join an instructor and her students in a conversation about how to cultivate student voice as a pathway to enriching the learning experience for both students and instructors.

Presenters: Kristen Norton and Student Panelists, Fresno City College.

IVC’s Guided Pathways Completion Teams: Where We Discuss Data, Equity, and Institutional Change
Strand: Achieving Equity in the Classroom — Critical Changes to Address Inequities, Champion Antiracism, and Improve Learning

At Irvine Valley College (IVC), we have 10 guided pathways Completion Teams, eight representing academic interest areas (metamajors) and two specialty teams. In these teams, we discuss data, equity, and how to change our outcomes. By utilizing an inquiry-to-action model rather than a wraparound services model, IVC's Completion Teams (CT) — composed of discipline faculty, an embedded counselor, institutional researchers, and a CT coach — have begun addressing the specific barriers to success faced by students within their classrooms, within individual programs, and within a variety of departments across campus. This session will take participants through the history of the teams from development to implementation and address how IVC was able to move from equity discussion to equity action on its campus.

Presenters: Brandee Idleman, Rebecca Kaminsky, Marcela Reyes, and Amanda Romero, Irvine Valley College

  8:30 – 10:15Morning Plenary and Keynote Address

10:15 – 10:40Break

10:40 – 11:40Breakout Session 3

11:40 – 1:15Break

  1:15 – 2:15Breakout Session 4

  2:15 – 3:00Break

  3:00 – 4:30Closing Plenary and Keynote Address

 Thursday, October 6 | 8:30 am – 10:15 am

A Sense of Belonging: The Foundation for Student Success
A sense of belonging is often spoken about regarding its role in student success. But more importantly, how do we as educators create a sense of belonging in our classrooms? Dr. Hernandez will speak about the concept of belonging through his compelling personal story and his applied research. More specifically, he will share what educators must be willing to do in order to create a sense of belonging in the classroom during his keynote and he will go further in-depth during breakout session 5 later in the day.

 Thursday, October 6 | 10:40 am – 11:40 am

 – The Overlooked Obstacle: How Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) Policies Impede Student Success and Equity
Strand: Redressing Structural Inequities to Achieve More Equitable Institutions

For college students, access to financial aid is key to improving academic outcomes and addressing racial inequities. While much attention has been paid to the need to expand access at the beginning of a student's academic career, virtually no attention is given to whether students are able to maintain financial aid once enrolled. What has been largely ignored is that sizable numbers of students lose access after just one year due to Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) standards, and these students are unlikely to return. This session will explore new groundbreaking research that reveals the disparate impact of SAP policies, highlight efforts to reexamine institutional policies, and provide concrete and actionable recommendations to increase equity and remove barriers to student success.

Presenters: Yvette Tafoya, Cerritos College; Sarah Pauter, John Burton Advocates for Youth; Elizabeth Clews, Ventura College

 – Peer Educators as Leaders in Creating Communities of Care for Post-Pandemic Success
Strand: Strategic and Integrated Planning to Create Caring, Equitable, and Antiracist Campus Communities

As peer educators (including supplemental instruction leaders, tutors, mentors, and coaches) come back to our physical campuses, we find that we cannot return to the pre-pandemic status quo. We are now challenged with trauma and the specter of “learning loss,” providing both online and in-person support, and an ever-changing landscape of protocols and mental and physical needs. At the same time, we have learned a tremendous amount during the pandemic about the important role of empathy, flexibility, connection, and care in academic success. Peer educators know better than anyone how “communities of care” play a critical role in students’ success. Join a dialogue between peer educators and faculty about building a new status quo, where we cultivate more nurturing and equitable spaces that integrate academics and community.

Presenters: Kelan Koning, 3CSN; Timurhan Vengco, CSU Long Beach; Elizabeth Bedrossian, CSU, Northridge; Crystal Kiekel and Lindsey Anne Macaraig, Los Angeles Pierce College

 Thursday, October 6 | 1:15 pm – 2:15 pm

Embedded Tutors Making a Difference for ESL Students
Strand: Redressing Structural Inequities to Achieve More Equitable Institutions

With the advent of AB 705 in 2019, English as a Second Language (ESL) students are now being required to complete college-level writing courses in a timelier fashion. In response, Irvine Valley College provided Embedded Tutors (ET) in ESL courses to help ensure their success. We conducted an evaluation of the program using a quasi-experimental design (e.g., propensity score weighting) and a student survey. These designs provide a better causal estimation of the effects of ET usage, controlling for a variety of factors that may explain the differences observed. The results indicate that students who met with an ET were more likely to pass their course, and most students testified that ETs helped them and that they would like them in other classes.

Presenters: Josh Dorman, Amanda Jerome, and Marcela Reyes, Irvine Valley College

Middle Leaders at the Center of Student-Centered Reform Efforts
Strand: Building Culturally Robust and Positive Practices that Increase Student Agency — Professional Learning and Leadership Development

As top leadership in California’s community colleges swirl from one college to the next, middle leaders are the ones who drive change to advance equity-centered reforms. The panelists, all former participants and current Leading from the Middle (LFM) coaches, will discuss the impact LFM had on their leadership development. Speakers will share how they use what they learned in their day-to-day work to lead reform efforts and sustain themselves as leaders at their institutions.

Presenters: Brent Monte, Irvine Valley College; Rob Stevenson, Modesto Jr. College; Ireri Valenzuela, The RP Group; Tabitha Villalba, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville; Artour Aslanian, West Los Angeles College

 Thursday, October 6 | 3:00 pm – 4:30 pm

Centering Hope and Waging Love for Racial Equity, Liberation, and Healing
As human beings, we are wired for connection, but today we live in the loneliest society in human history. Dr. Gilkerson’s talk will explore the power in recentering our basic need to create quality connections as a social prescription for healing, liberation, and racial equity. She believes that by harnessing our ability to reframe our thinking and center learning as an act of hope, we have the power to wage love and radically transform ourselves, our communities, and our institutions.