Tuition Sensitivity Bill Passes in the U.S. House of Representatives:

On February 27, 2007, the U.S. House of Representatives approved legislation that would repeal a rule that unfairly reduced Pell Grant scholarship aid for thousands of low-income college students who attend colleges and universities. Without this legislation community college students in California, who benefited from a reduction in fees last year, would be penalized with an average loss of $108 in Pell Grant. This would represent a total loss of $10.3 million dollars for the 96, 000 California community college students who are receiving Pell Grants in the 2006-2007 academic year.

The Pell Grant Equity Act (HR 990) was introduced by Reps. George Miller (D-CA), the Chairman of the Education and Labor Committee, and Howard P. "Buck" McKeon (R-CA), the Committee's Senior Republican. The Pell Grant Equity Act eliminates the "tuition sensitivity" provision and restores fairness to the Pell Grant award process - boosting need-based aid for students with the most financial need. The bill will be heard next in the U.S. Senate's Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions which is chaired by Senator Edward Kennedy. If the bill is approved by the U.S. Senate, the fix would be made permanent when the Education and Labor Committee reauthorizes the Higher Education Act.

Several equity advocates such as California Tomorrow, Applied Research Center and Californians For Justice joined the California Community Office of the Chancellor and the Faculty Association of California Community Colleges and the Community College League of California in advocating for an end to this inequitable policy.

To register your support for the Pell Grant Equity Act go to: U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pension.

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Tell Governor Schwarzenegger that the California Dream Act (SB 160) is Good For Immigrant Students and Our State:

It looks like Governor Schwarzenegger and Republicans in the state legislature will get another opportunity to "do the right thing" for some of California's best students who are facing practically un-surmountable challenges due to their undocumented immigration status. Last week the Senate Education Committee took another favorable look at the California Dream Act, which was reintroduced by Senator Gil Cedillo. The bill would provide limited financial assistance to immigrant college students that meet AB 540's requirements for paying in-state tuition. To be eligible, students would have to prove they had: attended a high school in California for three or more years; graduated from a high school or attained the equivalent in a career technical school or adult education program and had attended at least one year of high school; and are registered at or attending an accredited college or university.

With strong support in the Democrat controlled legislature, the bill passed in the Assembly (45 to 31) and the Senate (24 to 15) and landed on the Governor's desk as his campaign for re-election heated up in 2006. Citing concerns that the State has limited funds to provide financial aid "for the 100,000 students who are here legally," the Governor vetoed the bill a week before the November election. Now, as the bill makes it way through the legislature, we have a new opportunity to register our support for this important legislation.

According to Eric Guerra, who works on education issues for Senator Cedillo, this year there are approximately 300 UC, 1000 CSU, and 10,000 community college students who are struggling to complete their degrees without the support the Dream Act would provide. Last year, the San Francisco Chronicle estimated that as many as 25,000 students were facing the same challenges. In the face of a growing number of reports about the drop out crisis in our state and urgent calls from business leaders for a more qualified workforce, we at California Tomorrow believe it is time for Governor Schwarzenegger to stand up against those who would use "hot button" anti-immigrant rhetoric to create new obstacles for academically qualified students. The California Dream Act will ensure that these committed young Californians can complete their college education and return to their communities as teachers, nurses, youth workers, and other professionals we desperately need.

There are a few things you can do to ensure the California Dream Act is signed into law. You can call (916-445-2841) the Governor to let him know that the Dream Act is good for immigrant students and the state. You can reach out to your local chamber of commerce to educate them about the benefits of this important legislation; and to ask them to contact Republican senators and assemblymembers.

For more information on SB160, or to register your support, contact Eric Guerra in Senator Cedillo's Sacramento Office at eric.guerra@sen.ca.gov or 916-651-4022.

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State Senator Jack Scott Proposes a California Postsecondary Accountability Act of 2007 (SB 325):

Senator Jack Scott has indicated that a state level accountability system for higher education is needed to assist the legislature in its policy deliberations. Senate Bill 325 (SB 325) would require the establishment of a statewide California Postsecondary Education Accountability (CPSEA) structure to provide the basis for an annual assessment of the progress made by the University of California, California State University, and the California Community Colleges in meeting the educational needs of Californians.

We at California Tomorrow believe it is of critical importance that the state leaders commit to expanding the capacity of our higher education system, and that community colleges should be prioritized in any strategies that are developed. Developing more ambitious outcome goals to measure performance of our higher education segments is an important first. However, we know that accountability mandates that are not matched with the resources and leadership needed to achieve the envisioned goals do little more than add pressure to the already challenging environment educators work in. We will be tracking SB 325 and similar legislation to see if the new mandates contain a strong emphasis on measuring outcomes related to equity and advocate for the investments needed to ensure our most vulnerable students succeed in greater numbers.

For more information go to: California State Senate.

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Nine Community Colleges Send Leadership Teams to Participate in the Campus Change Network Meeting at Lake Arrowhead February 22-24, 2007

Facilitated by California Tomorrow, the Campus Change Network (CCN) provides capacity building and technical assistance to community college leadership teams that are working to develop comprehensive equity reform strategies to improve academic success among their rapidly changing student bodies. The nine colleges that are taking part in the second cycle of the CCN met at Lake Arrowhead in February. Los Medanos College, Cosumnes River College, College of the Sequoias, Pasadena City College, LA Southwest College, Oxnard College, Merced College, Chabot Community College, and Evergreen Valley College sent Leadership Teams comprised of faculty, administrators, counselors and student to the three-day meeting.

The Lake Arrowhead meeting was the second in a two-year cycle which was launched in Sonoma last fall. In the interim between the two meetings, each leadership team undertook an initial cycle of inquiry to assess their college's current strengths and gaps to meet the needs of their diverse students. Key data the teams looked at included: disparities in student success based on race/ethnicity, immigrant status, income, and gender. In addition they looked at the availability, alignment, and coordination of the key instructional and support programs that have proven most successful in boosting student success. The teams also assessed the state of readiness of their peers and the campus as a whole to undertake deep and comprehensive reform on matters related to equity and diversity.

Community college leaders who are interested in reviewing the tools shared with CCN colleges can be down loaded at Campus Change Network Resources & Tools.

Students in Campus Change

At this meeting California Tomorrow also provided two opportunities for the participating student leaders to share experiences and build advocacy skills. In one of the sessions the students identified and compared the barriers to student success on their respective campuses. Among the barriers that surfaced were the following: high costs of textbooks, poor academic preparation at the high school level, not enough counseling services for all the students that need them, and lack of resources and support for student leadership. The students also brainstormed strategies and ideas for collaboration among student leaders at each of the CCN campuses including: organizing a regional convening on student advocacy; student- led legislative visits with key local and state policymakers; writing and submitting Op/Eds to newspapers; and partnerships with local, regional, and statewide equity advocates. A conference call to follow up on these ideas was held on March 16th. Over the next year, California Tomorrow will work with and support CCN student leaders who wish to take stronger leadership on equity on their campuses and statewide. For more information on California Tomorrow's support for student leaders contact Brian Stanley.

First Cohort of CCN Leadership Teams Gain Traction on Access & Equity:

Seven community colleges took part in the first cycle (2004-2006) of California Tomorrow's Campus Change Network: San Francisco City College, Las Positas Community College, West Valley Community College, Hartnell Community College, Golden West Community College, and San Diego City College. In the section that follows we provide highlights of the inspirational work three of campus teams have undertaken.

San Francisco City College

A diverse group of campus leaders including the Chancellor, faculty across disciplines, administrators, support services staff, and student leaders engaged in a participatory cycle of inquiry and identified 3 key access and equity priorities:

• Increasing the quality and accessibility of student support services with the hopes of impacting student outcomes;
• Developing new hiring practices with the outcome of diversifying faculty and staff; and
• Strengthening professional development and curriculum.

The team established working groups for each priority area.

To support the efforts of the working groups, the college is also developing a policy statement on diversity and equity that will serve as an institutional platform to support, assess, and strengthen the practices related to the areas the working groups are tackling. The college has also recently approved and funded a new position Dean of Student Equity and Diversity. The new dean will work in partnership with other college leaders to address access and equity priorities, in particular to enhance coordination among existing programs many of which currently work in isolation from one another making it difficult for students to access them. The new dean will be charged with ensuring that plans are put into practice, are sustained over time, and refined to continually meet the needs of students.

Las Positas College

Using the Campus Change Network's organizational change framework, LPC campus leaders identified three initial areas of focus to advance an access and equity agenda on their campus to enhance student success.

• Outreach and recruitment (for students, faculty, staff, and administrators)
• Strengthening success rates among basic skills students
• Building cultural awareness to improve campus climate

Toward these goals, the college recently hosted an information day targeting Latino families in partnership with their local faith-based community organizations. Buses provided transportation to Las Positas College, and the event was held in Spanish to assist these families to learn about educational opportunities, financial aid and other available services. This event brought to light that not enough ESL classes are being offered in the community to meet the growing demand. This has led Campus leaders to begin looking at ways to meet this need, including assessment services provided at the church, and the establishment of a special part-time Spanish-speaking outreach liaison. The college has also hired an outreach coordinator and established a student ambassador program to better serve new student populations.

As part of their work with basic skills students, counselors and basic skills faculty are creating integrated curriculum and special follow-through services to help students advance to the next course level.

To keep the focus of the work on access and equity priorities and be inclusive of a growing group of campus leaders, the leadership team has begun drafting a vision and mission statement for the group, and will be assuring a student equity frame is instituted into the college's educational master plan. Finally, the leadership team is working with the college president to identify funding and leadership strategies to ensure success of these institution-wide goals.

San Diego City College

A diverse group made up of faculty, the Vice President of Student Services, the Dean of Student Affairs, Academic and Classified Senate Officers, learning community managers, and student leaders worked together to identify key areas with the highest potential to impact access, equity, and success for their diverse student body. Over the last year this leadership team has undertaken activities to grow the number of campus leaders committed to working on access and equity on their campus. These efforts culminated in the establishment of the Action Coalition for Change, Equity, and Student Success (ACCESS), which will serve as a campus-wide coordinating group for the alignment of all equity and diversity initiatives. Some of the initial areas the coalition hopes to impact through their efforts include:

• Increasing the numbers of students who complete their goals;
• Creating seamless pathways for students to have increased access to four year universities;
• Increasing awareness of all aspects of diversity to ensure the campus is a welcoming place for all;
• Ensuring that curriculum is relevant and connected to the lives of students; and
• Strengthening professional development opportunities for all faculty and staff.

Coalition members have worked collaboratively to develop a common vision and mission as well as an action plan to strengthen and create new efforts to address access, equity, and diversity on their campus. To ensure the sustainability and institutionalization of their efforts, the coalition is working to embed the goals of their plan into the goals of the Master Planning Council and President's Cabinet. A key goal is to ensure resources will be available to coalition members to implement the key areas of their action plan, resulting in better aligned policies, programs, and services for students. If successful, the coalition will move access and equity reform efforts from the periphery of their institution to the center of their campuses planning efforts and catalyze a process of weaving access and equity into the fabric of their institution - the campus governance process.

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Californians For Justice (CFJ) Launches New Local Campaigns and Student Leadership Initiatives to Improve Access to Higher Education For Low-Income Students of Color:

Californians for Justice (CFJ), a leading social justice organization with a strong track record of engaging youth and community leaders in advocacy and campaigns to address equity issues in K-12 education, is stepping up efforts to improve college access for youth and young adults in low-income communities of color. As part of this new strategic focus, CFJ youth-led campaigns in Long Beach, Fresno, San Jose, and Oakland are focusing on barriers high school students face in preparing for and gaining admission to colleges and universities.

For example, through the "Can you See Me in College?" Campaign, CFJ youth leaders in Oakland conducted over 400 surveys with their peers in high schools throughout the city. The survey results demonstrated that 80% of students plan to go to college but 70% of the students feel like they don't get enough help from their counselors. The youth leaders used the survey results and researched the supports available to high school students to develop a set of basic demands that include: (1) hiring more college counselors to reduce the student to counselor ratio from 700 students per counselor to 250 students per counselor, (2) the development of a new class to prepare high school students to work as Peer-to Peer Counselors to encourage and support other students to prepare for college, (3) a demand that all freshman students be mailed information on the A-G requirements, GPA, and SAT scores needed for admission to college and be provided an annual seminar on college access, (4) a commitment to ensure every student has access to courses needed to fulfill the A-G requirements, an expanded array of honors courses, and SAT prep courses twice a year, and (5) that the school district build stronger connections between high schools and local colleges and universities including college tours and college fairs.

Last week the CFJ youth took their message to the streets at a March 14 rally at the Oakland Unified School District Offices. "Most students in Oakland want to attend college, but our counselors are too overworked to provide us with help to plan for college," said Juan Munoz, a senior at Oakland High. Munoz and the other CFJ youth leaders called on State Administrator Kimberly Statham to use new state monies available through the Quality Education Investment Act (QEIA-SB 1133) to hire more counselors and reduce class sizes.

This fall CFJ also launched a new project to engage community college and four year college students in research and action to address the barriers they face in pursuit of their higher education goals. The first class of CFJ Higher Education Interns, who are referred to as "SIPers," are all seasoned CFJ student leaders who have been active in campaigns to address inequitable conditions in K-12 schools in the state. The student leaders, who attend Laney College, Merritt College, Evergreen Valley College, De Anza College, Fresno Community College, and Long Beach City College, Cal State East Bay, San Jose State, Cal State Fresno, and Devry University are conducting research on the issues and barriers that most impact student success on their respective campuses.

Among the priority issues that "SIPers" are taking a look at are: affordability, financial aid, fees, the lack of adequate support services, barriers to transfer, and issues facing undocumented students. A next step for the students will be to interview instructors and counselors at their colleges to get their perspective on possible solutions. California Tomorrow is providing the "SIPers"with data, research, and advice about policy angles to address these challenges.

For more information on the local campaigns or the Higher Education Interns Project contact Carmen Iniguez.

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California Tomorrow Releases a New Policy Brief Focusing on the Challenges California Community Colleges are Facing in Meeting the Needs of the State's Underprepared Workforce:

This month California Tomorrow released another Community College Access & Equity Policy Brief, the third in this series. California's Community Colleges Struggle to Meet the Challenges of the State's Underprepared Workforce, finds that California Community Colleges have created innovative programs that provide "accessible education that many Californian's count on for social upward mobility," but community colleges "have not received the attention and support needed to take important innovations to scale, nor even sustain the gains made by promising programs."

The brief emphasizes that efforts to improve educational attainment in communities throughout California need to target racial/ethnic groups that are becoming the majority of the State's workforce. According to the report, by 2010 California's workforce will experience a 43% increase in Latino and Asian/Pacific Islander workers, and a 21% increase in African American workers. In fifteen years, 70% of the California workforce age group 25-54 will be non-white. Noting that Californians from these racial/ethnic groups are fairing the worst in regards to educational attainment, the report calls on state policy makers to take urgent action to respond to this crisis.

Providing examples of workforce training and basic skills programs already underway in community colleges across the state, the brief identifies the barriers and challenges that must be addressed if these programs are to succeed and expand including: protecting access to basic skills (gateway) courses; ensuring adequate funding; expanding student services; aligning priorities and removing barriers for sustainability; expanding model programs; and allowing for the provision of technical assistance and support.

A copy of the brief is available here.

Two New Policy Reports Spark Spirited Debate About Policy Solutions to Improve Affordability of Community Colleges and Student Completion Rates:

Over the last two years greater attention has been focused on community colleges by educational equity advocates, researchers, and community and business leaders. We at California Tomorrow view this as a much needed step in the right direction. Because there was little research prior to this time, state policymakers largely overlooked the needs of our most vulnerable community college students - students of color, immigrants, and low-income working students - who now make up the majority of students in the California Community Colleges. Our own study, California's Gold: Claiming the Promise of Diversity in Our Community Colleges (2003) shed light on the barriers underrepresented students are facing, as well as the promising practices community college leaders are employing to improve retention and success rates of an ever more diverse student body. In our study we found that good models and programs that can significantly improve student success exist, but policy level support and the resources needed to take these programs to scale is woefully inadequate. As a result, the students who need the most support to succeed in our higher education system are actually receiving the least financial and institutional support. Reports that shed light on these inequities are urgently needed - as is the will to do something about the challenges that are identified.

Last month, two new policy studies on community colleges were released. One examined policy barriers to improve rates of student completion; while a second examined the affordability challenges facing California's community college students. Strong critiques of the two studies have been made by community college leaders. In regards to the study on completion rates, community college leaders rightly point out that the data on completion can be cut differently to demonstrate higher rates of completion. This month's RP Group Newsletter includes a perspective and article that provides and explanation about data sources used in this report and the California Community College Chancellor's Office's recently completed accountability report. Meanwhile, criticisms of the affordability study center around a recommendation that argues moderate increases in student fees could be used to fund interventions that will boost student success. Though we have a different perspective on some of the policy recommendations included in the reports, we believe that both studies contain important data and analysis that should be considered by equity leaders on college campuses and in our communities. At the end of this section we share both of these reports to encourage continued dialogue on the challenges raised by the researchers.

There are no "silver bullet policy solutions" to the complex problem of educational inequality. Policy solutions, including new mandates or accountability standards that are not matched with the resources to meet them will not succeed. As community leaders and policy makers consider the best policy solutions to the challenges raised in the two reports, we invite you to review the equity policy priorities and principles California Tomorrow developed to guide our access and equity work to strengthen community colleges.

Rules of the Game: How State Policy Creates Barriers to Degree Completion and Impedes Student Success in tahe California Community Colleges. From the Institute for Higher Education Leadership and Policy: California State University, Sacramento.

California Community Colleges: Making Them Stronger and More Affordable From the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education.

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The Dream Act Advocacy Conference at Cal State Los Angeles:

Mark your calendar for May 12, 2007 for the Dream Act Advocacy Conference at Cal State Los Angeles. While other AB 540 workshops focus on the availability of resources, this conference will focus on developing a state wide effort to create the impetus for the Governor to sign the bill.

Have comments or things you would like to see in this newsletter. Contact Brian Stanley.