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An Invitation to Pilot the BSI Success Network
You are invited to be part of an exciting professional learning communitydedicated to increasing student success. If you choose to participate, yourcollege will connect with other colleges in your area and across California tobuild a highly coordinated, collaborative network that will expand to includeall 110 community colleges over the next five years.Colleges engaged in this transformational pilot, focused around data andinquiry, will receive the following opportunities:
Benefits Colleges will Receive
Funds for professional learning through the Network, aboveand beyond BSI funds
Sustained, ongoing support from a designated regionalnetwork coordinator
Participation in a summer leadership institute designed tosupport successful implementation of your BSI action plans
Participation in a post-Leadership Institute project gearedspecifically toward the needs of your campus and basic skillsprogram
Campus visits from the Leadership Institute Mentors, whowill answer questions, provide support, and help with yourpost-Institute project
Participation in regional workshops where you’ll get todiscuss ideas, problems, solutions, and where you’ll get to
build camaraderie and community with colleagues fromregional colleges
Participation in not only your own regional networks but inthe larger network as well
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where you can gain ideas, getinsights, and work together to seek answers to thornyquestions
An opportunity to showcase successful programs/projects on your campus aswell as field trips to other community colleges with model programs andpractices
A robust and interactive virtual network to enhance professional learningand collaboration
Partnerships with state-wide initiatives, such as the Faculty InquiryNetwork, Center for Student Success, and Career Ladders
Regional workshops put on by the ASCCC where faculty and administratorscan gain additional information and insight
Data coaches to help with assessment and evaluation of your projects andwho will also help guide you in making evidence-based decisions
A time to shine
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an opportunity to showcase your college, including yourpost-Leadership Institute project, at the Strengthening Student SuccessConference in October 2009 in San Francisco
Background of the BSI
The California Community Colleges (CCC)
is the largest system of higher educationin the world, serving more than 2.5 million students. Of that number, 70 to 80% areunderprepared for college-level work. This translates into nearly 2 million studentsin need of educational support. Helping underprepared students attain the essentialacademic skills needed to succeed in college-level work has been a core function of community colleges throughout their history.Unfortunately, few of the nearly 100,000 faculty, administrators, and staff of theCalifornia community colleges have received any type of preparation or training toaddress the needs of basic skills students at the classroom, program, or institutionallevels.In 2006, an unprecedented collaboration began among the Academic Senate forCalifornia Community Colleges, California Community Colleges Chief InstructionalOfficers, California Community Colleges Chief Student Services Officers, andCalifornia Community Co
lleges Chancellor’s Office to seek solutions to the mounting
failure of many community college students. Thus the Basic Skills Initiative (BSI)was born.
Invitation to Pilot BSI Success Network CCC BSI 2009 1
BSI Accomplishments Thus Far
2007
o
Basic Skills as a Foundation for Success in California CommunityColleges
(the ―Poppy Copy‖)
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Professional development for over 1600 faculty, administrators, and staff
2008
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Regional workshops showcasing effective practices, exemplary programs,and strategies
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Summer Teaching Institute: 4 days, 300 participants, 80% part-timers,teams from colleges
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Handbook:
Constructing a Framework for Success: A Holistic Approachto Basic Skills
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Database:
Staff Development and Student Success Programs:
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Three additional literature reviews forthcoming
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High school transition to post-secondary education
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Adult education transition to college
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Diversity
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Update of mathematics competency statements for entering freshmen
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acollaborative effort of the Intersegmental Committee of the AcademicSenates (ICAS)
BSI Now and in the Future
The next stage of the Basic Skills Initiative is to pilot a self-sustaining, statewide,professional community of practice
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the Success Network
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to promote overallincreased student success. This Network will allow faculty, staff, and administratorsto share and build upon existing knowledge while at the same time creatingopportunities for transformation. Foundational to this network are evidence-basedknowledge building, inquiry, capacity building, direct training, and resourcedevelopment.Why the BSI Success Network now?For the past few decades, community colleges have largely been working in isolationto support students with basic skills needs. Even on individual campuses, it isfrequently difficult for many to collaborate across disciplines and programs in aneffort to increase student success. To help end this isolation, CCC BSI 2009 isdesigned to bridge these gaps by establishing a self-sustaining, highly coordinatednetwork of support. The Success Network will build a community of professionallearners who can address the many shared questions and problems associated withbasic skills instruction.
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