November 2016

Fall Newsletter A Developing Hispanic Serving Institutions Grant from the U.S. Department of Education

INSIDE

Info-graphics By MattBidart

Tutorial Services Specialist

Project Report:

Assessment of Written

English, Directed Learning

Activities, and Tutors in the

Classroom

Educational Research

Assessment Analyst’s

Report

Web Designer:

The CTE Landing Page and

Brochures Project and

others

Counselor’s Projects:

Instruction and Advising

Toolkits

Director’sReports:

* Technology & Health

Division Program

Preparation: Summer

Success Workshop

* Professional Development

in the Title V

* Hispanic Serving Institution

Success Week 2016

*The Career Preparation

Value of the Tutors in the

Classroom Program

A big congratulations to Mt. SAC’s Radiologic Technology Department of the Technology and Health

Division on their earning an eight year accreditation from

JCERT (Joint Review Committee on Education). In an interview with

Monique Neel on November 9th, I asked her what role the past three

years of Title V support played. Professor Neel outlined one of the JCERT

standards of providing support services to students, and with the help of

Title V grant allowing for the hire of professional experts [alumni with

certification in Radiologic Technology and student assistants who have

passed core courses], the department was able to provide academic

support on weekends and evenings when students need it (three days

per week).

She said, “Sometimes students don’t get the hands-on that they need repetitively

in the clinical setting, so the lab gives

them the opportunity to come in and

practice; the open lab is really important

and it has been really full this year. When

we first reached out to the Title V for

support, our retention rate was falling below the required 75% - we were

around 72%, and now in the past three years we have been in the high

‘80’s, with last year being around 91%.”

Changes to the Title V Newsletter:

This newsletter is part 1 of 2, reflecting on the past grant year,

October 1, 2015 – September 30, 2016, covering special projects within the

grant aimed at preparation, innovation, and celebration.

Spring 2017’s newsletter will focus on the various cohort outcomes in the

grant: Child Development, Culinary Arts, Honors College, General

Education Pathways, Paralegal Studies, Respiratory Therapy, and

Radiologic Technology.

Quick Facts

by

Infographic

Created by

Matt Bidart,

Web

Designer

2

Tutorial Specialist, Amy Azul Projects: Assessment of Written English (AWE) Preparation

Directed Learning Activities (DLA’s) and Tutors in the Classroom

Summary Results: AWE

803 students attended the

AWE Information Session in

Year 3. 50% of students placed one

level higher after attending

the session. 98% of the studentsagreed

or strongly agreed they

would recommend this

workshop to a friend.

English 68 was the most

common placement.

Summary Results:

DLA Success Data

Average 15% success

differential in English courses Paralegal Professors

Catherine McKee and

Martin Ramey have

collaborated on Paralegal

DLAs. We specifically track

student participation. Faculty may attend DLA

orientations every FLEX day. We are available to work

with faculty to create new

DLA titles.

Summary Results: Tutors in the Classroom Program

TCs generate greater student success in both basic

skills level and college-level composition courses.

72 sections of the composition sequence were

supported by TCs

Faculty participate in an orientation to the

program.

1,552 students (unduplicated) attended group

and/or individual tutoringsessions.

74% of all students in TC-supported sections

participated, and they had a 16% higher success

rate (66% vs.50%).

The withdrawal rate was half the rate for the course

overall (9% vs.17%).

Growth Mindset Opportunities

Theory integrated into TCtraining

3CSN chose Dr. Charbonneau and Amy Azul to

facilitate tutor training at other Southern California

community colleges.

Career Readiness of Tutors in the Classroom--skills, talents,

and experiences

o 100% of TCs surveyed are/were Mt. SAC students.

o 16% are currently attending Mt. SAC.

o 31% graduated from Mt.SAC

o 78% transferred toanother college or university

3

The Math and English Refreshment, Lisa DiDonato, Educational Research Assessment Analyst

The project narrative for this TitleV grant repeatedly calls for math and English refresher

workshopsandboot camps.Ensuringastudent’s mathandEnglish skills remain “fresh” is valuable not only for their next course if a gap should occur in their course taking patterns,

it isalso important for their initial placement into their first college mathorEnglishcourse.

Accurate math and English placement is a critical component to student success. If a

student places lower than their true abilities they can face a path of remedial coursework

that is costly,needlessly timeconsuming,andperhaps emotionally overwhelming. Ifplaced

above their appropriate level, a student may be unsuccessful and feel college is not an

option for them. There are many reasons course placement can be inaccurate. To ensure

our students are placed according to their skill set, the college has implemented several

different refresher workshops,boot camps,and information sessions forboth English and

math. Although some of these efforts are not directly funded by Title V, the outcomes of

these endeavors are critical to meeting the components outlined in the project narrative.

As a result, the research for these activities has been evaluated by the researcher for the

grant and the Title V Director.

Campus Refresher/Prep Activities

MATH

During the first year of our grant there were two math refresher activities underway with 125

students participating. At the close of our third year, 1,249 students participated in four math prep/refresher activities.

ENGLISH

Although the number of activities has remained constant since the beginning of our grant,

the number of students has greatly increased. In year one, 151 students participated while in year three number increased to 732.

In addition to refreshing skills, there were additional outcomes sought by each of these

activities. These included things such as building subject confidence, course enrollments,

course success, and placement test taking strategies. Overall, the outcomes of these

endeavors have been favorable. For more detailed information consult the Title V and Arise

annual research reports on their respective websites.

4

Counselor’s Report by Emily Versace Instruction/Advising Toolkits Online Repository

Based on an idea by Dr. Audrey Namagata-Noji and with strong collaboration between

Instruction, Student Services, Title V, and Information Technology, this professional

development website has launched and was recentlyrolledoutatFallFLEX2016tointerested

faculty.

The website includes two kinds of toolkits for

faculty: Instruction Toolkits and Advising Toolkits,

each with a team of people working on them.

Instruction Toolkits include tools and specific strategies that faculty can incorporate in their classes. They are a great way to share best practices, and provide. The toolkits include an

overview, steps for implementation, materials including; handouts, PowerPoints, and/or sampleassignments,andadditionalresources.Theseauthorsareall fromMT.SACsothere is

a point person on campus faculty can get more ideas and information from if needed. So far 8 toolkits are published on the page and more are being developed.

Currentlythewebsitehastoolkitsontopicssuchasstudentteamwork,classroomactivities,

classroom based assessment, study groups, establishing classroom norms and more!

AdvisingToolkitsaredesignedtoprovidestudentservicesinformationintheclassroom.They

include a PowerPoint and handout that are ready-to-use. A faculty member is able to open the PowerPoint and go through it with their class or during office hours to get information to

students right when they need it.

Currently the topics include Education Planning, Financial Aid, and #Techsanity: Apps

for College Students. More are being developed. You can explore and use the

toolkits now by going to www.mtsac.edu/toolkits.

Please contact Emily Versace at

eversace@mtsac.edu if you would like to

create a toolkit or if you have ideas about toolkits youwould like to see on the website.

5

Counselor’s Report, Continued: STEP Math Boot Camp

Thispastsummer,and for the first

time, a Math Boot camp was

offered in conjunction with the STEP

Into College (Summer Transition

Experience Program), a two-week

long community taught Counseling

1 course for incoming freshman

who have recently graduated from

high school.

Students who enrolled in the first

session of STEP were able to

participate in an optional three-week long Math boot camp for two hours a day after

class. The goal of the boot camp was to refresh students’ math skills so they place into the correct math class. On the last day of the boot camp students were able to re-take

the math assessment and possibly place higher than after their first attempt.

The Math Boot Camp used ALEKS math software, in conjunction with advisement from

Cameron Troxell (pictured lower center), professor of math, and was offered in a

computer lab with tutors from the Learning Assistance Center in the room. On the first day

of the boot camp a math instructor was there to help students enroll in the ALEKS

program. After that the boot camp was staffed with the Title V counselor, tutors, and

student workers. 43 students participated in the boot camp.

The results were very positive. 70%of the students placed in ahigher math class after the boot camp than before the boot camp. 80% of the students spent 15 hours or more using

the ALEKS software. 94% of the students felt the boot camp held the refresh their math skills. 97% of the students felt more confident in math after the boot camp. 53% of the

students enrolled in a Math class this fall. We are eager to see how they do in their classes. Overall the STEP Math boot camp was very successful.

More about ALEKS: https://www.aleks.com/about_aleks/overview

6

The Title V Annual Technology and Allied Health Programs Summer Success Workshop, July 2016

With workshop titles like the creative “Don’t be a Jerk and Other Ways to be Successful at Work”, Nursing,

Radiologic Technology, and Respiratory Therapy students

enjoyed program preparation. On what turned out to be a

sweltering hot afternoon, 48 students listened, took notes, and

laughed

with faculty, staff, and tutors during a Title V and Learning Assistance

Center sponsored event for incoming students to Technology and

Health Programs.

Students received gift bags with bookmarks encouraging them, a

flash drive with all session materials for later reference, and our raffle

was sponsored by President Scroggins, Bob Hughes, Director, I.T.,

and the Mt. SAC Foundation, where students won water

bottles, books, and other great prizes.

Students reported an overall 90% satisfaction rate

average for all sessions attended. Highlights of

open-ended responses were:

“It made me want to prioritize my life (Procrastinator’s

session)” “Well spoken tutors, good review! (math).” “A lot of useful information (math).” “The list of apps (applications) & very friendly instructor

(#Techsanity)”

Full report will be included with the Year 3 Annual

Research Outcome Report and posted at:

http://www.mtsac.edu/titlev/reports/

The workshops were:

Math review – Learning Assistance Center (LAC) Tutors Don’t Be a Jerk – Gwen Butler, Respiratory Therapy Procrastinators Anonymous – Bailey Smith (formerly) Director of

the LAC #Techsanity: Take Advantage of Technology – Emily Versace,

Counselor

7

Professional Development Supported by the Title V Grant

The tables below show the travel/conference/professional development activities, both

on and off Mt. SAC’s campus. Faculty, students, and staff benefitted from a range activities

related to strengthening the outcomes and goals of the grant. For years 1 and 2 travel and

professional development, see the Title V website:

http://www.mtsac.edu/titlev/reports/index.html

8

Innovation in Web Design:

Matt Bidart & Title V, CTE, and

CounselingCollaboration

Instruction & Advising Toolkits: It felt great to

finish this project on such a tight deadline. I

feel like this is a useful tool and I am proud of

my involvement with it. To see the toolkits, you

will be prompted to login to your Banner

account. [Director and Researcher’s Note:

Please remember to take the survey after

viewing them!] http://mtsac.edu/toolkits

Road to Success Poll: I created the look and

feel of this poll. It was initially going to live

within OmniUpdate (The Website) but it ended

up residing within Portal so that Counselor’s or

others can access results and follow up with

students. I worked closely with Chuong Tran in

Programming and Emily Versace, Counselor,

to ensure our initial design came out as

intended.

CTE Brochure: Much progress has been made

with the CTE brochures. I have met with Emily

and Cynthia Burnett several times as well as

the deans. We currently have 12 program

pages up.

I am collecting course mapping for each

program to include on the PDF version.I have

received a lot of positive feedback about this

project and I know that this

information will be beneficial for

potential students. We meet with

the CTE Deans Team in

December to plan next steps.

RiseVision Monitors:

New monitor hardware was installed in both the Honors

Center and the Writing Center. I maintain/create

content for both of these media players and I assist with

SCALA content in other areas ofcampus.

The new RiseMedia players are really easy to use and

there have only been only a few issues with connectivity.

The employees in both departments have expressed to

me that they are happy with the new devices and that

students are using them. I enjoy creating content for

these displays.

9

H.S.I. Success Week (September 2016) by Lisa Rodriguez, Title V Director

A new feature of the Title V

this year was a two-day

event celebrating H.S.I.

success as part of a U.S.

Department ofEducation,

H.S.I. Division calling on

schools and colleges to

acknowledge the success

of current and former

students. To this end, the

Title V hosted a half day

booth in 26Dquad,

bringing together faculty and staff from

six campus divisions/departments to

support students at a success and

inspiration booth where students

received information and guidance in

the form of conversations about

technology, academic success,

Counseling, and Library or Writing

Centerinformation.About130students

participated and next year, we will

extend hours into the evening.

The second event featured

Alumnus of the Year, 2014,

Hector Javier Preciado for two

lively workshops on LinkedIn as

a career step through

managing their brand followed

by a fireside chat where Hector

inspiredstudents to reach their

full potential while remaining

connected to campus and

family. Hector accepted

LinkedIn requests from many of

the 70 students who attended

one of the three sessions

throughout the day on

September 16th,2016.

10

Career Readiness of Tutors in the Classroom (TC): A Focus Group, Summer

2016

By Lisa Rodriguez, Title V Director

with consultation from Amy Azul, Tutorial Specialist, Writing Center

During a conversation about the goals of our grant including

“career ready/job placed”, we reflected on the fact that although

the TC program is a service to the students and faculty who have

this valuable program in their writing courses, there is a career

preparation component that naturally occurs and is a great

benefit to theTC.

We held a lunch session focus group where the TC’s could recognize as a group their career preparation and aspirations. I

asked only a few questions aimed at opening up conversation: most want to be community college writing faculty, high school

counselors, or college counselors.

Several lauded the Writing Center staff for their support of their academic and professional development around

interpersonal communication, formal training for group work, and knowledge of the affective domain in assisting students

to learn the writing process.

One TC, Christine Garavito, was away on international trip

and had to miss the focus group, but called me to follow up

with her insights. She shared how indebted to the program

she was because it allowed her to work with 11 different

writing instructors, gaining solid on the job training, building

confidence and a classroom persona along the way.

She stated that as a direct result of working in the TC

program, she was able to garner a coveted position teaching an English 101 course at Cal State Fullerton

“whereas others didn’t because I was the best prepared of my classmates thanks to the TC program. I was eased into

running a classroom and that made me want to teach. “

(above)

Christina Garavito

Some Facts:

o 100% of TCs

surveyed

are/were Mt. SAC

students.

o 16% are currently

attending Mt.

SAC.

o 31% graduated

from Mt. SAC

o 78% transferred to

another college

or university

11

Grant Goals:

1) Enable students to make more informed educational goals through targeted

support services, career assessment, and educational planning;

2) Providesupport services thataccelerate students intoand promote retention in

college-level coursework (improved enrollment/matriculation activities and referral

to services);

3) Create sustainable and scalable cohort models that move students quickly into

college-level coursework and promote faster completion of

certificate/degree/transfer programs in specific disciplines;

4) Increase and enhance communication with students through student testimonials,

mixed media messages, and faculty engagement;

5) Provide faculty with professional development opportunities and resources that

promote student success.

Pictured: Shirley Lopez,

Title V Cohort Alumna ’16 in Culinary Arts Hi-5’s the Title V Director during a filming for student voices of resilience.

12

The Team

Title V Project Director:

Lisa Rodriguez, Ph.D., x4177

lisa.rodriguez@mtsac.edu

Title V Administrative

Specialist, Susie Haynes,

x5411,

shaynes3@mtsac.edu

Title V Professional Expert,

Yendiz Morón, x6236

TitleV@gmail.com

Educational Researcher: Lisa

DiDonato, Office of Research

and Institutional Effectiveness,

x6385, ldidonato@mtsac.edu

Tutorial Services Specialist:

Amy Azul, Writing Center,

x5077, aazul@mtsac.edu

Counselor Coordinator:

Emily Versace, Counseling

Department, x6487,

eversace@mtsac.edu

Web Designer: Matt Bidart,

x6224, mbidart@mtsac.edu

DIRECTOR’S MESSAGE:

Thank you for reading part one of our two-part newsletter.

Enjoy the holidays and feel free to send feedback on the newsletter or projects

directly to me at lisa.rodriguez@mtsac.edu.

(Pictured below: Bookmarks with resilience quotes from current students and

alumni distributed at H.S.I. Success Week Booth, September 15th, 2016).

Title V’s website: http://

mtsac.edu/titlev

The Title V Office is located in Building 20, Room 3

More information about the U.S.

Department of Education’s Title V

grant: Developing Hispanic Serving

Institutions: http://www2.ed.gov/programs/idueshsi

/index.html

Left: Lisa DiDonato

& Lisa Rodriguez Presenting

on “Moving the Needle For the Feds: Reporting

Research on Title V “ at the

First Annual Research

Day at Mt. SAC, Nov. 2015.

Followuson Twitter@MtSacTitleV

The contents of this newsletter were developed under a grant from the U.S. Department of Education. However,

those contents do not necessarily represent the policy of the U.S. Department of Education, and

you should not assume endorsement by the Federal Government