1. Sacramento/Central Valley Network Inaugural Regional Meeting
May 18, 2009
Small groups selected one of the following topics and then generated ideas and/or strategies
revolving around that topic :
1.Ideas for getting faculty actively involved in basic skills work on our campuses.
2. Ideas for achieving buy-in to an institutional student success initiative on our campuses.
3. Ideas for getting students to participate in basic skills activities.
4. Examples of professional development activities that have worked on other campuses or ideas for
professional development activities.
5. Creative ideas for actively promoting and updating staff about basic skills activities occurring on our
campuses (newsletters, websites, etc.).
6. Ideas for gathering research data about our basic skills programs (what types? How often? What to look
for in the data? etc.)
1. Ideas for getting faculty actively involved in basic skills work on our campuses:
• BSI faculty attend department meetings to help content faculty troubleshoot with unprepared students.
• Offer BSI grants for faculty and staff to create programs/projects for BSI.
• Offer sequence of workshops for faculty to learn about BSI.
• Faculty recommendations from counselors to students.
• One-on-one contact with content faculty/buy-in.
• BSI presentation at convocation/orientation.
• Offer stipends for researching and implementing effective BSI practices.
• Encourage teaching best practices at department meetings.
• Awareness
o Student panel at Flex day (duty day) or Institute night
• Approach “unprepared” faculty the same way we want them to teach “unprepared” students
• Change instructional attitudes
• Give faculty a handout/booklet with resources
• Present data and ask how we can improve
• While being “evaluated” as a teacher, the Dean asks for improvement in comp rates
• Campus goal to improve successful completion rates
• Get Deans involved
• Better orientation and training for faculty
• Build relationships
• Speed dating
• Café to go (slower version)
• Annual learning community faculty social/open house
• Foster discussions among division faculty regarding articulation
2. Ideas for achieving buy-in to an institutional student success initiative on our campuses:
• Release time
• Build in student equity into program review (hold departments responsible for addressing student equity
for basic skills students.)

2. • Allow any department or student service on campus to apply for basic skills funds
• Create a convenient forum for faculty engagement in involvement
• Create forum for conversations to exchange ideas
• Initiative is supported at the top and opportunities to be involved are built in and/or emphasized
• Taking a realistic look at data on basic skills courses at your campus
• Survey faculty about their opinions/knowledge of basic skills
• Approach faculty in the same way we would approach our basic skills students (by modeling how we want
them to learn)
• Retreat during Flex time to exchange/create better ways to achieve student success
• Faculty stipends
• Teach faculty how to integrate intellectually challenging material into basic skills courses
• Offer opportunity to take students on field trips
• Foster good relationship between faculty and administration (get rid of the “we/they” divide)
• Assign a faculty member to look at best practices at other colleges
3. Ideas for getting students to participate in basic skills activities:
• Assign your “best” teachers to teach basic skills classes.
• Build a reputation of success (based on research, success stories).
• Linked course assignments (in learning communities).
• Market student success stories—use students to recruit.
• Offer students both basic skills courses and transfer-level college success course.
• Peer mentors inform basic skills student what it takes to be successful.
• Use technology to hold students accountable (Twitter, email, text messages, MySpace, etc).
• Empower students to take an active roll in their education (self-esteem building, knowing student rights
and responsibilities).
• Teachers model the behavior they expect.
• Intrusive counseling/peer counseling.
• Connect with high schools to recruit.
• Create student ambassadors.
• Show sensitivity to diverse groups (everyone is not the same!).
• High expectations by classroom instructors.
• Finds ways to connect us with students (i.e., offer up your time).
• Have connections to health and social services .
• Post assessment-test “welcome “ invitation to basic skills classes.
• Host events with past students to share their experiences with current students.
• Mandatory student orientations.
• Encourage support programs (e.g., Puente, Trio) and student cultural groups to reach out to basic skills
students and give them information.
• Summer Institute for incoming basic skills students.
• Advertising films or posters created by students and with student opinions on support programs and
services (e.g., writing center) and/or classes.
• Monthly class newsletter.
• Assign students to attend campus events and write about them.
• Student accountability—student contracts.

3. 4. Examples of professional development activities that have worked on other campuses or
ideas for professional development activities:
• Teaching institute (in action plan) at American River
o Subcommittee of BSI Council developing workshops, initially targeting basic skills faculty
o Some topics:
 Syllabi development
 Group work
 Classroom management
 Materials (handouts, etc.) development
 Assessment
 Creating assignments
o Sessions will be offered for Flex credit
• All faculty can bring syllabi for review/feedback at Merced
o Teaching and Learning Academy—18 hours—part is BSI specific
o Book club around books related to teaching and learning
• CASSL (Center for Advancement of Student Success and Learning) Institutes, research grants, highly
centralized at Cosumnes River
• On Course as a foundation campus-wide at Butte
o 50% coordinator
o Stipends for implementation
o Stay tuned!
• Kirsten Corbin from American River will attend the Kellogg Institute during July 2009!
• Discussion groups at Reedley
o What has worked best, tutoring, specific articles, etc.
• Cross discipline study groups at Fresno City
o Read arounds—faculty are compensated—CTE focus
• Inquiry groups—possible to start 1 to 2 using BSI funds
o Could that lead to “regional” BSI inquiry groups?
• Professional development?
o Teaching workshop (three day—30 hours)
o BSI 1 ½ hour workshops (syllabi, classroom management, worksheets, etc.)
o Observations component developed by sub-committee of BSI
• Share reporting sheets
• Tighten up on accountability
• BSI Retreat
o How to get departments on board?
o Attend department meetings
• How to get people interested
o Sales pitch—“Do you have problems with students using cell phone?”
o Personal connection—each person an email
• Department meeting—must have large percent of time on professional growth
o Only small amount on info
• Faculty Teach lessons and other faculty act as students and then they give feedback to how the lesson
was effective for their learning style
• Workshops – right now it is during flex day, working to
o Techniques, syllabus, effective observations of pairing up and looking at other faculty teach
o Sub committees – student success & professional development

4. • Go to different departments and talk about activities that are going on in BSI—get representatives to
talk about what is happening in BS.
o Give the representatives a report out from each meeting.
• Send out individual emails rather then mass emails
o Tuesday afternoon and Wednesdays are good days for emailing out
• Faculty or Department meetings should include faculty growth (techniques, clickers, how to)
• Regional Faculty Inquiry Best Practices sharing group
• Here is the link for the Faculty Inquiry Group (FIG) application. I believe this group applied for funding
from their Basic Skills Initiative
o http://www.slideshare.net/ncook/fig-application
• Link to Center for Teaching and Learning
o http://www.chabotcollege.edu/learningconnection/ctl/BasicSkillsFIG/
• Informal Discussion groups like a lead off of an Inquiry group
· Learning communities
· Embedded tutor program
· Best Practices for teaching techniques
· Ask for input on discussion groups
· Articles
• Things to do:
o Brandon Muranaka to share workshop ideas or agendas
o Brandon Muranaka to share accountability forms
o Lori Levine to share proposal forms
o Tamara Glover to send out Faculty Inquiry Team format from Chabot
o Tamara Glover to share proposal form
5. Creative ideas for actively promoting and updating staff about basic skills activities
occurring on our campuses (newsletters, websites, etc.):
• Can the email! Make a YouTube video!
• Use portal technology, campus-wide announcements, newsletters
• Get invited to department meetings
• Fun! Have a hook. Have an exciting name; fun ESL newsletter (SODUKO, crosswords, etc.)
• Establish personal (one on one) connections
• Develop series of faculty workshops with stipend or salary advancement. (Include scary basic skills
data)
• Provide forums for conversation cross-campus (brown bags)
• Model lessons in other classes—go to a close colleague’s class and do “First Aid”—pick High Attrition
classes
• We “have” buy-in. We need commitments

5. 6. Ideas for gathering research data about our basic skills programs (what types? How
often? What to look for in the data? etc.):
• We have the data—look at what works
o Student services students succeed!
o Take what works in those programs for all faculty members to use in their classrooms
o Embrace, welcome, love the student plus skills (time management, etc.)
o Know the student
• On Course, Supplemental Instruction
• Focus groups—qualitative
• Datatel portal (Butte)—quantitative years long post—exit
• Peer tutor observations—give peer tutors same authority along with responsibilities (qualitative)
• Up front assessments: Class Day One!
o Know student learning styles
o Commonalities among students
o Create student connections
o Assign groups/partners
o Establish casual learning communities
• Know your students
• Pilot programs can be used to flag students to track a target market of data collection
• Report format - Can the BSI region help to come up with a standard formatting for data reporting
o Can we go back to our campus to identify what models are we using for data reporting
o Define – What data report are we after
• How does faculty development impact student success? How do we study that?
• BSI – Shift happens – we need a 60 clip that explain who is the BSI student
• OUR HOMEWORK at our own Institutions
o Create a subcommittee of data collection, reporting and surveys
• Identify some formatting for reporting data
o Bring back to the next regional Meeting – Best practices
o Look at DSP&S and EOP&S reports or data collection
o Mario will be sharing out his assessment data for tutorial center outcomes
o Linda will share her KEI report
• Parking and Transportation Survey from Fresno City College
o http://www.zoomerang.com/Survey/?p=WEB22965L2ZQ7W
• Screen shot of Datatel page; Fresno City College is using this to collect extra data:
o http://www.slideshare.net/ncook/datatel-used-to-collect-data-fresno-city-college