Featured Sessions

Achieving the Dream | Bridges to Opportunity Initiative
Media and Advocacy Workshop | CCSSE Workshop
Department of Education, Office of Vocational and Adult Education Strand | National Science Foundation | Special Sessions for Department Chairs
The Survey of Entering Student Engagement (SENSE) | ETS | Amado Peña

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Achieving the Dream

Achieving the Dream: Focusing on a Student Success Agenda Participants will hear first-hand about critical Board Member-CEO collaboration for introducing, fostering, and funding a "student success agenda." Marie Flickinger, Board Chair; Bill Lindemann, Chancellor, San Jacinto College District (TX); and Byron McClenney, Project Director, Achieving the Dream, and Fellow, Community College Leadership Endowment, The University of Texas at Austin (Facilitator) Achieving the Dream: Bringing to “Scale” Supplemental Instruction at Your College Participants will learn what it takes to successfully introduce, evaluate, and "scale up" an effective supplemental instruction (learning) intervention strategy for high-enrollment, low-success courses. The session will provide insights on how a large campus of an Achieving the Dream participating college is collaborating to develop a community of "supplemental learning leaders." Julie Phelps, Project Director, Achieving the Dream, and Professor, Mathematics; Al Groccia, Professor, Mathematics, and Campus Supplemental Learning Coordinator; and Shelby Ballenger, Student Affairs Staff, Supplemental Learning (SL) Collegewide Coordinator, Valencia Community College (FL); and Byron McClenney, Project Director, Achieving the Dream, and Fellow, Community College Leadership Endowment, The University of Texas at Austin (Facilitator) Achieving the Dream, Getting from A to Z: Aligning Data, Student, and Academic Support to Move from Developmental Education to Transfer and Completion "Dig deeper" as Achieving the Dream college representatives discuss award-winning work on developmental education initiatives with statistically valid controls to compare the success of students in college-level courses after completion, or not, of developmental education. Learn what it takes to engage a college in aligning developmental and college-credit courses and student support to prepare students for successful certificate and degree completion as well as to transfer to four-year institutions. Paul Brown, President; Rebecca Ament, Director of Developmental Education; Chad Brown, Dean, Health, Public Service and Service Related Program, Zane State College (OH); and Margaretta Mathis, Associate Director, Achieving the Dream, and Senior Lecturer, Department of Educational Administration, The University of Texas at Austin (Facilitator) Back to Top

Bridges to OPPORTUNITY Initiative

The Career Pathways Toolkit: A Resource for State and Local Leaders Working to Expand Education and Training Opportunities for the Workforce Career pathways comprise an integrated, articulated continuum of programs and services designed to prepare participants for employment and advancement in targeted high demand industry sectors of importance to local and regional economies. The goal is to create avenues of advancement for current workers, jobseekers and future labor market entrants while also meeting local employers’ needs for qualified workers. This Bridges to Opportunity project session will introduce the Career Pathways toolkit and feature some of the effective practices learned in designing and implementing successful career pathways programs in Ohio and elsewhere.  Session participants will each receive a copy of the toolkit. The Developmental Education Toolkit: Improving the Success of Academically Underprepared Students This Bridges to Opportunity session will explore lessons learned during the five year Bridges Initiative including effective practices policymakers and institutional leaders are using to reduce the need for remediation before students enter college; how to help underprepared students transition into and start college in a way that increases their chance of success; what kinds of remediation and academic support services are most effective with various groups of students; and how best to fund and assess developmental education in ways that lead to greater success. Participants will receive a copy of the Developmental Education Tool Kit. Linking Educational Opportunity with Economic Development Toolkit: Programs and Policies that Support Student Success for the Underprepared This session will highlight effective programs and policies being implemented in states and colleges across the nation to increase student access and success for our nation’s most vulnerable citizens. This Bridges to Opportunity session will feature some of the innovations adopted as part of the Bridges Initiative in the state of Washington including IBEST (Integrated Basic Skills Education and Training), the Student Achievement Initiative, and Opportunity Grants.  Participants will receive a copy of the Linking Educational Opportunity Tool Kit. Back to Top

MEDIA AND Advocacy Workshop NEW! Listen to presenter Jennifer Hahn's overview of this session. Make it Happen:  How To Tell Your College’s Story When It Really Matters There are new tools and techniques to help you become a more effective advocate with media and policymakers. Learn the “how to’s” and use a new comprehensive advocacy toolkit developed for the Ford Foundation’s Community College Bridges to Opportunity Initiative. This two-hour session is appropriate for anyone who engages with influential stakeholders including legislators, media, and business leaders to advance community colleges.           There are transferable advocacy lessons learned from data and research, informed by the experiences of the six Bridges grantee states, that can Make It Happen for community colleges advocates everywhere. The goal of this forum will be that every participant leaves with a clear understanding of the role he/she will play as an advocate now armed with advocacy tools and techniques including messages for presenting their case to elected officials, policymakers, editors/reporters, and opinion leaders. The session will be focused and practical, and each participant will leave with a CD version of the advocacy toolkit that includes opinion research results, fact sheets, guidelines for/samples of communication tools, including press releases, email pitches, public service announcements, and more. The agenda will include an introduction to frame the advocacy challenges, a presentation of opinion research findings about community colleges, a detailed message platform outline, including specific recommendations and traps to avoid, an opportunity to practice messaging through role play, a provision of 10 core components of an effective advocacy campaign, resources available to advocates, and a final question-and-answer segment. Douglas Gould, President; and Jennifer Hahn, Principal, Douglas Gould and Company, a strategic communications firm based out of New York, and a partner in the Bridges to Opportunity Initiative Back to Top

CCSSE Workshop

(Pre-registration required at http://www.ccsse.org/workshop) Communicating about CCSSE Results and Student Engagement on Your Campus This hands-on session will incorporate the CCSSE Web Site and communication tools to help colleges understand and communicate about CCSSE results and student engagement on their campuses. Courtney Adkins, Survey Operations Coordinator; Chris Cosart, Research Analyst; and Sandra Shannon, College Liaison, Community College Survey of Student Engagement (CCSSE), The University of Texas at Austin Digging Deeper into CCSSE Results and Learning More about Student Engagement This session will provide additional ways of looking at the CCSSE data beyond those included in the CCSSE Institutional Report. Intended for participants who have already worked with their college’s CCSSE data, this session will focus on ways to gain deeper understanding about student engagement on your campus. Sam Echevarria, Senior Research Associate; and Erika Glaser, Research Associate, Community College Survey of Student Engagement (CCSSE), The University of Texas at Austin STARTING RIGHT:  Preliminary Findings from the Survey of Entering Student Engagement (SENSE) Come learn about the preliminary findings from the fall 2007 pilot of CCSSE’s new project, the Survey of Entering Student Engagement (SENSE). Focused on the college’s front door—and administered during the fourth and fifth weeks of the fall academic term—SENSE is providing a systematic way to examine students’ earliest experiences and to improve practice with entering students. Angela Oriano-Darnall, SENSE Project Coordinator; and Jeff Crumpley, CCSSE Associate Director, Operations, Community College Survey of Student Engagement (CCSSE), The University of Texas at Austin Strategies for  Engaging Students—Colleges Tell Their Stories This engaging session will include practical examples for using CCSSE results to improve student engagement at three CCSSE colleges across the nation.  Arleen Arnsparger, Project Manager, MetLife Foundation Initiative on Student Success, The University of Texas at Austin Plenary and Luncheon:  Student Engagement in the Media Kay McClenney, CCSSE Director, Community College Survey of Student Engagement (CCSSE), The University of Texas at Austin  Focus Session: What Works in Promoting Student Success What policies and practices would a  college adopt if it were serious in its pursuit of enhanced student retention? This interactive session provides an answer to this important question. Drawing upon a soon to be completed book, Vincent Tinto will lay out the essential elements of institutional practice and policy that make for effective  institutionalaction. Session participants, working in groups, will have an opportunity to explore how these practices and policies apply to their own institutional setting. Vincent Tinto, Distinguished Professor and Chair of Higher Education Program, Syracuse University Back to Top

Department of Education, Office of Vocational and Adult Education Strand New! Listen to a brief overview of these sessions.

STEM Transitions: Enhancing Mathematics and Science Rigor through Evidence-Based Curriculum Ever-changing workforce requirements mean our students will need even more sophisticated skills in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) in the coming years. Learn about a new Office of Vocational and Technical Education (OVAE)-funded initiative that is targeting the instruction of essential math and science topics through an integrated, contextual teaching approach involving applications from the six STEM-related technical areas: Agriculture, Health Science, Information Technology, Manufacturing, STEM, and Transportation. This effort will produce more than 60 integrated projects for use in community college courses. Jean Petty, Assistant Program Director, League for Innovation in the Community College; and Hope Cotner, Vice President, Center for Occupational Research and Development (CORD) Trends in Perkins Accountability This session will provide a review of the major trends in State’s performance on the core indicators of performance under the recently-completed Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Technical Education Act of 1998 (Perkins III). Against this backdrop, this session will address the issues and challenges in data collecting and reporting under the newly-reauthorized Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act of 2006 (Perkins IV).  Sharon Miller, Director of Academic and Technical Education, Office of Vocational and Adult Education (OVAE) Pathways to Success Two significant projects created and funded by the Office of Vocational and Adult Education (OVAE) over the past decade have proved to be significant in improving student transitions through the development of career and technical education (CTE) programs of study. This session will provide information on the Career Clusters project and the College and Career Transitions Initiative (CCTI) and will describe how these two projects have influenced national and state legislation that is designed to help students be more successful in their transitions from secondary schools to postsecondary education and on to careers. Larry Warford, Program Director, League for Innovation in the Community College; Jean Petty, Assistant Program Director, League for Innovation in the Community College; and Scott Hess, Chief, College and Career Transitions Branch, Office of Vocational and Adult Education (OVAE) Statewide Articulation Agreements: The Vehicle for “Making the Change” in Career and Technical Education Transforming career and technical education (CTE) into a system that better prepares our young people with the skills needed to meet the demands of postsecondary education and the expectations of employers is an important step to help ensure that the U.S. remains competitive in the new global economy. Transitioning to a new system that not only “raises the bar” of rigor for CTE programs but also provides opportunities all for students is incredibly challenging to implement. Statewide articulation agreements are an ideal way of meeting this challenge. This session will discuss how addressing the policy and program issues involved in creating articulation agreements at the state and local level may be the “vehicle for making change.” Scott Hess, Chief, College and Career Transitions Branch; and Steve Frank, Education Program Specialist, Office of Vocational and Adult Education (OVAE) U.S. Department of Education Community College Initiatives The presenters will describe a range of innovative community college-focused projects currently underway at the United States Department of Education. Potential project outcomes and strategies for dissemination will be discussed, and input for future Department of Education community college initiatives will be solicited. Gail Schwartz, Senior Advisor, Office of Vocational and Adult Education (OVAE) Town Hall Meeting: New Directions for Career, Technical, and Adult Education at the U.S. Department of Education The Office of Vocational and Adult Education (OVAE) is advancing an exciting agenda to improve career, technical, and adult education in secondary schools, post-secondary institutions, and community-based organizations across the nation. Join the OVAE leadership team, including Assistant Secretary Troy Justesen, to discuss current initiatives and policies, as well as to consider new ideas for preparing community and technical college students for their futures. Troy Justesen, Assistant Secretary; Pat Stanley, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Community Colleges; Gail Schwartz, Senior Advisor; Sharon Miller, Director of Academic and Technical Education; and Angie Falconetti, Education Program Specialist, Office of Vocational and Adult Education (OVAE) Back to Top

National Science Foundation (NSF) New! Listen to Kathy Alfano's overview of these two sessions.

National Science Foundation Funding Opportunities for Community Colleges and Partnerships This discussion is appropriate for anyone seeking funding for STEM Projects. Funding opportunities within the National Science Foundation's Division of Undergraduate Education (DUE) for community colleges in the areas of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) will be discussed. Comparing the types of projects appropriate for each type of NSF funding and discussing how the same project would be reviewed differently by each program will also take place. A dialogue with participants on particular questions of interest is often a highlight. Writing Effective Proposals Workshop Participants will learn how to create more effective proposals for submission to the National Science Foundation. PowerPoint, handouts, and activities will be used to help participants develop a deeper understanding of the components of an excellent proposal. We will discuss the structure of a good proposal, then discuss the top ten ways to write a good proposal and the top ten ways to write a good proposal that won’t be funded (and how to correct these). We will also discuss the review process and what reviewers look for. If there is time, we can look at examples of good and poor proposals. This session is designed to benefit anyone writing, planning to write, or submitting proposals to the NSF.

Back to Top Special Sessions for Department Chairs What Does It Take to Be a Successful Chair? Are you a chair? A faculty member thinking of becoming one? A newly appointed chair? A dean/VP who supervises chairs? If any of the above describes you, this session is for you. We begin with a definition of “successful,” then examine the roles and responsibilities of chairs, then close with a review of what successful chairs do and a discussion of necessary institutional practices that must be present for chairs to be successful. Jim Hammons, Professor, Higher Education, University of Arkansas Optimizing the Use of Part-Time Faculty Part-time faculty are a fact of life today and will continue to teach from one-third to over one-half of all students who enroll in the community college of the future. Students view them as “their teacher” and form opinions about the college based on that exposure. This session will suggest ways to maximize their use by following good practices in recruiting, selecting, orienting, training, and evaluating them. Jim Hammons, Professor, Higher Education, University of Arkansas Back to Top

The Survey of Entering Student Engagement (SENSE)

A First Look at Entering Students:  The Survey of Entering Student Engagement (SENSE) Why do so many community college students leave without completing their educational goals? Why do so many drop out before the end of their first academic term? What can be done to help stop the hemorrhage of new students from the classroom? Come learn about the Community College Survey of Student Engagement's (CCSSE) newest initiative, the Survey of Entering Student Engagement (SENSE). Administered during the fourth and fifth weeks of the fall academic term, SENSE helps colleges understand the critical early student experience and target areas for improving educational practice with entering students. Angela Oriano-Darnall, Project Coordinator, SENSE; Jeff Crumpley, Associate Director, CCSSE; and Kay McClenney, Director CCSSE and SENSE, The University of Texas at Austin Back to Top

Educational Testing Service (ETS)

America’s Perfect Storm: Three Forces Changing Our Nation’s Future In his best-selling book The Perfect Storm, writer Sebastian Junger describes a maritime nightmare in which three separate weather patterns form into a singular, massive storm causing considerable damage and destruction. If there were a social science analogue to Junger’s tale, then the United States is in its midst—a perfect storm of educational, demographic and economic forces that is imperiling our long-term prosperity, undermining our political cohesion, and tearing at our social fabric. A recent report from ETS’s Policy Information Center, America’s Perfect Storm: Three Forces Changing Our Nation’s Future, examines the interaction among these three forces. It warns that these forces have created a dynamic that, if not addressed, will turn the American dream into an American tragedy, marked by widening income disparities and accelerating social and political polarization. The good news is that the forces we are facing are not unstoppable forces of nature, and there is still time to moderate this storm’s impact—but only if we recognize the peril, muster political and economic will and develop effective public policy. This presentation will focus on the evidence supporting these three forces and discuss their implications on our economy and our democratic ideals. Irwin S. Kirsch, Director, Center for Global Assessment, Educational Testing Service (ETS) Back to Top

Enhancing Learning: Creativity as a Means

In a world where technology has made entertainment constant—exploring the role of creativity and creative thinking has never been so important. During this session, participants will explore, identify, and discuss how creativity enhances the learning process with a facilitated conversation from renowned Southwest artist, Amado Peña, Jr. Amado Peña, Jr., Southwest Artist; and Richard Rhodes, President, El Paso Community College (Facilitator)

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