Stepping Up for Community Colleges

The recently released report, Stepping Up for Community Colleges, prepared for The Boston Foundation by Jobs for the Future, presents a number of parallels with the work of Reinvention here at the City Colleges of Chicago.  The report begins with the understanding that “In recent years, Massachusetts has mobilized around an increasingly ambitious agenda for more credential completion, smoother transfer and a greater contribution from community colleges to the state’s economic well-being.”  Those objectives tie closely to the goals of Reinvention established three years ago for the City Colleges of Chicago.

A tremendous amount of work has been completed on Reinvention and much more is still underway for addressing our goals but it is reassuring to read a research report like this and recognize that we are far from alone.  The table below summarizes the research findings and recommended strategies and responses from the Stepping Up report and relates them to actions being taken at the City Colleges of Chicago.

Research Finding	Strategies and Responses	Reinvention Efforts
Students who accumulate credits and enter a program of study early meet with better   outcomes.	Move students into program streams and encourage them to declare majors early.	Through Reinvention7 teams, we are currently developing program maps for use in advising students toward individualized education plans based on career intent. The next step is adjusting our advising model to use these maps to put every student on a path as soon as possible.
Students need more structure, fewer options and frequent feedback.	Streamline curricula; add mandatory orientation, proactive advising and educational   planning.	Beyond the initial work on mapping current programs and adjusting advising, Reinvention7 teams of faculty and staff work with C2C teams on curricular updates.
The effectiveness of traditional developmental education is unclear.	Reduce, accelerate, and contextualize developmental education.	In conjunction with the college Directors of Developmental Education, we are coordinating programs underway at each college into a district-wide strategy including plans for evaluation and potential expansion of effective approaches.
Not all academic programs and careers require the same skills.	Build multiple, differentiated pathways aligned with the requirements of academic programs and careers.	Specifically within math, we’re working with faculty on developing alternative pathways   for STEM and non-STEM students.
Assessment tests are high stakes, and they are not the best predictors of success in   college.	Use multiple measures to place students, and change test conditions to increase awareness and allow preparation and retest.	Current efforts include outreach to CPS students, adult education students and other members of our community to increase awareness of the placement process. In addition, we’re working to develop better methods of placement through the addition of non-cognitive factors to the skills assessment provided by our use of COMPASS testing.
Interventions are expensive, but there is evidence that they lower cost-per-completion.	Make the case for up-front investments that lead to higher completion.	CCC has made a number of recent investments to improve early intervention, starting with addition to the number of advisers and implementation of case load assignments. Additionally, we’ve implemented a district-wide early alert program using GradesFirst. Combined, these changes are allowing for a greater level of intentional advising.To allow for even more effective application of advising resources work is continuing on strategies to define alternative advising delivery methods and help segment adviser loads by level of student need.
Small college-level pilots are difficult to scale up.	Begin interventions at scale.	Given our structure, we have the ability to implement initiatives at scale for the entire district or for a given college. Initiatives at the college level are evaluated to determine potential district-wide application.
College programs should align with workforce needs, and students should understand career outcomes.	Use labor market information when designing programs and to improve career advising.	The identification of C2C clusters and programs has relied on labor market research and we are currently undertaking work to incorporate similar analysis into our ongoing program evaluation process.Through the Workforce and Economic Development department an increased emphasis has been placed on career planning and advising, which now includes the Career Network website.
College programs should align with the requirements for transfer with junior standing, and students should take courses that count toward their major.	Faculty disciplinary teams build core curricula for program streams that introduce   students to a field and lead students to the goal of choosing a major.	As we further define academic pathways of stackable credentials, we are working with Academic Affairs to identify and develop transfer opportunities. Our goal is for every pathway to include a transfer option.

There’s a lot going on but the work is not just being done by the teams of faculty, staff and students at each college and at the district office. Every academic and operational department within the district is working on ways to improve outcomes for our students. Without that level of involvement Reinvention would not be possible.  Reinvention is not a team or a department, it is all of us.

     – Scott Martyn, Center for Operational Excellence

Reinvention7 Update for May 10th

In early April  Reinvention⁷ kicked-off, with faculty, staff and students from each of the seven colleges forming teams charged with nothing less than planning and executing the work required to ensure that all CCC students embark upon academic pathways that 1) reflect learning and growth required to meet life, career and academic goals 2) are relevant to both employers and to four-year institutions 3) meet students where they are, both in terms of their college readiness levels upon admission as well as their anticipated schedule and other life needs.

Recent Accomplishments

This week the teams completed initial drafts of semester-by-semester program maps that reflect the requirements and sequential steps needed to attain a certificate or degree, as indicated in the most recent course catalog. They also shared these maps with the owners of the curricula, the faculty, to make changes required to ensure the paths reflect the best advisable routes towards completion and learning. After faculty validation, these semester maps will represent an advising tool CCC can use to help students chart clear educational plans towards a degree. We have also begun baking-in developmental education pathways and requirements into these maps so we can meet students at their variable college readiness levels.

Upcoming events

In the coming weeks the teams will garner more faculty feedback on the semester maps and integrate it before sharing with our transfer directors, deans of instruction, vice presidents and others. We will also look towards faculty leadership to help define what new pathways will look like, how they can lead to credentials that reflect learning, match skills required for entering the workforce and align with the expectations of four-year institutions for transfer purposes.

As we proceed, please keep following us here and do not hesitate to e-mail me directly with any questions or concerns about Reinvention⁷ or, better yet, contact your college’s Director of Strategic Initiatives.

     – Charles Ansell, Center for Operational Excellence

6th Floor Enhanced with Student Art

The Reinvention space on the sixth floor of the district office just received a wonderful refresh thanks to student art on loan from the President’s Gallery and Permanent Collection at Harold Washington College.  Curator Vanessa Smith brought a number of pieces of student art and hung them around the open spaces shared by the Reinvention task forces.  This project started over a year ago with a discussion of how to add inspiration and motivation to our work space.  Our thought was ‘what better inspiration than to be surrounded by the work of the students that we serve,’ so we reached out to Vanessa.  She selected a number of pieces for us and we couldn’t be happier to have them.

Our thanks to Vanessa and to Harold Washington College for sharing these works.  Next time you’re at the district office, stop by and view them for yourself.

     – Scott Martyn, Center for Operational Excellence

World Bank Visit a Good Sign

Chancellor Cheryl Hyman and Mayor Rahm Emanuel host a delegation from The World Bank at Harold Washington College

City Colleges of Chicago was honored to host 17 representatives from The World Bank this week.  They were interested in learning more about Reinvention and the College to Career initative.  Their focus was on how what we’re doing here in Chicago could potentially be replicated in the countries in which The World Bank is currently operating to improve economies through education and workforce development.  After two days of meetings and tours of our colleges and partner facilities the delegation returned to Washington DC much impressed by what they experieced at City Colleges.

This visit took me back to the early days of Reinvention in January 2011.  During that first semester we sent a number of faculty, staff and students to visit colleges and universities around the country to learn from them how they were achieving thier success.  I remember at that time dreaming of a time when institutions would be asking to visit CCC for the same reasons.  In a way, this recent visit by The World Bank is a sign of that dream coming true.  We know we still have a lot of work ahead of us and that we’re always capable of further improvement but it’s exciting to think that our reputation has risen to the point that an international organization such as The World Bank would be interested enough in what we’re doing to send a large team to learn from us.

Everyone involved with CCC, Reinvention and, in particular C2C should be proud of this exciting step along our path to becoming a world class institution.  Congratulations to all.

     – Scott Martyn, Center for Operational Excellence

Become a part of the Reinvention!

Now you have two options for getting involved; Reinvention and Reinvention⁷.

Reinvention is comprised of task forces working from the district office each charged with both discovery and delivery project responsibilities. The task forces are;

• Career and Academic Program Pathways, addressing how our offerings provide value to students, what newly designed programs and offerings should look like and how to ensure the ongoing quality of our programs.
• Teaching & Learning, focused on course delivery options (face-to-face, hybrid and online) and developmental education solution strategies.
• Student Support and Services, researching how we can provide the supports and guidance students’ need to be successful in completing their educational goals.  Topics include placement and advising strategies to help students in getting on, staying on, and completing an academic program.
• Process, Operations, & Governance, determines how we improve the underlying operations to ensure optimal performance and implement high value intelligence and data analytics to the institution.

Reinvention⁷ takes the district-wide Reinvention model directly to the colleges.  it’s dedicated to helping every student at City Colleges receive detailed guidance to complete their program so they have a clear path to graduation.  Earlier this month, each college’s Reinvention⁷ team convened for the first time and started a multi-year effort to boost the success of students.  Throughout the rest of 2013, task forces at the seven colleges will be defining course pathways for different career and academic clusters (e.g., “Information Technology,” “Humanities and Fine Arts”).  They’ll also be creating semester-by-semester maps that allow whole-program enrollment and block scheduling to help students move swiftly toward completion.  In the fall, these teams will be focused on the development of program plans to help students along their academic pathways and then follow that up with work toward identification and development of new and improved programs.

All of this work builds on the reform efforts of faculty, staff and students from all seven colleges who have been on Reinvention task forces during the last two years.  To learn more about Reinvention’s work during that time, visit www.ccc.edu/reinvention or if you have specific questions, email us at reinvention@ccc.edu.

Interested in joining a Reinvention or Reinvention⁷ team for the fall 2013 semester?  Applications are now being accepted from all interested City College faculty, staff and students.  Apply today—the deadline is Friday, April 26^th. 

To apply, send an email to reinvention@ccc.edu. Identify your top two task force interests, including Reinvention⁷ and include the following in your email;

• A brief biography or resume describing your skill set as it pertains to your preferred task force.
• Five ideas to address the challenges within your preferred task force’s focus areas.
• Your contact information (phone and email) so that we can follow up with you.

TDL/Warehousing Bridge Students Learn by Doing

Note: This is a follow-up post written by Stephan Sellers, student member of the Reinvention Career and Academic Program Pathways/Bridges task force, about the Transportation, Distribution, and Logistics (TDL)/Warehousing bridge at Olive Harvey College. Since Mr. Sellers’ first blog entry was posted, he has passed his GED exam, continues at Olive Harvey as a Gateway Scholar, and is planning for fall semester. Please read the first blog post, published on February 23, for additional background on the TDL bridge.

In the previous blog entry I talked about my experience in the Adult Education TDL bridge program from a student perspective, along with a brief description of the JK Distributors simulation.

Today’s target question will be “How does JK Distributors work?”

JK Distributors is an online simulation that prepares TDL bridge students with viable workplace employment skills for immediate entry level warehousing employment. The skills and experience gained will also help students when they study for additional credentials in the TDL career field.

Soon after the bridge classes start, students go through a JK Distributors (JKD) simulated hiring process that includes an “employment application” that must be completely filled out, followed by an interview with the bridge instructional staff and staff from the Olive Harvey College to Careers department who assist in this process. Students “apply” for three positions in the main company, JKD, or one of its partner companies, Associated Buyers Corporation, HUB Suppliers, or Tremont Street Cooperative Bank, in the student’s order of personal preference. A detailed list of job duties for each job is provided to the students during the application process. The simulation is very comprehensive so some students will need to take on two different roles to ensure that all functions are covered. Following are descriptions of what JKD services are and how the partner companies are connected and play a vital role in each part of the simulation.

Terry Taylor, JKD General Manager January-March session

JK Distributors, Inc. (JKD): JKD’s departments include the following employee roles:

• General Managers Office: GM, Assistant GM, Administrative Assistant, HR Representative
• Sales Office: Sales Manager, Assistant Sales Manager, Order Specialist
• Shipping & Receiving Office: Shipping and Receiving Manager, Shipping and Receiving Specialist
• Accounting: Accounting Manager, Comptroller, A/R Specialist, A/P Specialist, Payroll Specialist

Associated Buyers Corporation: ABC submits purchase orders, receives JKD invoices and credit memos, and sends checks and credit requests to JKD, all on behalf of its customers. ABC also receives and processes phone orders from JKD customers.

ABC’s departments including the following employee roles and duties:

ABC Manager (enables ABC smooth flow of work), Customer Representatives (process JKD customer’s mail and phone orders, update A/P from JKD invoices, create checks to JKD on behalf of customers)

Hub Suppliers: HUB receives purchase orders from JKD when JKD runs low on its inventory. HUB processes the JKD purchase orders and creates invoices to JKD on behalf of its suppliers. JKD routes checks to HUB to pay supplier invoices, and HUB processes those checks on behalf of its suppliers.

HUB’s departments include the following employee roles and duties:

HUB Manager (enables HUB smooth flow of work), Customer Representatives (create invoices to JKD from purchase orders, update A/R from JKD checks, send JKD checks to TSCB)

Tremont Street Cooperative Bank: Tremont Street Cooperative Bank (TSCB) is the bank for JKD and employees of JKD, ABC, HUB, and TSCB. TSCB creates bank statements for JK Distributors and individual statements of accounts for employees. TSCB also administers a 401K program.

TSCB’s departments include the following employee roles and duties:

TSCB Manager (enables TSCB smooth flow of work; administer 401K program & group life insurance program), Banker (teller, processes JKD deposits and withdrawals, creates JKD bank statements, processes employees’ deposits, creates employee bank statements )

The positions experienced through the JKD simulation allow the students to grow in soft skills as well as in basic computer skills such as using the internet and email, including creating folders for the storage of completed work received via email, using Microsoft Word and Excel, and generating reports related to duties in individual departments.

-Stephan Sellers, Career and Academic Program Pathways/Bridges Task Force

The Gateway Program Welcomes New Scholars

Daley College New Gateway Scholars with Families and Friends

The Gateway Scholar Welcome Events of Spring 2013 are days that I have waited for with great emotion for a long time. As the President of the Gateway Scholars’ Club (GSC) at Richard J. Daley College and a Reinvention implementation team member with the Gateway Program, I can say that these events are why we work with passion the entire semester. It is not just the event that is so important, it is what we can see and feel at the event. I am sure that the new Gateway Scholars and their families and friends that attended the events shared with each other these wonderful experiences. As a student and Gateway Scholar, it is really inspiring to see all the proud and happy faces from the students as they receive recognition certificates for the success in Adult Education courses at the City Colleges of Chicago which allows them to enter this transition program. I could feel the students’ gratitude and the students’ excitement to see their dream of getting a college degree within their reach.

Truman College GSC Welcome Event

The Gateway Scholars’ Club helped coordinate the events to welcome the new Gateway Scholars who are transitioning to college from Adult Education. The team at the District Office that is working to ensure their successful transition to college is proud of these students. To become a Gateway Scholar means to dream a bigger dream for yourself than you thought possible. I continue to see that many of our Adult Education students are achieving their dreams and reaching their goals as a result of the Gateway to the City Colleges of Chicago Program. The Gateway Scholars are really interested in participating in college activities and becoming active students on campus. While this program is not for every student, it rewards those who have excelled at their coursework and who have the desire and motivation necessary to be successful. As the Gateway Program continues to grow, I look forward to continuing to welcome an increasing number of Adult Education students making the dream of college a reality.

-Ruth Elizabeth Marquez, Teaching and Learning Task Force