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Colorado Council on High School/College Relations
Executive Committee Meeting
Colorado Christian University
February 26th, 2016
10:30 a.m.-3 p.m.
Members Present: Kim Medina, Liliana Diaz, Jenny Schneider, Lori Hixson, Jill Corbin, Rick Sciacca, Cody Dozier, Stephanie Lebsock, Maria Elena Rivera, Josh See, Jill Corbin, Trina Visocky, Lisa Wolf, Sharon Simmons, Sean Broghammer, Stephanie Tengelsen
By phone/web: Dan Clark, Adele Alfson, Tara Holmes, Kim Maxwell
Guests: Cheya Lacroix
Minutes
I. Call to Order – Kim Medina
· Meeting was called to order at 10:48 a.m.
II. Organizational Updates
· ACT – Lisa Wolf
- District Testing program: http://act.org/state-and-district-testing/
- Since this spring will be the last year of census testing in the state with the ACT, I would like to make sure everyone knows that ACT has a program that allows schools/districts to test all their students on a school day, just like they would have with state testing. The main difference is that the school/district pays for it instead of the state. I know I’ve already mentioned this to a few districts and they are very interested in giving the ACT on the fall district testing date next year (ACT or PLUS Writing, one fall, two Spring). Deadline for the fall is March 18; spring deadlines in June. This will allow schools to continue with their longitudinal data from ACT, and then students will still have an ACT score they can use for college admission that they didn’t have to pay for.
- More info about the District Testing Program: http://www.act.org/content/act/en/products-and-services/the-act-educator/states-and-districts.html
· CIC – Maria Elena Rivera
- Pre-Collegiate Conference and Gully Stanford Legacy Award: College In Colorado will not hold the Colorado Statewide Pre-Collegiate Conference this year. This is due in part to our shift in focus and the need to dedicate our resources wisely, as well as the prevalence of other conferences during this time of year, the majority of which will offer sessions similar to what we have traditionally offered at the Pre-Collegiate Conference. We will, however, still pay homage to the man behind the Pre-Collegiate Conference and so many of College In Colorado’s other successes by seeking nominations for the second annual Gully Stanford Legacy Award. The award will be presented to an individual who has been instrumental in assisting Colorado students in their pursuit of postsecondary education, within the K-12 and postsecondary systems, or through education-minded organizations and non-profit organizations. Additional consideration will be given to those who have concurrently pushed for the inclusion of arts education in school curriculum. Nominations for the 2016 award are due by Friday, March 18. To nominate an individual, please submit a thorough letter of recommendation that includes answers to the questions below and a current CV or resume of the nominee. Also, please let us know if the nominee is aware of their nomination (this does not have any bearing on the selection).- In what way does the nominee work with students looking to pursue postsecondary education?
- How long has the nominee been involved in the education community and what are some highlights of his/her accomplishments?
- In what way has the nominee been involved in arts education?
- List some exemplary practices that have resulted in student success.
- Please submit the nomination letter and the CV or resume to: College In Colorado Attn: Dawn Taylor Owens 1560 Broadway, Suite 1700 Denver, CO 80202 or
- College Friday is April 29: College Friday is April 29. College Friday is a day we ask all Coloradans to wear their favorite college gear to support students’ path to higher education. Staff at CIC is already working with schools/businesses/organizations on participation. This is going to be the biggest College Friday yet! CIC will share more information and resources soon. If you have ideas or questions, please contact Megan McDermott, director of communications, at or 303-974-2495.
- New Staff at CIC: Two new staff have joined College In Colorado. Megan McDermott is our new director of communications. Previously, she was the assistant director of communications for eight years for the Colorado Department of Education. You can reach her at or 303-974-2495. Marilyn Villalobos Rivera is the new outreach and access coordinator. She comes from Clayton Partnership School with Mapleton Public Schools, where she was a special education paraprofessional. She can be reached at or 303-974-2491.
- Would you like to receive updates from College In Colorado? Do you have new staff members who do not receive our emails? Click here to be sure you’re added to our email list. https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/QSYRQGF
- Commissioners confirmed: In February, the Senate Education Committee unanimously confirmed the following appointments or reappointments to the Colorado Commission on Higher Education: Tom McGimpsey (Second Congressional District); Renny Fagan (Seventh Congressional District); John Anderson (Third Congressional District); Jeannette Garcia (Third Congressional District); Maia Babbs (Second Congressional District); Monte Moses (Sixth Congressional District). The Commission acts as the coordinating board for all of the public institutions of higher education in Colorado.
- The next convening of the Colorado Commission on Higher Education is scheduled for March 4, 2016. For more information, please visit: http://highered.colorado.gov/CCHE/Meetings/
- AP/IB cut scores: High school students across Colorado who achieve a score of three or higher on an Advanced Placement (AP) exam will be awarded at least three college credits, effective for new students starting at a Colorado public institutions of higher education on or after July 1, 2016. Similarly, students who achieve a score of four or higher on an International Baccalaureate (IB) exam will also be awarded at least three college credits at Colorado public institutions of higher education.
- The Department of Higher Education collaborated with higher education faculty to develop consistent and transparent guidelines for all AP and IB students in Colorado – the guidelines are referred to as the Colorado Commission on Higher Education’s Prior Learning Assessment Policy.
- Colorado Opportunity Scholarship Initiative update: The Scholarship Initiative issued a Request for Proposals for New Partner Programs Grants, with a Letter of Intent due by March 18, 2016 at 4:00 p.m. New Partner Program Grants promote student success programs which help students in postsecondary degree and certificate completion. The Scholarship Initiative now has Collective Impact Initiative Grants and Legacy Partner Program Grants, in addition to its New Partner Program Grants.
- To date, the Scholarship Initiative has allocated $6.8 million in New Partner Program Grants for programmatic support to 28 student serving programs throughout the state. This round of New Partner Program Grants will result in approximately $1.6 million in allocations.
- In addition, the Scholarship Initiative has developed over 30 partnerships with institutions of higher education, nonprofits, and local municipalities to provide scholarships to local students. As these new partnerships develop, they will provide over $6.4 million in scholarships, and we expect to grow that program even further.
- For more information: www.ColoradoScholarshipInitiative.org
- Ed Prep Report: The Department of Higher Education released its 2016 Educator Preparation Report. The report provides data on the number of educators prepared within Colorado, and includes enrollment and completer numbers from Colorado colleges/universities as well as alternative preparation providers.
- To read the entire report, please go here (or access it from the homepage at http://highered.colorado.gov/
http://highered.colorado.gov/Publications/Reports/Legislative/TED/201602_TED_toGGA.pdf
· CESDA – Cheya LeCroix
- CESDA Symposium was held at Johnson and Wales on Friday, February 5; it was a successful event.
- University of Colorado, Colorado Springs is scheduled to host a CESDA Symposium on April 11 from 8:45 a.m.–1:40 p.m.
- CESDA fundraiser at Chipotle on February 12th; both locations (Denver and Ft. Collins) were well supported. The event was able to collect $350 to go toward the CESDA scholarship.
- Another fundraiser: Denver Nuggets on April 8 at 7 p.m.
- CESDA Scholarship applications due April 1 (hoping to go toward 15 scholarships: 5 CSU, 1 CU-Boulder, 1 UCCS + those already in existence).
- CESDA Quarterly Meeting held at University of Colorado, Colorado Springs on Friday, February 4; was well-attended and informative.
- Don’t forget the CESDA Annual Conference, May 18-20 in Avon, CO. We are asking for proposals for the conference. If you would like to present, please visit this link: https://cuboulder.qualtrics.com to submit your proposal.
- CESDA Directories are available
· Boettcher – Stephanie Panion and Tiffany Anderson
- No report.
· College Goal Sunday – Liliana Diaz
- Tallying up numbers, sites are reporting; will email that info when it is compiled. 21 sites this year.
· KOO – Lori Hixson
- KOO is actually a separate entry from Council; we will add them as an organizational update.
- KOO II – June 6-7, experienced counselors (5+ years) at Regis
- 2 KOO Goes to College (limited spots available)
§ June 8-9 Northern College Tour
§ June 20-23 Western Slope Tour
III. Committee Reports
· Admissions Practices – Stephanie Lebsock
- Nothing J
· Annual Conference – Liliana Diaz
- 2 proposals from CS hotels, committee meeting today at 2; will be figuring out some details, etc. Will schedule tours, etc. and finalize soon.
· College Day/Night Fairs – Abby Hickman
- Abby sent out information yesterday. We will attach to Feb. minutes for those who didn’t receive it.
- Info included: 2016 host checklist, host guidelines, host agreement, participant agreement, 2016 calendar and DNF proposed 3 year rotation schedule.
- See Ad Hoc report later in the minutes. They did come up with an evaluation tool. They are also suggesting to not give counselors the option of having members vs. non-members (probably a bigger discussion for another time)
· Counselor of the Month – Maria Elena Rivera
- By the end of this next week, the committee will complete their votes for the January & February 2016 COM, among the (5) nominations that were submitted. There is one entry that did not provide a reason for the nomination, so the chair contact the nominator to provide them an opportunity to supplement their submissions.
- Submitted a request to update the CCHS/CR website, to include the 2015 COM/COY awardees. This has been done! Thank you Lili.
- Only 1 outstanding winner to present award to for 2015.
- We are in the process of determining which committee members will remain and, which new representatives will join the committee. A HUGE THANK YOU to the committee members!
- An e-mail blast was sent to remind folks statewide to submit nominations for COM. Could use the updated list from ACC for ALL high school counselor contacts in the state.
· Counselor Workshops – Stephanie Panion
- No report.
- Their proposed schedule is on the DNF calendar. They are also preparing a rotation schedule.
· Elections and Recognition – Jenny Schneider
- No report.
· Financial Aid – Freddy Burciaga
- No report.
· Government Relations – Kate Burns and Andy Burns
- Refer to the most recent legislative update.
- Ask Stacey to come in March/May.
· Handbook Distribution – need chair
- Talking with CCU about taking over – 80-90% on board. J But they are not in a position to mail handbooks out. They are fine with DNF and Counselor Workshop distribution, so we need to find a mail service or something along those lines – let Kim Medina know if you have any contacts/ideas. Currently using Ricoh through JWU – need more solid/permanent solution.
- There are 2200 handbooks remaining, which is a lot for this time of year. Tara says that orders are trickling in, usually one sheet to Ricoh a month with 8-10 handbooks on it.
- Will donate handbooks to CESDA Symposium at UCCS in April. Will need to look for other good opportunities to give these away.
- Typically have sold handbooks at the DU College Fair – Tara will ask Adrienne if that would be a possibility. We would need a table and someone to man it.
· Handbook Revision – Lisa Borgmann
- Lisa Borgmann has taken on chair position – thank you Lisa!! Kim is excited that it’s a HS counselor! J
- Need to tweak overall number for orders for this next cycle.
· Membership – interim: Tara Holmes
- Things are rolling! Tara went ahead and went with MemberClicks, which was a little more expensive for a yearly subscription; it’s about $900 more than she estimated, but they did give us a discount to sign up in February. The functionality was so much more robust though; it was worth it. They have been really responsive with the database upload. It has been uploaded (only our database); they are currently putting together the template for our website with them. Within the next week it should be ready to go (depending on how quickly Tara can get to it), and then she will be sending out membership renewals/emails. Easy to add new members once we have the build done. She will then reach out to the list ACC compiled.
- We are about 2 months behind on renewal notices, but we are moving to an annual membership (from a calendar year membership).
- Option for committee chairs to communicate with members and reps to communicate with constituents, which is a real value add for us.
- Do we need a committee and a chair? Put this on the agenda to discuss next month. We also don’t have anything for recruitment or retention.
· Professional Development – Lori Hixon
- Setting up infrastructure to do updates on the Resource Guide.
- Working with KOO to ensure that Council is a part of that and represented there.
- Wanting to start a quarterly or monthly newsletter and/or webinars (20-30 min) – quick hit type of topics, i.e. ACT/changes to Common App/etc.
· Public Relations – Misty Sellden
- No report.
· Scholarship – Tiffany Anderson
- Scholarship closed with around 180 applicants (some aren’t complete; Tiffany will finalize numbers)
- Regional reps. have all responded and are getting their committees together
- Good spread of apps. Lowest number from a district is 10 and highest is 23
- I will be training the District reps. by phone; we are still solidifying that call time