District Research Committee Minutes

April 16, 2009

Present: Carol Kozeracki (Pierce), Eddie Afana (Trade), Stan Levin (District) Michelle Fowles (Valley), Anna Badalyan (City), Cathy Iyemura (District), Alfred Gallegos (East), George Prather (District), Ed Pai (District), Gary Colombo (District)

  1. Agenda and Minutes – March 19, 2009 meeting minutes were approved.
  2. SIS Meetings – Stan and Cathy attended a number of the meetings held with district employees in other areas to provide a researcher perspective. Extensive and ongoing training on the new system will be critical to its successful implementation. This led to a quick discussion about the need for training for new researchers.
  3. Withdrawal Survey – George mentioned a table (“STUD_SURVEY”) where answers to questions related to student withdrawals are stored. He was not sure how this is populated. George has requested each campus to ask A&R Offices to see if anyone is familiar with the question content and survey process.
  4. Basic Skills Coding – A new schema for coding English, math, and ESL courses below transfer level is currently in discussion. The statewide rubric under consideration will record 4 levels below transfer for English and math, and 6 levels below transfer for ESL. If this new rubric is approved, the colleges will need to closely monitor how each course is coded. Questions arose as to how the levels are currently coded; George indicated they were by top code for ARCC purposes. This led to a broader discussion of our SIS system. George will ask Educational Services how the top codes are maintained and changed in SIS. Gary mentioned that colleges’ curriculum committees should be aware of this issue and the implications for course approval.
  5. Student Survey – Discussion of sections A & B
  6. Remove question 1 and 2 – no significant change in data over past surveys.
  7. Rename Section A as “Goals & Plans” – add a question about students’ goals for being at the college (update to application info)
  8. Break up question 5 into sub-categories (assessment, class availability, student preparation, external obligations)
  9. Discussion about whether to add new question based on occupational interests – not decided.
  10. Discussion to replace question 3 with a set of “commitment to college” choices from a journal article – provide preferences to Stan
  11. Question 7(family education) – add add column for brother/sister
  12. Question 8 – reduce to two categories (is there a need to distinguish between single and divorced/widowed?
  13. Question 10 & 11 (disabilities) – retain questions; should we add a question about participation in the foster care system?
  14. Question 13 – should we use “household income” rather than “family income”?
  15. Question 15 – do we want to figure out a way to ascertain whether the economy has changed people’s work situation?
  16. Do we want to ask a budgeting question – how students spend their money?
  17. Next Meeting – May 21, 2009 – focus on Section C of the survey and SIS update