RSCCD GOAL 4
RSCCD will support innovations and initiatives that result in quantifiable improvement in student access, preparedness and success.
Given the challenges to serve more students with reduced funding and to increase students’ completion of transfer requirements, degrees, certificates, and diplomas, RSCCD realizes that changes in past practice may be needed. RSCCD Goal 4 articulates its commitment to rely on innovations and best practices to produce the desired outcomes. In recent years, three statewide initiatives have been helpful in identifying policies and practices that have proven to facilitate student success: •• The Basic Skills Initiative provided support
for identifying innovative practices that result in improvements in student success. The resulting document, the Basic Skills Handbook, summarizes effective strategies for teaching basic skills English, English as a Second Language, reading, and mathematics. (http://www.cccbsi.org/basic-skills-handbook)
•• The Report on the Commission on the Future
reports on the analysis of 24 influential reports on student success. These reports explored various influences on student success: the impact of fiscal and academic policies, best practices, and state and local accountability. Based on their analysis, the Commission offered 17 recommendations of strategies to address the challenges facing California’s community colleges. (http://www. cccvision2020.org) •• The Student Success Task Force studied
strategies for facilitating students’ successful completion of transfer requirements, degrees, and certificates. In their final report, they offer 22 recommendations for changes at the institutional and state levels that have the potential to increase student success. (http:// californiacommunitycolleges.cccco.edu/ PolicyInAction/StudentSuccessInitiative.aspx) Each of these initiatives call for changes in some of the traditional methods of admitting students, advising them in their educational plans, and providing instruction. Authentic, transformative change requires that there is district-wide awareness of and support for such changes.
3.8 RSCCD 2013–2023 COMPREHENSIVE MASTER PLAN