At the January 22nd, 2024 meeting of the California Community Colleges Board of Governors, the San Diego Mesa College Ethnic Studies Faculty Council was awarded the prestigious Exemplary Program Award.
Connie Renda, MA, RHIA, CHDA, Program Director and Assistant Professor for Health Information Technology and Management, was recognized by the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) with the prestigious Leadership Award.
We are excited to share the members of Generation Hope's California Presidents Circle, the first in a new national initiative designed to equip higher education executives with tools, data, and peer support to truly champion parenting students and their families.
Women’s volleyball at Mesa College is on a spike. In the spring, the Olympians won the state beach volleyball title after winning the Pacific Coast Athletic Conference title for a fourth straight year.
May 5, 2017
A progress report on Equity and Excellence efforts over the last two years, Part II
This article is a continuation of the Equity and Excellence story from May 1, 2017.
One of the first steps in reaching the goal of becoming the leading college of equity and excellence was looking at the system of testing and assessment for students to be placed in English classes.
“We thought testing and assessment was a way to really understand our students because the majority of our students place into basic skills,” Hands said. “A high portion of African American, Chicano and Latino students are overrepresented in their placement in basic skills. Our data shows that students that start off in courses below college transfer level very rarely make it out of basic skills, so we’re starting people in stages and we know that they’re not going to successfully come out of that.”
A change agent team of about 40 faculty and staff conducted action research (research used to solve an immediate or progressive problem) to “look at the conditions that exist – not make any assumptions about them” as far as taking an English course at Mesa is concerned, according to Luster. Members of the team looked at the college’s website, the method for applying to Mesa College, the English placement exam, the syllabi for English courses and actually sat in on English classes to fully experience the process. What the team found were inequities in the assessment for level placement.
Since then, the department has changed its curriculum so that students who have placed below college-level English can take the 101 course concurrently with an Academic Literacy course (ENGL 031) to brush up on their basic skills. In doing so, it eliminates the process of having to take English courses for a couple of semesters or years before taking a class that is at the transfer or graduation level.
The San Diego Community College District as a whole is currently participating in the Multiple Measures Assessment Project pilot. Instead of solely relying on placement exams to evaluate students at Mesa College, MMAP factors in high school transcripts, grades and non-cognitive variables in the creation of education plans for students to complete college level courses.
“Relying exclusively on standardized tests for placement is a weak predictor of students’ performance in college,” said Ailene Crakes, Acting Dean of Student Development. “MMAP will help create equitable outcomes for students at Mesa by overcoming the under placement phenomenon that is occurring among students who take the assessment tests. This pilot will allow us to implement pathways to English and math courses that will hopefully result in increased student access to transfer level courses.”
Outreach Coordinator and Assessment Supervisor Genevieve Esguerra added that, “by utilizing transcript data, many students will have the opportunity to bypass the assessment test and receive a placement that is truly commensurate with their knowledge and ability in both English and math.”
In April 2017, Mesa College tested the new MMAP system at James Madison and Kearny High Schools.
Stay tuned for a continuation of this story and weekly articles highlighting students, faculty and staff who are working toward the goal of making Mesa the Leading College of Equity and Excellence. For more information about Student Success and Equity at Mesa College, contact Dean Larry Maxey at (619) 388-5940, or via email at [email protected].
Tags: Equity and Excellence
Jennifer Nichols Kearns
Director of Communications
[email protected]
(619) 388-2759
Larry Maxey
Dean of Student Success and Equity
[email protected]
(619) 388-5940
At the January 22nd, 2024 meeting of the California Community Colleges Board of Governors, the San Diego Mesa College Ethnic Studies Faculty Council was awarded the prestigious Exemplary Program Award.
Looking to address equity issues on campus, San Diego Mesa College sought out advice and expertise from the Center for Urban Education (CUE) at the University of Southern California. “We needed to have someone hold up the mirror to us because it can be difficult to change from within if you don’t know what you need to change,” said Dr. Pamela Luster, President of Mesa.
San Diego, CA — Today, San Diego Mesa College will host the Advancing Racial Justice and Equitable Outcomes in Community College Institute, scheduled for Sept. 12 at San Diego Mesa College, is the third such meeting organized by the University of Illinois Office of Community College Research and Leadership. Issues of race on community college campuses will be the focus of the conference.
