'Looking Forward' to Looking Forward - Harvard Blog Post Features IEBC -  Educators Tackle A-G System Solutions - Our New Book Has Arrived

'Looking Forward' to Looking Forward, Thanks to IEBC Curriculum to Career Choices             
 
The IEBC Curriculum to Career Choices (CtCC) SmartPathways team of Brad Phillips, John Yopp, Marianne Wokeck, and Jean Petty recently worked with the Alamo Colleges' General Education (GE) faculty to align student learning outcomes with career competencies, introducing the stages of CtCC.  
   
Participants described themselves in reviews as "really engaged," "excited," and even "looking forward to looking forward." 

Energetic Alamo Colleges faculty members dig into CtCC work with IEBC. 
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General Education (GE) requirements can account for up to three-quarters of the courses in Pathways of study, but the role of GE coursework i n supporting Pathways often lacks attention. A clearly defined process is needed for incorporating student learning outcomes (SLOs) for GE coursework with career competencies. Because colleges frequently fail to link GE SLOs with career competencies, IEBC created CtCC.  
 
Our facilitated approach benefits the participating faculty, the institutions, and most important, the students who gain an understanding of the rationale for what they are learning, and who graduate prepared for the next step in their college and career path. They gain the knowledge, skills, and abilities they need and competencies employers care most about.  
 
Learn more and find additional resources on Curriculum to Career Choices on the IEBC website. Contact us at IEBC to schedule a free consultation about your institution's needs and readiness.  
 
Harvard Blog Post Discusses IEBC's New Book 

In a post for the Harvard Education Press blog "Voices In Education," Brad Phillips and Jordan Horowitz elaborate on the thinking process behind their new book, Creating a Data-Informed Culture at Community Colleges.

"We argue that colleges try to make improvements on too many metrics, and in doing so dilute limited resources across too many activities," write Phillips and Horowitz. "The result: colleges end up with watered down interventions and supports. By trying to do everything, colleges end up not implementing their changes with fidelity, and certainly not at the scale needed to move the needle on student success."

Phillips and Horowitz suggest a five-step model to make real gains and move the needle for all students. It differs from the traditional strategic planning process.

Read the entire article on the Harvard blog. IEBC has the resources to help you help your institution implement any or all of these concepts. We look forward to working with you.
  
Janine Bocciardi and John Watson (left) talk with Equity Forum participants.
IEBC Addresses A-G Challenges at Equity Forum 

California's 'A to G' system is intended to provide students a smooth on-ramp to the state's public four-year universities and provide clear guidance about courses needed for admission, b ut the on-ramp runs into difficulties and can end up blocked for students. 
 
As a by-product of work on a study for Ed Trust-West, IEBC found misalignments in A to G course lists between district information systems and those registered at the University of California Office of the President (UCOP). Misalignments can hinder the process, potentially affecting thousands of students across California who rely on the system to validate their transcripts for admission to the state's four-year universities.  
 
IEBC recognized that misalignment problems could be caused by errant course coding, inconsistencies in course titling, and complications arising in the process of maintaining course listings with UCOP. In discussions with school district personnel, the IEBC team provided technical details of the problems and worked with districts on a remedy.
 
At the well attended Ed Trust-West Education Equity Forum held on September 15, John Watson and Janine Bocciardi of IEBC's Analytics group addressed these issues. They discussed IEBC's findings and described a system developed by IEBC to help a school or district identify these blockages and how this information can be used to correct the misalignment between district information systems and course designations in the UCOP. 

Have Your Heard? Our New Book Has Arrived!

Based on decades of working with colleges across the United States on increasing effective data use, IEBC's long awaited new book is now available from Harvard Education Press.
 
Written by IEBC's Brad C. Phillips and Jordan E. Horowitz, our intention in publishing Creating A Data-Informed Culture In Community Colleges: A New Model For Educators is to provide educators practical tools which can be used immediately to identify leading indicators and inform current discussions, affecting positive changes in student outcomes before failure occurs.  

The book has been endorsed by leading community college scholars, advisors and administrators. Now the education community is responding with praise.

"Finally!  Something practical. I've bought so many books about education that you can't easily turn into anything useful in the classroom. This book's pages leave me with 'I can do this. Let's try this and see what happens.' This book is a great guide to improving student success." -- Kathryn Nette, Chair of the Science and Engineering Department at Cuyamaca College


Creating a Data-Informed Culture in Community Colleges: A New Mod el for Educa t ors by Brad C. Phillips and Jordan E. Horowitz is now available from Harvard Education Press.

   

IEBC Fall Events Schedule Includes... 

IEBC has a busy fall semester ahead, including participation on councils and advisory committees. Our presentations cover aspects of data use, curriculum alignment, CtCC and evaluation at more than a dozen education organizations and symposiums in Texas, Hawaii, and California. 
 
October 8: Jordan Horowitz will co-facilitate a pre-conference presentation on different evaluation methods and techniques for the National Alliance of Concurrent Enrollment Partnerships (NACEP) in Washington D.C. with Jason Taylor, Assistant Professor of Higher Education at the University of Utah.  
 
The workshop will help inform the development of materials and toolkits to align with NACEP's newly revised accreditation standards, which allow for a wider range of program evaluation methods.

December 8: John Yopp and Marianne Wokeck will deliver a Curriculum to Career Choices (CtCC) presentation at the Association for Career and Technical Education's (ACTE) "Career Tech Vision 2017 conference in Nashville, Tennessee with the title: "Curriculum to Career Choices: Ensuring Pathway Students Learn and Progress.
Behind the Cover: "Inside Higher Ed" Author Q & A


Brad Phillips and Jordan Horowitz share their insights behind their new book in an informative question-and-answer session with author Ashley Smith for Inside Higher Ed.
 
Titled "Creating Data Faculty Can Use," Smith's article begins with this question: Is there a better way to use data to increase completion rates and student success at community colleges?
 
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