Valencia College, No. 1 Nationwide: It's All about 'Student Experience'
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| Title: | Valencia College, No. 1 Nationwide: It's All about 'Student Experience' |
|---|---|
| Language: | English |
| Authors: | Adam, Michelle |
| Source: | Education Digest: Essential Readings Condensed for Quick Review. Oct 2012 78(2):63-68. |
| Availability: | Prakken Publications. 832 Phoenix Drive, P.O. Box 8623, Ann Arbor, MI 48108. Tel: 734-975-2800; Fax: 734-975-2787; Web site: http://www.eddigest.com/ |
| Peer Reviewed: | N |
| Page Count: | 6 |
| Publication Date: | 2012 |
| Document Type: | Journal Articles Reports - Descriptive |
| Education Level: | Higher Education |
| Descriptors: | Community Colleges, Educational Change, Student Experience, Higher Education, Two Year Colleges, Academic Achievement, College Students, Enrollment |
| Geographic Terms: | Florida |
| ISSN: | 0013-127X |
| Abstract: | Twelve years ago, Sanford Shugart took the helm at Valencia College. This school of 70,000-plus students in Orlando, FL, seemed like any other community college, but Shugart's reason for being there, and the change this college was about to undergo, was anything but ordinary. Before his arrival, the school had begun a process called Campus Conversations, whereby individuals gathered to determine how to renew their college culture and vision. "When I arrived, about 150 people were involved in the change process, but they were at the margins of the institution. My job was to bring them into the center of the college," explained Shugart. "They created a fertile ground for change. The goal was to capture that energy for change and funnel it into systems for everything students experienced." That very reason became the push that Valencia needed to achieve top community college status. Last year, the school was selected among 120 "top" colleges in the nation by Aspen Institute, an institute dedicated to honoring the best community college for its achievements in student performance and graduation, based on data collected by the U.S. Department of Education. Valencia College received the Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence, and $600,000. For all of Valencia's achievements, little has been accomplished without vision or effort. For every student success, there's a program, an intention, and a commitment that makes it possible. |
| Abstractor: | ERIC |
| Entry Date: | 2013 |
| Access URL: | https://www.eddigest.com/index.php |
| Accession Number: | EJ1002834 |
| Database: | ERIC |
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| FullText | Links: – Type: pdflink Url: https://content.ebscohost.com/cds/retrieve?content=AQICAHj0k_4E0hTGH8RJwT4gCJyBsGNe_WN95AvKlDbXJGqwxwFggJCDgp4fwHgMXidusAFWAAAA4jCB3wYJKoZIhvcNAQcGoIHRMIHOAgEAMIHIBgkqhkiG9w0BBwEwHgYJYIZIAWUDBAEuMBEEDDVMF3MjwOas6Y9laAIBEICBmoCP2235lODa_9d6P5zcGjKdfTslSehIZW5XJ_LOV-_f5s3VXZeDpcqQjT9aAsi7Pn1qFdOuLDe2c4XSfbymO0dsTOCGVqpqorVhVqKyBrShP-ABgqBcou0y1GxUbzGkqC2QgVTMY4ct3_HTNFLHGLfI9rcWGPMrAYMt7KcrdSnTfpWeK5HyiXIgMiiO_QQWXj07yNlzowSAJMM= Text: Availability: 1 Value: <anid>AN0082981837;edd01oct.12;2012Nov02.14:33;v2.2.460</anid> <title id="AN0082981837-1">Valencia College, No.1 Nationwide </title> <sbt id="AN0082981837-2">It's All About "Student Experience"</sbt> <p>Twelve years ago, Sanford Shugart took the helm at Valencia College. This school of 70,000-plus students in Orlando, FL, seemed like any other community college, but Shugart's reason for being there, and the change this college was about to undergo, was anything but ordinary.</p> <p>Before his arrival, the school had begun a process called Campus Conversations, whereby individuals gathered to determine how to renew their college culture and vision.</p> <p>"When I arrived, about 150 people were involved in the change process, but they were at the margins of the institution. My job was to bring them into the center of the college," explained Shugart. "They created a fertile ground for change. The goal was to capture that energy for change and funnel it into systems for everything students experienced.</p> <p>That very reason became the push that Valencia needed to achieve top community college status. Last year, the school was selected among 120 "top" colleges in the nation by Aspen Institute, an institute dedicated to honoring the best community college for its achievements in student performance and graduation, based on data collected by the U.S. Department of Education. Valencia College received the Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence, and $600,000.</p> <p>What makes Valencia stand out among other community colleges?</p> <p>First, more than half of the school's full-time students graduate or transfer within three years of entering Valencia, a rate higher than the national average (51% compared with 39%). The college has also experienced rising graduation rates among all students, including minorities.</p> <p>Graduation success is especially evident among Hispanics and African-Americans, who, among other minorities, make up almost half of Valencia's population. Graduation rates for college-ready Hispanic students jumped from 38.7% to 45.5% in the past decade, and from 15.4% to 44.3% for African-Americans during the same time period. These numbers compare with the national average of under 40% at most community colleges.</p> <p>Aspen judges also recognized that Valencia graduates "are employed at rates higher than graduates from any of the other 10 Aspen Prize finalists. This is especially impressive given the region's unusually high unemployment rate and low job growth rate." Ninety-five percent of Valencia's Associate of Science and certificate graduates were placed in jobs.</p> <p>These accomplishments exist despite the fact that a large percentage of Valencia students arrive on campus in need of remedial work, and a significant number come from low-income households. These students adjust well to campus life. Two-thirds return for their second year of school, greatly increasing the odds of their graduation and postgraduation success.</p> <p>In addition to the Aspen Prize, Valencia has achieved other accolades. The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching named ESL professor James May the 2011 Florida Professor of the Year. In 2009, the college won the Leah Meyer Austin institutional Student Success Leadership Award for helping minorities succeed. In 2007, The New York Times named Valencia one of the nation's leading community colleges. In addition, Valencia was chosen in 2001 by Time magazine as one of the nation's best schools at helping first-year students excel, and is second in the number of associate degrees awarded to Hispanics nationwide (first for all students).</p> <p>For all of Valencia's achievements, little has been accomplished without vision or effort. For every student success, there's a program, an intention, and a commitment that makes it possible.</p> <hd id="AN0082981837-3">A New Vision</hd> <p>In 2000, Shugart and his team created a strategy. The first of seven goals was Learning First. "The most important first goal was that anyone can learn anything under the right conditions," said Shugart.</p> <p>"The key is finding the right conditions for learning. We needed to think about what conditions were right for every learner, create those conditions, then partner with the learners, because they're the ones that create the conditions," he added.</p> <p>As part of its goal, Valencia ensured that every student had a "connection and a direction" at the onset of their college life. The school had already developed Life Map, a program that touches on everything students do once they enter school.</p> <p>"From their first contact with us until graduation," said Shugart, "Life Map is a part. Before, many students came and left without connecting with anyone or knowing why they were here. We needed to lead our students."</p> <p>Launched in 1998, Life Map was created to help students charter their own path through college to achieve career goals, through connections with advisors, faculty, staff, and interactive tools. The program became a part of the school's second major goal in its strategic planning: to Start Right.</p> <p>"Almost all failure begins at the front door. So, we needed to invest our energy at the front door," said Shugart.</p> <p>The front door begins with the enrollment process, which Valencia changed to improve student success in the long run.</p> <p>"Most colleges drive decision-making around enrollment and maximizing enrollment, not around student success. So we created an application deadline and enforced it. This allowed time for students to be assessed, advised, and oriented before their first class," said Shugart. "We did away with late registration. Now we don't add a course once class numbers have been met. Students who show up last minute fail, so we created Flex Start Classes, which start a month later. Now even these students get a Right Start experience -- assessment, advising, and orientation -- before class."</p> <p>"We've created structure for incoming students, and given real clarity about prerequisite courses," said Shugart. "Most colleges don't require prerequisite courses out of fear of losing enrollment. But we do."</p> <p>Students who need additional support during the beginning of college participate in the college's Bridges to Success program. Through this program, about 500 disadvantaged high school students annually are offered free tuition if they enroll in Valencia immediately after high school graduation, keep their grades up, and participate in Bridges activities.</p> <p>Once students have been oriented and Valencia knows what courses they need to take, the next step is making sure they do well in their classes.</p> <p>"We believe the most powerful predictor of student graduation is success on first attempt in students' first five classes. So we looked at gateway courses that had high failure and withdrawal rates," said Shugart. He and his team determined where gateway courses failed students and took measures to turn the courses around. This is where the third strategic plan, Learning by Design, was enacted. "We invested in peer-driven faculty development. This meant adopting high-engagement teaching (teaching methods proven to be effective). It meant less lecture and more problem-solving, clinical learning, group work, and experimental work," said Shugart.</p> <p>"Many colleges underestimate the value of having a learning-centered culture in their faculty -- where the job of teaching isn't to cover the material, but to cause learning to occur."</p> <p>Revamping gateway courses was just the beginning of the faculty development and improvement process. Another important step was developing assessment measures and gathering evidence of what students learned in a meaningful way.</p> <p>"We offer supplemental instruction wherein students repeat a course so that they can coach others. We pay a them a stipend and they coach other students to make sure they show up every day, help with studying, taking tests, etc.," explained Shugart. "We have 7,000 to 8,000 students in gateway courses."</p> <p>Valencia also created learning in communities. A content area course is paired with a student success course and faculty integrate the content. The approach includes team teaching where faculty work closely with students.</p> <p>Due to changes targeting minority students, gaps between majority and minority students have virtually disappeared in five of Valencia's six gateway courses. Hispanics are the highest-performers in two of the classes. "I'm still not as encouraged as I'd like to be with black males, but with Hispanics and black females, the success has been enormous," said Shugart.</p> <hd id="AN0082981837-4">The University Bridge</hd> <p>While students are graduating Valencia with two-year degrees in greater numbers, many more are continuing their education at four-year institutions. Uniquely, students who graduate from Valencia are guaranteed entrance into the University of Central Florida (UCF) through an agreement called DirectConnect between Valencia and UCF.</p> <p>"We recognized that very few people think, 'I'd love to get an associate from Valencia.' They really want a bachelor's degree. So we decided to become the bridge and guarantee students get to the other side," said Shugart.</p> <p>"Now Valencia is the largest producer of transfer students in the world, and UCF is the largest receiver. We tell students, 'You will be admitted if you graduate.'"</p> <p>Valencia's outreach and enrollment efforts in surrounding communities are equally great. "We rank high in the number of students who enroll at Valencia, compared with other colleges," said Jessica Morales, director of transition and enrollment services. "The 2010 Market Share Data show that for the entire service area, we get 31.2% of graduates. It's huge!"</p> <p>Valencia goes into high schools and middle schools and sends out the message that college is a possibility.</p> <p>"Our community has many first-generation students and people who with no degree. So, our primary objective is to increase enrollment to postsecondary education," explained Morales, "and most of our events target Hispanics."</p> <p>When it comes to Hispanic recruitment, Morales found that it's a family affair. "Students rely on family input," said Morales. "So we have bilingual presentations and provide parent nights. They need to know that college is an option for their child. Many don't know that financial aid is an option and that Valencia costs 40% less than a university tuition," she added.</p> <hd id="AN0082981837-5">The Student Experience</hd> <p>Minority students embark on the Valencia experience and achieve more than they could have imagined. They graduate with university options and often find work, thanks to the school's relationship with local industry.</p> <p>Kristian Ocasio and Pamela Garcia both graduated from Valencia and are currently working at local companies. Ocasio, who graduated with an associate degree in electronic engineering technologies, is working at a company that makes medical instruments for measuring light. Garcia is a laser technician for Northrup Grumman.</p> <p>Ocasio expected Valencia to be like many colleges -- a party center -- but was surprised to find that students were more focused on their classes. "The focus was on academics, and the teachers were great. One of my teachers got me into the laser field and helped me get the classes I needed. And the counselors helped me create a degree plan so that I didn't miss a class or waste time," Ocasio added.</p> <p>Garcia and Ocasio are success stories, but, as Shugart put it, "There are no silver bullets in how this works. Many ask us to tell them three things they can do that we have done. But that's like taking a palm tree from Florida and trying to replant it in Michigan."</p> <p>The key to achieving these kinds of results requires comprehensive change and work. "We had to change our culture, and now we've fostered a culture committed to student success," said Shugart. "It's about genuine learning. The college is about what the students experience, and that is all."</p> <p>For all of Valencia's achievements, little has been accomplished without vision or effort.</p> <p>We offer supplemental instruction wherein students repeat a course so that they can coach others.</p> <p>From The Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education</p> <p>Condensed, with permission, from The Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education, 22 (March 26, 2012), 20-21. Published at 80 Route 4 East, Ste. 203, Paramus, NJ 07652.</p> <aug> <p>By MICHELLE ADAM</p> <p></p> <p>Michelle Adam writes for The Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education.</p> </aug> |
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