02-03-2020 ECHS-DC Executive Summary Report

02-03-2020 ECHS-DC Executive Summary

DISD Academies Update

The information below was provided by Patti Burks, the faculty representative to the DISD Collegiate Academies Steering Team, on January 30, 2017

Here are some items of interest for faculty regarding the DISD Collegiate Academies:

Cohort 1

• Over 300 students from the cohort 1 schools were enrolled in a college course in Fall 2016. While final grades have not been tallied, preliminary indications are that over 90% successfully completed their college course. 
• Revisions to some of the pathways are underway and DISD is working with DCCCD to identify the high school courses that correspond to each college course. The pathways should be updated on the website in the next month or so.
• Faculty in the cohort 1 pathways should have already identified the textbooks needed for 2017-2018. You should also be communicating with the high schools to finalize schedules, software and equipment needs.

Cohort 2

• Ten additional collegiate academies are planned to open in Fall 2017. Some of these pathways include AS or AA degrees as well as AAS degrees which include more liberal arts courses.
• Recruitment efforts are underway now and the application process has begun. There appears to be a lot of interest in the academies and plenty of applicants.
• Many of the cohort 2 academies only have 2 pathways rather than 3. It is not known at this time what the split of students will be at each school. Faculty are encouraged to meet with their dual credit liaisons and affiliated high schools to coordinate this effort and ensure that the colleges have the resources to support the number of students in each pathway.
• You should receive a request for textbook, software and equipment requirements in the next 2-3 weeks for the cohort 2 academies. Our goal is to communicate the needs early enough to make sure that the courses are ready to go on day 1.

Staffing

• The budget allocation from the District Office includes an assumption that the staffing for the academies will be 40% full-time faculty and 60% adjunct faculty.
• Finding qualified adjunct faculty to teach in the academies is proving to be very difficult. 
• Classes must be held during the day.
• In several of the technical programs, the contact hours for the courses are high (6-7 hrs per week) which means that an adjunct can only teach 1 course per semester per our employment rules
• Classes are very specialized – particularly in years 3 and 4 – which means there are fewer qualified applicants, particularly who are not already working full-time.
• In many cases, the academies are competing with each other for the same applicants.
• Faculty are encouraged to discuss with your VPAA and VPBS the need for full-time faculty dedicated to the academies for the programs to be successful and not negatively impact our current students.
• We are investigating ways to help with the staffing issue including centralized advertising specifically for the academies, recruitment from DISD teachers and retirees, discussions with industry partners, etc. 

Industry Partners

• All cohort 1 and cohort 2 schools have at least one industry partner and most have more.
• Discussions are underway with each industry partner to fully define their role and relationship with the academy and the college.

Professional Development

• A second dual credit professional development session was held in January prior to the semester with over 70 attendees.
• All dual credit faculty are encouraged to join the Blackboard Early College High School Dual Credit Community site which includes many policies and procedures for dual credit, the professional development materials, etc.
• Login to Blackboard
• Click on Community
• Enter Dual Credit in the search box
• Click on “Early College High School Dual Credit” community
• Click Enroll to self enroll

Please share with all faculty and let me know if you have any questions.

Patti

DISD Academies Update

From Patti Burks, 8/22/16:

Professional Development

A professional development seminar was held on August 10th with over 120 participants. 

An eCampus community site has been created that includes the presentations from the professional development, DCCCD and DISD policies and procedures for all dual credit faculty, checklists and contact information.

To access the information: 

    1. Login to eCampus

         If you do not have an eCampus login, use the guest login username: dcccd-echs password: guest2016

    2. Click on the Community Tab

    3. Enter “dual credit” into the Organization Search box

    4. Click on the DCCCD-ECHS-DUAL-CREDIT community 

You will have the opportunity to self-enroll to see all of the information.

Please share this with all DISD Academy, ECHS and dual credit adjunct faculty.

The budget includes funding for professional development in future semesters.

Curriculum

Curriculum committee charges will include DISD Academy curriculum review for course alignments and pathways. These will be presented at the Curriculum Workshop on August 24th.

Community Partners

Industry partners have been identified for all of the academies. Agreements and next steps are in progress.

Additional meetings have been scheduled with 4 year colleges and universities to discuss articulation of the AAS degrees to BAAS degrees.

Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

Patti

Patti Burks

Professor, Computer Technology

Brookhaven College

972-860-4329

pburks@dcccd.edu

Dual Credit Faculty Professional Development Information

From Anna Mays, Associate Vice Chancellor for Educational Policy & Student Success:

Professional development for faculty who will be teaching dual credit DCCCD College courses in Fall, 2016, including those who will be teaching at the Dallas ISD Collegiate Academies, will be held August 10, 12:00-4:00 p.m. at Eastfield College.  

Patti Burks and Ginnette Serrano-Correa, two experienced DCCCD faculty, are designing both this in-person and online professional development with input from members of the DCCCD Planning Committee for the Dallas ISD Collegiate Academies and Dual Credit Council and assistance from Dr. Sharon Blackman (Talent Central) and Terry DiPaolo (LeCroy).  Presenters will also include Usamah Rodgers-Muhammad, Dallas ISD Executive Director of Early College Programs and Angie Gaylord, DISD Executive Director of Professional Development.   

Please share this information with existing as well as new adjunct and full-time faculty who will be assigned dual credit DCCCD college courses.  

To Register for the Learning Frameworks Seminar:

Log on to eConnect and select the EMPLOYEE Menu
Choose Register for Staff Enrichment
On the Register for Staff Enrichment Classes screen:
Choose the Summer 2016 Term from the drop down menu
Select the Location: 010-District Office from the drop down menu
Fill in the Course information area:
     Section#: 13002
     Course #: 2000
     Course: XADJ
Click Submit
Confirm the course and check Select Section box
Click Submit
You will receive a confirmation showing that your registration was successfully received

Informational Flyer (pdf)

If a potential participant does not yet have an employee ID number, please send their name to Dr. Sharon Blackman at sblackman@dcccd.edu.  Information on the online professional development will be forthcoming.

Updates on Elections, Budgets, and DISD Collegiate Academies

DCCCD BOARD OF TRUSTEES ELECTIONS

Voters in eastern Dallas County elected new representatives on the DCCCD Board of Trustees in runoff elections on June 18.

In District 3, which covers the northeastern quadrant of Dallas County, including Sachse, Garland, Rowlett, Lake Highlands and other parts of Northeast Dallas, Dorothy Zimmermann was elected over Tommy Reed to succeed Trustee Jerry Prater.

In District 4, which covers the southeastern wedge of Dallas County stretching from Lakewood and parts of East Dallas and Pleasant Grove to Mesquite, Sunnyvale, Seagoville and Balch Springs, Monica Lira Bravo was elected over Martha Jo Talbot to succeed Trustee Bill Metzger.

Lira Bravo and Zimmermann will be sworn into office on June 29.

In May, voters in District 2 elected Phil Ritter over three other candidates to succeed Trustee Bob Ferguson. Ritter was sworn in to office on June 7.

DCCCD BUDGET OUTLOOK

With these three new trustees joining incumbents Charletta Rogers Compton, Diana Flores, Wesley Jameson, and Sonny Williams, according to this Schedule for Tax Rate and Budget Adoption, the Board is expected to set the property tax rates and adopt a budget for the 2016-2017 fiscal year on Tuesday, September 6.

As of June, DCCCD Chief Financial Officer John Robertson predicts Dallas County will see a 9-10 percent increase in the Taxable Assessed Value (TAV) of all real property in Dallas. As a result, Robertson plans to recommend Chancellor May ask the Board of Trustees to reduce our tax rate slightly and keep tuition rates the same, while still keeping revenues at a level that supports maintaining instructional and student services. When asked by the DCCFA president why the District would not keep the rate the same and use the resultant budget increase to fund longstanding areas of need, Robertson said that keeping the rate the same as 2015-2016 would put the DCCCD Board of Trustees perilously close to triggering a state law that would allow a rollback election to take place, which could result in a significantly lower tax rate and drastically reduced tax revenues. (More information on rollback rates and elections can be explored in more detail at this link and this link.)

In a meeting with the faculty council on June 3, and again at the Chancellor’s Staff meeting on June 13, Chancellor May said that the projected increased tax revenues - even with a slightly lower tax rate - would allow for employee compensation increases. However, the amount and shape of such compensation increases will depend on the final certified TAV, and the tax rate the Board of Trustees ultimately approves at the September 6 meeting.

TILT, TEXTBOOKS, DISD COLLEGIATE ACADEMIES

The Faculty Council meets monthly with the seven college academic vice presidents and the dean of distance education from the LeCroy Center. The group refers to itself as “The Instructional Leadership Team” (TILT).

The TILT group met Monday, June 20, to discuss an agenda that included the 2016-2017 faculty search timeline and updates on the chancellors faculty fellows, mentors, and pay for performance programs. In addition, numerous faculty have raised concerns about faculty input in curriculum development and faculty primacy in textbook selections related to the DISD Collegiate Academies initiative that is launching numerous Early College High Schools with six of the seven DCCCD colleges. Consequently, TILT also invited Anna Mays, associate vice chancellor, and Patti Burks, faculty representative, to update the group on the Collegiate Academies. Previous updates from Patti Burks were posted on the DCCFA Advance Blog in June and May and April. The TILT group learned that only a small number of courses – to be offered to ninth graders – will be offered in 2016-2017. District officials remain committed to faculty selecting textbooks and other classroom materials throughout the Collegiate Academies partnership. Moreover, faculty in the specific career and technical education programs selected for the partnership increasingly are being involved in determining curriculum and scheduling decisions. The group also identified an area of opportunity for increased communication with, and input from, District discipline committees, particularly those which oversee general education courses within the CTE certificate and degree plans.

The issue of textbook selections has been raised on numerous occasions over the past year. Chancellor May repeatedly has affirmed that he respects the right and responsibility of faculty to select their own textbooks. Additional information about the textbooks issue can be found in this June 2016 post, this June 2016 post, and this October 2015 post on the DCCFA Advance Blog.

Update on DISD Collegiate Academies

The following is an update from Patti Burks on the DISD Collegiate Academies, with additional edits from Anna Mays (noted in blue lettering), sent to the Faculty Council on June 17, 2016:

We just had the June meeting of the DCCCD Steering Committee and the DISD-DCCCD Joint Steering Committee for the DISD Academies, so I thought it might be a good time for an update on what is happening. The students enrolled in the academies for fall are completing a summer bridge program this week.

• Scheduling:
• Schedules for 2016-2017 are being finalized. Faculty in the programs affected should have the proposed schedules from the academies in hand and provide feedback to finalize the schedules within the next couple of weeks. 
• DCCCD dual credit faculty will be following the DCCCD full semester calendar dates. The high schools will provide coverage for the days before and after the DCCCD semester when the high school is in session. The only exception to the DCCCD calendar is the week of Thanksgiving when the high schools are out on break, so no classes will be held that week.
• Staffing
• The DCCCD colleges will be responsible for staffing all of the dual credit courses in 2016-2017. No qualified DISD personnel have been identified.
• Any college who needs to hire adjuncts for Fall 2016 should do so through their local college HR departments. No district-wide search will be conducted (as decided by the college HR directors).
• If any college needs help with this process, they can contact me (pburks@dcccd.edu) and I will do my best to provide assistance.
• Classroom Management
• We are developing a professional development session for dual credit faculty that will cover the following topics:
• DCCCD responsibilities (syllabus, certification, grades, student drops, FERPA, etc.)
• DISD responsibilities (attendance, grading, discipline, etc.)
• Strategies for working with younger students
• Brain/psychology of teens as it relates to learning
• Struggles and challenges of younger students
• Strategies for classroom management and student engagement
• This training will be open to all DCCCD dual credit instructors – not just DISD academy
• A half-day training session will be held the afternoon of August 10 or 12 – date and location TBD.
• We are working with LeCroy to put the training online as well for those who cannot attend or for future semesters.
• We would like to have a panel of a few experienced instructors who have taught both dual credit and adult college students to discuss challenges and present strategies. Volunteers or suggestions of good candidates would be appreciated!
• Curriculum
• For the 9th grade courses, the committee asked that the colleges adopt a common text book for each course. The justification was for cost and time savings since we got a late start and the ordering and payment for books is all being handled through a compiled Dallas ISD order to Follett Bookstore and software vendors for Fall, 2016 dual credit courses at the Dallas ISD Collegiate Academies/high schools (over $50,000).  Dallas ISD will centralize the purchase of textbooks for all Collegiate Academy classes for fall 2016. Since the courses have not been set up in Colleague, textbook adoptions cannot be input in Follett’s online adoption system.  College representatives have submitted their textbook and software requests to the District Office representatives (Doris Rousey and Anna Mays) so that a final list can be compiled and sent to Dallas ISD and Follett before July 1 for ordering and deliver to over 800 students and seven high schools.  This has occurred for most courses.  Faculty should not submit their textbook requests through the normal adoption process directly to the Follett system for Fall, 2016 only since the textbooks and software must be ordered by July 1 to ensure delivery to the high schools before dual credit classes start August 29. 
• For the 10th grade year (starting in 2017-2018), the committee has expressed a preference for a common textbook for the same course (but not a requirement). I have suggested that they send this request to the relevant curriculum committees in the fall to allow them time to evaluate the reasonableness and feasibility of accommodating their request. 
• Faculty should know that the DISD is on a 3 year adoption cycle, meaning that we should expect to use the books selected for 3 academic years. 
• DISD has also asked for our consideration when requiring course materials that use access codes for online components as these are not transferable between students and significantly increase the cost to DISD. 
• Industry partners
• Industry partners are being identified for each Collegiate Academy. Each academy will have a primary partner identified and some may also have secondary partners.
• These industry partners will provide support to the schools in a number of ways including internships in the latter years of the program, but also mentors, speakers, etc. throughout the high school experience.
• Transfer partnerships
• Discussions are underway with 8 local universities to form partnerships that would allow students to transfer to the universities and retain the credit they have earned in their AAS degrees (AAS to BAAS pathways). 

Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns. I am on the committee as your advocate, so I am happy to bring our questions and concerns to them and help formulate an acceptable resolution.

Patti Burks: Faculty Issues, Concerns, and Solutions regarding the DISD Collegiate Academies

EDITOR'S NOTE: Patti Burks, Brookhaven College professor of computer technology, and faculty representative on the DISD Early Collegiate Academies Steering Committee, drafted this document to express faculty issues and concerns - and solutions - regarding the DISD Collegiate Academies. The Faculty Council generally supports these statements. Statements in Red are updates as of May 18, 2016.

Based on past experience working with the Early College High Schools and dual credit programs, the DCCCD faculty identified the following issues and concerns.

These items need be addressed and documented in writing in an operating agreement with DISD to ensure that all parties involved currently as well as those who will be involved in the future are working under the same set of expectations and guidelines and to ensure the success of the program and the students in the academies.

Response: Operational guidelines will be developed and presented as a working draft to the June 16^th joint DCCCD/Dallas ISD Steering Committee. 

Scheduling 
For courses that will be taught by DCCCD faculty (full-time or adjunct), course scheduling should match the standard college schedule and should be consistent throughout the semester. This will enable college instructors to teach multiple courses. 

Response:  The eight Dallas ISD Collegiate Academies will follow a consistent semester schedule that aligns with the standard college schedule to the extent possible.  The 9^th grade dual credit (college) courses will be scheduled for 90 minutes, M/W or T/R for 48 or less contact hours and M, T, W, and R for classes with 96 or more contact hours.  The days and times of the courses will be negotiated by the College and Collegiate Academy representatives.

 

The high school will be responsible for coverage of the high school class meetings that are outside of the standard college schedule including days before or after the college semester start and end dates as well as days where course meeting times are changed due to testing, assemblies or other high school priorities.

Response:  Dallas ISD understands and accepts responsibility for coverage of the high school class meetings that are outside of the standard college schedule.

 

College faculty teaching high school courses should be informed of any scheduling issues or interruptions prior to the beginning of the semester.

Response:  Dallas ISD Executive Directors and Collegiate Academy Principals and DCCCD College administrators are sharing academic calendars, assessment/event schedules and planning in advance how to address differences between the DCCCD academic calendar and the Dallas ISD high school calendar. 

 

The high school should provide the college with the following at least 3 months prior to the start of the semester:

o   High school faculty requiring credentialing

o   Courses where a college instructor is needed

o   High school course schedules including days and times 

Response:  DCCCD College representatives were notified at the May 12 joint DCCCD/Dallas ISD Collegiate Academies Joint Steering Committee meeting of the courses and projected number of sections that would need to be scheduled.  No high school faculty are currently credentialed to teach these courses, so the Colleges will identify credentialed faculty to teach the Fall courses at the high school campuses. 

Classroom Management 
Many college faculty have experience teaching adult learners only and no experience teaching minors. Professional development should be made available to assist instructors teaching high school cohorts for the first time to assist with legal, disciplinary and classroom management concerns. This applies to courses taught at either the high school of the college campus.

Response:  Orientation and professional development for the faculty who are assigned to the 9^th grade dual credit (college) courses at the Dallas ISD Collegiate Academies will be developed by DCCCD faculty.  Ideas for topics and content can be sent to Patti Burks and Ginnette Serrano-Correa. 

The role of the college faculty teaching high school courses is to provide instruction in the subject matter and not to provide discipline. A clear and consistent code of conduct and disciplinary actions needs to be developed and understood by faculty, school administration and students. Support for college faculty in disciplinary matters should be available and clearly documented.

Response:  Dual credit students must follow the same guidelines as other DCCCD College students, including following the same curriculum, syllabus, course rigor, attendance expectations and classroom behavior.  Reference to the DCCCD College Code of Student Conduct and its enforcement will be included in the Operational Guidelines.

Additional reporting, requirements and procedures required by the high school (attendance, failing grades, periodic grading reports, etc.) that are not standard for college instruction must be clearly identified and provided to the faculty 1 month prior to the beginning of the semester. 


Response:  High school requirements that need to be conveyed to college instructors will be included in the Operational Guidelines and within the orientation and professional development of the assigned faculty

Curriculum 
The college curriculum will be taught in all dual credit courses.

Response:  A dual credit course is a college course, equivalent with respect to curriculum, student learning outcomes, materials, instruction, and method/rigor of student evaluation, no matter where it is offered.

Course textbooks and software have been an issue in the past with some dual credit courses. Any issues or restrictions on course textbooks or software (cost, adoption cycle, equipment, etc.) must be identified and resolved 3 months before the start of the semester.

Response:  Fall, 2016 9^th grade courses and estimated textbook costs were conveyed to the DCCCD Colleges and Dallas ISD personnel on 5/13/16.  The orders will by placed by Dallas ISD as soon as the College administrators and faculty confirm the selected textbooks and software. 

 

Courses in subjects that require STAAR testing may also present problems in terms of curriculum. In some cases the college curriculum may not cover all of the content required for the STAAR exam. 

Discrepancies in the college and high school curriculum need to be identified prior to the scheduling of any STAAR related dual credit courses. The high school will be responsible for devising a plan to provide any supplemental instruction that will be required for students outside of the regular college curriculum.

Agreed*

Many of these issues need to be resolved and documented before the start of the Fall 2016 semester. A few of them may be deferred until next year – such as the STAAR curriculum issue since those courses will not be scheduled for the 2016-2017 school year.

Agreed*

*Response:  The above items have been shared with Executive Director Usamah Rodgers, who will be taking a leadership role with planning for the Dallas ISD Collegiate Academies, who agrees that these are reasonable expectations that will be addressed in joint planning meetings. 

The DCCCD faculty believe that these are critical issues and that formal documentation and distribution among the high school and college faculty and administration is vital.

The DCCCD/Dallas ISD Collegiate Academies Steering Committee agrees and supports this documentation and distribution.