Group #1 Roundtable Discussion: Parity and Discounted Dreams

Fall 2007 Professional Development Day
Monday, October 8, 2007

Facilitator: Heidi Braunschweig
Recorded by: Wayne W. Williams

What is Parity?

• Parity is actually “disparity” amongst students and their success at the institution.

What can be done for students who have not met the minimum GPA to receive a degree?

• Example of a student in Early Childhood who completed all of her required credits, paid and participated in graduation but could not receive a degree because she maintained a 2.3 GPA which is below the required 2.5 GPA.
• Departmental advising should occur.
• Student may have transfer issues due to non-degree and low grade performance.
• The ability to transfer to a Liberal Arts degree was eliminated at CCP.
• Testing should assist in identifying students who are “college-ready”.
  

Are students at CCP, college-ready?

• Do students who have remedial needs really increasing those skills after attending the college. If so, how would we know? Post-testing.
• Does the early alert system (3rd week attendance) help to identify students having problems and need extra attention?
• There is a need to increase peer to peer classroom interaction.
• Faculty should incorporate Banner (MyCourses) as a teaching tool to help students interact with one another.
• The film actually perpetuated the problem! The only failure as a teacher was the Black Male and the only failure as a student was a Black female.

Is there parity amongst classrooms/faculty? How can we develop uniformity amongst faculty?

• The faculty members who are not skilled teachers don’t know that they may need help. Pass/fail ratios are not indicative of teaching ability.
• The success of the students is directly tied to the effectiveness of the teaching faculty.
• More effective Professional Development for faculty is required.
• What is the responsibility of the instructors to motivate disinterested students?
• Teachers in the first few weeks must establish a Code of Conduct for the classroom.
• Classroom work, versus lecturing may be helpful when there is an operational course such as mathematics and students have limited outside classroom time due to personal limitations (working, children, etc.)

What about hiring of diverse faculty such as African-American and Hispanic males and females?

• There is a real difficulty in finding qualified, interested candidates.

How do we handle Parity Currently?

• The Women’s Center
• The African-American Men’s Book Club
• Learning Lab Workshops – (offer assistance)
• Athletics Programs – (attracts candidates)
• Advising students properly is a big issue

What have we learned from our past efforts?

• The course catalog is difficult to read and interpret
• The website is not user-friendly
• No one can give a simple answer about the school colors
• The marketing efforts of the school is not coordinated with the English and Art Departments which could offer some insight/assistance – (i.e. the italicized “of” in Community College of Philadelphia; no explanation of why this was done)
  

How do we engage our students?

• Students must be engaged in the classroom.
• We don’t have a mechanism in place to assess student outcomes.
• The parity issue is not just happening at CCP; it is a national syndrome at all levels of education.
• The issue is sociological problem
• The college and its members must focus on the successes and not on the the failures.
• Online courses are not helpful to the students although the online course is a revenue stream for the school. For many students, the technology and lack of face-to-face interaction represents additional barriers to student learning. How are students evaluated before taking online courses?
• There is a disparity in the college itself. The West Regional Center which serves a predominantly African-American population, which is the target demographic of this study receives the least financial support and is constantly neglected. Alternatively, the NERC, which serves mostly White students, receives the greatest amount of resources and attention from the school. The lack of parity in the facilities themselves and the faculty trickles down to the student population.

Can we make the necessary changes?

• We should examine advising to make certain that students are receiving consistent and important information.
• A direct dialogue between faculty, administration and the students should occur to help bridge the disconnect. Students must be involved.
• The divisiveness between the faculty and the administration trickles down to the student population.
• Core classes that are needed aren’t available.