Area Report for Board of Trustees
Welcome to July. The 2023-24 academic year is finally wrapped up and on June 13, approximately 561 of 1,286 students who graduated in 2023-24 participated in our Commencement ceremony. Congratulations, graduates! Commencement was so much fun and it was exciting to have everyone back together on the ShoWare Center stage. A special thanks to our Commencement Committee Co-Chairs, Associate Dean Juliette Kern and Executive Assistant Kylie Mellott, and thank you trustees and every member of our staff and faculty who came out to support our students.
This month, the Office of the President would like to share with you the Q Center End of Year Progress Report 2023-24 that highlights all the wonderful work that the Q Center has been doing this academic year. The Q Center is Highline College’s LGBTQIA+ Resource Center which provides LGBTQIA+ students, staff, and faculty access to social emotional safety, resources, and community. Q Center interim co-leaders Amy Rider King and Chino Gonzales will be joining us at our September board meeting to give a presentation on the Q Center and their progress report.
The Office of the President includes three departments on campus, Human Resources, Information Technology Services (ITS), and Title III Strengthening Institutions Grant. For the month of June we invite you to learn more about the important work our Title III department is currently focused on. Please continue reading for a report out from Jennifer Johnston, Director, Title III Strengthening Institutions Project.
Title III
Title III SIP is a five year project aimed at improving Highline College service to students. It uses five strategies to achieve eight ambitious objectives. The project requires collaboration among college divisions and individual efforts to close equity gaps and improve completion rates, especially for Black and Hispanic students. James Baldwin said, “Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.” Highline College is dedicated to reducing challenges for students, with our staff and faculty dedicated to creating meaningful and lasting change for all.
COURSE SPECIFIC SUPPORTS TO INCREASE PASS RATES, RETENTION, AND GRADUATION (Strategy 1)
Communities of Practice 2023-24
- 5 yearlong Communities of Practice: The 4 Connections, Anti Racist, Climate Justice, I-BEST, Universal Design for Teaching and Learning
- 40 faculty participated in yearlong communities of practice this year.
- 22 faculty and staff attended the CoP Showcase on June 5, 2024
Lessons learned from Communities of Practice (CoP), including written or video reflections, will be posted in the Anti-Racist/Culturally Responsive Educators LibGuide. Links to discipline specific lessons will be posted in Canvas Commons.
Thank you to Dr. Erich Elwin for serving as Title III Equity Strategies Lead 2022-24 and leading the CoPs. And thank you, faculty participants and facilitators for being intrepid explorers in reflective teaching and closing equity gaps.
Tutoring Innovations
Embedded Tutoring, Dedicated Study Tables, or MESA’s Academic Excellence Workshops
- Fall: 9 faculty, 13 classes
- Winter: 9 faculty, 15 classes
- Spring: 10 faculty, 17 classes
E-Tutoring
- 2023-24 Academic Year= 1116 sessions for a total of 558 hours
- 2022-23 Academic Year= 474 sessions for a total of 240 hours
The increased use of e-tutoring required Highline to provide additional tutor hours to the consortium, so Title III invested in hourly paraprofessional tutors to fill gaps. Welcome to Highline’s Director of Academic Success Centers, Sheena Hendrix and special thanks to JaeLeesa Smith for always keeping the centers running smoothly.
INCREASE CAMPUS DATA CAPACITY TO SUPPORT DECISION-MAKING IN CLOSING EQUITY GAPS (Strategy 2)
Data Literacy, Data-Informed Decision-making, Inquiry Mindset Professional Learning this year:
- Opening Week: Strategic Planning All-Campus Meeting
- Executive Cabinet Data Literacy
- Student Success Council Data Literacy
- Professional Development Day 2023 – Mission Fulfillment Data Exploration
- Instructional Leaders Data Literacy
- Communities of Practice Data for Decision-making Live Work Sessions
- Learning and Teaching Center-hosted Winter Workshop: What’s up with Dat?
- Entry Advising Team Retreat
- IBEST CoP Data Session
Dashboards in Tableau have been developed to support data-informed decision making:
Thanks to the Institutional Research crew who lead these efforts.
REDESIGN THE ONBOARDING PROCESS TO GIVE STUDENTS A STRONG START (Strategy 3)
Entry Advising
Entry Advising met with 73% of new students this academic year (goal for this year was 70%, goal by 2026 is 80%).
Entry Advisors supported students with admissions application, placements, funding, enrollment:
- Supported High School Re-engagement with 18 high school visits
- Visited 12 ESOL Classes
- Supported 196 Jump Start students with completing the college application
New Student Orientations
2023-24 Academy Year 49 New Student Orientation sessions were offered on main campus and at the Federal Way Hub, in person, hybrid and fully remote. At least one per quarter is offered in Spanish.
Deep appreciation and recognition of the Entry Advising team for expanding their services this year and welcoming all students with warm smiles, important information, snacks, beverages, and emergency supplies.
TRANSFORM ADVISING TO INCREASE STUDENT MOMENTUM AND COMPLETION (Strategy 4)
Retention & Advising Impacting Student Engagement (RAISE)
Committee launched by Executive Cabinet with two missions:
- Develop an updated Academic Standards Policy (work led by Dean Ay Saechao and Title III Director Jennifer Johnston)
- Extensive cross-campus feedback will inform the next draft.
- Expected to be submitted to the Policy Development Council in fall 2024.
- Assess and Refine the Four Phase Advising Model (work led by Dean Liz Word and Dean of Advising, Enrollment and Outreach–position vacant)
- Advising progress monitoring will be a key component of Guided Pathways Work Plan due to SBCTC summer 2024.
- Title III sponsored staff advisors to attend virtual Appreciative Advising Institute summer 2023, who then provided a campus workshop during Professional Development Day 2023 along with faculty advising director Lynn Hermanson.
- Survey in summer 2024 will identify staff providing academic advising.
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT TO CLOSE EQUITY GAPS (Strategy 5)
Title III is pleased to welcome Sangeeta Sangha as the Faculty Equity Strategies Lead for 2024-25. Sangeeta brings extensive collaborative leadership experience from her roles in Title III Communities of Practice, Senate Executive Committee, and faculty-in-residence at the Learning and Teaching Center. She credits her students and colleagues for helping strengthen her antiracist teaching journey. In her new role, she will focus on promoting Title III strategies, partnering with LTC to support faculty professional learning in culturally responsive, antiracist, and inclusive pedagogy. Please welcome Sangeeta in her new role and support her in this vital work to advance equity and excellence on our campus.
Title III collaborates with the office of Equity, Diversity and Transformation and Academic Affairs to support and promote professional development (PD) opportunities for staff and faculty. Title III seeks to ensure PD makes a difference by facilitating reflection and follow up conversations, and encouraging participants to bring lessons back to heir team. In addition to Data Literacy PD listed in strategy 2, Title III supported:
- Appreciative Advising & Highline’s Four Phase Advising Model (36 faculty and staff)
- Calling In Virtual Course by Loretta Ross (16 staff)
- ACUE Effective Teaching (24 faculty and staff enrolled)
- ESCALA Moving Toward Serving Hispanic Serving Institution Training (15 staff and faculty)
- Title III Director facilitates biweekly meetings of Moving Toward Serving, a group working toward transforming the culture of Highline College to increase enrollment and retention of Latinx/e/a/o students to match the community and feeder high schools
- Supplemented the cost to individual staff and faculty leaders to attend equity-focused conferences that align directly with Title III unmet objectives
- Sponsored campus Climate Justice Guest Speakers
- LTC workshops sponsored by Title III:
- Whats up w Dat
- Hidden Curriculum
- Ungrading
- Racial/Restorative Healing
- Umoja Symposium (10 staff, faculty and students)
Title III Grant Objectives Progress
* Estimated data prior to official State Data release.
** Too early to estimate Fall 2024 enrollment for Fall 2023 beginning cohort.
Note: Measures listed as “(estimated)” are based on unofficial local data and are subject to change.
Title III Year 3 Report Prepared 6.25.24 for Highline College Board of Trustees by Title III Team: Kelsey Anderson, Juli Hammond, Sangeeta Sangha, Jennifer Johnston. Read more at the Title III webpage.
Report submitted by Executive Director, Office of the President, Danielle K. Slota