Introduction The 2013 2014 academic year saw some stability return to the EOPS program at Los Angeles Harbor College. Due to an increased allocation awarded by the state legislature and approved by the governor, the program was able to hire additional academic support staff, including the hire of two Career Guidance Counseling Assistants (C.G.C.A.s) and three tutors. In addition, towards the end of the spring 2014 semester the program hired Kaman Ng as the permanent, tenure track CARE/CalWORKs Coordinator and EOPS/CARE Counselor. This, coupled with the settling in of Andy LaBrune as the EOPS/CARE Senior Office Assistant, meant that the program was once again prepared to fully dedicate itself to helping EOPS students achieve success. The increased allocation also allowed the program to spend more money on direct aid to students. 100% 90% 80% 70% 143,068 42,308 EOPS Program Expenditures FY 2012 FY 2014 93,222 40,769 55,754 16,484 60% 50% 40% 30% 362,517 311,504 371,864 Direct Aid Discretinary Salary/Benefits 20% 10% 0% 2013 2014 (547,893) 2012 2013 (445,495) 2011 2012 (444,102) As the chart above shows, we were able to increase spending for direct aid to students by nearly $50,000 dollars. This money was used to increase book awards and replenish the supplies we give to students throughout the semester as well as purchase more New EOPS Student Kits that we give to students during EOPS orientation. 1 P age
2013 2014 Program Highlights Annual Recognition Event for Graduate and Honors Students Each spring, the program acknowledges the accomplishments of our students at a ceremony for graduates and honors students. This year s event was held in the college cafeteria on May 30. In addition to selecting a graduating student as a speaker, we invite a former EOPS student to address the gathering. This year s alumnus speaker was Sarah Hicks who currently works as an adjunct English instructor at multiple campuses within the Los Angeles Community College District. Sarah is a former EOPS English tutor, and she shared how her experience tutoring EOPS students inspired her to become an English instructor. We also presented the annual EOPS/CARE/CalWORKs Instructor of the Year Award to Yessenia King, Sociology instructor. University Visits In collaboration with the Counseling Department and Transfer Center, we hosted a total of three university field trips this year. In the fall, we visited the University of California, Irvine. Students got a chance to speak with admission officers, received a comprehensive campus tour, and learned about resources for transfer students. Current UCI students presented on student life on campus and Harbor EOPS students got to ask questions and network with one another. From the fall End of Semester survey that we gave to our students we noticed that there was a high demand for a university trip to California State University, Long Beach, a local university that many of our students transfer to. This was the first trip we took in the spring. On this trip, students received a comprehensive admission and resources presentation. They even received a presentation from the CSULB EOP Office. Students got a chance to learn how to transition and get assistance from the EOP Office. The California State University, Long Beach tour ended with presentations from three academic programs: Social Work, Business, and Linguistics. These are some of the top majors that EOPS and CARE students pursue. 100% of the students who took our CSULB field trip survey reported that they found the field trip useful, and that they would attend future field trips. The goal of our university field trips is to ensure that students are exposed to a variety of universities. When deciding on which campus to visit, we consider all factors including popularity, distance, and educational systems. To expose students to private universities, we decided to visit the University of Southern California. USC greeted us with a wonderful presentation on admission and debunking myths that students may have heard about USC. Affordability is certainly a subject that students think about when considering a private school, and USC gave a fantastic presentation on their USC Norman Topping Student Aid Fund. This helped students ease their concerns a little bit. We even met an LAHC alumnus who is now a USC student receiving this specific scholarship. 2 P age
EOPS Club The EOPS Club grew this year thanks to the dedicated leadership of club co advisors Kaman Ng and Andy LaBrune and the student leaders of the club. The permanent assignment of club advisors meant that, once again, there was strong guidance for the club to match the dedication of the students. The club was able to raise close to $2,000 for the year that was distributed to students in the form of scholarships. The club once again was a strong presence at all campus events for the year and, once again, was one of the most active clubs on campus. Scholarship Ceremony This academic year, thanks to increased funds for direct aid to students, we awarded 12 EOPS Scholarships in the amount of $500 each. These scholarships were awarded to students who demonstrated excellent academic performance as well as a dedication to giving back to their communities. The students were honored at the college s scholarship reception held May 22, 2014. All of our recipients expressed gratitude for receiving the award and indicated that the money would be of assistance to them for future educational expenses. Student Success Act EOPS/CARE continues to work hard to ensure that we contribute significantly to the new model of student success. All of our students go through the matriculation process and receive services to support their academic success. We have worked closely with the Student Success & Support Program team to ensure that all incoming EOPS/CARE students are aware of the matriculation process. EOPS/CARE participated in the newly piloted program, Harbor Advantage, which was modeled after First Year Experience to provide participating first time students with a streamlined admission process. Students in the program go through college orientation, assessment testing, and meet with a counselor to develop an abbreviated education plan. Students also get a tour of the campus, guaranteed courses, and referrals to campus programs. Many students were referred to the EOPS/CARE program. EOPS/CARE/CalWORKs Advisory Committee Meetings We hosted two EOPS/CARE and CalWORKs Advisory Committee Meeting this academic year. At our January 28 meeting we discussed updates of each program areas. Dean Yanez gave us an update of the budget outlook. We further discussed updates regarding LAHC s accreditation status and shared information of the new Student Success Initiatives. Lastly we deliberated on how the implementation of SB 1456 will affect our programs and ways to ensure that all newly admitted students are fully aware of the new guidelines. Our second meeting was held on April 1. At this meeting we discussed the three main goals established statewide for EOPS and CARE: the need to fully restore funding for EOPS/CARE, no block funding or flexibility funding, and for EOPS, CARE, CalWORKs, and DPSP students to be added along with Foster Youth as being exempt from the new BOG Fee Waiver policies. We dialoged on how we can bring these concerns to policy makers. Lastly, our program had suggested two policy changes to the EOPS program: setting a unit cap for 3 P age
newly admitted EOPS students at 55 units and a minimum unit limit for newly admitted DSPS students. We did not have quorum at this meeting, so we did not vote on the policy and tabled the item for our fall meeting. Program Summary Data, Analysis, and Takeaways For the 2013 2014 academic year we served 581 unduplicated EOPS students. We served 419 students in the fall 2013 semester and 421 students in the spring 2014 semester. Graduate and Honors Student Data The table below shows statistics for EOPS students who graduated or were honors students this spring: # of EOPS Graduates 54 # of students transferring to a four year university 33 # of students on the President s List 17 # of students on the Dean s List 35 # of students receiving President s Distinguished Honor Award for graduation 2 Student Counseling Appointments One of the challenges we ve faced over the past few years has been in providing enough opportunities for students to schedule counseling appointments. The table below compares the past two years: Counseling Appointment Availability and # of Appointments Attended by Students 2012 2013 2013 2014 Fall 2012 # of Hours Available 562.00 Fall 2013 # of Hours Available 574.00 Fall 2012 # of Contacts Provided 586 Fall 2013 # of Contacts Provided 494 Spring 2013 # of Hours Available 549.50 Spring 2014 # of Hours Available 497.50 Spring 2013 # of Contacts Provided 605 Spring 2014 # of Contacts Provided 522 4 P age
The numbers reported in the table above show a noticeable decline in both availability and the number of appointments attended from spring to spring. This was due in large part to the period of time that our CARE/CalWORKs Coordinator transitioned from a limited position to a permanent position. A lot of significant information is disseminated to students during their counseling appointments. In addition to being a program requirement, counseling visits are our primary way of making sure that students are progressing towards achieving their academic goals. We are always looking for ways to increase access for EOPS students to our counselors. Unfortunately, we anticipate that appointment availability will show a decline for this fall as, sadly, our longserving EOPS counselor Steve Hirsch passed away at the beginning of the semester. We have struggled to provide counseling to replace his loss and don t anticipate fully recovering until the spring. Student Academic Performance At the end of each semester, the program reviews the academic performance of all its participants. Those who fail to complete the semester with a semester g.p.a. of at least 2.0 are placed on EOPS Probation. After reviewing student academic records for spring 2014, we placed 110 of 421 students on EOPS probation. However, when looking at the cumulative g.p.a. for students after spring 2014, we found the following: EOPS Students Cumulative GPA with 12 or more units completed Based on students served in spring only Number of Students Spring 2014 (390 students total) Number of Students Spring 2013 (326 students served) 3.5 4.0 48 46 3.0 3.4 88 72 2.5 2.9 121 104 2.0 2.4 79 66 Below 2.0 54 38 86% of our students completed spring 2014 with a cumulative G.P.A. of 2.0 or better. Our students academic performance stayed about the same from spring 2013 to spring 2014 with a slight dip in the percentage of students at or above a 2.0 G.P.A. (88% spring 2013 vs. 86% spring 2014). While, overall, this data suggests our students are performing well considering their disadvantaged backgrounds, we continue to strive to increase academic success. The data also seems to suggest that, despite a large percentage of our students (26%) being placed on EOPS probation at the completion of one semester, the majority our students are able to maintain satisfactory academic progress which is especially important in this new era of student success. 5 P age
Program Goals Student Success Support and Program (SSSP) Compliance EOPS/CARE will be working actively with various departments and administrators to ensure that all new incoming students are aware of the new SSSP regulations. This includes updating and changing our program orientations. Staff members will also be actively attending college meetings to ensure that EOPS/CARE are considered to be part of any future plans. We hope that our programs will be able to tremendously assist the college to keep our students informed. Associate Dean of Categorical Programs (EOP&S, CARE and CalWORKs) We are aware of the expiration of the full time EOPS director waiver for programs serving over 500 EOPS students. The Student Services Cluster has seen the need for support in our programs and has ranked the hiring of an Associate Dean of Categorical Programs as a high priority. This Associate Dean will oversee EOPS/CARE and CalWORKs. The position was approved this academic year, and should be filled mid way through the 2014 2015 academic year. University Field Trips Our university field trips have been extremely successful. We have great attendance and students have provided useful feedback on where they would like to visit. We have also noticed that those students who have attended more than one field trip are beginning to ask more unique questions. During our USC trip, the presenter opened up the forum for students to ask questions and many students went beyond asking the basic admission questions. Students asked about the campus culture, student life, research opportunities, and mentorship. Because we have seen such positive impact on university trips, we plan to expand the geographic location of future destinations. We hope to be able to plan trips that are not within the Los Angeles area in the upcoming year. Transfer Efforts The increase of transfer rates will continue to be a priority in EOPS/CARE. Much of our efforts are focused on hosting transfer workshops, organizing field trips, and working closely with university representatives. Collaboration with the Transfer Center has made these efforts much easier and smoother. Through interaction with the Transfer Center, EOPS/CARE counselors have also been able to organize additional workshops with university representatives to build stronger rapport with university representatives. We predict that this relationship will continue to grow and that this will create a stronger transfer culture. Implementation of Senate Bill 1023 SB 1023 Senator Liu The Chancellor s Office of the California Community Colleges may enter into agreements with community college districts to provide additional funds for services in support of postsecondary education for foster youth. This program shall be known as the Cooperating Agencies for Foster Youth Educational Support Program. In addition to the delivery of Student Success and Support Program services as defined in Educational Code, services shall include, but not necessarily be limited to outreach and recruitment, service coordination, counseling, book and supply grants, tutoring, independent living and financial literacy skills support, frequent in person contact, career guidance, transfer counseling, child care and 6 P age
transportation assistance, and referrals to health services, mental health services, housing assistance and other related services. The bill calls for these Cooperating Agencies for Foster Youth Educational Support Programs to be situated within the existing college Extended Opportunity Programs and Services (EOPS). All EOPS programs provide many of the services outlined above to all eligible EOPS students including foster youth. SB 1023 appears to require additional services that are not currently being offered by EOPS programs statewide (including ours). We will continue to watch closely how this new law is implemented. Mental Health Intervention EOPS/CARE is piloting a project to address non academic crisis. In collaboration with the LAHC Life Skills Center, we have placed a Life Skills Intern in our office with regular hours. This intern has seen many of our students on a walk in basis. During academic counseling sessions, counselors who determine that a student could benefit from the intern s service refer students for help immediately. Additional trainings will also be scheduled to train EOPS/CARE staff members to understand how to address student crisis. We hope that our newly hired Career Guidance Counseling Assistant can also work closely with students who are on EOPS academic probation to utilize this service if their academic difficulties are driven from other aspects in their lives. Increase Academic Success With all the goals we have mentioned, it is unquestionable that these objectives depend heavily on the increase of students academic success. Transfer rates, university exposures, and completion rates all rely on academic progress. We hope to have more designated time for our Career Guidance Counseling Assistant (CGCA) to reach out to students on academic probation. We hope that a more aggressive intervention can be used so that students do not fall behind. Counseling assistants will create innovative workshops and tools to motivate and serve students on probation. Tutoring services will also continue to be a key role in student success. We recognize that, especially for our population, non academic circumstances often prevent students from doing well, which is why we have found having a mental health professional housed in our office is so important. To mark our progress towards increasing student success, we have set the specific goal of increasing the rate of EOPS students with a cumulative G.P.A. of 2.0 or more to 90% by the end of spring 2014. Closing In closing, we are very satisfied with all of the events and highlights that we accomplished in the 2013 2014 academic year. Without a doubt, it was not always easy as we faced some obstacles such as staff transitions and the fact that the EOPS/CARE program allocations are still not fully restored. However, it is with pride that we were able to still attain so much with our students with the resources we were provided. We can only imagine more positive impacts on students as we continue to move closer to becoming fully restored. It is also with collaboration with our campus and community partners that we were able to accomplish many events and workshops. We look forward to expanding our partnerships with campus programs and local partners. One of the biggest challenges we see in the upcoming year will be our budget. Since EOPS funding will not be fully restored, we will again face the obstacle of providing full support to our students in need with less than full funding. Now that we have the CARE/CalWORKs coordinator position permanently filled, we hope that 7 P age
adding part time adjunct counselors can support students academic needs for all of our program areas. We will enter the upcoming 2014 2015 year with positive attitudes. We are considering a joint district resolution with our sister programs to access student equity funds to help us support student success. While we are also excited about the prospects of providing services to our foster youth as SB 1023 is implemented, we are faced with the added challenge of funding this support without restoration. We will need to find ways to support this bill while maintaining full services to all EOPS/CARE students. It is with motivation and drive that we continue to work hard for our students and support them in their academic journey. It is clear that our program services are an essential resource for student success. Our data shows that we have been successful in meeting student learning outcomes in our activities, but work is still needed to ensure even greater student success. The goals that we have set for the coming year will allow us to more successfully serve our students. With a more secured and permanent team, we know that we will be able to complete our program goals with undeniable success. 8 P age
Appendix End Of Semester Survey Results Spring 2014 Each semester, the program asks EOPS students to respond to a survey in which they are able to rate the services provided to them. A highlight of the results from the spring 2014 survey are given below. Please rate the effectiveness of the following services you may have received this semester (please check 'N/A' if the service doesn't apply to you): Scholarship Application Assistance University Visit Career Planning Assistance Transfer Assistance Peer Advisement Tutoring Educational Planning/SEP Development Counseling 0.00 1.00 2.00 3.00 4.00 1 = not adequate, 2 = somewhat adequate, 3 = adequate, 4 = more than adequate Please indicate your level of satisfaction with the following EOPS benefits (select 'N/A' for any benefit you did not receive): Office Hours Evening Counseling Hours Availability Tutoring Availability Counseling Availability CARE Cash Grant Amount EOPS Book Award Amount 3.30 3.40 3.50 3.60 3.70 3.80 1 = not satisfied, 2 = somewhat satisfied, 3= satisfied, 4= very satisfied 9 P age
Ranking of importance of EOPS services Book Award/Cash Grant Priority Registration Educational Plan Development Counseling Career Counseling Tutoring Transfer Assistance Workshops Do you have a completed Student Educational Plan (SEP), developed by a counselor and you, which list all of the classes you will need to complete in order to meet your educational goal? 9.1% Yes 90.9% No Do you anticipate changing your educational goal within the next six months? 15.2% Yes No 84.8% 10 P age
Do you anticipate that you will be able to complete your educational goal before your EOPS eligibility expires i.e. you complete more than 70 units? 40.6% Yes 53.1% No Not Sure 6.3% EOPS Graduate Survey We also survey our graduating students each spring to find out their overall satisfaction with the EOPS program. A highlight of those results from the spring 2014 follows. Did you have a clear educational goal before entering the EOPS program? 17.6% 82.4% Yes No 11 P age
Has your educational goal changed since entering the EOPS program? 60.0% 40.0% Yes No From the following responses, please indicate which best describes how useful your Student Educational Plan (SEP) was towards completion of your educational goal: 0.0% 6.3% I did not find the SEP to be very useful towards the completion of my educational goal 25.0% I found the SEP to be somewhat useful towards the completion of my educational goal 68.8% I found the SEP to be very useful towards the completion of my educational goal I found the SEP to be essential towards the completion of my educational goal 12 P age