Dear Members of the Media,
As a provision of AB1143 (Liu), the Chancellor’s Office called on the California Community Colleges Board of Governors (BOG) to convene a Student Success Task Force charged with “developing a plan to bring about significant improvements in success rates of our students.” Enclosed please find CPFA’s response to the report from this committee. CPFA is unique in that it is the only statewide organization that solely advocates for the over 45,000 part-time faculty — and their students — within the community college system.
It is important that part-time faculty, who teach almost 50% of all classes in the California Community College System (and therefore are on the front-line of teaching these students), have a voice in any discussion of student success.
Seventy percent of students entering community colleges lack basic skills, and 70% of those students will be taught by part-time faculty who lack, or receive very little, institutional support.
Therefore, how can any discussion about student success that does not also address and include part-time faculty be considered valid? Student learning success is predicated on faculty teaching success, and part-time faculty are the overwhelming majority of faculty who teach in the community colleges throughout the state.
Please use the resources included here to inform the public about this issue. The public and members of the state legislature must have access to all information regarding student success before the Chancellor’s office proposes a legislative initiative with far-ranging consequences which could prove disastrous to present and future community college students.
If we may be of further assistance, please contact us at (916) 572-CPFA (2732).
Sincerely,
John Martin, Chair
California Part-time Faculty Association
jmartin@cpfa.org
Robert Yoshioka, Ph.D., Legislative Advocate
California Part-time Faculty Association
ryoshioka@cpfa.org