My 3 Kids Went to Community College

(A. Solano)

My three kids were educated at community colleges. My last child will be completing her community college journey this June. I emailed the colleges with my perspective as a parent. I was subsequently encouraged to share it with my readers because it may be helpful for many other educators, regardless of the college. The email was not confidential. It was shared widely in a public space. Perhaps it will spark meaningful reflection, conversation, and action at your campus.

I am eternally grateful for these colleges.

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Email Subject: Thank you IVC Family (and Saddleback too)

Dear IVC & Saddleback Family:

My two eldest kids went from Irvine Valley College to UC Irvine. My third and last child recently learned that she, too, will be transferring to UCI from IVC (she was also accepted to UCSD, UCLA, and Berkeley). Each of my kids earned about 12 units from Saddleback.

Having had three kids move from community college to a four-year university, I'd like to share my experience and insights as a parent who helped each child maneuver through the system and supported their progress. I hope you find it helpful.

Dual Enrollment Matters 
First, my kids are not 1st generation college students. I was, though, and my experiences helped shape how I would guide them through their time in college. I helped them to navigate the systems, especially by enrolling them in IVC classes the summer they entered as high school sophomores. I had them start chipping away at the Intersegmental General Education Transfer Curriculum (IGETC), one course per semester. In the process, they had more time and exposure to college-level courses which gave them a clearer picture of what path to take. It also gave them early exposure to IVC, which is where I encouraged them to attend full-time straight out of high school.

I encouraged this pathway because I never liked high school Advanced Placement (AP) classes. I thought of it (and still do) as a sort of scam that primarily benefits families who can afford expensive tutors and who live in the “right” zip code. Also, universities are highly inconsistent about which AP scores they accept for college credit. Because of this, I believe taking community college courses during high school is the way to go and can help all students begin their college careers a better student who is more aware of the options available to them both in terms of academic programs and their future careers (and now positive dual enrollment research supports what I've suspected for decades—it works!). 

It's also worth noting that while I will tout IVC every day of the week and twice on Sunday, the previous paper-based and wet signature process to enroll high school students in college courses was cumbersome. Ultimately, it took a pandemic to finally get rid of this ancient paper-based process. I feel this is worth sharing because we need to always think about how to improve our processes and make it easier for every community member to access the amazing academic programs and resources available at our precious community colleges. The fewer barriers we create for students and their families the better.

Developmental Ed Reform Matters
Next, I want to touch on AB705 and other reforms happening at the state level. Before AB705, I went to the IVC assessment office to advocate for my oldest daughter in 2007 to ensure she didn't have to take placement tests. My daughter and I showed the assessment person we worked with her high school transcripts, and he waived the tests. I knew back then that tests such at the SAT/ACT and placement tests were highly flawed and failed to paint an accurate picture of students' skills and ability to learn. To have students repeat high school English and math because of a test is a wretched thing to do. Colleges did it for years and hurt our students of color the most. My daughter benefitted because I had the knowledge from my years as a student and as a professional working in higher education that I could take her to the office and have her placement tests waived. Our most vulnerable students, especially 1st gen, rarely have this type of support and advocacy.

Now, we know that the data supports what I've known for decades, especially as a former veteran re-entry community college student myself, that dumping most students into remedial education produces atrocious disaggregated completion rates. By the time I was ready to transfer, close to 100% of my peers who were placed in remedial classes had dropped out. Fortunately, nowadays more and more faculty are reconsidering curriculum, learning how to implement just-in-time remediation, how to incorporate equitable grading, and how to build-in additional supports. As a result, the overall completion rates in transfer-level English and math throughout state (and many parts of the country), especially among our Black and Brown students, have never been higher. So, let’s never let these inequitable tests creep up ever again in any way, shape, or form.

It's also important to point out that my kids showed no interest in STEM. Although they qualified to enroll in precalculus, I made sure they took statistics for their math requirement. They thrived in statistics. Why make them miserable with precalculus when statistics is a better choice given their interest in the humanities and social sciences? Finding the right math for a student's path is critical. I work with math faculty teams at multiple campuses and I cannot begin to express how concerned they are for students who struggle and/or show no interest in precal when statistics would've been the far better choice.

Teaching & Learning Matters 
Third, I’ve always been interested in my kids’ teaching and learning experiences, so I’ve asked them about it over the years. While far from a scientific study, according to them, roughly 70% of the faculty were average, 10% were kind and super highly effective teachers, and 20% were, let's just say, not good. While this might seem harsh, I challenge you to consider how many professors actually blew your mind and lit a tremendous fire under you when you were in college.

I’ve asked this question many times in my work with colleges. It's always a very small number--usually only 1 or 2 faculty. Luckily, my kids were able to name more than 2 (If your kids have gone or are going through community college, I recommend asking them. It makes for a very interesting conversation about teaching and learning.). In my view, faculty don't have to be the greatest "show person" to make a significant impact on students. It's about providing a sense of belonging to the campus and in the classroom, caring about one's pedagogy enough to want to continually improve it, and employing grading practices that assess continuous learning instead of focusing on a points game. When faculty are conscious of this, they are likely to see more students succeed.

Flexibility Matters
Finally, my family lives equidistant to two other community college districts, but we consistently went with IVC for most of their college education. Of all the local community colleges, IVC provided the most flexibility with its combination of in-person and online course offerings. My kids loved the flexibility of a hybrid schedule. As a result, when the pandemic hit, IVC was one of a small number of community colleges that was better positioned to make the transition to online learning because they had years of experience. It makes the current online vs in-person debate kinda silly, in my view, when students have said time after time that they appreciate a combination of both for their schedules.

Guided Pathways Matters 
So, for what it's worth, these are my insights as a proud community college parent. But here's the key question: Would my kids have been as successful without me?

Would they have taken community college courses in high school? Would they have had someone advocate for them to waive placement exams? Would they have had someone ensure they enrolled in the right math for their path? Would they have had someone make sure they had an ed plan, and revisited the ed plan at least twice during their two years? Would they have had someone help them choose courses every semester and ensure they didn’t miss a registration deadline? Would they have had someone to help them manage the nuances of the transfer application process?

To be frank, I'm not sure, so this is why I believe the Guided Pathways framework is critical. When our students don't have parents like us who have learned to navigate higher ed, we need to ensure that our systems, processes, services, and practices don't fail any student, especially our 1st gen students. Our practices must come together in a coherent and cohesive manner to help clarify a path for students, help them enter it, stay on it, ensure their learning, and help them to transition to their next academic or career journey.

Thanks again, IVC & Saddleback family! Thank you for educating my kids, thank you for letting me be a coach for Guided Pathways, and thank you for the tremendous work you’re doing on behalf of all students.

Sincerely,

Al

Oh, two more things. In case you haven’t listened to it yet, please check out my conversation with IVC English faculty member and former Guided Pathways coordinator, Rebecca Kaminsky, about the beautiful and meaningful work of IVC’s 12 inquiry & action teams (known as completion teams at IVC). And please don't forget to watch the Humanities Completion Team's DEIA presentation, "Equity in the Classroom."

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