Final Damage Count

Final Damage Count to City College of San Francisco,

From the Five-Year Accreditation Crisis

This is educational improvement?

This fact sheet summarizes devastating losses at City College of San Francisco, resulting from the five-year-long accreditation crisis imposed by the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC) and its allies.[1]  The data show–

• Downsizing: Major losses to student enrollment, including the loss of 42% of the college’s head count, nearly 27,000 students.
• Loss of personnel: A loss of 33% of full-time faculty and 12% of part-time faculty, shifting the ratio toward a higher percentage of precariously employed instructors. Before the crisis began 45% of faculty were full-time and 55% were part-time. At the end of the crisis, in accordance with the demands of the ACCJC, the faculty was only 38% full-time versus 62% part-time.   Over the five years, City College lost 14% of classified staff.
• Class cuts: A loss of nearly one third of all classes, totaling 1640 sections (31%). This breaks down to a loss of a loss of nearly half of non-credit sections, overwhelmingly in English as a Second Language (556 non-credit sections or 46%); 726 class sections or nearly a quarter–23%–of college credit classes; and a loss of 43% or 358 sections of of basic skills classes (adult education in below-transfer level classes in ESL, English and Math, along with GED classes).  The configuration of these cuts echoes the statewide Student Success Task Force policy of favoring classes leading to credentials and degrees, disfavoring adult education and lifelong learning for part-time and older students.
• Downsizing of the college mission: Under the sword of Damocles of threats of imminent closure of the college, the first interim Chancellor Pamila Fisher imposed a narrowed version of the college mission that precisely echoed the mission put forward by the Student Success Act of 2012 (AB 1456). Program cuts then followed the downsizing of the mission.

And note that these losses were imposed on a community college that:

• In 2007, was identified as one of the top eleven community colleges in the country by community college researchers, and profiled in the New York Times (LINK);
• In 2014, had the fourth highest transfer rate of the large community colleges in California, according to the Public Policy Institute of California (LINK);
• In 2014, had higher scores on the statewide Student Success Scorecard, than did all the community colleges with a commissioner seated on the ACCJC (LINK).

Important milestone dates are listed below.  Please note that definitions of terms such as full-time equivalent students or FTES are provided at the end of this fact sheet.

 

Downsizing, or Loss of Student Enrollment

The table below shows the loss of head count and Fulltime Equivalent Students (FTES) throughout the five-year crisis.  Head count is the number of individuals enrolled in classes; FTES is a composite number of part-time students rolled into a formula which the state uses to forward appropriations to community colleges.

	Head Count	Number	Percent	FTES (Full Time Equivalent Students used to calculate state apportionment)	Number ↓	Percent ↓
Fall 2011	63,179			17,291.45
Fall 2012	58,033	5,146↓	8.145%↓	15,803.07	1,488.38↓	8.608%↓
Fall 2013	50,955	7,078↓	12.197%↓	13,580.70	2,222.37↓	14.063%↓
Fall 2014	47,045	3,910↓	7.673%↓	11,143.44	2,437.26↓	17.946%↓
Fall 2015	45,854	1,191↓	2.532%↓	10,912.42	231.02↓	2.073%↓
Fall 2016	36,453	9,401↓	20.502%↓	8,483.19	2,429.23↓	22.261%↓
Total		26726↓	42.302%↓		8808.26↓	50.94%↓

Report Run Date As Of: 3/5/2018 8:59:08 AM

Report Run Date As Of: 3/5/2018 8:59:08 AM

http://datamart.cccco.edu/Students/Enrollment_Status.aspx

http://datamart.cccco.edu/Students/FTES_Summary.aspx

 

Loss in Head Count by Ethnicity from Fall 2011 to Fall 2016

• African American: 2,334↓ (51.139%↓)
• American Indian/ Alaskan Native: 78↓ (51.656%↓)
• Asian: 8,671↓ (38.129%↓)
• Filipina/o: 1,382↓ (45.356%↓)
• Latinx: 4,567↓ (32.743% ↓)
• Multi-Ethnicity: 178↓ (12.936% ↓)
• Pacific Islander: 156↓ (43.575% ↓)
• Unknown: 4,043 ↓ (73.764%↓)
• White Non-Hispanic: 5,317↓ (46.183% ↓)

mer note: I ran a Datamart query for Fall 2016 and got this same number: 36,453—but this is much lower than the figure we had been using. The fact sheet we used for the October 2016 media briefing was around 65,000 annually. How did we get an annual number?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Losses of Faculty and Staff

Below are the losses for faculty and staff separated into three categories; full time faculty, part time faculty, and classified staff. In nearly all categories we see a steady decrease in college employees year over year.

 

	Full Time Faculty	Number	Percent	Part Time Faculty	Number	Percent	Classified Staff	Number	Percent
Fall 2011	810			1004			813
Fall 2012	754	56↓	6.914%↓	895	109↓	10.857%↓	766	47↓	5.781%↓
Fall 2013	694	60↓	7.958%↓	877	18↓	2.011%↓	690	76↓	9.922%↓
Fall 2014	637	57↓	8.213%↓	885	8↑	0.912%↑	684	6↓	0.87%↓
Fall 2015	618	19↓	2.983%↓	830	55↓	6.215%↓	700	16↑	2.339%↑
Fall 2016	546	72↓	11.65%↓	880	50↑	6.024%↑	699	1↓	0.143%↓
Total		264↓	32.593%↓		124↓	12.351%↓		114↓	14.022%↓

Report Run Date As of : 3/5/2018 9:05:16 AM

http://datamart.cccco.edu/Faculty-Staff/Staff_Demo.aspx

 

Shift in ratio of full-time to part-time faculty:  Before the crisis began (Fall 2011) 45% of faculty were full-time and 55% were part-time. At the end of the crisis (Fall 2016), in accordance with the demands of the ACCJC, the faculty had a higher ratio of precarious employment, now being only 38% full time versus 62% part time.

 

A related target of ACCJC ire:  Starting in the late 1970s, City College had a decades-long history of struggle for parity in pay and benefits between part-time and full-time faculty.  By 2001, rates of compensation for credit instruction ranked first or second in the state.  The ACCJC demanded that job security, health benefits and retirement benefits for part-timers be cut back.

 

Class Cuts   (QUESTION READERS: WOULD IT BE IMPORTANT TO BREAK IT DOWN BY DEPARTMENT SO THAT WE CAN SEE THE SHAPE OF THE CUTS?  This would be re-pulling data that Madeline pulled a while back.)

Below are the class cuts for credit sections, non-credit sections (primarily ESL), and basic skills classes. In accordance with the priorities of the ACCJC and the Student Success Act, non-credit and basic skills courses saw a sharp drop in sections over all five years of the crisis.

 

	Credit Sections	Number	Percent	Non- Credit Sections	Number	Percent	Basic Skills Sections	Number	Percent
Fall 2011	3,214			1,207			829
Fall 2012	2,929	285↓	8.867%↓	1,098	109↓	9.031%↓	726	103↓	12.425%↓
Fall 2013	2,933	4↑	0.137%↑	995	103↓	9.381%↓	659	67↓	9.229%↓
Fall 2014	2,918	15↓	0.511%↓	881	114↓	11.457%↓	629	30↓	4.552%↓
Fall 2015	2,850	68↓	2.33%↓	851	30↓	3.405% ↓	623	6↓	0.954%↓
Fall 2016	2,488	362↓	12.702%↓	651	200↓	23.502%↓	471	152↓	24.398%↓
Total (Time 1-time2)		726↓	22.589%↓		556↓	46.065↓		358↓	43.185%↓

Report Run Date As of : 3/5/2018 9:11:21 AM

http://datamart.cccco.edu/Courses/Credit_Course_Summary.aspx

http://datamart.cccco.edu/Courses/NCredit_Course_Summary.aspx

http://datamart.cccco.edu/Courses/BasicSkills_Course_Summary.aspx

 

Deep Cuts to the College Mission

One of the first actions of interim chancellor Pamila Fisher was to browbeat the Board of Trustees into voting to cut the mission of City College in half to conform to the narrower community college mission articulated in the Student Success Act (August 23, 2012).  Half of the mission was declared to be “core mission,” and half was declared to be “peripheral.” Program cuts followed the newly stated priorities and un-priorities.

 

Left intact was the narrowed community college “core mission” according to the Student Success Act:

• Career and technical education
• Completion of associate degrees
• Transfer to university
• Basic skills including ESL and adult high school diploma/GED

Now dubbed “peripheral activities,” under heavy pressure the Board deleted civic engagement and community service functions from the mission.  Predictable, program cuts soon began to echo the newly stated priorities and un-priorities:

• Active engagement in the civic and social fabric of the community
• Citizenship preparation
• Lifelong learning and life skills (including elder education). For example, a thriving health and nutrition program for low-income elders at congregate eating sites was heavily pared back.  While finances were given as the rationale for this cut, in reality the program had brought in a solid revenue stream to the college.
• Cultural enrichment
• The college offers other programs and services only as resources allow. In short order, heavy cuts followed to the dozen-plus student resource centers.

College Leadership Destabilization   (GEEK CHALLENGE!)

During the five years of the accreditation crisis, the college experienced an acutely unstable high-level leadership, including five chancellors;[2] X chief instructional officers (vice chancellors of instruction);[3] and Y vice chancellors of student development.[4]

Some of the main qualifications of these leaders appeared to be that they were “not from here” and had been schooled in the corporate education agenda.  Some held degrees from on-line colleges, such as Arthur Tyler, a former general with a doctoral degree from the University of Phoenix, or Thelma Scott-Skillman, who—along with state Chancellor Brice Harris and Special Trustee Robert Agrella–held a degree from Nova Southeastern University. Nova is a charter school leadership training site funded by the Walton Foundation and the (Milton) Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice, and hosts the International Journal of School Choice and the annual International School Choice and Reform conference.

Important dates:  

May 10, 2012: In April, 2012, long-time administrator Chancellor Don Q. Griffin retired because of a serious health issue.  In the context of the impending accreditation crisis and under the threat of having the Chancellor’s Office select an interim chancellor, the Board of Trustees retained interim chancellor Pamila Fisher, who had been contracted to head a chancellor search committee. Fisher aggressively began to impose the changes sought by the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC). She made an argument for serving “fewer students on fewer campuses.”[5] Fisher frequently stated that she spoke to the president of the ACCJC, Barbara Beno, on a daily basis.

 

July 2, 2012:  The ACCJC issued its report stating that on July 2, 2012, City College was being placed on Show Cause, requiring the college to justify why it should not be disaccredited and closed down. The “show cause” action generated an extended wave of negative press led by the SF Chronicle.

August 23, 2012: Under intense pressure from interim chancellor Pamila Fisher, the Board of Trustees cut the college mission statement in half, eliminating many of the broader civic engagement and community service functions of the college, and replicating the narrower mission favored by the Student Success Act.  Program cuts then began to echo these priorities and un-priorities. For example the college moved to end a shuttle that served students living in Hunter’s Point, and closed two model childcare centers serving low-income communities.

September 27, 2012:  Despite vigorous opposition at hearings across the state, Governor Jerry Brown signed SB 1456, the Student Success Act. This enshrined into state policy the 22 recommendations of the Student Success Task Force.

July 3, 2013:  The ACCJC announced its decision to close the school one year out, generating another major wave of negative press and loss of students.

October 23, 2013:  A vice chancellor gives a statement to the SF Chronicle that “…we are in a major transition to right-size the college,” a rare public acknowledgement of the downsizing agenda.

 

July 16, 2014:  The City Attorney’s Office lawsuit results in a ruling by Superior Court Judge Curtis Karnow that CCSF will be able to stay open for two years in order to meet accreditation requirements, owing to unfair treatment by the ACCJC during the accreditation review process.[6]

January 13, 2017:  The ACCJC announces the renewal of CCSF’s full seven-year accreditation, bringing the acute stage of the crisis to a close.

 

June 2017:  ACCJC president Barbara Beno and the entire executive leadership of the ACCJC step down.

 

 

 

Terms (primarily as defined by the DataMart California Community Colleges Management Information System Data Element Dictionary)

Head count—the number of individuals enrolled in classes, the best indicator of the number of real people served.

FTES or Full-Time Equivalent Students―A formula for rolling a number of part-time students into full-time equivalent students, for the purposes of calculating state appropriations.   FTES is determined by hours of attendance, with 525 hours of attendance considered to be one FTES.

For-credit classes―Classes bearing college credit, including career/technical certificates, degree programs, or transfer.

Non-credit classes―Classes taken for personal interest or career development rather than college credit, including beginning English as a Second Language, Elementary and Secondary Basic Skills, Health and Safety, Courses for Persons with Substantial Disabilities, Parenting, Home Economics, Courses for Older Adult, Short-Term Vocational, and Workforce Preparation.

Basic skills classes―Non-degree applicable courses are classes in basic level reading, writing, computation, and English as a Second Language.  Basic skills classes may be taken to prepare for the GED high school equivalency exam.    SUSAN, boundary between non-credit and basic skills is blurry.

 

–This fact sheet was prepared by the Research Committee serving the struggle to Save City College (contact info).

 

[1] Methods:  We chose as our baseline the Fall semester of 2011, the last semester of normal operations at City College before rumors of impending crisis and state takeover kicked off in the spring of 2012.  We compared this baseline to the Fall 2016 semester, the last semester of the crisis.  On January 13, 2017, the ACCJC announced that City College’s full seven-year accreditation would be reaffirmed, bringing the crisis to a close.

[2] Interim chancellors following Don Griffin were Pamila Fisher, Thelma Scott-Skillman, Arthur Q. Tyler, and Susan Lamb, ending with permanent Chancellor Mark Rocha.

[3] List names in order, no dates needed

[4] List names in order, no dates needed

[5] CITATION NEEDED

[6] San Fransisco Judge Rules CCSF Accreditation Case Will Go On Trial In October. CBS SF Bay Area. September 20, 2014.