LEAD Department (Writing, Reading & ESL) courses are designed to give students the strategies and practice necessary to improve their reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills, the skills essential for students to successfully reach their academic, vocational, or life goals.
The Language Education and Development (LEAD) department consists of three literacy development disciplines: Reading, English as a Second Language (ESL), and Composition. The department also houses American Sign Language (ASL) and a High School Equivalency Preparation course. Courses offered range from 300-level to transfer, and include non-credit adult education, basic reading and composition, college preparatory and transfer courses. Courses are offered in a variety of locations/modalities: Main Campus, Glenn County, Chico Center and online. _______________________________________________________________________ ESL - The ESL program consists of four levels of English as a Second Language classes from Survival Life Skills to Level III. A recently developed Technology Skills for English Learners course provides another option in the certificate sequence. The ESL sequence ends with a Certificate of Competency. We also offer a Citizenship course and ESL Workforce training courses as part of the Early Childhood Education program. Supplemental ESL support classes include ESL Digital Cafe and ESL Conversation Cafe. Reading - We offer developmental and transfer level reading courses to support students as they develop critical reading for success in college or career. Our courses include transfer level Speed Reading and three levels below transfer, Strengthening Reading I, Strengthening Reading II, and Reading for College Success. We also offer READ 126, College Study Skills, which is also a First-Year Experience option. Three of our reading classes are available online. Reading & Composition - Our LEAD - ENGL sequence includes 4 courses that integrate reading and writing. The majority of offerings are ENGL 118, an accelerated course we coordinate with the English department. In addition, we offer three 200-level writing courses. We’ve recently developed and are piloting a second accelerated reading/composition course combining 3 and 4 levels below transfer. This course, ENGL 218, will give students the opportunity to complete pre-transfer writing courses in two semesters. In our writing classes students use writing for inquiry, learning, thinking and communicating. Students engage in a wide variety of writing tasks designed to focus on the choices they make in different rhetorical situations. Many of our classes act as an introduction to college. Our classroom spaces include technology-mediated instructional computer labs where students develop digital and information literacy through contextualized learning activities. ASL (formerly SIGN) - The American Sign Language program has grown from one section per semester to six, plus one section during the summer. We currently offer ASL I, ASL II, and ASL III. A recently developed ASL 10 (Deaf Culture) will be offered in Fall 2018, and ASL 4 is currently under development. With this course completed, we will offer a 19-unit certificate in Deaf Studies. And more - We offer high school preparation courses in Spanish and English, and we support a Workforce Readiness course at the Oroville Day Reporting Center. Faculty - The department currently has 5 full-time instructors. The majority of our full-time load is currently dedicated other projects and assignments, not to LEAD instruction: Dr. Katherine MacKinnon has reassigned time serving on the union negotiating team, Student Success Committee and BSI co-chair, Transformation grant administrator and Guided Pathways team. She typically teaches one course per semester. Teresa Ward has reassigned time as Professional Development Coordinator, Lisa Kekaha is at 60% as department chair, and Nicole LaGrave regularly teaches 20% of her load in another department. Our Student Equity-funded ESL Facilitator, Melana Cavenecia, serves full time as ESL program facilitator. In 2017-18, 25 associate faculty members taught classes in our department. Our faculty are active across campus and within the department. Faculty serve the college in a wide range of capacities. They are active on the following committees: Diversity, Curriculum, Academic Senate (hiring guidelines and DSPS sub-committees), We Care, LTPA, Faculty Flex, Professional Development Steering and Ad Hoc Pro Dev Task Force, SSSP, Non-Credit SSSP, ASCCC Non-Credit Liaison, 4CSD representative, Student Success, Equity Partners, Guided Pathways, Union, Enrollment Management, CAS Advisory, Library, Enrollment Management, Integrated Planning, LAMS Leadership, Education Master Planning, Transformation grant steering. In addition, LEAD Faculty also participate or take leadership in the FAIR Classrooms project, Proactive Registration, CACP, as peer evaluators, and on multiple hiring committees and program reviews. Ongoing Department Projects include: - Addressing 2017 Program Review recommendations - Ongoing SLO deep dives and Brief Reflection summaries in READ, ENGL, ESL and ASL - Recent Curriculum Development - Technology Skills for ESL, Grammar and Punctuation and Deaf Culture - Low- and no-cost textbooks - Proactive Registration for Basic Skills English and Math students - ESL Listening Assessment and Professional Development - AEBG Rigor training in ESL and EDUC - ESL CASAS training - ESL Digital Toolkit and Ipad training - ESL Prep Nights & ITSS Tech Nights for ESL - ESL collaborations and offerings in VESL and/or CTE support classes - Undocumented student advocacy - ASL Silent Dinner & Deaf Community projects - ASL at Durham High Career Faire - In Progress Curriculum - ASL 4 and Deaf Studies Program Embedded Support: - Counseling - Counselor Class Visits - EOPS & DSPS - Class Visits - Center for Academic Success - CAS Instructional Aides in the classroom - Retention Specialist and Student Success Specialist Transformation grant projects: - Acceleration training for ENGL 218 - ENGL 218 Community of Practice - Acceleration training for ENGL 118 - ENGL 118 Community of Practice and portfolio sessions - Acceleration mentorships and partnerships - Multiple Measures
The LEAD department is the first year of a six year program review cycle. Prior years are summarized in LEAD's 2016-17 unit plan. The deep dive matrix was updated during program review and submitted to the SLO Coordinator. In the current cycle, we did a deep dive in ENGL 215 and ENGL 217 in FA17 and will report on it during the current semester. This deep dive led us to dialogue barriers faced by 215/217 students, and as a result we did a survey to identify things our students struggle with both in and out of the classroom. We're currently analyzing the results, and will share them with faculty at our Program REview REtreat in April 2018. In SP18, the ESL program is doing a deep dive on listening SLOs through the ESL sequence. As part of this deep dive, the ESL facilitator will provide professional development around instruction and assessment of English learners' listening skills.
The LEAD department is reviewing data in other venues. Per recent program review, we have requested more complete information that includes ESL program data, separates 200- and 100-level reading and English data, and shows the reading sequence and the writing sequences as separate sets. The validation team agreed and recommended "the college provide greater responsiveness to the department’s request for data, analysis, and reporting."
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The LEAD department supports the college to create a culture of completion and academic achievement through all four disciplines. We offer a non-credit Certificate of Competency in ESL and a non-credit Certificate of Completion in VESL. Completion is celebrated at an annual certificate ceremony where friends, family, and faculty gather to celebrate. In ASL, faculty have developed a 19-unit Deaf Studies certificate. We plan to submit the program and final course, ASL 4, to the Curriculum Committee this semester (SP18).
A good example of supporting students as they enter can be found in the ESL program. We support new students at ESL Prep Nights, where students get support with registration, residency and transcript questions, assessment, advising, enrollment, and orientation. In basic skills reading and writing classes, we support incoming students and help them get on the path to success by promoting student agency by focusing on habits of mind, asking them to set and track learning goals, using contract grading, and focusing on improvement and growth-minded feedback on student work.
LEAD faculty support students to access and use writing and research technologies. In reading and composition classes we assess students’ digital literacy and refer students to campus resources as appropriate.
Unfortunately, the college does not have a digital literacy expectation, and there is little support available to students with low digital literacy either in workshop or basic courses. This means if they haven’t added a keyboarding or basic computer class before census, there are no resources to refer them to. TMI staff offer no support to students in Canvas navigation or basics, and MyBC and the Butte College website are resources if a student knows how to find information; otherwise they can be barriers. Because students come to LEAD classes with a wide range of experience with technologies they’ll need in college, career and life, it’s not uncommon, especially in 200- and 300-level courses, for students to have no or very little computer experience or to have limited or no access to a computer or the internet at home. As a first point of contact for many incoming students, LEAD instructors play a vital role in supporting students as they develop digital and information literacies. LEAD faculty design instructional sequences to support acquisition of digital skills. If we expect students to use technology in our classes, we believe we need to show them how to do it in the context of reading, writing, research and critical thinking activities. Though we’ve seen a need and work to provide support, ideally TMI faculty would offer Canvas basics workshops, and the CAS would offer computer basics in the critical first weeks of the semester. In the current semester, LEAD faculty partnered with CAS to develop basic, overview workshops for our pilot ENGL 218. We’re also folding in a visit to work with a CAS computer tutor as part of several assignments.
Through their academic and career futures, students will need to access and use technology. In ESL we identified a barrier to technology access for ESL students. Because students use a simplified, paper application, student accounts (Canvas, email, etc.) aren’t automatically generated as they are for online applicants. In collaboration with ITSS, the ESL Facilitator has developed ESL Tech Nights to build out student accounts to address this gap. This intervention will give ESL students access to systems, Canvas and Butte College email for example, that other students get through the regular application process.
Embedded support is another way we provide support and resources for students. The most recent and intensive model of embedded support is found in the course design of ENGL 218. In each section, we bring in a Retention Specialist, a counseling component, and an Instructional Aide (IA). In addition, over the past eight years LEAD instructors have regularly invited counselors to their classes to let students know about priority registration and Student Education Plans (SEP). We also invite other support service providers, EOPS, CAS and DSPS, to educate students about services available on campus. Most recently, LEAD faculty have taken the lead on a Proactive Registration project for basic skills English and Math classes. In this model, we bring students to a registration and student services event where they can get help with registering, educational planning, Financial Aid, DSPS, EOPS, and more. Student response has been overwhelmingly positive.
The LEAD Department’s most recent Program Review (SP17) resulted in 13 recommendations.
The LEAD department is in the process of change as we revise our sequences to implement AB 705, to re-envision assessment and placement processes, and to address acceleration initiatives and requirements of the Transformation grant. At the same time, we believe it is critical to ensure pre-transfer options for students with basic skills needs and to continue to support students’ entry into career and transfer pathways. The work ahead will be to adapt to current changes and also continue to meet our mission (or revise our mission) in order to provide literacy development as students define and achieve success.
Recommendations and progress towards implementation follow:
1. The Validation Team recommends the LEAD Department establish a task force to communicate with student services, including Assessment and Counseling, to create clear recommendations for students placing into Basic Skills sequences. These recommendations should address both accelerated and traditional Basic Skills courses in ENGL and READ. Because LEAD curriculum builds foundational skills, giving consistent recommendations which focus on the benefits for both “required” and “non” required courses is recommended. - While we have not formed a “task force,” this work is in progress. Work groups including Assessment, Counseling, LEAD and English faculty, the LAMS dean, and the VPI are working to streamline a basic skills to transfer sequence to address AB 705 and increase acceleration and completion. As part of this work, we will continue to revise our placement processes and improve messaging to students.
2. The Validation Team recommends the LEAD Department’s continued collaboration with the campus Guided Pathways efforts to create effective “on ramping”. These efforts should assist students in strengthening their academic foundational skills and guarantee student access to their future pathways - This work has started.Katherine MacKinnon has been working on the Guided Pathways team. This semester the department will develop plans at a Program Review retreat in April. Plans include an (unnamed) college success certificate projected to include basic skills English, Math, FYE. We’re also working on non-credit mirrored courses to support English learners transitioning into credit coursework and a students likely to benefit from repetition. Once we’ve developed these courses, we plan to create a non-credit certificate of completion.
3. The Validation Team recommends a full-time ESL faculty hire. The LEAD Department currently has only one temporary full-time ESL facilitator/faculty funded through Student Equity. This important position supports a diverse and fragile population and should not remain at the whim of grant funding. Butte College has now reached the status of an (unfunded) Hispanic Serving Institution; the college needs to more fully serve students with Hispanic backgrounds. ESL leadership is critical to serving these students and as well as others from diverse backgrounds. - To address this recommendation, we need the support of the college. The LEAD department has advocated for a full-time ESL instructor and facilitator in Unit Plans and through the faculty hiring prioritization process for the past 7 years. We will continue to advocate for an ESL facilitator as well as VESL or CTE-ESL positions in order to address unmet need in the community.
4. The Validation Team recommends a full-time READ/ENGL faculty hire. The LEAD Department serves a diverse population of students and has continued serving students with the loss of numerous full-time and associate faculty. The LEAD Department relies heavily on part-time instructors to address the needs of students enrolled in Reading/English courses. To meet the varied demands of instruction and leadership, the Validation Team strongly recommends a full-time Reading/English hire.
5. The Validation Team recommends the ESL Program identify and assess the needs of students enrolled in non-credit courses and create processes, support, and curriculum to assist these students in also enrolling in credit courses. - We have regular counselor visits to ESL classes as well as ex-ESL students participating in our ESL Prep Nights Certificate Celebrations. The Student Equity-funded ESL Facilitator, now Butte’s ASCCC non-credit liaison is working on non-credit mirrored courses as an academic bridge for current non-credit students. Residency (lack of residency) remains the biggest barrier to credit course work for some 85% of students currently enrolled in non-credit ESL courses.
6. The Validation Team recommends that the LEAD Department revise their mission statement to further reflect the academic, social, and developmental skills that prepare students for college success and ensure their educational equity. - Scheduled for Program Review Retreat in April 2018.
7. The Validation Team recommends a re-imagining of LEAD with the possibilities of rebranding themselves as a college success department offering new scheduling option, cohorts, and contextualized reading courses. - Scheduled for Program Review Retreat in April 2018.
8. The Validation Team recommends continued collaboration between institutional researchers, colleagues in English, Counseling and Assessment to design, assess, and message a shared vision for the writing sequence. - After our Program Review Retreat in April 2018.
9. The Validation Team recommends the LEAD Department and the district’s research staff collaborate to develop additional ESL and vocational programs and course partnerships based upon community need, employment statistics, and other applicable data.
10. The LEAD Department serves higher percentages of low income students, foster youth, students of color, and economically disadvantaged students making standard means of data evaluation inadequate. The Validation Team recommends the college provide greater responsiveness to the department’s request for data, analysis, and reporting.
11. The Validation Team recommends that the ENGL 118 course be moved to the LEAD Department’s purview to ensure that the responsibilities for curriculum modifications, programmatic changes, and support rest with a department of faculty trained in developmental education. - This is done. ENGL 118 is now housed in the LEAD department. LEAD faculty are facilitating ENGL 118 training and community of practice, and coordinating IA and Retention Specialist support in 118 classes.
12. The Validation Team recommends college resources are continually dedicated to updating computer labs. - This is another recommendation for the college. In spring 2017 we submitted a Facilities work request to have instructional computer classroom reconfigured to meet our pedagogical and instructional needs, but the request was not forwarded to Facilities by administration
13. The LEAD Department is a champion of equity on campus. They design their courses with a focus on helping students develop confidence, reading and writing strategies, and overall college success skills. The Validation Team recommends the college supports the department’s work with our high needs students by providing accurate data and by preserving Basic Skills course options and scheduling needs.
1. Sustain and grow ESL Program enrollment
2. Deaf Studies Certificate
3. Implement Program Review recommendations
Strategy 1 - ESL Program Development
ESL Program Facilitator/Instructor
In 2011 our only tenure track full-time ESL instructor retired. Within a year, two long term grant-funded (full-time) VESL instructors retired when grants ended. We’ve advocated for a full-time ESL instructor for the past seven years. In our 2011 program review, the validation team recommended we hire an ESL instructor and a dedicated program assistant (classified). The validation team noted “ESL associate faculty cannot provide the work and leadership necessary for the program’s success.” The team further pointed out that ESL students are at the core of the community college mission. The 2017 program review validation team agreed, saying “This important position supports a diverse and fragile population and should not remain at the whim of grant funding. Butte College has now reached the status of an (unfunded) Hispanic Serving Institution; the college needs to more fully serve students with Hispanic backgrounds. ESL leadership is critical to serving these students and as well as others from diverse backgrounds.”
In Spring 2016, a Student Equity proposal allowed the LEAD department to hire a full-time ESL Program Facilitator/Instructor. The work the ESL Facilitator is doing is critical for the growth and longevity of the ESL program. English learners in our service area are currently underserved, particularly in Glenn and South Butte Counties. This dashboard group is experiencing equity gaps in terms of access and completion. ESL students experience barriers - transportation, childcare, income level, and work conflicts - so we need to develop more flexible offerings in offered in locations more likely to meet their needs. We have the capacity to increase offerings to better support this population, but this work won’t be done without full-time leadership.
The department is requesting a permanent, tenure track position structured as an ESL Program Facilitator/Instructor: $109,000.
Strategy 2 - Deaf Studies Certificate
2 Year Deaf Studies Certificate Program
The department has developed curriculum for all but one course in what will be a 19-unit certificate program. ASL courses fulfill foreign language credit and are transferable to UC/CSU. This program will prepare students for transfer to American River College's interpreting program and future employment as interpreters. It will also meet a local demand for education paraprofessionals working in Deaf classrooms. Our campus, community, and neighboring communities are in significant need of both interpreters and paraprofessional with some ASL; our program would help meet this critical need. ASL is a popular course and this program will draw students to the college. With no fulltime faculty in ASL, this work must be done by associate faculty. Faculty stipends for research, course development, and creating materials to promote the new program: $1,500.
Strategy 3 - ESL Program Development
VESL/CTE Development & Instructor
To meet the department’s goal to sustain and grow the ESL Program, we need additional faculty to develop career-focused ESL opportunities. In 2011 the LEAD department’s only tenure track full-time ESL instructor retired. Within a year, two long term grant-funded (full-time) VESL instructors retired when their grants ended. Since that time, we haven’t offered the VESL Certificate of Completion, and the department’s course offerings have been reduced.
We have the opportunity to rebuild VESL opportunities by offering VESL classes in the community through employer partnership, in collaboration with CTE pathways, like our current ECE-ESL or HEO ESL support classes, or through contextualized literacy development similar to our basic skills in Automotive/LEAD. Two VESL development/Instructors would:
The department is requesting two full-time ESL faculty structured as VESL Development/Instructor positions: $218,000.
Strategy 4 - Department Budget Increase
Department Budget Augmentation
The LEAD department's current budget of $2926.00 does not cover all department expenses, which will now be expected to cover regular computer replacement on a 7 year cycle. Replacing just one computer per year could take 1/2 to 2/3 of the department's annual budget. Our budget is already stretched to provide the basics: a bi-annual department retreat, office supplies, special printing, faculty stipends, mandatory meetings, an ASL field trip, etc.
As a department we are committed to professional development and our SLOs. We cannot, unfortunately, fund stipends for associate faculty work. We just meet the financial needs of funding one big event per semester and department supplies. The department has had to rely on BSI, Transformation and Student Equity funds to provide Acceleration training and mentorships, professional development activities and curriculum development as we redesign the reading/writing program. Faculty actively pursue other funding sources; however, in order to operate at anything close to maximum productivity and maintain our high level of innovative work, the department requests an ongoing budget augmentation of $3,000.
Strategy 5 - ESL Program Development
Classified ESL Program Assistant
Our grant-funded ESL facilitator is currently spending time on projects, updates, data entry and other processes that could be done by a part-time classified assistant. This would allow the ESL facilitator to maximize time devoted to coordination, organization, outreach, networking, and other program needs. A classified ESL Program assistant would support ESL Program by performing administrative tasks as follows:
- Track inventory and process supply requests
-Process CASAS booklets and bubble forms
-Data entry into TOPSpro
-Enter and track survey results
-Assist at ESL events such as Prep Nights, Tech Nights, Celebration, and recruiting events
-Create ESL schedules, calendars, flyers, and promotional materials
-Answer inquiries about the program
-Make regular updates to the website
LEAD/READ/ESL 2010-2011 Budget 11-000-614-493072 $2926.
The LEAD Department makes good use of supplemental funding sources to support our work in streamlining and maximizing student success in ESL, reading, writing and GED preparation courses.
WIOA Grant for ESL, ABE and HSE - This money is earmarked exclusively for providing support for the ABE, ESL, and HSE.
Basic Skills Initiative augments Acceleration training and professional development.
Student Equity pays for ESL Facilitator/Instructor, ENGL 118 IAs and equity-focused interventions.
Transformation grant is supporting work groups to
| Original Priority | Program, Unit, Area | Resource Type | Account Number | Object Code | One Time Augment | Ongoing Augment |
| Description | Supporting Rationale | Potential Alternative Funding Sources | Prioritization Criteria | |||
| 1 | LEAD, ESL | Personnel | 11.000.614.1.493072 | 51100 | $0.00 | $109,000.00 |
| ESL Full-time Instructor | The position will be a full-time instructor with a focus on providing leadership for the ESL program including shaping the program to meet community needs, providing leadership to the department and across campus for English Language Learners, and addressing barriers and closing equity gaps for English learners. |
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| 2 | LEAD, ESL | Personnel | $0.00 | $218,000.00 | ||
| VESL/CTE Development/Instructor (2 positions) | To meet the department’s goal to sustain and grow the ESL Program, we need additional faculty to develop career-focused ESL opportunities: Rebuild integrated training programs. Support English Learners in CTE pathways. Serve English learners in the community and in the workforce. Partner with local business to offer integrated training programs and language support. Grow FTES for the college. Offer VESL Certificate of Competency. Address Program Review and student learning outcomes recommendations. |
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| 3 | LEAD, ESL | Personnel | $0.00 | $218,000.00 | ||
| VESL/CTE Development/Instructor (2 positions) | To meet the department’s goal to sustain and grow the ESL Program, we need additional faculty to develop career-focused ESL opportunities: Rebuild integrated training programs. Support English Learners in CTE pathways. Serve English learners in the community and in the workforce. Partner with local business to offer integrated training programs and language support. Grow FTES for the college. Offer VESL Certificate of Competency. Address Program Review and student learning outcomes recommendations. |
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| 4 | LEAD | Personnel | 11.000.614.1.493072 | 51100 | $1,500.00 | $0.00 |
| Deaf Studies Certificate Program | Development of a two-year certificate program in Deaf studies would serve our students and surrounding communities. Additionally the program would attract students. Stipends for curriculum and program development - $1,000. Develop and create promotional materials - $500 |
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| 5 | LEAD - ESL, LEAD-ENGL and READ, ASL | Operating Expenses | 11.000.614.1.493072 | 54300 | $0.00 | $3,000.00 |
| Department Budget Augmentation | Designing an on ramp for Guided Pathways, professional development, curriculum development and dialogue about assessment of SLOs are important work in the LEAD Department. Associate faculty are critical to the work of the college and need to be fairly compensated for their time. We are currently in Guided Pathways planning, Currriculum Review and Program Review. It is essential that associate faculty participate in this work and add their voices to department dialogue. The Computer Lifecycle Replacement plan will impact our budget. With 6 full time faculty, the LEAD department could need to replace almost one computer per year to keep up with CLR goals. This could take half our budget each year. |
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