October 2010Volume 10, Number 8

As we strategically navigate the SACS Reaffirmation Process, we must again review the Cedar Valley College mission and vision.

CVC Mission: To provide quality learning that prepares students for success in a dynamic world.

CVC Vision: Cedar Valley College will be a community of leaders developing leaders through student success.

Cedar Valley College is on a five year •cycle for reviewing our college mission and vision statements. The mission statement was developed through a 1991 Delphi process and was later reviewed in 1998 and 2005, resulting in minor changes.

Inside This Issue

Second Friday Meetings at CVC

CVC to Host TransferAwareness Event

FMT Sweetens Season with Willy Wonka

Free Music Recital Continues October 20

CampusNotes

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The SACS Reaffirmation Process: Review-ing the Mission and Vision

By Daniel Hubbard

OCTOBER 2010VOLUME 10, NUMBER 8

Dr. Jennifer WimbishPresident

Sonya SpencerDirector of Marketing

Reginald E. LewisEditor & Designer

Milan McGowanEditorial Assistant

The Cedar Post is published monthly (Sept.-May) by:

Cedar Valley CollegeMarketing and Public Information Office

3030 North Dallas Ave.Lancaster, Texas 75134

Send story contributions and photos by the 20th of each month to:

relewis@dcccd.edu

A plan is in place to systematically review •the college mission and vision statements during 2010. The plan involves gathering feedback from students, staff, faculty and external stakeholders through multiple channels to guide and inform the mission review process. During Spring 2010 we sought feedback on our mission from students and advisory committees.

For our college-wide workshop on October •8, we will engage the college in a data-driven process to ensure alignment between our mission, our current directions, and SACSCOC expectations.

As we work together, we will consider the following SACSCOC mission-related questions:

1) How will we show that our mission statement clearly communicates the essence of the institution, our distinctiveness or unique characteristics, our major educational components, and our primary constituents?

2) In what ways does our mission guide the directions, decisions, activities, policies, and procedures at Cedar Valley? What evidence exists of a clear linkage between the mission statement and all major aspects our institutional function?

3) What evidence shows that our mission statement has been approved formally and reviewed periodically by the institution’s governing board?

4) How and when do we communicate our mission statement in a consistent manner to our constituencies?

5) How does our mission statement guide decisions at Cedar Valley?

We all have a role in supporting the college’s mission for student success. We should ask ourselves the question, “what am I doing to support my division or department action plan, the CVC strategic plan, and therefore the college mission?”

The college mission is the basis for our strategic plan, which is the basis for department action plans, which are further supported by individual action plans for faculty, employee development plans for support staff, and the performance management system for administrators.

A Look at Recent Reading, Writing and Speech Assessments

By Dr. David Evans

During the spring semester of 2010, the Educational Testing Service Measure of Academic Proficiency and Progress

(ETS MAPP) test was administered to Cedar Valley College students to assess three general education competencies: reading, writing and critical thinking. Based on CVC’s 2010 MAPP results, our mean score of 439.91 places us in the 35th percentile of the 78 other Associate Degree-granting institutions that participated in ETS, meaning that 35% of the participating institutions scored lower than we did. More importantly is the fact that 65% of the participating institutions scored higher than we did.

Now that we have developed a baseline for comparison, we are ready to begin working toward our continuous improvement plan. Our new goal on the CVC 2010-11 strategic plan related to our ETS mean score for reading, writing and critical thinking is to raise our mean score to 441, which would place us in the 51st percentile. Increasing our total mean score and thereby improving student learning at Cedar Valley will require the coordinated effort of the entire campus.

When the results are viewed individually, we see that our greatest challenge will be in the areas of reading and writing – basic communication skills:

Our overall score for reading was 117.53, •compared to 117.48 for all Associate’s Colleges; 34% have a reading mean score lower than ours (34th percentile). Our overall score for writing was 113.39, •compared to 113.57 for all Associate’s Colleges; 25% have a writing mean score lower than ours (25th percentile).

These scores are indicative of the recent results of percentage of DISD high school students that place into developmental reading and writing when they come to CVC. According to the District Office of Institutional Research, about 50 percent of recent high school graduates test into developmental reading with about 20 percent testing three

levels below college-level. About 70 percent of recent high school graduates need remedial help in at least one subject – reading or writing. The last Community College Survey of Student Engagement conducted at CVC revealed that the percentage of students being required to produce written papers or reports of any length is significantly lower at CVC than at other community colleges.

Another important component for the assessment of basic communication skills is the evaluation of oral communication. Beginning this semester, the assessment team will collaborate with the speech faculty and other faculty members to design and implement an assessment instrument that determines our students’ level of oral communication. The three combined assessments of reading, writing and oral communication will provide necessary information regarding our students’ ability to comprehend information and communicate effectively – key components of critical thinking.

We all know that effective communication is a key skill for students. Without effective communication our students cannot function efficiently and successfully. Imagine how much better our students would be in the areas of effective communication if we ALL, no matter what subject we teach, took some time to reinforce these important skills in our classes. This would also help our students become more aware that these skills are not just used in developmental classes, but they are necessary skills for all areas – academic and real life.

Second Friday Meetings at CVC

Hopefully, you were able to attend the break-out sessions on reading and writing during the October 8

session. Janet Brotherton and Judy Cotton gave some easy-to-implement strategies for incorporating reading and writing activities and assessments into your curriculum and instruction. As the Assessment Team works with the speech faculty to design and implement a basic oral communication rubric that can be used for all curricula, I encourage you to incorporate one strategy each into your instruction to help emphasize the importance of developing and maintaining effective reading, writing and speaking skills – not only to succeed academically but to be successful in life. These activities will provide our students with the necessary skills to become competent, effective communicators.

The time is minimal, but if every faculty member makes the commitment to apply at least one reading, writing and oral communication activity in each course, the effects will multiply and we will see a surge in fl uent communicators.

CVC to Host Transfer Awareness Event on October 13

Representatives from several four-year colleges and universities will be present to meet with students interested in transferring. Students can contact their

academic advisor or e-mail transfer@dcccd.edu for more information.

Family Music Theatre Sweetens the Season with Willy Wonka

Family Music Theatre (FMT) launches its 18th season with Willy Wonka, October 15 – 30, in the Performance Hall. Friday & Saturday night performances are 7:30 p.m. and Saturday matinees are 1:30 p.m.

Tickets are $10 for adults, $6 for seniors (age 55+) and $5 for children (ages 4-12) and are available in advance at the CVC Business Offi ce, Monday-Thursday, 8:30 AM – 7 PM and Friday 8:30 AM- 5 PM or by calling 972-860-2994. For more information, please call 972-860-7444, ext. 9302.

Free Music Recital Series Continues October 20

All performances held 12:45 - 1:40 p.m.in the CVC Performance Hall (E-126)

OCT 20: Student Recital: Classical Voice, Instrumental & CVC String Ensemble

OCT. 27: Student Recital: Commercial Instrumental

NOV 3: Student Recital: CVC Percussion Ensemble

NOV 10: Student Recital: Guitar Ensemble

NOV 17: Student Recital: CVC Vocal Ensemble

Representatives from several Representatives from several four-year colleges and universities four-year colleges and universities will be present to meet with will be present to meet with students interested in transferring. students interested in transferring. Students can contact their Students can contact their

NOV. 24: Student Recital: Keyboard Ensemble

DEC. 1: Student Recital: CVC Lab Band

*This performance schedule is subject to change.

Campus Notes

... Devonte Noiel and Kadiejha Price, two of our Cedar Hill Collegiate High School students, were profiled recently by WFAA-TV’s Debbie Denmon. Dr. Jerry Cotton was also interviewed for this story, which highlighted the partnership between Cedar Hill High School and Cedar Valley College.

... A new art show entiled “Manifestations of Distorted Realities” will be on display October 9-November 3 in the CVC Art Gallery. The new show features the works of Laura Neaderhouser and Jennifer Jones.