We’ve featured the nuts and bolts of the DEI state policy work on Accelerating Achievement before. In the six DEI states, these nuts and bolts are assembled by state policy teams, with expert support from Jobs for the Future. Today’s post from Susan Wood, vice chancellor, academic services and research in the Virginia Community College System, describes how Virginia has leveraged the state policy team structure to advance their DEI work. You can read more about Virginia’s DEI efforts in this post.
Hello from Virginia’s DEI State Policy Team! Virginia’s team includes core members who have participated since the beginning of DEI and other members who have moved on and off of the team to support grant efforts. In light of Virginia’s centralized governance structure for their 23 community colleges, all but one of the initial core team members were from the Virginia Community College System (VCCS) office. The non-VCCS member is the statewide K-12 instructional leader for the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE). Core members are Susan Wood, Donna Jovanovich, Jennifer Allman, Dan Lewis, Linda Wallinger (VDOE), and Gretchen Schmidt (formerly with VCCS, now with JFF). Core membership reflects expertise in the areas of policy, academics, student services, data/research, assessment, and connections with K-12.
Semiannual state policy meetings convened by JFF provide a strategic opportunity to add critical partners to the team. These partners, selected to align with the current focus of Virginia’s work, have included the executive vice president at our largest college (chair of the Developmental Education Task Force) and two faculty members (chairs of the faculty Curriculum Teams developing student learning outcomes for new courses). Bringing critical partners continues a practice begun in our Achieving the Dream efforts where Virginia’s secretary of education and the vice-chair of the State Board for Community Colleges (member of the VCCS Strategic Planning Task Force) participated in state policy meetings.
The team meets regularly to coordinate the launch of a system-wide developmental education redesign. This includes staffing the Developmental Education Task Force (whose recommendations determined the direction for overall redesign) and the Developmental Mathematics and English Redesign Teams. Recommendations are found in The Turning Point, The Critical Point, and The Focal Point (forthcoming). The VDOE representative’s role was critical as VDOE, collaborating with VCCS and Virginia’s State Council for Higher Education, led the College and Career Readiness Initiative supported by the Southern Regional Education Board through a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. VDOE mathematics and English coordinators participated fully on redesign teams as a result of VDOE’s core team participation.
The state policy team structure solidifies and reaffirms Virginia’s developmental education redesign direction and purpose. State policy meetings provide a venue where objective analysis and essential team self-reflection occur, where the work of other state teams infuses our thinking, and where needed mid-course corrections can surface. Bringing the temporary members “into the fold” serves well to broaden the conversation about our DEI progress by adding a direct link to our colleges. In Virginia, the state policy team is an essential and effective component of work that has facilitated our progress thus far. Questions? Contact Susan Wood, vice chancellor, academic services and research, at swood@vccs.edu.
Hello from Virginia’s DEI State Policy Team! Virginia’s team includes core members who have participated since the beginning of DEI and other members who have moved on and off of the team to support grant efforts. In light of Virginia’s centralized governance structure for their 23 community colleges, all but one of the initial core team members were from the Virginia Community College System (VCCS) office. The non-VCCS member is the statewide K-12 instructional leader for the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE). Core members are Susan Wood, Donna Jovanovich, Jennifer Allman, Dan Lewis, Linda Wallinger (VDOE), and Gretchen Schmidt (formerly with VCCS, now with JFF). Core membership reflects expertise in the areas of policy, academics, student services, data/research, assessment, and connections with K-12.
Semiannual state policy meetings convened by JFF provide a strategic opportunity to add critical partners to the team. These partners, selected to align with the current focus of Virginia’s work, have included the executive vice president at our largest college (chair of the Developmental Education Task Force) and two faculty members (chairs of the faculty Curriculum Teams developing student learning outcomes for new courses). Bringing critical partners continues a practice begun in our Achieving the Dream efforts where Virginia’s secretary of education and the vice-chair of the State Board for Community Colleges (member of the VCCS Strategic Planning Task Force) participated in state policy meetings.
The team meets regularly to coordinate the launch of a system-wide developmental education redesign. This includes staffing the Developmental Education Task Force (whose recommendations determined the direction for overall redesign) and the Developmental Mathematics and English Redesign Teams. Recommendations are found in The Turning Point, The Critical Point, and The Focal Point (forthcoming). The VDOE representative’s role was critical as VDOE, collaborating with VCCS and Virginia’s State Council for Higher Education, led the College and Career Readiness Initiative supported by the Southern Regional Education Board through a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. VDOE mathematics and English coordinators participated fully on redesign teams as a result of VDOE’s core team participation.
The state policy team structure solidifies and reaffirms Virginia’s developmental education redesign direction and purpose. State policy meetings provide a venue where objective analysis and essential team self-reflection occur, where the work of other state teams infuses our thinking, and where needed mid-course corrections can surface. Bringing the temporary members “into the fold” serves well to broaden the conversation about our DEI progress by adding a direct link to our colleges. In Virginia, the state policy team is an essential and effective component of work that has facilitated our progress thus far. Questions? Contact Susan Wood, vice chancellor, academic services and research, at swood@vccs.edu.
No comments:
Post a Comment