2. Progress Report for SB1456
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Progress Report for SB1456
S T E P S , S T R A T E G I E S A N D R E S U L T S
INTRODUCTION
As West Los Angeles College prepares for the future with its vision to provide more effective student support
services, it is essential to understand the trends that shape today’s society and how this new student population
works. By focusing our efforts on said trends, remaining responsive to change, and acting with urgency, we
prepare for tomorrow’s today.
Also worth noting is the issue of student’s time spent in the community college system. There is no doubt that
students’ progression through the community college system average longer than students who attend
universities. Primarily because students are unsure of what their career goals are. Therefore, as an effort by
West Los Angeles and the state of California, SB 1456 will assist with students’ decision-making process and
progression through the system so that students can achieve their academic and career goals at a much faster
pace.
Charged with this task, the Counseling Office has promoted Student Educational Plans (both abbreviated
and comprehensive) with faculty, staff and most importantly with the student body. This report discusses the
efforts that have been made as of fall 2014 and includes an overview of:
1. In-Class visits
2. Mass emails and text messages
3. Online marketing
4. Career and Transfer Fair appointments
5. Student Service Council
6. Counselor advising/promotions
Although few, and implemented within a short time span, these efforts have been recorded by the Counseling
Office and have shown promising results. We are still working on new efforts and strategies to reach the
students of West Los Angeles College in the best ways possible.
3. Progress Report for SB1456
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Section 1:
E F F O R T S F O R S B 1 4 5 6 - S T U D E N T E D U C A T I O N A L P L A N S
IN-CLASS VISITS
In-class visits were conducted by a Career Guidance Counseling Assistant (CGCA). Classes were selected at
random from the West Los Angles College Schedule. Instructors were reached by email with the following
information:
Dear Instructors,
The Counseling Office would like to invite you to be a part of the WLAC outreach campaign
in an attempt to reach all new WLAC students and students who have completed up to 15
units of degree applicable course work. In order to complete a Comprehensive Student
Education Plan (CSEP) with a counselor, each student will need a personal appointment to
complete the process.
Students who fail to develop a CSEP will put themselves at risk of losing priority registration
for future semesters, which could have serious consequences; such as priority registration
and/or possible loss of financial aid eligibility. Moreover, the CSEP provides a personal road
map to assist students to reach their academic and personal goals. Senate Bill SB1456, written
for the California Community College’s secures that each student will maintain higher
enrollment appointment date status if all aspects of the requirements are completed.
Please allow a Counseling Office representative to visit your class for a 5-7 minute time
period to briefly explain the state’s requirements and the need for students to understand the
educational benefits of the new changes. Our representative will also explain how these
changes and students’ failure to comply will affect them.
Please confirm with an email of available class times and dates in which your schedule will
allow a representative to attend your class meeting.
Thank you,
Upon receiving said email, instructors responded either confirming or disconfirming dates or times for the
CGCA to conduct an in-class visit. The CGCA gave presentations informing students about their obligation to
develop a Comprehensive Student Educational Plan (CSEP) with a counselor and answered questions/concerns.
Implications for this method however were sometimes not successful because some instructors were
unresponsive and/or did not have the available time to allow the CGCA to conduct the in-class visit.
4. Progress Report for SB1456
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MASS EMAILS
As a part of the SB1456 campaign, the Counseling Office communicated with students through mass emails
about the requirement to develop a CSEP with a counselor. A master list was created with the names and
emails of students who were currently enrolled during the fall 2014 semester with no units and/or transcripts
within the district which included 1,099 students.
A second list was created that included students who have gone through Expressway for the fall 2014
semester, and have been documented as having completed orientation, assessment and abbreviated student
education plan (ASEP). In total, the second list included 3,840 students.
The CGCA pushed out one email per week from the beginning of the fall semester to students from both lists.
Currently, 1,350 emails have been sent to students from the Expressway list, and 300 from the list of
students who have no units or transcripts.
The following email was sent to students in both lists:
WHY WE'RE WRITING YOU:
You have been identified as not having completed your Comprehensive Student Education
Plan (CSEP). A CSEP allows you to identify/clarify your goals, consider career options and
map out courses for each semester. A new state law requires all in-coming students and
student who have completed up to 15 units of course work to develop a CSEP with a counselor
immediately.
If you fail to complete a CSEP, serious implications can occur such as:
1. Losing priority registration
2. Possible loss of financial aid eligibility
WHAT YOU NEED TO DO:
The Counseling office has blocked off appointments for students who need to complete their
CSEP. To make your appointment, come to the Counseling Center or call (310) 287-7242 to
schedule your appointment.
REMEMBER:
If you have attended any other institution outside of West LA, you MUST have all outside
transcripts mailed to Admissions and Records BEFORE scheduling an appointment with a
counselor. If you have only attended West LA, you are able to schedule an appointment
immediately.
Also, attached is a step-by-step form on how to merge your WLAC email address with your
personal email address, as your WLAC address is the college’s main point of contact with you.
Please review the document and follow the instructions so you will not miss out on any
important information from the college.
Counseling office
310 287 7242
5. Progress Report for SB1456
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Staff at the front desk of the Counseling Office documented students’ names and #88 numbers who either
called or walked in to make appointments for CSEP’s. Students were also asked how they heard about
CSEP’s, and front desk staff documented their statements. Emails and in-class visits seemed to get the most
responses, however less than expected. One reason could be that Counseling was only able to get a hold of
students’ wlac.edu email accounts. The CGCA reported that students expressed that they did not frequently
check this email account, but instead use their personal accounts (Gmail, Yahoo, etc.)
ONLINE MARKETING
The Counseling Office also worked closely Michelle Long-Coffee to market digitally to promote Student
Educational Plans. These efforts included:
n “Access Denied” campaign
Access Denied was an online initiative to get students curious about what was being denied. A graphic was
placed on the West Los Angeles College homepage with a small paragraph, “Failure to act could mean no
classes for you.” The link leading students to more information about CSEPs contained the following
subheadings regarding:
What is a CSEP?
Didn’t I get a CSEP after orientation?
How is my financial aid or academic progress impacted?
What you need to do and how to make an appointment:
n Promotional advertisements on the West Week page
The same communication was provided to students via the West Week page where the latest news and events
are hosted.
n Facebook posts
Information was also communicated via West Los Angeles College’s Facebook page. The same campaign,
“Access Denied” was communicated with contact numbers and links for students to get more information.
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CAREER & TRANSFER FAIRS
During the course of the fall 2014 semester, several career fairs and transfer fairs were hosted on the
campus. The counseling office took advantage of these events and had a CGCA occupy a booth along with
the university representatives and/or career professionals. The CGCA provided information to students about
the obligation for students who have completed 3 semesters or up to 15 units to develop their CSEP. The
CGCA also scheduled appointments for students at these events.
On occasions that a CGCA could not be present to make appointments for students and/or provide further
explanation for developing a CSEP, the CGCA would pass out flyers to students with information regarding
CSEPs.
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Section 2:
C O N S I D E R A T I O N S F O R S P R I N G 2 0 1 5
BANNERS
What we have learned this semester from our efforts in communicating the state’s requirement for students to
develop their CSEPs, is that insufficient information was provided about CSEPs. Students were often confused
between ASEPs (Abbreviated Student Educational Plans) and CSEPs. Therefore, the Counseling Office is
considering creating 2 – 3 banners to be placed around the campus that receive a lot of traffic. The
Counseling Office hopes that the banners will spur interest about CSEPs and how it affects them.
A tagline for the banners has not been developed yet. However, we imagine that they will follow some of our
previous strategies for communicating to students, such as: Access Denied – Failure to act could mean no
classes for you!, or Time is running out.
CSEP SATURDAYS
In order to boost the number of CSEPs being developed, the Counseling Office is also considering hosting
“CSEP Saturdays,” in which a number of counselors will be available to develop CSEPs with students. It is still
under consideration whether or not students will be able to see a counselor by walk-in or by an appointment.
