October 2010 Volume 10, Number 8 - Cedar Valley College

October 2010Volume 10, Number 8Inside This IssueSecond FridayMeetings at CVCCVC to Host TransferAwareness EventFMT Sweetens Seasonwith Willy WonkaFree Music RecitalContinues October 20CampusNotes44445The SACSReaffirmationProcess: Reviewingthe Missionand VisionBy Daniel HubbardAs we strategically navigate the SACSReaffirmation Process, we must againreview the Cedar Valley College missionand vision.CVC Mission: To provide quality learningthat prepares students for success in adynamic world.CVC Vision: Cedar Valley College will be acommunity of leaders developing leadersthrough student success.• Cedar Valley College is on a five yearcycle for reviewing our college missionand vision statements. The missionstatement was developed through a1991 Delphi process and was laterreviewed in 1998 and 2005, resulting inminor changes.

• A plan is in place to systematically reviewthe college mission and vision statementsduring 2010. The plan involves gatheringfeedback from students, staff, faculty andexternal stakeholders through multiplechannels to guide and inform the missionreview process. During Spring 2010 wesought feedback on our mission fromstudents and advisory committees.• For our college-wide workshop on October8, we will engage the college in a datadrivenprocess to ensure alignmentbetween our mission, our currentdirections, and SACSCOC expectations.As we work together, we will considerthe following SACSCOC mission-relatedquestions:1) How will we show that our missionstatement clearly communicates the essenceof the institution, our distinctiveness orunique characteristics, our major educationalcomponents, and our primary constituents?2) In what ways does our mission guide thedirections, decisions, activities, policies,and procedures at Cedar Valley? Whatevidence exists of a clear linkage between themission statement and all major aspects ourinstitutional function?3) What evidence shows that our missionstatement has been approved formally andreviewed periodically by the institution’sgoverning board?4) How and when do we communicate ourmission statement in a consistent manner toour constituencies?5) How does our mission statement guidedecisions at Cedar Valley?We all have a role in supporting the college’smission for student success. We should askourselves the question, “what am I doing tosupport my division or department actionplan, the CVC strategic plan, and thereforethe college mission?”The college mission is the basis for ourstrategic plan, which is the basis fordepartment action plans, which are furthersupported by individual action plans forfaculty, employee development plansfor support staff, and the performancemanagement system for administrators.A Look at Recent Reading, Writingand Speech AssessmentsBy Dr. David EvansDuring the spring semester of 2010, theEducational Testing Service Measure ofAcademic Proficiency and ProgressOCTOBER 2010VOLUME 10, NUMBER 8Dr. Jennifer WimbishPresidentSonya SpencerDirector of MarketingReginald E. LewisEditor & DesignerMilan McGowanEditorial AssistantThe Cedar Post is publishedmonthly (Sept.-May) by:Cedar Valley CollegeMarketing and Public Information Office3030 North Dallas Ave.Lancaster, Texas 75134Send story contributions and photosby the 20th of each month to:relewis@dcccd.edu

(ETS MAPP) test was administered to CedarValley College students to assess threegeneral education competencies: reading,writing and critical thinking. Based on CVC’s2010 MAPP results, our mean score of 439.91places us in the 35th percentile of the 78 otherAssociate Degree-granting institutions thatparticipated in ETS, meaning that 35% of theparticipating institutions scored lower than wedid. More importantly is the fact that 65% ofthe participating institutions scored higher thanwe did.Now that we have developed a baseline forcomparison, we are ready to begin workingtoward our continuous improvement plan. Ournew goal on the CVC 2010-11 strategic planrelated to our ETS mean score for reading,writing and critical thinking is to raise our meanscore to 441, which would place us in the 51stpercentile. Increasing our total mean scoreand thereby improving student learning atCedar Valley will require the coordinated effortof the entire campus.When the results are viewed individually,we see that our greatest challenge will bein the areas of reading and writing – basiccommunication skills:• Our overall score for reading was 117.53,compared to 117.48 for all Associate’sColleges; 34% have a reading mean scorelower than ours (34th percentile).• Our overall score for writing was 113.39,compared to 113.57 for all Associate’sColleges; 25% have a writing mean scorelower than ours (25th percentile).levels below college-level. About 70 percentof recent high school graduates need remedialhelp in at least one subject – reading or writing.The last Community College Survey of StudentEngagement conducted at CVC revealed thatthe percentage of students being required toproduce written papers or reports of any lengthis significantly lower at CVC than at othercommunity colleges.Another important component for theassessment of basic communication skills isthe evaluation of oral communication. Beginningthis semester, the assessment team willcollaborate with the speech faculty and otherfaculty members to design and implement anassessment instrument that determines ourstudents’ level of oral communication. The threecombined assessments of reading, writing andoral communication will provide necessaryinformation regarding our students’ ability tocomprehend information and communicateeffectively – key components of critical thinking.We all know that effective communicationis a key skill for students. Without effectivecommunication our students cannot functionefficiently and successfully. Imagine how muchbetter our students would be in the areas ofeffective communication if we ALL, no matterwhat subject we teach, took some time toreinforce these important skills in our classes.This would also help our students becomemore aware that these skills are not just used indevelopmental classes, but they are necessaryskills for all areas – academic and real life.These scores are indicative of the recentresults of percentage of DISD high schoolstudents that place into developmentalreading and writing when they come to CVC.According to the District Office of InstitutionalResearch, about 50 percent of recent highschool graduates test into developmentalreading with about 20 percent testing three

Second FridayMeetings at CVCHopefully, you wereable to attend thebreak-out sessions onreading and writingduring the October 8session. Janet Brotherton and Judy Cottongave some easy-to-implement strategies forincorporating reading and writing activitiesand assessments into your curriculumand instruction. As the Assessment Teamworks with the speech faculty to design andimplement a basic oral communication rubricthat can be used for all curricula, I encourageyou to incorporate one strategy each into yourinstruction to help emphasize the importanceof developing and maintaining effectivereading, writing and speaking skills – not onlyto succeed academically but to be successfulin life. These activities will provide ourstudents with the necessary skills to becomecompetent, effective communicators.The time is minimal, but if every facultymember makes the commitment to applyat least one reading, writing and oralcommunication activity in each course, theeffects will multiply and we will see a surge infl uent communicators.CVC to Host Transfer AwarenessEvent on October 13Representatives from severalfour-year colleges and universitieswill be present to meet withstudents interested in transferring.Students can contact theiracademic advisor or e-mailtransfer@dcccd.edu for more information.Family Music Theatre Sweetensthe Season with Willy WonkaFamily Music Theatre (FMT) launches its 18thseason with Willy Wonka, October 15 – 30, inthe Performance Hall. Friday & Saturday nightperformances are 7:30 p.m. and Saturdaymatinees are 1:30 p.m.Tickets are $10 for adults, $6 for seniors (age55+) and $5 for children (ages 4-12) and areavailable in advance at the CVC BusinessOffi ce, Monday-Thursday, 8:30 AM – 7 PMand Friday 8:30 AM- 5 PM or by calling 972-860-2994. For more information, please call972-860-7444, ext. 9302.Free Music Recital SeriesContinues October 20All performances held 12:45 - 1:40 p.m.in the CVC Performance Hall (E-126)OCT 20:Student Recital: Classical Voice, Instrumental& CVC String EnsembleOCT. 27:Student Recital: Commercial InstrumentalNOV 3:Student Recital: CVC Percussion EnsembleNOV 10:Student Recital: Guitar EnsembleNOV 17:Student Recital: CVC Vocal Ensemble

NOV. 24:Student Recital: Keyboard EnsembleDEC. 1:Student Recital: CVC Lab Band*This performance schedule is subject to change.Campus Notes... Devonte Noiel and Kadiejha Price, two of our CedarHill Collegiate High School students, were profiledrecently by WFAA-TV’s Debbie Denmon. Dr. JerryCotton was also interviewed for this story, whichhighlighted the partnership between Cedar Hill HighSchool and Cedar Valley College.... A new art show entiled “Manifestations of DistortedRealities” will be on display October 9-November 3 inthe CVC Art Gallery. The new show features the worksof Laura Neaderhouser and Jennifer Jones.