The Skyline View: How did FYE come about?

Soodie Zamani: “The state of Cali­fornia decided to fund community colleges to increase the rate of success for students in basic skill classes.”

TSV: What class­es that would be con­sidered ‘basic skill’ classes?

SZ: “Well, in math, we teach three classes below the transfer level in Skyline. If a student places in a class below the transfer level, they are basic skill students. Math 811, Math 110, and math 120 are the classes below the transfer level for that subject.”

TSV: Why did California de­cided to fund the programs?

SZ: “The number of students placing in the basic level classes in California was very high and the success rate was very low, so the state decided to create a program that they called ‘Basic Skill Initiatives’ to bring the success rate up”.

TSV: How did Skyline come up with First Year Experience?

SZ: “Every school did a self-study and came up with a plan. It’s a 5-year fund­ed program that, according to what the school came up with, began its implementation in accordance with their fund­ing. FYE is a pro­gram that began because of CSI (College Success Initiatives) at Skyline whose empha­sis is the learning community.”

TSV: Why learning communi­ties?

SZ: “Students who are in a learning community have a higher transfer and success rate than those who work alone and are at the ba­sic skill level– being in a learning community increases the student’s positive reinforcement from their peers—they have friends, somebody to work with, and have more interest in coming to class.”

TSV: How did you find students to be involved in FYE?

SZ: “FYE recruited students to the program. The students stay together and work on common proj­ects from different teachers. There are other learning communities, but they usually have one or two classes—this is a whole program. We have never done this before at Skyline, this is the first time, and we are monitoring it very closely to see how successful it will be. So far the students are responding well.”

TSV: Why should students enroll in FYE classes?

SZ: “By creating FYE we’re try­ing to reinforce that, because of the close relationship they might have with their counselor or teacher they will be able to transfer or graduate successfully. A goal of the FYE, specifically, is that the first year that the students are in school they can complete the requirements to transfer, at least for math.”

TSV: What is the end-goal of the program?

SZ: “Basically to teach students how to be college students- how to increase their independence and learn how to study.”

TSV: How does the program continue?

SZ: “The funding for the pro­gram has decreased, so, we continue as long as we have funding. What we’re doing is assessing all the programs and, if the programs are successful, we are going to institu­tionalize them. The funding comes from the state and its according to school size and the programs that they are implementing as their initiatives.”

TSV: What happens when the state funding is finished?

SZ: “There are different fund­ing sources that, if the program is very successful, then they will be possibilities.”

TSV: Finally, what do you hope will come of the program?

SZ: ” I’m hoping that, even when the funding stops, we can continue using the different programs that we have. It takes a lot of work and dedication from everyone working together and, even though they’re sometimes more expensive than just teaching the course, I think that in the long run it’s worth it, because it keeps a lot of students in college and helps them to succeed and actually be able to be educated.”