Summer is the time to cool off, to read that page-turner or watch that thriller, take a walk in the woods or a stroll at the shore. With the likely easing of the pandemic’s stranglehold on our lives this summer, we hope to celebrate normalcy with backyard barbecues and family get-togethers. For students, after zoom fatigue and myriad online stresses, summer offers the chance to chill.
For some
motivated students, however, summer offers the chance to forge ahead. These are
mostly high-school students who want to take transferable college-level courses
in Math, English and Ethnic Studies at their local community colleges to
acclimate to college life and get a head start in their academic and
professional goals.
For several
years now, for six weeks (from the second week of June to the third week of
July), San Jose City College has been offering a rigorous Summer Bridge program
to help full-time (mostly high school) students complete an associate’s degree in two years. The
degree translates to the first two-years of a bachelor’s degree in the
California State University or the University of California systems (freshman
and sophomore years).
The Bridge
Program is the first step in the “San Jose Promise” launched by Mayor Sam
Liccardo in March 2017 for the San Jose-Evergreen Community College District to
ensure that community college was affordable and accessible to local high
school students. Students continue their experience with a team of counselors,
instructors, and peers to guide them beyond the first year of college to
transfer and graduation.
With funding
from “San Jose Promise,” students in the Bridge Program enjoy tuition and fee
waivers, free textbooks, calculators and online access to coursework. They also
receive personalized academic and personal counseling through a cohort of
teachers, counselors, supplemental instructors, and administrative staff. The
statistics tell the story. The overall passing rate for summer
bridge program in math and English is about 88%, almost 38% higher than the
usual passing rate.
I can attest
to the success of the Bridge Program with an example. I was teaching a course
on statistics in summer 2018. At the beginning of the third week, a student was
absent. When he did not show the following day, I informed a counselor who
immediately contacted the student. Because of a disruption in the family, he
was depressed and had resigned himself to dropping out. The counselor visited
him at home and spent time persuading him to continue. He did, and instead of
becoming a dropout statistic, graduated from City College and successfully transferred
to UC Santa Cruz. Early alert, combined with just-in-time empathic nudges via
texts or visits, can do wonders for community college students about to fall
off the grid.
The real issue
is one of scale. Instead of offering personalized services to only a few
hundred students because of limited grant money, how can such services be
extended to all students numbering in the thousands at any given community
college?
This is where
President Biden’s $1.8 trillion “American Families Plan” comes in. A part of the
President’s plan, to the tune of $109 billion, is to make community college
free for all Americans. Currently there are over 5 million students, many from
low-income families, in the nation’s 1,000 community colleges. California has
the largest community college system with 116 colleges serving over 2 million
students.
If the
“American Families Plan” comes to pass, it may be possible to scale and
replicate effective personalized services to help most, if not all, community
college students stay on track, graduate on time and infuse their careers with purpose.
Meanwhile, I am looking forward to teaching an Online Precalculus Algebra class as part of the 2021 Summer Bridge Program at San Jose City College. Founded in 1921, San Jose City College is the oldest community college in Santa Clara County, celebrating its centennial anniversary this year. I am eager to interact with curious and creative students and share with them how to use exponential functions to model the growth and decay of the coronavirus and how to explain “whispering galleries” by using the properties of a conic section.
