Written by Diego D. Garcia | Published March 10, 2016
The Student Success Scorecard of 2015 for the Riverside Community College District defined Riverside City College second out of the three colleges just below Norco College and determined Asian and Filipino students as the most academically successful cohort of the bunch.
This study was based on new students who completed 30 units from the 2008-2009 academic year and followed their studies through the course of six years testing 7,001 students and excluded 51,826 students, due to lack of qualifications, before presenting its findings to the Board of Trustees on March 1, 2016.
“I don’t understand why the data we received was so old and why it takes so long to be compiled and be presented, ” said Trustee Miller.
RCCD ranked in at 39.9 percent on a state level with California at 46.8 percent averaged in the category of degree/transfer program.
The study also revealed that female students were more successful than male students in degree, certificate or transfer completion. 3,881 females and 3,037 males completed these categories, including college prepared and unprepared for college. Also, people under the age of 20 were among the most accomplished in the study with a 5,842 student completion rate overall, including the college prepared and unprepared categories.
African Americans came in at 38 percent Filipinos with 50 percent, Asians at 53.3 percent, and Hispanics at 35.3 percent in the category of certificate, degree/transfer completion rate to name a few cohorts.
A more indepth look on the data can be found on the RCCD website under the Board of Trustees tab by clicking on the March 1 meeting and selecting the Student Success Scorecard for 2015 hyperlink.
Trustee Vackar agreed with Miller that the study was lacking timeliness and was irrelevant.
“Data that’s six years old and with all the other programs that the colleges have initiated and the fact that we received so many other support grants, I think we’ve already seen other indicators that show that our students are much more successful than what the scorecard shows,” said Trustee Vackar.
RCC President Wolde-Ab Isaac shared his perspective on the statistics.
“Our success rate is unacceptably low and it should not take six years for students to complete courses in a two year college,” Isaac said. “Not only what do the students lack but what do we lack?”
This study does not reflect the academic accomplishments of current students, but is reflective of past students and their achievements.
“Speaking as an African American female in the African American community, education is just now, probably in the last ten years, becoming a really high thing for African American communities,” said Kaitlin Glenn-Mock, RCC student and campus activities council member. “I know in some lower communities that it’s not a number one priority for a lot of children but is becoming more so now.”
In other news, RCCD Chancellor Michael Burke addressed those in attendance at the Board of Trustees regular meeting March 1st.
“First of all, the recent Compliance Officer recruitment hiring that we did, brought attention and serious concern around how we engage with involved faculty or hiring committees, we did not follow our past practice, that was my oversight. I own that mistake, I’m sorry for the oversight and I wanna share that it was not intentional,” Burke said.
As for the shooting that took place Feb. 29 at White Park, Burke stated that an RCC community service officer was the first person to render aid to the victim.
