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This assessment evaluates the effectiveness of the 2026 Earth Forward Event, hosted at Estrella Mountain Community College, in supporting student learning related to environmental literacy, sustainability, and engagement with career pathways in life sciences and conservation.

FA and Outreach have fully implemented this new process and will continue exploring additional opportunities to make it even more seamless for students and for the staff who process Concurrent Maricopa Grants.

This submission details the implementation and results of a Midterm Student Feedback (MSF) assessment conducted in Dr. Pargas' ESOL Level 2 class. The primary purpose of the assessment was to gain real-time insight into the factors that help and hinder student learning, enabling continuous pedagogical improvement within the current class term. The MSF was administered anonymously at the midpoint of the course using a three-question worksheet that focused on learning aids, barriers, and suggestions for improvement.

As part of Strategic Plan Activity 3.1.B to transform the future of work through improved operational models, the MCCCD Shared Governance Group on Student Access, Success, and Experiences launched the Optimizing Student Services (OSS) Project to identify areas for districtwide optimization. Guided by recommendations from the MCCCD VPSA Council, the first phase focused on transcript evaluation and processing.

With OPIE data from AY 22-23, MAT instructors have implemented instructional best strategies to improve student retention rates from Fall 23 to Fall 24.  To contribute to the EMCC Strategic Goal of increase college retention and persistence by reducing the within semester withdrawal rate from 16% to 14% by 2026, MAT instructors have implemented and documented (monthly) instructional best practices, as well as reported (monthly) the number of students retained in their courses.

• Continue to review processes and look for ways to simplify/streamline whenever possible.
• When there are continual pain points, challenges, or overly complicated processes use that to identify a solution. Put your time toward finding/creating/requesting automation to improve the process. It will take additional time in the beginning to determine and implement a solution. Once the solution is implemented it will make up for the extra time it took to identify/make the changes.

The ET (embedded tutoring) program was not sustained after the 22-23 academic school year.  Student surveys from Spring 22 report 62% of respondents say having an embedded tutor helped them feel comfortable asking for help; 60% of respondents report having an embedded tutor deepened their understanding of course topics and concepts; 49% of respondents report the embedded tutor improved their critical thinking skills.

The entire Life Sciences FT faculty and the LS Administrative Specialist Sr, Lynn Abrams Comtois contributed to this CATS.   (Not all names were available to be selected and added in the section below). 

In conjunction with the 4DX campus initiative and the EMCC Super Goal #1, the math division developed the following WIG:  To contribute to closing the equity gap and improving a student’s sense of belonging, the Mathematics Division will increase the student’s response average on the twenty questions of the Classroom Community Survey (Rovai, 2002) from a 2.2 to 2.5 by December 2021.  Residential faculty reported what types of activities/practices were implemented in their classes to increase a student's sense of belonging.  Students reported an average

SAC Co-Coordinators wanted to create a culture of meaningful assessment at EMCC with our faculty and staff. The goals are to increase the number of courses to move their course-level learning outcomes(CLOs) into Canvas, increase more CLO data collection, and have a more streamlined data collection processes.    

The FA office provides workshops for employees as well as students because Financial Aid and Scholarship processes are complex. This is especially true with Title IV FA federal regulations. EMCC FA staff are responsible for these regulations/processes and assisting students. Non-FA employees who work with students often request general financial aid and scholarship workshops so they can better service students in relation to how their roles affect the student's FA. As money is critical to EMCC students they may make decisions about their education based on the financial aid impact.

The program was held during a five week summer session. Twelve students met Monday through Thursday for Math 151 College Algebra/Functions, followed by one hour of tutoring. Students also met Monday through Wednesday for CPD115, Creating College Success in STEM. Every Thursday, students had the opportunity to partake in hands-on STEM workshops and programs, meet current and/or former STEM students, meet with different community professionals to explore the different careers in STEM, and learn about the different supportive programs, such as undergraduate internships.

Having now completed 3 semesters teaching BIO 182 - General Biology II for Science Majors, the area consistiently identified by student surveys as in need of improvement is the "Quality of the Textbook."  The book is expensive (>$100), and yet, I have observed that many/ most students do not read the supplemental chapters that align with lectures / activities / labs unless I assign end-of-chapter comprehension questions.  Following being awarded a FRACTYL grant last spring, I have been developing an OER, consisting of a series of engaging, supplemental videos that focus on case