2017-18: International Students

Problem / Issue

There is a large ESL student population at Evergreen Valley College in San Jose. Counselors here would recommend additional questions to the new version of CCCApply to get information about the educational and language background of ESL students. Here are two related items that would be helpful to add to the beginning of the Education Section:

1. Check this box if you did not attend high school in the United States

2. How many years of education did you receive in your native country?

Is it possible to add these items, or something similar, to the forthcoming release?

Unfortunately, every addition to the CCCApply application must go through a Change Management approval process with the CCCApply Steering Committee.  The next meeting is October 4.  I can certainly add this as a change request; however, I should prepare you that this will likely not be approved.

CCCApply is already under great scrutiny by colleges and the CCCCO for being too long. This is a current "Hot Topic" across the system. The problem is that every single question on the application currently is mandated in some way, either by state legislature, federal law, or MIS reporting. Colleges do not realize this and believe the app is too long for no reason. We are working on changing that perception as we speak.

The first thing the Steering Committee wants to know when reviewing a change request is - is this a state or federal mandate?  If not, is this a systemwide MIS reporting requirement?  If not, how many colleges are requesting this change?

Regarding your specific request:

• There data for determining if the student did not attend HS in the US is already on the education page.  If the student identifies that they have attended high school, the "Last High School Attended" section appears and collects the information on their high school, including Country.  So that data is already on the application and your college is collecting that now;
• The next question "How many years of education in native country" can also be determined via the questions in the CCCApply International Application - which your college can implement at any time. It would require a bit of work from your IT department, but the application is geared towards International students and does collect this type of data.

If your Admissions Office would like to discuss implementing the International application, they can contact me for an implementation kick-off meeting and review the technical and operational tasks required for implementation.  

I am happy to talk with them at their convenience.

I hope this helps. 

I think this actually negates submitting a change request at this point - so unless you have any other questions, please have Admissions help you collect the data as described above, because it is already available to you.

Thanks,

Patty

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Patty,

Thanks for taking the time to send such a complete response to my request. I can see the challenges of keeping the application from getting longer. It might be worth pointing out that many of the ESL students at Evergreen Valley College have very little education in their native country and very little in the U.S. but have been in the U.S. as residents for a while, so the International Application may not be appropriate.

May I make a suggestion that might allow for some of the additional information I requested without adding new questions. Under the High School Education section, there is a question about “HS Education level as of 1/30/2017.” Would it be easier to add an additional item to the pull-down menu, rather than adding separate additional questions?

Added pull-down menu choice:

• ·       Did not attend high school in the United States or in my native country.

You might also be able to come up with good wording for an additional pull-down menu item that elicits needed information about ESL students’ educational background.

Best,

--William

Proposed Solution

Notes

Supporting Documentation