State Center Community College District

Memo
TO:

Superintendent Michael Hanson, FUSD Board of Education, SCCCD
Board of Trustees

FROM:

Dr. Bill F. Stewart, Interim Chancellor

DATE:

10-27-15

RE:

SCCCD Completion Rates

At the Fresno Unified School District State of Education Luncheon held on October 26,
2015, you provided the large crowd with erroneous information about State Center
Community College District and Fresno City College completion rates. First let me state
that at State Center Community College District we understand that there is much room
for improvement in our completion rates. However, we take this very seriously and have
implemented many student success best practices, we are a work in progress.
The portion of the speech in question appears verbatim on the television tape of the event
if you wish to view it. Specifically, you stated, "Our graduates, 75% of our kids who are
black and brown, frequently will enter a community college system here locally that's
underperforming both in their training programs and their academic programs. It's
supposed to be a two year program but they are measured on a six year graduation rate.
In the six year graduation rate, for a two year program, for black and brown kids it’s
under 20%. Think about the misalignment in Fresno. Three quarters of the youth I serve
as superintendent and our board is working so hard to support move into a place that has
very abysmal results for their completing or transferring to Fresno State or UC Merced."
What you have said is not accurate. The truth of the matter is as follows:
Fresno City College’s six year completion rates are based on the percentage of students
seeking the completion of a degree, certificate and/or transfer. For students who start
college prepared (eligible to enroll in college level math and or English) completion rates
are 66.1%. Students who are unprepared for college and have to enroll in math and/or

 English courses below college level have completion rates of 33.4%. For Reedley/Clovis
it is 36.4% for unprepared and 71.6% for college prepared.
The statewide rates are very comparable to our colleges’ rates. Unprepared is 39.2% and
prepared is 69.7%.
Specifically addressing African American and Hispanic students at Fresno City College:
72% of the African American students who arrive prepared for college graduate or
transfer and 59.2% of the Hispanic students who arrive prepared for college graduate or
transfer.
The completion rates for students who come to Fresno City College unprepared are
30.9% for African American students and 32.2% for Hispanic students.
At Reedley College 66.7% of African American students and 70.5% of the Hispanic
students who come prepared for college graduate or transfer. The completion rate for
unprepared African American students is 30.3% and 35.5% for Hispanic students.
It is very important to note, statewide 75% of students who are part of this Scorecard
cohort start community college unprepared for college. For FCC and RC/CCC, 80% and
78%, respectively, start college unprepared. Our completion rates are similar to the state
completion rates but we have a higher percentage of unprepared students.
Also, 63.5% of all FCC degree, certificate and/or transfer-seeking students complete at
least 30 units of college credit. For RC/CCC it is 64.2%. The statewide rate is 66.5%.
This metric is an important milestone or momentum point for students. Often cited in
student success literature, credit accumulation, 30 units specifically, tend to be positively
correlated with completion and employment/wage gains. Again, we are performing
similar to the state average with a higher percent of unprepared students.
In fall 2014, high school graduates from FUSD comprised 31% of our total first-term
student enrollment from feeder high schools. The percentage of unprepared students
(English and or math below college level) was 78%. Please note where FUSD ranks in
sending unprepared college students to us:
Clovis Unified School District
Kings Canyon Joint Unified
Madera Unified
Central Unified School District
Fresno Unified School District

45%
48%
53%
63%
78%

It is unfortunate that the incorrect information was shared with so many people during the
luncheon. I have provided you with the scorecards for our campuses below. The
statistics I have shared with you are from the California State Community College
Chancellors Office under their guidelines and are the same rules for all California
Community Colleges. If you have further questions about our students please don't
hesitate to contact me.
Here’s the link to those stats in the FCC scorecard
http://scorecard.cccco.edu/scorecardrates.aspx?CollegeID=571#home

 Here’s the link to the RC/CCC scorecard
http://scorecard.cccco.edu/scorecardrates.aspx?CollegeID=572#home
Here is the statewide scorecard
http://scorecard.cccco.edu/scorecardrates.aspx?CollegeID=000#home