The district needs to implement discipline-specific expectations.
Productive grade rate win-win agreements have been a drain on morale since their implementation.
When the Faculty Senate of this college sent out a survey to gauge faculty morale last spring, the survey was sent to 437 faculty members and 275 responded.
Of those respondents, 64 percent thought PGR win-win agreements were having a negative effect on morale.
The continuous improvement plan, the college’s alternative to the win-win agreement, seems to be an improvement.
Many faculty members thought the initial win-win agreements were punitive.
An anonymous comment to the Faculty Senate likened win-win agreements to a “sugar-coated write-up.”
Not requiring faculty signatures on the improvement plan helps negate the punitive flavor somewhat, but it is hardly enough.
If administrators want to create a truly dynamic improvement plan, they must implement discipline-specific PGR rates.
Across-the-board PGR rates tend to reflect poorly on the more rigorous disciplines at this college.
A discipline’s complicated material keeps many students from reaching a passing grade.
Instructors cannot change the aptitude of their students. Instead, they must simplify materials to reach the required 70 percent pass rate.
While easing the material might allow for more passing students, which will churn out more graduates, the end result is underprepared students who will find their watered-down education unapplicable at a transfer university.
Then they may never reach a chosen career path.