It’s a Tie: Walla Walla, Santa Barbara Share Aspen Prize

By Paul Bradley

Editor, CCWeek

WASHINGTON — Two West Coast community colleges with different missions but common goals share the second Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence, the nation’s signature recognition of achievement and performance among the country’s  community colleges.

Walla Walla Community College (Wash.) and Santa Barbara City College (Calif.) were named co-winners of the prize, which comes with both a trophy and a check for $400,000.

“Santa Barbara City College and Walla Walla Community College offer outstanding models for achieving exceptional levels of student success at a time when our nation needs community colleges to do even more than they have in the past,” said Josh Wyner, executive director of the Aspen Institute’s College Excellence Program.

The colleges triumphed in a yearlong competition aimed at identifying promising educational practices that can be shared and scaled up across the country.

Nearly half of all college students attend community colleges, including large numbers of low-income and minority students. Community colleges enroll more than 13 million students, and the institutions are being called upon to boost graduation rates, improve the nation’s turgid recovery from the recession, even as government at all levels disinvest in higher education.

“Doing all of these things is hard work,” Wyner said. “And it’s getting more complicated every day.”

The two top colleges have distinct missions, but each focuses on student success and achievement.

Walla Walla Community College, a rural college in southeastern Washington with an enrollment of 8,635, focuses on training students for jobs and helping to drive growth in the regional job market. Of all the degrees and certificates it awards, 64 percent are in vocational/technical areas.

The college maintains strong relationships with employers to assess whether what students are learning is aligned to specific job needs. It adds new programs and trims others based on which programs will provide the best opportunity for employment and good wages, helping students obtain degrees that translate into genuine opportunity in areas from nursing to wine-making to wind energy. It has helped transform regional wine-making from a sleepy curiosity into an economic powerhouse.

“We learned how to partner,” said college President Steven L. VanAusdale. “That was so important.”

Santa Barbara City College’s primary focus is helping students transfer to four-year colleges. It’s a large, urban campus on the Pacific Coast, with more than 28,000 students enrolled. Just 24 percent of its degrees and certificates are awarded in technical fields.

The college boasts specialized support programs for historically under-achieving students. SBCC has a large and growing number of Hispanic students — more than  30   percent of the student body — who graduate and transfer at rates significantly above the national average.

SBCC has built a strong culture that consistently drives to improve student success, paying special attention to ensuring that courses and programs align to the academic standards of four-year schools. The result: well over half of the students who enter SBCC and transfer to four-year colleges attain a bachelor’s degree within six years of leaving high school.

College President Lori Gaskin said her college’s Aspen Prize is one shared by all community colleges.

“We are the institutions of second chances,” said college President Lori Gaskin. “We are the institutions of third opportunities. We are the institutions of hope and opportunity.”

The awards ceremony was held in downtown Washington at the Newseum, the media museum located on Pennsylvania Avenue a short distance from the U.S. Capitol and the White House. It was supposed to feature a speech by Second Lady Jill Biden, but she was a no-show. Organizers said the late-arriving Biden — herself a community college teacher — would meet in private with the prize winners and other eight finalists.

 

 

 

It’s All About Pell

WASHINGTON — Community college leaders will be trooping to Capitol Hill on Wednesday to chat with their elected representatives about the state of their institutions.

            And during the National Community College Legislative Summit, college trustees and presidents were given a clear talking point when buttonholing their favorite lawmaker: it’s all about Pell.

            “If you do nothing but talk about Pell Grants, that’s time well-spent,” said David Baime, senior president for government relations for the American Association of Community Colleges. “There is a great deal at stake for us.”

            Baime’s comments, made to more than 1,000 community college trustees and administrators, underscored what’s been indentified as the top federal funding priority for both the AACC and the Association of Community College Trustees – maintaining and improving Pell, the bedrock financial aid program which helps 3.35 million low- and moderate-income students pay for tuition, course material and living expenses.

            The summit, organized by the ACCT, fell on the same day that Steven G. Katsinas, director of the Education Policy Center at the University of Alabama, released a new study documenting how students in three southern states have been battered by 2012 changes in Pell eligibility.

            The study found that more than 5,000 students in Alabama, Arkansas and Mississippi lost Pell eligibility in fall 2012, and another 17,000 students will lose Pell eligibility in 2012-13. The study also found that 47 of 62 community colleges in the three states lost enrollment this year, and blamed decreases in Pell eligibility for the enrollment reductions.

Cost-cutting measures to Pell, enacted last summer, have disproportionately affected community college students. The changes reduced Pell eligibility from 18 semesters to 12 semesters; reduced to $23,000 the maximum annual income a family can earn for a student to be eligible for a full Pell grant; and barred students who do not have a GED or a high school diploma from receiving a Pell grant.

The AACC and the ACCT want to restore that eligibility, and U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., has written legislation that would clear the way for students in “career pathways” program to get Pell grants. But the same legislation would cut Pell eligibility for community college students enrolled entirely online precluding the students from receiving money for transportation or living expenses.

“This is a very negative provision for community college students,” Baime said.

The changes to Pell might have has their intended effect. A recent report by the Congressional Budget Office found that the Pell program will have a $9.2 billion surplus at the end of fiscal year 2013. Just last year, the CBO had forecast a $6 billion shortfall.

Still, community college officials face an uphill battle in persuading Congress to give colleges more financial support. Higher education is held in low esteem by both lawmakers and the public because of skyrocketing costs and poor graduation rates.

Other priorities for community colleges;

– Helping community colleges serve veterans and active-duty military.

– Passing the DREAM Act, providing a pathway to citizenship for thousands of undocumented students brought to the country as children.

– Reauthorizing and improving the Workforce Investment Act by insuring that community college are members of local workforce investment boards.

10 States Debating Guns on Campus

Here’s a link to an interesting info-graphic on guns on campus: http://collegestats.org/articles/2012/06/10-states-debating-guns-on-campus/

15 Colleges Earn $100,000 Grant from Walmart Foundation

             Fifteen community colleges will each receive a $100,000 grant from the Walmart Foundation to bolster faculty and staff engagement in student success efforts being promoted by the Achieving the Dream reform effort..

            Each college already has been designated a “leader colleges” by ATD, a national nonprofit group promoting non-governmental college reform aimed at improving community college student success. Leader Colleges are selected based on their commitment to and progress on four principles: committed leadership, use of evidence to improve programs and services, broad engagement, and systemic institutional improvement. They must also show three years of sustained improvement of student success.

            The grants are intended to get faculty and staff more involved in student success efforts.

“These 15 Achieving the Dream Leader Colleges have met high standards of practice and performance and are well-positioned to tackle one of the toughest community college reform challenges our nation is facing: engaging more full-time and adjunct faculty and staff in student success efforts,” said Rachel Singer, vice president of Achieving the Dream, Inc.

While community colleges have made significant strides in boosting student success rates, the proportion of faculty, including adjunct faculty, and student services personnel deeply engaged in the work is small compared to the total number of faculty and staff at the colleges. Moreover, reform work has yet to knock down the silos between academic departments and student services that limit vital collaboration, according to ATD.

Achieving the Dream Leader Colleges, known for their commitment to student-centered, evidence-based reforms were deemed a most ideal network of colleges for testing and expanding innovative faculty and staff engagement strategies. The 15 colleges were selected to receive a Walmart PRESS (Persistence, Retention, and Student Success) grant.

The grant will include a 27-month process during which the selected colleges will receive technical assistance and support from Achieving the Dream. In addition, each selected college has agreed to serve as a peer coach and be active in the learning community among the more than 175 colleges in the Achieving the Dream network.

The winning colleges are Aiken Technical College (Aiken, S.C.); Alamo Colleges, (San Antonio, Texas); Brazosport College (Lake Jackson, Texas); Community College of Beaver County (Monaca, Pa.); Cuyahoga Community College (Cleveland, Ohio); Durham Technical Community College (Durham, N.C.); Guilford Technical Community College (Jamestown, N.C.); Northampton Community College, (Bethlehem, Pa.); Northern Essex Community College (Haverhill, Mass.); Orangeburg-Calhoun Technical College (Orangeburg, S.C.); Pulaski Technical College (North Little Rock, Ark.); Roxbury Community College (Boston, Mass.); Tallahassee Community College (Tallahassee, Fla.); Valencia College (Orlando, Fla.) and Yakima Valley Community College (Yakima, Wash.)

 

League Steps Into NISOD Void

By Paul Bradley

The League for Innovation in the Community College is aggressively stepping into the void created by the uncertainty now surrounding the National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development (NISOD).

The League, which since 1968 has promoted institutional change and improvement at community colleges through better use of technology, is expanding its focus to include two NISOD specialties. It will establish annual awards the recognizing community college faculty and staff, and establish an annual award honoring outstanding community college leaders.

League President Gerardo de los Santos said both initiatives will bear the name the John E. Roueche, who founded NISOD as an outreach affiliate of the Community College Leadership program at the University of Texas at Austin.

Roueche, 73, soon will retire as director of the CCLP, a post he has held for more than 40 years. But he is not staying idle. Instead, he’ll undertake an effort to found a similar doctoral program at the for-profit National American University under the mantle of NAU’s new Roueche Graduate Center. Roueche currently serves as chair of NAU’s community college advisory board.

But Roueche’s impending departure from UT — and the decision by university administrators to scrap the CCLP and fold it into a new Higher Education Leadership program — has thrown NISOD into a state of high anxiety and uncertainty. Many of the more than 1,200 people attending the 34^th annual NISOD conference in Austin, Texas, earlier this week openly speculated that this NISOD conference could be the last.

NISOD, in fact, has been at the center of an acrimonious dispute between Roueche and his UT boss, School of Education Dean Manuel J. Justiz. Justiz’ move to divert about $2 million in NISOD funds into the school’s coffers led to a prolonged, bitter clash between the two men and ultimately prodded Roueche toward retirement.

NISOD sustains itself through a combination of grant money and member fees. Justiz’ plan does not directly tap that money, which could raise legal questions. Instead, it requires NISOD to pay a 15 percent “tax” on its annual expenditures — salaries, benefits, professional development and the like — in exchange for the right to operate at UT. When the tax plan first was imposed, it was made retroactive for five years, according to knowledgeable sources.

Draining NISOD resources has only exacerbated concern for its future.

The League’s decision to undertake the signature activities that characterized NISOD — the formal recognition of faculty, staff and exemplary college leaders — represents an aggressive challenge to NISOD and UT. It was no small irony that de los Santos made his announcement during the final day of the NISOD conference.

De los Santo said the League’s step is an effort to ensure that the efforts of community college faculty, staff and leaders will continue to be recognized even if NISOD withers.

“No one knows what will happen to NISOD,” he said. “We didn’t want these recognitions to fall by the wayside.”

The League plans to recognize outstanding community college faculty and staff through awards that will be named after Roueche and his wife, Sueanne D. Roueche. The award for outstanding community college leadership will named after John Roueche and Terry O’Banion, the League’s president emeritus.

“Since its founding, the League has offered community college educators and leaders a variety of opportunities for professional growth through conferences, publications, projects and awards,” O’Banion said. “These new offerings from the League are important additions to the community college field’s repertoire.”

AACC Commission Challenges Community Colleges

By Paul Bradley

Editor

Community College Week

 

ORLANDO, Fla – The American Association of Community Colleges has issued a list of ambitious goals to help its 1,200 member colleges prosper in an era of heightened expectations and diminished financial resources.

Opening its 92^nd annual convention a short distance from the AACC outlined the recommendations of its 21^st Century Commission on the Future of Community Colleges, a 38-member panel which has meeting for the nearly the past year to devise ways to meet the Obama Administration’s goal of adding 5 million degree- or certificate-holders by 2020.

“We need to completely reimagine community colleges for today and the future,” said Walter G. Bumphus, AACC’s president and CEO. “It is important that college graduates be not just globally competitive but globally competent, understanding their roles as citizens and workers in an international context. In today’s knowledge economy, intellectual capital is a nation’s greatest, most renewable resource.”

The commission began its work with a two-fold charge: to safeguard the fundamental open-access mission of community colleges, while at he same time embracing a new future based on student success.

The commission called on colleges to:

* Increase completion rates by 50 percent by 2020 while preserving access and narrowing achievement gaps associate with race, gender and income.

* Reduce by half the number of students who enter college unprepared for college level work and doubling the number of students who successfully complete developmental courses.

* Close the country’s skills gap by ensuring that career and technical education prepares students for current and future jobs.

* Refocus the community college mission to meet 21^st Century education and workforce needs.

* Boost collaboration among and colleges and with partners in philanthropy, government and the private sector to boost support for community colleges.

* Create new financial incentives for both students and colleges, and improve public support of the colleges.

* Implement policies and practices that promote rigor, transparency and accountability for results in community colleges.

“This report is intended to be a bold roadmap, a working document, for community colleges to use as they implement these recommendations,” Bumphus said. The AACC plans to establish a 21^st Century Center to help colleges with planning, leadership development and research.

The report comes at a critical time for American higher education. The country has slipped to 16^th in college completion rates among 25- to 34-year olds. At the same time, by 2018, nearly two-thirds of all jobs will require some kind of post-secondary academic credential.

The educational gaps have potentially dire consequences for the American middle class, already under pressure by slow wage growth, job outsourcing and government policies tilted toward the well-to-do. The report said that community colleges are critical to preserving and growing the middle class. But meeting the challenge will require colleges to dramatically redesign their missions and the student educational experiences, the report said.

Is All That Remediation Really Necessary?

By Paul Bradley, Editor, Community College Week

Some people call remedial education a dead end. Others prefer to label it as a back hole. The more creative among us call it the Bermuda Triangle – the place where students go in but never come out.

Now, a pair of studies by the Community College Research Center at Teachers College, Columbia University is suggesting that the remedial classes that so characterize community colleges are, in many cases, are needless. The studies – one looked at a statewide system, the other examined a large urban system – found that as many as a third of students required to take remedial classes could prosper academically without them.

For community colleges, it’s a critically important issue. Better than 60 percent of all entering community college students are required to take remedial classes, most often in math and English. They spend time and money reviewing material like basic algebra — remedial math, in fact, is offered more often than any other community college course — but earn no academic credit for their work. Two-thirds of students who take remedial courses never make it to graduation. Community colleges spend more than $2.5 billion a year on remedial courses.

Better than 90 percent of community colleges rely one of two standardized tests – the College Board’s AccuPlacer and ACT’s COMPASS – to help determine which students need remediation. But administration of the tests is deeply flawed, the studies found. Students rarely understand what is at stake or brush up on their skills prior to taking the tests, the studies found, leading to tens of thousands of unnecessary placements. Moreover, the tests are poor predictors of student success.

Researchers found that high-school grade-point averages are far better gauges of preparedness for college-level work. If high school transcripts were taken into account, the number of number of students assigned to remedial courses would be reduced by somewhere between 15 and 50 percent..

The studies can be found at http://ccrc.tc.columbia.edu/Home.asp.

Looking for Love on Capitol Hill

By Paul Bradley
Editor, Community College Week

On a dank and overcast Valentine’s Day, more than 800 community college leaders from around the country came to the nation’s Capitol looking for some love.
The occasion was the annual Community College National Legislative Summit, sponsored by the Association of Community College Trustees and the American Association of Community Colleges.
For college leaders, it was a chance to declare, clarify and share their legislative priorities with the second session of the 112th Congress: opposing further erosion of the federal Pell Grant program; helping community colleges respond to the growing need for education and job training; reauthorization and improvements of the Workforce Investment Act; and nearly a dozen other measures both arcane and practical.
The session came in the immediate aftermath of an announcement by President Obama that once again thrust community colleges into the national limelight.
Appearing on the campus of Northern Virginia Community College – the sixth time he has visited the campus since taking office – the president announced an $8 billion Community College to Career fund, designed to equip 2 million students with the skills they need to land jobs on growing high-tech fields. Those attending the summit were urged to tell their elected representatives to get behind the initiative.
“The president has once again opened the door wide, but it’s up to you to walk through that door,” said ACCT President and CEO J. Noah Brown.
But if community college leaders were giddy at the thought of multi-billions of dollars being pumped into their campuses, they were less sanguine about the prospects of it being passed in a politically polarized Capitol in an presidential election year. Said Laurie Quarles, an AACC legislative analyst: “There is a lot of pressure to cut spending this year. We need your help now, but we also need your help throughout the year.”
Quarles was part of a panel of AACC and ACCT staffers which outlined legislative priorities for the visiting trustees and coached them on how to advocate for their cause without alienating their congressional audience.
Some of the advice was disarmingly simple: be on time, be flexible, be brief; ask the congressmen about their own priorities; get a picture taken to show the folks back home.
Other recommendations delved deeper into the Washington way of doing things: don’t wade into contentious issues like taxing the rich; avoid topics like the future of Medicare; stick to what you know, community colleges and how they benefit communities and improve lives.
With that advice in hand, trustees braced for their trips to Capitol Hill, knowing that even on the day reserved for hearts and flowers, sometimes a battle must be joined.
For more information on the summit, visit http://www.acct.org.

White House Announces $8 billion Community College Initiative

A Blueprint to Train Two Million Workers for High-Demand Industries through a Community College to Career Fund

In his State of the Union address, President Obama called for a national commitment to help create an economy built to last by training two million workers with skills that will lead directly to a job. Many industries have difficulty filling jobs requiring specific technical skills, even with many Americans still looking for work. In the coming years, America will need to fill millions of good-paying mid- and high-level skilled positions in high-growth industries from healthcare to advanced manufacturing, clean energy to information technology.

On Monday, February 13, President Obama will host an event at Northern Virginia Community College in Annandale, Virginia to announce a new $8 billion Community College to Career Fund. Co-administered by the Department of Labor and the Department of Education, this Fund will help forge new partnerships between community colleges and businesses to train two million workers for good-paying jobs in high-growth and high-demand industries. It provides funding for community colleges and states to partner with businesses to train workers in a range of high-growth and in-demand areas, such as health care, transportation, and advanced manufacturing. These investments will give more community colleges the resources they need to become community career centers where people learn crucial skills that local businesses are looking for right now, ensuring that employers have the skilled workforce they need and workers are gaining industry-recognized credentials to build strong careers.

Later this month, Dr. Jill Biden – a community college instructor for the last 18 years and teacher for nearly three decades – and Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis will embark on a tour of community college campuses to highlight some of these effective industry partnerships. They will visit several community colleges and businesses that are working together to get students the skills they need to succeed in the workforce. Education Secretary Arne Duncan and other administration officials will also visit many community colleges throughout our country.

The President’s Commitment to Build a High-Skilled Workforce Through a Community College to Career Fund

The Community College to Career Fund in the President’s Budget will advance skill building through funding a number of priority areas:

· Developing community college partnerships to train skilled workers for unfilled jobs: The Fund will support community college-based training programs that will: expand targeted training that will meet the needs of employers in growth and demand sectors; provide workers with the latest certified training and skills that will lead to good-paying jobs; and invest in registered apprenticeships and other on-the-job training opportunities. The Fund will also support paid internships for low-income community college students that will allow them to simultaneously earn credit for work-based learning and gain relevant employment experience in a high-wage, high-skill field. States will also be able to seek funding to support employer efforts to upgrade the skills of their workforce. Additionally, the Fund will provide support for regional or national industry sectors to develop skills consortia that will identify pressing workforce needs and develop solutions such as standardizing industry certifications, development of new training technologies, and collaborations with industry employers to define and describe how skills can translate to career pathways.

· Instituting “Pay for Performance” in job training: The Community College to Career Fund will support pay for performance strategies to provide incentives for training providers, community colleges, and local workforce organizations to ensure trainees find permanent jobs. For instance, states would be eligible for funding to support bonus programs for training programs whose graduates earn a credential and find quality jobs shortly after finishing the program. Pay for performance structures would provide stronger incentives for programs that effectively place individuals who face greater barriers to employment.

· Bringing jobs back to America: The Community College to Career Fund will allow federal agencies to partner with state and local governments to encourage businesses to invest in America. State and local governments will be able to apply for grants to encourage companies to locate in the U.S. because of the availability of training to quickly skill up the local workforce.

· Training the next generation of entrepreneurs: The Community College to Career Fund will support pathways to entrepreneurship for 5 million small business owners over three years through the nation’s workforce system and its partners, including: a six-week online training course on entrepreneurship that could reach up to 500,000 new entrepreneurs and an intensive six-month entrepreneurship training program resulting in entrepreneurship certification for 100,000 small business owners.

Building on Progress:

· Historic investments in community college-led job training: The Obama Administration has made historic investments in community colleges, which provide a linchpin for 21st century workforce training. The Obama Administration has already invested $500 million through the Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College and Career Training initiative to support partnerships among community colleges, employers, and Workforce Investment Boards to develop programs that provide pathways for individuals negatively impacted by trade to secure quality jobs in high wage, high skill fields including advanced manufacturing, transportation, health care, and STEM. The Administration will invest an additional $1.5 billion in this initiative over the next three years.

· Developed significant business and community college partnerships to build Americans’ skills: Last year, the Obama Administration helped launch Skills for America’s Future, an industry-led initiative to improve industry partnerships with community colleges and build a nationwide network to maximize workforce development strategies, job training programs, and job placements. Through this initiative the President announced a new partnership of private sector employers, community colleges, and the National Association of Manufacturers to provide 500,000 community college students with industry-recognized credentials that will help them secure jobs in the manufacturing sector.

Report: Successful College Initiatives Reach Fraction of Students

By Paul Bradley

Just last week that President Obama gave community colleges a prominent spot in his State of the Union address, placing in the national spotlight the growing role of institutions that have long been unloved and underappreciated.

But now comes a more sobering assessment of community colleges, revealing sharp incongruities between what colleges are doing and what students need to reach their academic goals.

New survey results from the widely respected Center for Community College Student Engagement found that community college officials often know what works in boosting student success, but have difficulty reaching large swaths of students because of financial constraints and institutional barriers.

For example, the report found that while 74 percent of students report that they were required to take an academic placement test, only 28 percent said they used materials or resources provided by the college to prepare for those tests. And while 44 percent of the colleges taking part in the survey said they offered some sort of test preparation, only 13 percent make such test preparation mandatory.

Those gaps leave lots of room for improvement, said CCCSE director Kay M. McClenney.

“These colleges have to better, and they clearly can,” she said. “To make needed progress, colleges must focus their efforts on those educational practices that produce the greatest positive impact for the largest possible number of students.”

The report credits colleges for developing imaginative and effective programs. It tracks how “promising practices” for encouraging student success are being used at more than 200 participating colleges.

But it also says the practices are reaching a small fraction of community college students.

“Community colleges across the country have created innovative, data-informed programs that are models for educating underprepared students, engaging traditionally underserved students, and helping students from all backgrounds succeed,” the report says. “However, because most of these programs have limited scope, the field now has pockets of success rather than widespread improvement. Turning these many small accomplishments into broad achievement — and improved completion rates — depends on bringing effective programs to scale.”

The CCCSE report — entitled “A Matter of Degrees: Promising Practices for Community College Student Success” — is part of a new initiative to identify and promote high-impact practices in community colleges. Drawing on data from students, faculty members, and colleges, it combines data from four surveys into a multiyear project: the Community College Survey of Student Engagement, the Survey of Entering Student Engagement, the Community College Faculty Survey of Student Engagement and the new Community College Institutional Survey.

The initiative strives to identify promising practices for which there is emerging evidence of success: research from the field and data showing improvement on an array of metrics, such as course completion, retention, and graduation.

The report identified 13 promising practices and said they are working well. But because they are not mandatory, they fall short of their potential.

The survey also found an emerging consensus that certain design principles are critical for student success. The principles include:

* A strong start. Focusing attention on the front door of the college — ensuring that students’ earliest contacts and first weeks incorporate experiences that will foster personal connections and enhance their chances of success

* Clear, coherent pathways. The many choices and options students face as they endeavor to navigate through college systems can create unnecessary confusion and inhibit students’ success. Colleges can improve student success by creating coherent pathways that help students move through an engaging collegiate experience.

* Integrated support. Student success can be improved by connecting with students in the classroom. This means building support, such as skills development and supplemental instruction, into coursework rather than referring students to services that are separate from the learning experience.

* High expectations and high support. Students do their best when the bar is high but within reach. Setting a high standard and then giving students the necessary support — academic planning, academic support, financial aid, and so on — makes the standard attainable.

* Design for scale. Bringing practices to scale requires a long-term commitment of time and money. Securing and maintaining this commitment requires significant political, financial, and human capital. In addition to allocating — and reallocating — available funding, colleges must genuinely involve faculty, staff, and students.

For colleges, embracing such principles can be difficult but rewarding, McClenney said, and will require something of a culture change and some tough choices.

“Colleges are already doing the easy, low-cost things,” she said. “Now they have to figure out how to bring more complex things to scale to reach the largest number of students possible.”

The report can be found at www.cccse.org.