Annual Report 2020-2021 Early Outreach and Support Programs

Table of Contents

• Educational Opportunity Program 
• Foster Youth Program (PATH Scholars)
• TRiO
  • Educational Talent Search
  • Student Support Services
  • Upward Bound Projects

Educational Opportunity Program

I. Mission Statement

The mission of the Educational Opportunity Program (EOP) is to provide access and support services to first-generation college students who have experienced economic, educational, and/or environmental barriers, but display the potential to succeed in post-secondary education and to assist the university in the matriculation, retention, and graduation of EOP students.

Department Goals (Last reviewed July 2021):

1. EOP will provide a comprehensive program of support services that will enhance the knowledge, understanding, and skills necessary for the academic success and the social and emotional personal development of EOP students. (Division goals 1, 2, 3; University strategic priorities 1, 3)
2. EOP will promote social, cultural, and ethnic diversity in the CSU, Chico campus population. (Division goal 2; University strategic priorities 4, 7, 8)
3. EOP will educate and inform students, faculty, and staff about program services and accomplishments. (Division goal 1, 2; University strategic priorities 1, 2, 4, 5, 8)
4. EOP professional staff will maintain currency in the fields of college student retention, academic advising and obstacles encountered by first-generation and other historically marginalized college students through memberships in professional organizations, reading appropriate research journals, and professional development opportunities. (Division goals 1, 2; 3; University strategic priorities 2, 4, 5, 8)
5. EOP will encourage student participation and involvement in the CSU, Chico campus community and the community of Chico as a whole. (Division goals 1, 2; University strategic priorities 1, 4, 6, 7, 8)

Department Accomplishments

• Successfully continued EOP services in virtual modality
• Increased use of social media platforms as another avenue to communicate with students and the campus community
• Increased collaboration with a variety of departments with the goal of sharing the history of EOP and encouraging more collaborative efforts
• EOP representation in the 2020-21 CSU’s Middle Leadership Academy and the CSU’s Analytics Certificate program
• Partnered with the Math department and Chico STEM connections for the 2nd year to offer 50 graphing calculators and professional financial calculators for students to check out.
• Successful laptop loan program that provided students the opportunity to check out a laptop for the semester or the academic year.
• Virtual End of Year event for our first-year students (~100 students in attendance out of 175)
• Collaborated for a 2nd time with Center for Healthy Communities to participate in a systemwide pilot assessment (Basic Needs Student Success Survey Pilot #2) with 2 other CSU’s (CSUN & Fresno State)
• Participated in the Virtual Chico Preview Day Diversity and Inclusion panel
• Staff assists in coordination and support of many of our Multicultural Welcomes and Celebrations
• 2nd year of the 1st Gen Podcast—highlights stories of our 1st Gen students, Staff and Faculty.

Highlights:

• Increased use of social media platforms as another avenue to communicate with students and the campus community: Utilized professional and student staff to increase EOP’s presence on social media. Paraprofessional Advisors hosted weekly campaigns on social media (Motivational Mondays and Parapro Tips), the Communication Intern advertised a variety of events utilizing social media and professional staff collaborated with the Office of Admissions to host an Instagram Live event for applicants and prospective students.
• Increased collaboration with a variety of departments with the goal of sharing the history of EOP and encouraging more collaborative efforts: EOP collaborated with the Book in Common committee and facilitated a podcast “EOP: A Commitment to Anti-racism, from 1968 to Today” based on Kendi’s “How To Be An Antiracist” book.
• Virtual End of Year event for our first-year students (~100 students in attendance out of 175): Developed and executed the first virtual End-of-the-year celebration for first-year students. This annual culminating activity provided the professional and student staff an opportunity to connect with students as they ended their first year of college.

Diversity Efforts:

• Presented and participated in virtual PAUSE
• Collaborated, planned, facilitated and participated in the campus-wide virtual Tipping Point- Student Success Summit
• Organized a team of Black faculty and staff to participate in the CSU Men of Color workshop series
• Professional staff contributed and assisted in organizing multicultural welcome receptions and graduation celebrations
• Professional staff assisted with the coordination of the Student Community Check-in and the API Heritage Month activity: Of Hmong Roots & Culture
• Professional staff assisted with the coordination and participated in the first new Black Student and Family Summer Orientation session sponsored by BFSA
• Two professional staff members graduated from the Diversity Certificate program
• Continued partnership with the Adelante program (collaborative student trainings and co-sponsored workshops)

Changes In Policies And Procedures

• EOP admissions allowed freshman applicants to complete admissions process in spring 2021, all in attempt to aid the University in meeting undergraduate admission targets.
• EOP admissions did not require high school transcripts from all applicants, only applicants that did not meet CSU admissions criteria
• Changed requirements for the EOP Incentive Grant to include regular attendance of Supplemental Instruction
• Summer Bridge was offered in a virtual modality for the second year. Collaborated with several student support programs and lecturers from Orientation Programs, the Math department (early start), School of Education (to complete MOCCA assessment), the English department, the Natural Sciences department to provide a series of zoom workshops and webinars to help prepare students for the fall semester.

Resources Summary

Note: EOP received base funding dollars for staff positions in 2020-2021, since we have had multiple retirements and also one departure, there were salary savings. The balances for both EOP and SB funds were impacted by COVID-19 which resulted in stopping travel, programming, professional development and providing a residential Summer Bridge program. Due to pandemic SB 2021 would have been residential and we would have zeroed out our balance.

Human Resources

EOP has experienced multiple retirements (1- A/AS in January and 1 ASAII in June) in a short time-frame (less than a year), along with a recent long-term employee (20 years) who accepted another job opportunity on-campus (SSP III in May). We are also anticipating an upcoming retirement in September of our ASC II. These are 4 major positions in our unit that are essential for our program to continue to be successful in serving our first generation, historically low-income students. In order for our department to continue to successfully serve our students, we need our team to be complete again.

Facilities/Equipment

• New furniture was purchased for offices and student computer lab.
• New computers/monitors were purchased for our student staff cubicles.
• New laptops were purchased to support distance learning and rotation of our laptop check out program.
• New camera and video equipment were purchased to support our online services.

Program Assessment Of Past Year

Program Objectives for 2020-2021

1. EOP will continue to meet with all continuing students who are on academic probation. Met/Ongoing – EOP Advisors and Interns focused on reaching out to EOP students on AP to meet with them on a regular basis to develop a plan of action for getting off of AP.
2. Enhance contact and support of continuing students who are in good academic standing. Ongoing - EOP has increased intentional contact to all good academic standing students and reminds them of programming to support their success.
3. Continue to enhance support for our students, especially first-year, through communication via electronic technology.
   Ongoing – EOP has previously used apps (REMIND and GroupMe) to offer a mechanism to share information and send out reminders. These methods have proven to be effective in delivering our messaging to our students. The EOP community within Blackboard Learn has been another successful method for communicating with first year students. ADVISOR is in the testing phase of a texting tool and we anticipate utilizing that program soon to offer yet another means of communication.
4. Continue to focus on professional development and more intentional programming for our continuing students.
   Met/Ongoing EOP has initiated more intentional collaboration with the Career Center along with encouraging students to participate in their Focus2 assessments. Language is included in our second-year success contract to ensure students will meet with the Career Center and develop workshops focused on our students. Several emails were sent reminding students of online platforms (i.e., LinkedIn) to continue their professional development online.

Ongoing Assessment Efforts:

Note: This is a new table for Graduation Initiative purposes.

*Note: During the Spring 2015 semester, our lab check in system data got corrupted in the Cbord database. We had to replace the check in system and lost all of the data associated with that semester. **During the fall 2017 semester, the lab check in machine broke. The check in system had to be replaced and all of the data associated with the fall semester was lost. ***With the purchase of additional loan out laptops Fall 2019, we are seeing a decrease in students coming into the lab providing bandwidth for other students to spend more time in the lab. ****COVID-19 pandemic shut down campus on March 17, 2020—services transitioned to virtual modality.

Student Learning Outcomes

SLO #1 – As a result of participating in the English “Stretch Model”, students should be able to successfully pass ENGL 130. - This is the 11th year that ENGL 130 was moved to the spring semester. Students have the option to take English 130PW or 130W. English faculty collaborated with the campus FYE program to create an English “stretch” model for students enrolled in the EOP Course Link for the fall and spring semesters. This past year, despite the move to remote learning, 89.2% of our first-year students passed ENGL 130PW on their first attempt; 85.3% passed ENGL 130W on their first attempt.

SLO #2 – As a result of participating in the “Reality Check 101” series, fewer students will be on academic probation after their first semester - During the fall semester, students receiving two or more negative progress reports (C- or below) or who were referred by their paraprofessional advisor, were encouraged to participate in Reality Check. Slight revisions were made to the format of Reality Check, to allow students to participate in a manner that allowed flexibility within our remote learning environment. Twenty-nine students were invited to take part in these meetings designed to strengthen academic performance and avoid academic probation. Topics included:

• Helping students reflect on their academic performance
• Identifying challenges or obstacles, on and off campus, from fall semester
• Discussing academic probation (Chico or cumulative GPA below 2.0)
• Discussing reality of disqualification (Chico or cumulative GPA below 1.5 for students with less than 30 units)
• Goal setting by identifying three things the students will change to enhance their engagement and academic achievement
• Reviewing course enrollment for spring 2021
• Examining course drop options

FYE students who finished the fall 20 semester with a GPA below 2.0, totaled 25 students:

• 11 of the 25 students invited to the Reality Check meeting earned GPAs above 2.0
• 3 of the 25 students invited to the Reality Check meeting earned GPAs below 2.0
• 6 of the 25 students invited to the Reality Check meeting did not continue to the spring 2021 semester

SLO #3 – As a result of participating in “Fresh Start”, fewer students will be on academic probation after their first year. – EOP first year students with a GPA below 2.0 after their first semester are required to attend a series of workshops called “Fresh Start” in the spring. The purpose of “Fresh Start” is to present a structured set of workshops that provide students on academic probation university policy information and an opportunity to explore social and emotional learning (SEL) so they can clear their academic standing with the university as well as increase their understanding of self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills and decision making, and how they inform their academics.

Due to the nature of remote learning, “Fresh Start” was revised to allow the students to participate at their own pace. Students were required to attend at least one of the workshops through Zoom and had access to the other workshops through the Fresh Start Community in Blackboard.

Workshop curriculum included:

• Workshop 1 – Growth Mindset
• Workshop 2 – Social and Emotional Learning
• Workshop 3 – Values and Beliefs
• Workshop 4 – Goal Setting

In spring 2021, 22 first-year students out of 184 were required to attend “Fresh Start”. This was 11.9% of first year students (compared to 12.5% in spring 2020, 12.8% in spring 2019, 23% in spring 2018, 23% in spring 2017, 16% in spring 2016, 12.1% in spring 2015, 15% in spring 2014; and 13% in spring 2012).

VI. ANALYSIS

• Partnering with the School of Education and providing our first-year students access to the reading comprehension assessment MOCCA remains a productive effort. This practice will continue along with providing opportunities for all students to participate in the assessment as well.
• Given the trends of higher education and career development, focusing on life-after-college preparation for our students will remain a priority. EOP will initiate more collaboration with the Career Center and the Adelante program to ensure our students are aware of the opportunities available.
• As the University returns to offering in person services, EOP will continue to follow the lead of our technology specialist Thang Ho, to make sure EOP students, student workers and staff are getting their technology needs met through this transitional period. Providing EOP students with the opportunity to “check-out” technology (i-clickers, calculators, laptops) has proven to be a service quite beneficial to students.
• Returning from three semesters of virtual learning and services, we will need to continue to survey students in order to keep a pulse on how they are feeling about the experience, what type of access they have and how we can best support them. Providing assessments to FYE, SYS, transfer and continuing students remains an essential element in ensuring EOP is serving students in the best manner possible. However, with the loss of the EOP assessment coordinator in late spring, the results from those assessments have not been compiled and analyzed.

VII. PROGRAM OBJECTIVES FOR 2021-2022

*Note: due to the transition of providing services virtually and in person, the majority of program objectives will remain unchanged to allow EOP advisors the opportunity to focus on providing services to the students with the greatest academic needs.

1. EOP will continue to meet with all continuing students who are on academic probation.
2. Enhance virtual and physical support to students equally, during the hybrid fall semester. With paying particular attention to the fall 2020 cohort and those participants of the Second Year Success program.
3. Continue to enhance support for our students, especially first-year, through communication via electronic technology and social media.
4. Will continue to focus on professional development and more intentional programming for our continuing students.

Foster Youth Program (Path Scholars)

I. Mission Statement

PATH Scholars, in conjunction with the campus Foster Youth Committee, is dedicated to the higher educational needs of former foster youth and unaccompanied homeless youth. We will enhance access to the California State University, Chico community through collaborative efforts with other college network and community partners. For those identified as former foster youth and unaccompanied homeless youth, we will develop stability by acting as a liaison with campus and community resources. Our goal is to cultivate successful, proficient, and self-aware citizens in pursuit of their degree and beyond.

Department Goals (Last reviewed July 2021)

• Inform and educate the campus community about this population. (Division goal 1; University strategic priorities 1, 2, 4, 8)
• Provide leadership and networking opportunities through campus and community collaboration. (Division goals 1, 2, 3; University strategic priorities 1, 4, 7, 8)
• Increase access, retention and graduation rates for this population. (Division goals 1, 2, 3; University strategic priorities 1, 4, 8)

II. Departmental Accomplishments

• Received $50,000 from California College Pathways (CCC) this academic year to support students with emergency funds, social activities and to fund unpaid internships or volunteer experiences related to their major. The latter component relieves students of working a job in addition to an unpaid internship often required by their major/academic program.
• Successfully developed virtual New Student Orientation and welcome activities for new and returning students.
• Received a special $1,500 donation from campus staff during Annual Donation Drive for welcome packages and other student needs
• Two MSW Interns, one Title IV-E/Child Welfare and one partnered with EOP & new program, Adelante!
• Received Burton Book Fund Textbook grant ($1,600) managed via CSE
• Provided a few, safe in-person activities, such as going to the Drive-In movie to maintain connection and student engagement.
• Secured new partnership with Meal Nation, part of Foster Nation, which supports Guardian Scholars programs across the state to give students a free meal, delivered directly to them, for 30 days.
• Students and staff advocated and expressed support in two virtual Senate Budget Hearings for the funding included in the Governor’s budget proposal to provide current and former foster youth with supplemental Cal-Grant awards. Specifically, the proposal would allocate $20 million annually to enable current and former foster youth to receive an additional $6000 each year for non-tuition costs.
• Launched “Support Squad” offer support to approx. 15 students that are parenting. This provided a space to vent, share and learn from their PATH Scholar peers.
• Kicked off National Foster Care Month (May) with a student panel presentation for the last Conversations on Diversity and Inclusion (CODI) hosted by the Office of Diversity and Inclusion.

Highlights

• $50,000 grant from CCC to support student success and retention: California College Pathways provided this grant to PATH Scholars to support students with emergency funds, social activities and to fund unpaid internships or volunteer experiences related to their major. The latter component relieves students of working a job in addition to an unpaid internship often required by their major/academic program. It also allowed the program to hire a Masters in Social Work intern to help with process implementation. The goal of these supports is to assist with retention and to ultimately reach graduation.
• Partnership with Meal Nation: New partnership was established with Meal Nation this academic year to address food insecurity with our student population that experienced the foster care system. Students were able to access this resource by easily applying via text message. Once verified by the PATH Scholars Program Coordinator, students received a free meal every day for 30 days. Meals came from local restaurants that utilize Doordash, with a strong focus on healthy foods, which normalizes the experience. This reduces stigma typically connected to accessing free meals at a food bank, for example.

Diversity Efforts

• Participated in Student Affairs Diversity Committee to establish intentional diversity goals specifically for PATH Scholars.
• Participated in Diversity Training and Programming workgroup to ensure that diversity is encased within staff/faculty and student campus trainings as well as student programming.
• Presented to several foster youth (from foster care agencies and schools throughout the state) in collaboration with Campus Special Tours.
• Continued regular events with campus partners (Butte College and Shasta College) to strengthen transfer pipeline.
• Services continue to be offered to older and re-entry students with a foster care background. There has been an increase in this student population seeking additional services as active PATH Scholars participants.

III. Changes In Policies And Procedures

• Due to pandemic most services and programming continued in a virtual modality.

IV. Resources Summary

Resource Allocation

FYP General Fund Budget Allocation 20/21 $117,680.00
(No rollover from 19/20)
Work Study Allocation 20/21 (FYP only)  $0
Total Allocation $117,680.00
Annual Expense (GF) $(115,768.45)
FYP General Fund Balance $1,911.55

Note: Professional staff salaries included within the EOP General Fund allocation.

Human Resources

N/A

Facilities/Equipment

Since Covid-19 required a 100% virtual learning environment for this entire academic year, a physical location was not an issue. However, the PATH Scholars Center continues to be a shared space with the Dream Center, which is not conducive to the goals and priorities of both programs. As repopulation is planned for next academic year, this will be very difficult with physical distancing guidelines in an already small, shared space, further limiting student access to crucial services.

V. Program Assessment Of Past Year

Program Objectives for 2020-2021:

1. Continue to effectively support students in this new, virtual learning environment. Met – Program staff developed a virtual New Student Orientation and welcome activities for new and returning students. Individual meeting sessions as well as workshops and Zoom groups were continued to stay connected with students and keep them engaged.
2. Strengthen collaboration with Basic Needs to ensure housing and food security of our students. Met/Ongoing – Met regularly with Basic Needs program staff, and coordinated the PATH Scholars Emergency grant to be administered through the Basic Needs process. Also made an early connection for new incoming students to Basic Needs to ensure their transition to Chico State with affordable housing and basic needs are being met.
3. Conduct intentional outreach efforts to current students verified during admissions and invite to apply to PATH Scholars. Met/Ongoing – Regular outreach (phone calls, emails and texts) was made to students to remind them about the program and services for which they are eligible. This will continue as a standard practice.

Ongoing Assessment Efforts

Note: *Fall 2018: Decrease in #’s due to Camp Fire/campus closure.
*Spring 2020: Incomplete data due to COVID-19 campus closure.
*Fall 2020 & Spring 2021 Academic year: Data not collected due to 100% virtual learning setting/PATH Scholars was closed.

Student Learning Outcomes

Note: A Student Learning Outcomes survey was sent out at the end of the academic year to 68 students (Tier II/active). Twenty-seven students completed the survey (40% completion rate). The results of that survey inform the following:

SLO #1 – As a result of participating in the PATH Scholars Program, students will increase in their academic self-confidence and networking skills.

• As a result of attending a PATH Scholars New Student Orientation and/or Welcome Reception (16 respondents), 81% of respondents stated that it was Extremely Helpful or Very Helpful to their overall success.
• As a result of meeting with the PATH Scholars Academic Advising liaison to ensure being on track with courses and graduation plans (12 respondents), 83% of respondents stated that it was Extremely Helpful or Very Helpful to their overall success.
• As a result of attending a Social Activity (19 respondents), 89% of respondents stated that it was Extremely Helpful or Very Helpful to their overall success.
• As a result of historical “Networking” opportunities not being offered this academic year, we were not able to assess this area.

SLO #2 – As a result of participating in the PATH Scholars Program, students will develop and improve independent living skills, reducing their emotional stress and giving them more time to focus on academic goals.

• As a result of attending PATH Scholars Independent Living Skills Workshops (14 respondents), 79% of respondents stated that it was Extremely Helpful or Very Helpful to their overall success.
• As a result of working on Independent Living Skills during individual meetings with Program Staff (18 respondents), 81% of respondents stated that it made a Significant Impact or Moderate Impact to their overall success.
• As a result of learning and practicing healthy coping skills to manage stress during individual meetings with the Program Staff (20 respondents), 90% of respondents stated that it made a Significant Impact or Moderate Impact to their overall success.
• As a result of participating in PATH Scholars (24 respondents), 17% of respondents stated that it Completely assisted in overcoming challenges, 42% of respondents stated that it Considerably assisted in overcoming challenges and 22% of respondents stated that it Moderately assisted in overcoming challenges. PATH Scholars made a positive impact for 100% of respondents, even if it made a Slight impact for only 12% of respondents.

ANALYSIS

• Overall, students continue to utilize PATH Scholars and the resources available to them to reach their academic goals. According to the Student Learning Outcome survey distributed after the end of this academic year, 96% of the respondents were Very Satisfied or Moderately Satisfied with their PATH Scholars experience. One survey participant stated, “This is family! PATH Scholars is so essential for me, from reminders to see the career center or other campus resources to having a conversation with my professor(s), to receiving aid. My experience at Chico State would have been SO much more difficult without PATH Scholars. PATH is really a blessing I didn't know I needed. I was told about so many events, programs, and resources that I didn't know about before that greatly impacted my growth and success as a student and adult. It would be a HUGE disservice to the students if PATH Scholars no longer existed, especially for us 1st-generation students who don't have other mentors, family, etc. for tips, advice, and support about the college experience.” This response demonstrates the need for programs such as PATH Scholars for students with very unique needs.
• The Covid-19 pandemic and virtual learning played a major role in the decrease of student participants, low student engagement, learning difficulties and increase in mental health issues. According to the Student Learning Outcome survey, 50% of respondents noted the pandemic, social isolation or online learning as their number one challenge over this past year. Furthermore, many students decided to defer their enrollment due to the virtual learning environment. This can also be evidenced by a much smaller number of first-time freshmen beginning their college journey than previous years.
• The transition to offering all program services in a 100% online format was only possible because of the PATH Scholars program staff. The three student staff interns made a huge impact, and having two professional staff on the team was critical during a very challenging year.
• Additionally, two professional staff which permanently comprises the PATH Scholars team, has tremendously helped with providing more comprehensive and thorough support to students. This single variable significantly bolstered our retention rates this academic year to 96% which is the highest it has been since program inception in 2014.

PROGRAM OBJECTIVES FOR 2020-2021

1. Continue to effectively support students in transitioning to back in person.
2. Implement diversity goals.
3. Continue to advocate for a dedicated space solely for PATH Scholars.

TRIO/EDUCATIONAL TALENT SEARCH

I. MISSION STATEMENT

Educational Talent Search (ETS) is committed to academically prepare and motivate low-income, first-generation college students for success in postsecondary education.

The Educational Talent Search program is aligned with CSU, Chico’s Mission, Values and Vision statements and the first strategic priority to “recruit, enroll, support, and graduate a diverse and high-quality student population.”

History at California State University, Chico

Educational Talent Search I (Funded in 1990 to serve 825 scholars) -the target population is comprised of scholars in grades 6 -12 who attend 15 target schools (Anna McKenney Intermediate, Bidwell Junior, Central Middle, CK Price Intermediate, Gray Avenue Middle, Las Plumas High, Live Oak High, Live Oak Middle, Marsh Junior High, Marysville High, Orland High, Oroville High, Pleasant Valley High, Willows High and Yuba City High) in four counties (Butte, Glenn, Sutter and Yuba).

Educational Talent Search II (Funded in 2006 to serve 503 scholars) -the target population is comprised of scholars in grades 6 -12 who attend 9 target schools (Chico Junior, Chico High, Gridley High, Hamilton Elementary, Hamilton Union High, Los Molinos High, Paradise High, Sycamore Middle and Williams Junior/Senior High) in five counties (Butte, Colusa, Glenn, Sutter and Tehama).

II. ETS ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Two successful proposals were submitted to the U.S. Department of Education! ETS was just notified that CSU, Chico will receive funding to continue serving scholars for the next five years!

Successfully recruited and served 1,115 low-income, first generation college scholars in grades 6th-12th at 24 target schools – scholars are motivated and prepared to attend college starting in 6th grade! On the average, approximately 70-90 ETS graduates enroll at CSU, Chico each fall.

Monthly Virtual Workshops – due to COVID, ETS advisors were not able to visit their assigned schools each month. Advisors presented virtual workshops and advising sessions via Zoom according to grade level on topics such as college requirements, career/major awareness, personal growth and writing personal statements. In addition, advisors guided seniors step-by-step through the college, financial aid, and educational support programs (EOP, SSS, EOPS and REACH) processes and applications. An ETS newsletter, social media, emails, phone calls and text messages were utilized to keep scholars informed of ETS services/events.

NorCal WESTOP Student Leadership Conference (5 scholars) – one day virtual conference with the theme of “Surviving and Thriving: Defying Adversity with Courage.” Keynote speakers and workshops inspired TRIO scholars to become leaders within their current and future schools and organizations. Ways in which students have adapted and are thriving in this new virtual space was highlighted.

Paint Night (262 scholars) – three virtual paint night events were hosted by local artist Christine MacShane. Art supplies were mailed to ETS scholars along with information on art majors/careers prior to the event. Christine shared about her college and art career before teaching students how to watercolor a forest scene, beach scene and a colorful otter. These selfcare events gave ETS families an opportunity to watercolor together, and we loved seeing their masterpieces!

Virtual Summer Seminars hosted via Zoom:

STEM Academy (30 scholars) – one day event hosted in collaboration with Chico State Latinos in Technical Careers student organization designed to motivate scholars to pursue a STEM major or career. Chico State alumni that are currently civil, mechanical and mechatronic engineers shared about themselves, their college experience and what they do day to day as engineers. Current college students majoring in engineering shared about their majors and facilitated the simple motor activity that all ETS scholars built. Scholars learned about magnetic force magnetism and electricity. 

Career Fair (40 scholars) – one day event where scholars learned about diverse careers from 8 first-generation professionals in the fields of engineering, business, education, social work, and more. ETS scholars asked extremely insightful questions to our panelists which started great conversations about how to find their passions! 

Lego Engineering (39 scholars) – a week-long hands on event which offered ETS scholars an opportunity to learn about STEM concepts and engineering careers by building cars and fully functional structures such as elevators, aqueducts, and windmills. STEM learning came alive with the Lego builds! 

Junior Success Seminar for rising seniors (24 scholars) – one day event to prepare ETS scholars for their senior year in high school. Motivational speaker Johan Martinez Khalilian inspired scholars to cross lines to make a difference in their lives and their communities. Billy Lo, CSU Chico Educational Opportunity Program, presented on writing autobiographical statements for college applications, scholarships and educational support programs. Betina Wildhaber, CSU Chico Career Center, presented how scholars can stand out by spotlighting their skills on their resume. Bobby Withrow-Clark, Butte College Center for Academic Success, presented on how to thrive by cultivating wellness and self-care. ETS alumni shared tips for success for scholar’s senior year and for college. 

Jumpstart to College (14 scholars) – one-day event hosted to combat summer melt for first time freshman attending college this fall. ETS staff and ETS Alumni shared resources on college campuses to promote academic success, tips to navigate virtual learning and what they wish they had known before going to college. Folasade Ogunbanwo, UC Berkeley Upward Bound Math/Science, presented on Imposter Syndrome and how to overcome it. Pepe Villaseñor, CSU Chico Financial Aid & Scholarships, presented financial aid information and answered scholars’ questions. Scholars wrapped up the conference by writing a letter to their future self, which will be mailed to them in a year. 

Nutrition/Culinary (36 scholars) – two-week event where ETS scholars learned about nutrition and culinary skills through a variety of healthy recipes taught by a chef in their own home! Scholars received vouchers to grocery shop the week before classes and follow along through Zoom as the chefs taught them knife skills, safety, and allowed them to utilize cooking skills to feed their family! 

Support of ETS scholars that participated in Upward Bound Math/Science Programs (59 scholars): six-week long summer academic programs designed to give scholars a college experience, develop academic skills, and excel in the fields of math and science. ETS staff delivered backpacks with school supplies and snacks to ETS scholars that participated in the UC Berkeley Upward Bound Math/Science program.

• CSU, Chico Upward Bound Math/Science – 40 scholars
• UC, Berkeley Upward Bound Math/Science – 19 scholars

Support of CSU, Chico ETS Alumni – ETS staff hosted virtual Zoom events to continue fostering the sense of belonging with our alumni. Monthly newsletters were emailed to all CSU, Chico alumni to share resources and notify them of campus events. We look forward to welcoming scholars back into the ETS office where they can use computers, print, get school supplies, grab a snack and talk to staff about how they are doing academically and emotionally.

Social Media (Instagram and Facebook) – to continue communication of ETS services and foster a sense of belonging with our scholars and families, social media was utilized.

• Senior Spotlight – seniors were highlighted with what high school they graduated from and where they are going to enroll in college this fall.

• Support of Asian Pacific Islander/Social Justice Movement – the CSU, Chico Educational Talent Search program has empowered underrepresented scholars to access higher education for 30 years. We seek justice and equity by providing an inclusive educational experience for our scholars and families. Resources to watch, read, Podcasts to listen to along with social justice vocabulary (social justice, racism, civil rights movement, ally, discrimination, etc.) were shared to help build a more inclusive, equitable and just world.

Leadership Positions held by ETS Staff –

• Kelsey Dixon – 1st Gen & Proud member, Student Affairs Professional Development Committee member
• Sandra Jauregui – 1st Gen & Proud Secretary

Diversity Efforts:

• Assure hiring practices and current staff reflect diverse student population in program and on campus – this last year our professional staff was comprised of five female Latinas, one Caucasian female, and a Latinx male which is representative of both our program and campus population.
• Develop and implement diversity awareness curriculum for ETS scholars – staff is creating diversity awareness curriculum and activities to share/celebrate various cultures.
• Recruit more male ETS scholars

III. CHANGES IN POLICIES AND PROCEDURES

All ETS services became virtual March 2020 due to the COVID19 pandemic. ETS staff transitioned to work remotely from home and quickly developed a plan to disseminate ETS services utilizing phone calls, emails, text messages, Zoom, Google Survey, Social Media and Remind.

IV. RESOURCES SUMMARY

Resource Allocation – ETS is completing the final year of a five-year 2016-2021 grant cycle. For 2020-2021, both CSU, Chico ETS grants were funded $736,710 annually to serve 1,328 scholars ($555 a student). We are able to successfully serve scholars on a very limited budget.

Human Resources – Yolanda Salazar-Garcia, ETS Assistant Director and Karla Guzman Mohedano, ETS Advisor accepted positions with Butte College. Aurora Ruvalcaba Arciga, ETS Administrative Assistant accepted a position with Allan Hancock College. These three colleagues will be greatly missed and we are grateful for their dedication to ETS, our scholars, campus and community. Sandra Jauregui will be promoted to ETS Assistant Director. ETS will recruit advisors and an administrative assistant.

V. PROGRAM ASSESSMENT OF PAST YEAR

The following Annual Objectives data corresponds to the 2019-2020 academic year. Due to the U.S. Department of Education reporting requirements, Educational Talent Search grantees complete annual reports in November, therefore 2020-2021 data is not yet available. All other information included in this report corresponds to the 2020-2021 academic year.

Program Objectives:

1. 1. Secondary School Persistence: 90% of non-senior participants served each project year will complete the current academic year and continue in school for the next academic year, at the next grade level. 
      
      Exceeded – 100% of non-senior participants completed the current academic year and continued in school the next academic year, at the next grade level.
   2. Secondary School Graduation:

      • 85% of seniors served during the project year will graduate during the project year with a regular secondary school diploma within the standard number of years. 
        
        Exceeded – 100% of seniors graduated with a regular secondary school diploma

      • 40% of seniors served during the project year will complete a rigorous secondary school program of study and will graduate during the project year with a regular secondary school diploma within the standard number of years.

        Exceeded – 72% of seniors that graduated completed a rigorous secondary school program of study

Postsecondary Education Enrollment: 75% of participants, who have graduated with a regular secondary school diploma, during the project year, will enroll in an institution of higher education by the fall term immediately following high school graduation or will have received notification, by the fall term immediately following high school, from an institution of higher education, of acceptance but deferred enrollment until the next academic term (e.g., spring term).

Exceeded – 83% of participants, who have graduated with a regular secondary school diploma, enrolled in an institution of higher education the fall term immediately following high school graduation.

Class of 2020 Postsecondary Enrollment – ETS strives to ensure that students get the information and assistance needed to select the postsecondary institution that best suits their needs and wants. On the average, approximately 70-90 ETS students enroll at CSU, Chico each fall. The following summary provides an overview of which colleges the 2020 ETS senior class chose to attend:

1. Postsecondary Attainment: 40% of participants served during the project year who enrolled in an institution of higher education by the fall term immediately following high school graduation or by the next academic term (e.g., spring term) as a result of acceptance but deferred enrollment will complete a program of postsecondary education within six years.
   
   Exceeded – 58% of participants served in the 2013-14 postsecondary enrollment cohort earned a credential.

Ongoing Assessment Efforts:
Annual Objectives for 2020-2021 –

Demographic Reporting

For the 2020-2021 academic year, 1,115 scholars were served by two ETS grants. Below is a demographic snapshot of the ethnicity of our student population, which is reflective of the schools we serve.

VI. ANALYSIS

Our program’s goals are to academically prepare and motivate low-income, first generation youth for success in post-secondary education. We constantly evaluate our program to best serve our student’s needs. Our ongoing assessment efforts include; an annual performance report to the U.S. Department of Education, evaluations from scholars on every event they attend, and an overall program evaluation before scholars’ graduate. After closely assessing the program, we meet in June to plan for the following year.

Below is a summary of the ETS college enrollment rates for the past nine years:

• A successful Annual Performance Report was submitted to the Department of Education where all program objectives were met! The six-year postsecondary completion for the 2013-2014 cohort of 245 scholars was 58%.
• The past few years have been extremely difficult for the community due to the devastating Camp Fire and the COVID19 pandemic. We are proud of the fact that we were able to support our scholars, families, schools, campus, community, and staff despite the tremendous adversity.

VII. PROGRAM OBJECTIVES FOR NEXT ACADEMIC YEAR

• Continue to survey the needs of our scholars and schools during COVID19 and provide much needed support of low-income, first generation college scholars. Serve scholars virtually, or in person depending on what is allowed by CDC, CSU Chico and the school districts.
• Recruit, hire and train advisors and an administrative assistant.

VIII. ETS Staff

Diana Parra-Villaseñor, Director
Sandra Jauregui, Assistant Director
Kelsey Dixon, Advisor
Osvaldo Jaramillo, Advisor
Mariana Gonzalez, Student Assistant

TRIO/STUDENT SUPPORT SERVICES

Note: Student Support Services is a TRIO program funded by the United States Department of Education to provide academic support services to students from low-income and first generation college-going backgrounds. The mission statement and program goals (objectives in the U.S. Department of Education framework) are specified by federal regulations and policies and cannot be altered without approval from a program officer at the U.S. Department of Education.

I. Mission Statement

The mission of Student Support Services (SSS) is to improve the academic standing, retention, graduation, and graduate and professional school enrollment rates of eligible students who are receiving project services.

Department Goals

Performance Objectives (required by the U.S. Department of Education)

1. Persistence: 63% of all students served by the SSS Project will persist from one academic year to the beginning of the next academic year or graduate.
2. Good Academic Standing: 92% of all enrolled participants served by the SSS Project will meet the performance of good academic standing (2.0 or above).
3. Graduation: 61% of new participants served each year will graduate within six years.
   • These performance objectives are in alignment with division goals to increase the retention and graduation of students.
   • The services offered by SSS also contribute to recruitment efforts by reassuring students and their families that individualized support is available to students from disadvantaged backgrounds at CSU, Chico.
   • The date of last review was December 4, 2020 when the project submitted the TRIO Student Support Services Annual Performance Report (APR) to the U.S. Department of Education.

II. Departmental Accomplishments

• Successfully met all Department of Education program objectives on retention, graduation, and persistence.
• Successfully improved our TRIO Student Support Services application to make it more accessible to the students that we recruit.
• Successfully continued to serve and offer all of our activities virtually to our 172 participants.
• Awarded 5-year funding for the program that represents 1.4 million dollars to continue to accomplish our program goals.
• Dropped Dave Ramsey financial curriculum and began building a new financial wellness curriculum from department resources and national research.
• Continued our relationship with the Recreation Department to give our students the best virtual experience that still allowed for career development and exploration.
• Increased our study sessions to include the spring semester for all new first-year students.
• Worked with 10 peer mentors to continue to offer services to our students.
• Held our first virtual FOCUS and STEP orientation program for our first-year and transfer students.
• Like the rest of the campus, our program successfully transitioned into an online/virtual format to continue to serve our students.
• Successfully started planning for the transition to using Chico State 360 in order to better fit university advising practices and note taking.
• Partnered with the Cal-Fresh program to provide the best service to our program. This relationship continued as we transitioned online and began seeing many of our participants return home to other counties.
• Successfully recruited a new fall 2021 cohort amongst news from other SSS programs of difficulties of meeting their recruitment goals.
• Carefully collaborated with our Financial Aid office ensure that our new 26 first-year and 11 transfer students were correctly packaged and met all Financial Aid requirements to get their aid on time.
• Participation in Chico State’s Giving Day and fundraising – this resulted in flexible money to help offset the restricted budget that we get from the Department of Education.
• In partnership with the Financial Aid and Scholarship Office, we successfully awarded 29,000+ dollars in grant aid to our income eligible students.
• Increased our offered workshops to our students. Mainly in the area of Life After College series that works with our students who within a year of graduation.
• Required that all first-year participants, new transfer students, and students on AP to take the LASSI online assessment and follow it up with a one-on-one coaching session with a peer coach to discuss improving their approaches and strategies to their studies using proven-effective practices.
• Refined our process for working with students on academic probation, and more closely helped our students to work with Academic Advising to receive help to get above the 2.0 cumulative grade point average.
• Required attendance at mandatory financial wellness workshops for all first-year students and second year students.
• Successfully assisted our students with new university grading policies to help them meet university grade point average requirements.
• Transitioned our contract services to an online format where students are able to more easily review where they stand with their requirements.
• Offered mandatory fall semester seminar course for first year participants.
• Continued to encourage participants to safely participate in civic engagement opportunities – these opportunities were online and locally in Chico.
• Began our transition to campus and were able to successfully move our department back to in-person and online services.

Highlights:

Online Services

Our program operated over 3352 hours of online services, and successfully continued all of our key and federally required services into an online format. We have creatively moved our identification and selection process into an online format. We continued to improve all three of our TRIO applications that were quickly moved into an online format to be more accessible for our students and not require students to pay for the cost of mailing in their applications. These applications have been combined into one application in order to make it easier for students to complete. All applications now begin through our TRIO SSS website as an interest form and then go into an automated email from our Cognito form builder. Our program worked closely with Chico State Web Services to build an application that helped our staff and students. We will be completing a debrief and comparison to see what success we have experienced at the end of our next recruitment period. When we transitioned into an online format many students had questions after spring break ended and they were ready to engage with academics again. We began holding weekly TRIO updates each Friday to allow students a guaranteed time where they could engage with our program. Over the seven weeks process we had over 200 student contacts due to the Friday meetings.
Although we will continue to serve our online students, we do plan to hold as much of our welcome activities in-person in collaboration with Associated Students and Facility Reservations. We will continue to offers two parent/ally welcome options that connects our program to the support systems of our students. This relationship is important to allow our program to win the support of the family, and hopefully convince them of the importance of supporting their students throughout college. Many of our students will be moving to Chico. 38% of our students plan to live with their family, and we prioritize getting in contact with our student’s housemates to give tangible action items on how to support their students through a semester where they will be learning online. This means that a majority of students will be returning to Chico and in-person participation.

Online Application Improvements–

With the approval from Department of Education, our program is now able to receive and accept digital signatures. This was a major win for our program and our ability to improve our application. We have been using Cognito Forms, Qualtrics, and email communication in order to process applications. We have not completed our recruitment period for the summer, and we have already received more than 200+ applications.

Life After College Workshop Series –

All students were invited to our workshop series for Life After College that included six different workshops. Out workshop topics covered loan repayment, graduate school, law school participation, finances and investing, and topics on negotiating salary. Developing trust with our students is important as we work with them, as we have found that our students are not as likely to attend workshops that are outside our program. This also means that partnerships with key offices across campus is vital so that we may broker a relationship with a key person that represents that office. This has been key as we work with the Career Center. The Career Center has been a place on-campus that our students have been challenged to visit and we are addressing this challenge by careful work and connection to our liaison Betina Wildhaber at the Career Center.

We have also closely interweaved our Life After College work into the agreements that we develop for each student. The Life After College series is required of all of our students who participate in our Career Track or Grad School Track agreements. All workshops were delivered virtually and had good attendance. We recorded all of our workshops and will be utilizing our Learning Technologies Program partnership to host the videos on our Blackboard organization page. As a result of our Life After College series, 93% of our graduating students felt that better prepared to start their financial journey after graduation.

Diversity Efforts:

• Inclusion efforts – male participants – male participation has continued to be a challenge for our program and I understand that it is not unique to our program. This challenge has been around for our program since before 2016 and is an issue that we have working to overcome. We plan to add men’s programming that partners with the STAR Center at Chico State to include programming that is specifically catered towards male identifying students. Representation is an important piece to our program and we have continued to employee students who are representative of our student participants. Male participation has stagnated over the last two cohorts that may be impacted by the transition in leadership of the program. We foresee that there will be a continued challenge as we lose our current Student Development Coordinator of our program.
• Inclusion efforts – Latinx students –
  Culturally inclusive approaches were included in FOCUS and STEP, including Spanish speaking staff and welcome baskets delivered to students by SSS mentors. Latinx students are contacted in advance and encouraged to bring their parents/ally to meet project staff. Two parent/ally welcome programs are incorporated into our FOCUS and STEP program. These are planned virtually and were well attended in our first year of offering.
• Campus Collaboration, Representation, and Outreach
  • WESTOP 2020 – The student development coordinator participated in WESTOP and Nor-Cal WESTOP committees. on the project’s financial wellness program at the WESTOP 2019 regional conference.
  • Pause 2021 – The student development coordinator worked on with PDC to represent the program, and put on a successful PAUSE conference in January 2020.
  • Recruiting Coordination Committee – The director served on the Enrollment Management created committee that focuses on recruiting a diverse student population.

III. Changes in Policies and Procedures 

Changes to our online selection and identification of new eligible students. In a tough transitional year with a force to an online learning, and a concern about decreasing enrollment numbers, our department was concerned about how to complete our identification and selection process. The Department of Education changed policy and gave more direction on allowing electronic signatures. With the added flexibility, we were able to move our TRIO applications online and operate our process all virtually and accessible to students.

IV. Resources Summary

Budget Summary:
*Note: Fiscal year is based on September 1, 2020 - August 31, 2021 timeline.

Staffing:

Continued a momentum of having consistent professional staffing that includes the Director and the Student Development Coordinator. We do foresee a major challenge as we move forward with the news that the Student Development Coordinator position will be unfilled for sometime in August and possible September depending on how long it takes to work the hiring process through Chico State Enterprises.

Facilities/Equipment:

N/A

V. Program Assessment of Past Year

Program Objectives (Performance Objectives required by the U.S. Department of Education)

1. Persistence: 69% of all students served by the SSS Project will persist from one academic year to the beginning of the next academic year or graduate.
   
   Of the 152* participants enrolled in 2019-20, 95% either graduated or have registered for the fall 2020 semester.
2. Good Academic Standing: 91% of all enrolled participants served by the SSS Project will meet the performance of good academic standing (2.0 or above).
   
   Of the 152* participants enrolled in 2019-20, 98% were in good academic standing (GPA above 2.0) by the end of the academic year.
3. Graduation: 59% of new participants served each year will graduate within six years.
   
   Of the 22 participants admitted into cohort 2014, 74% graduated within six years of their point of entry into the program.

*This does not include new first year participants or transfer participants admitted summer 2020.

Program Annual Objectives for 2019-2020

1. Successfully implement a new student database to track student progress and have accurate representation of our active and inactive student participants.
   
   Outcome: Our existing database has been improved by using free online tools in order to save program funds that would not meet the needs of the program or the university. With the help of our partner programs Educational Talent Search and Upward Bound we discovered some of the challenges that they face with their student databases. We did do a review of common TRIO student databases that already exist like Lacai, Blumen, and Student Access. The main problem that we ran into with these software options is that they do not communicate or include integration with our PeopleSoft programs of student data. This limitation would make the software difficult to use and would not accomplish some of our top priorities. Instead we will begin using our Trello and spreadsheet accounts to store active and inactive participants. This will allow us to keep an accurate understanding of our active students and keep private information safely stored.
2. Improve our online student application to be accessible for students, and meet all of the federal guidelines.
   
   Outcome: Successfully accomplished and currently active. This has been one of our largest success for our program within the last year. We have moved our application fully online and available for students at any time of the day. We use Cognito Forms, Qualtrics, and Adobe Signature to collectively complete our entire application process. Our application is lengthy and may feel complicated for many students. Now we initiate our application with an interest/referral form that gives us a brief introduction to the student and gives us their contact information that includes an email and phone number. This has allowed us to get in contact with the student applicant at an earlier process. We believe that we lose less students as we are able to offer help at an earlier level of them beginning our application.
3. Increase the collaboration and partnership with the Adelante program that will provide a pipeline to our students toward graduate programs.
   
   Outcome: Success and has opened doors for further collaboration. Adelante shares a lot of our same objectives in helping first generation college students succeed in college and pursue a graduate degree. We partnered with them to have a student research panel from the students who had actively participated in the Adelante Research Project. This was a successful workshop to encourage our TRIO SSS participants to apply for the research opportunity by seeing students from similar backgrounds as the students that we serve. We combined our training activities in collaboration with Adelante, EOP, and other peer mentor/coaching programs.

VI. Ongoing Assessment Efforts

Demographic Reporting 

Federal legislation requires that SSS participants must be first generation college students (neither parent has a four-year degree), come from a low-income background, and/or have a documented disability. Two-thirds of students must be both low-income and first generation. SSS met these demographic requirements in 2020-21.

• Gender – Female: 62% Male: 38%

Statistics on Program Usage

*Does not include students admitted during the summer of 2021

VII. Analysis

• Continue to hire staff that is representative of the Chico State students and the students that we work with in the program. – with the latest transition of our past Student Development Coordinator in July 2021, this provides an opportunity for our program to continue to grow and diversify our staff. Our program primarily serves Hispanic first-generation students and it is important for university diversity, and representation that we have students that have staff that understand and have closely worked with students from similar backgrounds of those that we serve in our program.
• Continue to offer First Year Experience seminar to first year participants –Analysis of data collected from participant surveys and evaluations indicates that the project’s career development and professional skills curriculum offered via the First Year Experience seminar successfully increased participants’ academic self-confidence. The seminar allows for participants to have experiences that they may not have traditional access to in the past.
• Continue to require weekly study sessions for first year participants each fall and spring – In a virtual setting and in a bit of a surprise will continued to see positive student outcomes and feedback from the students who participated in our weekly study sessions. Continuing our study sessions was a bit of a surprise of us as we did not know what to expect during virtual study sessions. New first year participants were required to attend 1.5-hour study sessions once per week in the fall semester and then were offered optional sessions in the spring. At the end of spring 2020, participants indicated that the study sessions had a positive impact on their academic performance, and recommended continuing to require study sessions in the future.
• Continue to increase recruitment efforts toward underrepresented groups – The number of SSS applications received from males and black students (both genders) did see an increase over the last two recruitment cycles. We have seen a six percent increase in the overall number of male students served since setting this goal. We do wish to increase the collaboration with Institutional Research and Chico State 360 so that we may get student contact information sooner and begin our recruitment process. We now feel as though our application may not need to greatly change for the next couple of recruitment seasons, so this means that we may be able to start our recruitment sooner at the end of the spring semester.
• Continue to seek and obtain supplemental funds – The U.S Department of Education imposes strict guidelines governing the use of project funds to pay for food and hospitality. This presents a challenge when scheduling overnight field trips, as well as daylong workshops and trainings for project participants from low-income backgrounds who cannot afford to supply their own meals/accommodations. With the increase of need now that we are starting to use on-campus and in-person activity, it’ll be vital that we secure supplemental funds. We hope to continue with our successful fundraising campaign that we completed in February as part of the university’s Giving Day. These funds are extremely limited and will not cover the expenses of an entire year of programming.
• Continue to tie grant aid to completion of TRIO SSS agreements – Our TRIO Agreements continue to be such an important part of our success. We will continue to use each of our agreements at tools to meet our requirements from the Department of Education and help our students succeed. Quantitative (cumulative GPA) and qualitative (student evaluations) data for first year and 2nd year participants indicate that the activities required by the 1st and 2nd year contracts have a positive impact on student success in all areas pre-identified as important by our competitive grant priorities.
• Continue to offer a course that is in alignment with our grant’s competitive preference priorities – 19 students opted to take the optional spring leadership course offered by TRIO-SSS this year. This course was co-taught by Recreation Department faculty and students focused on career development and professional skills. The goal of the course is to offer practical skills like resume building, applying for part-time work, and professional skill awareness. While more data should be collected in the coming years, continued connection to program staff and high-quality academic preparation in the second semesters appears to have a correlation with academic performance.

VII. Program Objectives for the next academic year

Program Annual Objectives for 2021-2022

• Recruit, hire, and successfully onboard a new Student Development Coordinator into our TRIO SSS program.
• Compile and analyze recruitment data from the last three years of student recruitment in order to understand areas of improvement, areas of success, and areas that are broken. Use this data to continue to improve our recruitment and application process to yield healthy annual cohorts.
• Create a partnership with the STAR Center in order to increase male involvement in our TRIO SSS program, and offer programming to male identifying students in order to increase retention and participation in activities.

TRIO/UPWARD BOUND PROJECTS

Note: Upward Bound is a TRIO program funded by the United States Department of Education to provide academic support services to low-income, first generation college bound high school students. The mission statement and program goals (objectives in the U.S. Department of Education framework) are specified by federal regulations and policies and cannot be altered without approval from a program officer at the U.S. Department of Education.

I. Mission Statement

The mission of Upward Bound is to increase the rate at which participants complete secondary education and enroll in and graduate from institutions of postsecondary education.

Department Goals (Performance objectives dictated by the U.S. Department of Education)

1. Academic Performance Grade Point Average (GPA): 60% of participants served during the project year will have a cumulative GPA of 2.5 or better on a four-point scale at the end of the school year.
2. Academic Performance Test: 40% of UB seniors served during the project year, will have achieved at the proficient level on state assessments in reading/language arts and math.
3. Secondary School Retention and Graduation: 90% of project participants served during the project year will continue in school for the next academic year, at the next grade level, or will have graduated from secondary school with a regular secondary school diploma.
4. Secondary School Graduation: 50% of all current and prior year UB participants, who at the time of entrance into the project had an expected high school graduation date in the school year, will complete a rigorous secondary school program of study and graduate that year with a regular secondary school diploma.
5. Postsecondary Enrollment: 70% of all current and prior UB participants, who at the time of entrance into the project had an expected high school graduation date in the school year, will enroll in a program of postsecondary education by the fall term immediately after high school graduation or will have received notification, by the fall term immediately following high school, from an institution of higher education, of acceptance but deferred enrollment until the next academic semester (e.g. spring semester).
6. Postsecondary Completion: 37% of participants who enrolled in a program of postsecondary education, by the fall term immediately following high school graduation or by the next academic term (e.g. spring term) as a result of acceptance but deferred enrollment, will attain either an associate or bachelor’s degree within six years following graduation from high school.

The date of last review was January 1, 2021.

II. Departmental Accomplishments

• Implemented the first hybrid summer program – Although our 2020 virtual program was a success, our students were hopeful for a return to in-person services for the 2021 summer program. Project staff created a detailed plan to offer a hybrid program that would allow for a traditional residential component, while still keeping with strict COVID guidelines and also meeting program regulations. Students were divided into three cohorts; cohort A consisted of 9th and 10th grade students, cohort B were 11th graders and cohort C consisted of 12th grade students. While one cohort lived on campus for a week, the other two cohorts participated virtually. In total, each student was able to live on campus for a total of two weeks and participated virtually the other four weeks.

All academic courses were taught virtually to all students, but the cohort living on campus for the week took advantage of numerous in person tutoring sessions offered by resident advisors and teachers. Those struggling academically, were offered daily individual tutoring sessions as well as support and resources on note taking, organizational skills and time management.

With the support of our many campus partners, we created a comprehensive COVID-19 Safety Plan that included daily temperature and health checks, COVID caps in all community spaces within the dorms and other campus buildings we utilized. Additionally, we required each student to present a negative COVID test result when arriving on campus and offered disinfectant wipes, antibacterial gel and face masks for each student and staff member.

This is a snapshot of our summer program:

• 2,369 temperature and health checks
• 466 COVID test results received and reviewed
• 156 students participated in the residential program at CSUC
• 46 faculty, staff and interns (combination of virtual, on-site and live-in) provided instruction and support
• 15 virtual college prep courses offered (medical terminology, Hmong, physics, English, anatomy, integrated math, chemistry, Spanish, statistics, etc.)

• Met the technology and equipment needs of all participants – In August of 2020, project staff developed a detailed survey that was completed by each program participant in anticipation of starting the school year in a distance learning model. Students were asked about WIFI needs, laptop accessibility and calculator and school supply shortages. After reviewing all responses, staff were able to provide each student who needed it, a laptop to use for the school year, a TI-83 graphing calculator or information regarding free or low -cost internet resources. All students received school supplies and noise cancelling headphones to use for Upward Bound weekly online tutoring sessions and for their distance learning classes. Participants who chose to participate virtually during the summer program were allowed to keep their Upward Bound issued laptops for the duration of the summer program to participate in virtual Upward Bound summer courses.

• Offered an interactive College and Career Fair to incoming high school seniors – Although we weren’t able to bring dozens of professionals from around the area to our annual career fair, we wanted to still provide valuable college and career information to our incoming high school seniors, so that they could make educated choices when applying to colleges. We partnered with 11 CSU, Chico colleges and departments to offer small in-person presentations. Our students picked their top three choices and were able to speak to College of Nursing professors and advisors to learn about the multitude of careers available to nurses. Other students were able to see first-hand what the Concrete Industry Management department offers by touring their lab and getting an introduction to the interesting courses offered and the many student organizations that support CIM students throughout their education at CSUC. Criminal Justice, Science Education, Liberal Studies, English, Biology, Engineering, Kinesiology, Geology and Environmental Science, Computer Science and Business were other CSUC departments who took time out of their day to speak to our students about their programs.

• Developed an online student application and virtual recruitment plan – Upward Bound staff primarily recruit new students by offering in-person presentations to students and parents at target high schools. Due to the pandemic, staff worked diligently to create new opportunities to share information about Upward Bound services and benefits in a way that was interactive and easily accessible. Program Advisors connected with target school counselors and teachers and began to offer recruitment presentations via their own Zoom meetings or by joining various class Zoom sessions. Evening Zoom sessions were also held in English, Spanish and Hmong. Students were provided Zoom links and asked to invite their parents, so that they could receive the same information and more importantly, ask questions in their native language. These sessions were extremely productive and allowed for students and parents to join during days and times that were most convenient for them. Additionally, staff developed a secure online application, that enabled students and parents to complete the application at their pace. If not completed, students were provided a link that would lead them to their existing application when they were ready to work on it again. The online application was developed in English and then translated to Spanish. Program staff saw an immediate increase in the number of applications submitted. CSU, Chico IT staff reviewed and approved the use of the new online application to ensure it met all security standards before it was introduced to students and put on the program website.

• Offered comprehensive online workshops – Because all our students began the fall 2020 semester in a distance learning model, Upward Bound staff developed useful online workshops that would be accessible to all students.

Senior Workshops – Understandably, seniors had many concerns and questions as they prepared for college in the middle of a pandemic. UB Program Advisors hosted weekly Zoom sessions, where seniors were encouraged to come with questions and concerns. Staff shared the latest information regarding the cancellation of college entrance exam requirements (ACT, SAT), campus housing updates due to COVID, and provided the latest information on changing college application deadlines. Additionally, staff provided financial aid workshops for students and their parents, where they walked them through each question of the financial aid (FAFSA) application. Career Workshops – After surveying our students about careers they were interested in, yet didn’t have a lot of information about, our staff provided weekly informational workshops on their top three careers. Introduction to Careers in Nursing, Engineering and Environmental Studies were well attended by students.

STEM Workshops – We partnered with two great educational companies, Tried and True Tutoring and Study Smart Tutors, to provide STEM education to students with an interest in those careers. Raspberry Pi, Arduino and Data Science and Coding were three separate groups that met weekly to work on their STEM projects. Upward Bound staff purchased and delivered equipment that allowed our students to code from home while being guided by a knowledgeable instructor.

Personal Growth Workshops – Leadership, Growth Mindset, Goal Setting, Ethical Dilemmas and Stress Management were offered throughout the spring 2021 semester for those students that wanted to look inward and work on improving themselves. Students appreciated the opportunity to connect with peers, share their feelings and learn how to move forward in a positive frame of mind.

III. Changes in Policies and Procedures

The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act allowed Upward Bound grantees to request an increase in the dollar amount of stipends awarded to participants. Due to our savings of not offering a residential summer program in 2020, we requested and were granted an increase, that allowed us to award $100 (instead of the $40 regularly allowed) to each student who participated in all virtual program events and activities during the academic year. Students who completed the online work experience internship during the summer program would be awarded up to $500 per month, instead of the $300 regularly allowed. Student participation definitely increased during this time, and our program was able to offer increased financial assistance to low-income students already struggling during the pandemic.

IV. Resources Summary

Resource Allocation:

Original Upward Bound Grant
June 1, 2020 – May 31, 2021
125 participants

• 2020-2021 allocation $666,626
• Program expenses $621,023
• Projected carry forward $45,603

Upward Bound II Grant
September 1, 2020 – August 31, 2021
76 participants

• 2020-2021 allocation $403,999
• Program expenses $377,029
• Projected carry forward $26,970

Upward Bound Math & Science
September 1, 2020– August 31, 2021
56 participants

• 2020-2021 allocation $297,601
• Program expenses $264,483
• Projected carry forward $33,118

Upward Bound STEM
October 1, 2020 – September 30, 2021
60 participants

• 2020-2021 allocation $297,601
• Program expenses $274,758
• Projected carry forward $22,843

Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA)
July 1, 2020 – June 30, 2021
52 eligible participants from Colusa, Glenn, Sutter and Yuba counties

• 2020-2021 allocation $58,102
• Program expenses $58,102
• Projected carry forward $0.00

Amy Kee Scholarship Endowment

• 2020-2021 assets $47,025.07
• 2020-2021 contributions $1,575.07

Total funding in 2020-2021 $1,770,954.07

Human Resources:

This year, we hired two new Program Advisors, who have hit the ground running and have been an excellent addition to our staff.

Koua Thao joined the team in November of 2020 as the Upward Bound II Program Advisor. Koua is an alumnus of our Upward Bound program and also served as a Resident Advisor for our summer program while completing his undergraduate degree at Chico State. Koua earned his BA in Physical Education and Teacher Education and then went on to earn his MA in Higher Education Leadership from the University of San Diego. He is responsible for all 76 participants in the UB II program.

Diana Thao started her role as the Upward Bound Math and Science (UBMS) Program Advisor in June of 2021. She is a graduate of CSU, Chico, having earned her BS degree in microbiology and chemistry. Diana is an alumnus of the CSU, Chico Educational Talent Search Program and the Educational Opportunity Program and brings a wealth of science background to her position. She will oversee all 56 students in the UBMS program.

Facilities/Equipment:

• For over a decade, our program had a dedicated Upward Bound classroom at Lindhurst High School (our largest target school). Due to increased enrollment, the school will need the classroom, so we have moved our staff member and operation to our Upward Bound office in the SSC. The designated classroom gave us a daily presence at the school and aided tremendously in recruitment of new students. Our staff will increase visits to the school, in order to maintain the level of service our LHS students and staff have come to expect from us.

• Our program has purchased Empower, a new comprehensive database that will ease data collection and reporting. We had been utilizing FileMaker Pro for 20+ years, but the database no longer served our reporting needs in an efficient manner.

V. Program Assessment of Past Year

Program Objectives:

1. Academic Performance Grade Point Average (GPA): 60% of participants served during the project year will have a cumulative GPA of 2.5 or better on a four-point scale at the end of the school year.
   
   Exceeded – 81% of the participants served during the project year, had a cumulative GPA of 2.5 or better.
2. Academic Performance Test: 40% of UB seniors served during the project year, will have achieved at the proficient level on state assessments in reading/language arts and math.
   
   Exceeded – 49% of the UB seniors served during the 2019-2020 project year achieved proficiency before graduating high school.
3. Secondary School Retention and Graduation: 90% of project participants served during the project year will continue in school for the next academic year, at the next grade level, or will have graduated from secondary school with a regular secondary school diploma.
   
   Exceeded – 100% of participants served during the 2019-2020 academic year continued in school at the next grade level or graduated with a diploma.
4. Secondary School Graduation: 50% of all current and prior year UB participants, who at the time of entrance into the project had an expected high school graduation date in the school year, will complete a rigorous secondary school program of study and graduate that year with a regular secondary school diploma.
   
   Exceeded – 75% of participants graduated high school having completed A-G coursework.
5. Postsecondary Enrollment: 73% of all current and prior UB participants, who at the time of entrance into the project had an expected high school graduation date in the school year, will enroll in a program of postsecondary education by the fall term immediately after high school graduation or will have received notification, by the fall term immediately following high school, from an institution of higher education, of acceptance but deferred enrollment until the next academic semester (e.g. spring semester).
   
   Exceeded – 88% of graduates in 2020 enrolled in college immediately following high school.
6. Postsecondary Completion: 37% of participants who enrolled in a program of postsecondary education, by the fall term immediately following high school graduation or by the next academic term (e.g. spring term) as a result of acceptance but deferred enrollment, will attain either an associate’s or bachelor’s degree within six years following graduation from high school.
   
   Exceeded - 48% of participants received their degree within six years, although the data shows that some participants were still enrolled in their seventh year.

Ongoing Assessment Efforts:

Demographic Reporting

A total of 318 participants were served during the 2020-2021 academic year by the four Upward Bound programs. See breakdown by program below.
Original Upward Bound – 125 participants
Upward Bound II – 76 participants
Upward Bound Math & Science – 56 participants
Upward Bound STEM – 61 participants

Ethnicity Breakdown

The ethnicity breakdown is reflected in the following graph (next page) and reflects the low-income/first generation population of the six-county service area in Northern California. Upward Bound staff is working diligently to increase the number of Asian, African American and Native American students who apply and are served by the program. Recruitment and outreach also include community organizations that serve these populations within our communities.

VI. Analysis

Recruitment targets are hard to attain – Even before the pandemic, recruiting new students was difficult at some target schools. Traditionally, our point of contact has been school counselors, but with increased demands in their positions, it has become increasingly difficult to rely solely on their assistance. Upward Bound staff have reached out to teachers to offer in person and Zoom class presentations, but not all teachers are receptive. Although we have made all recruitment targets as a whole, we have not met internal targets we set for each school. Additionally, some of the students referred to us are in poor academic standing and aren’t always able to meet the rigor of our program. We sometimes hear from students or parents who say they didn’t know our program served their target school, so there’s definitely work that needs to be done on our end to improve our program’s visibility to students, parents, school staff and faculty.

Chronic tutoring absences – A required component of Upward Bound is for students to sign up for and attend academic tutoring once a week. Tutoring is offered for more than 20 high school courses and sessions are conducted via Zoom. Students utilize a secure online calendar to sign up for the tutor and subject of their choice and receive a reminder text of their upcoming tutoring session. Tutoring is available seven days a week, in order to make it most convenient for students. Program staff contact students who have not signed up for tutoring by the third day of the week to remind them to sign up. Even with all these reminders and convenience of session and subject availability, some students still have chronic absences. Providing students with meaningful weekly contact is a program requirement and tutoring sessions meet that objective. When students miss tutoring sessions, they’re not only missing out on valuable academic tutoring, but it also requires staff to quickly pivot and provide another service to meet that week’s required contact.

Data collection and reporting isn’t efficient – For more than twenty years, our staff has utilized File Maker Pro as the program database that houses all participant data. Over the years, annual performance reports due to our funder have become extremely detailed and comprehensive, requiring staff to report on every student served through high school and six years after high school graduation. Staff report on more than 60 data points for each student, and File Maker Pro is an antiquated system that has made data collection and reporting extremely difficult. Much of the data extracted for reports requires manual manipulation, therefore increasing the risk of data entry errors and creating more work for staff.

VII. Program Objectives for Next Academic Year

Improve Recruitment Processes

• Review and update all recruitment literature if necessary (flyers, brochures, applications)
• Ensure all literature is translated into Spanish and make it easily accessible for parents
• Identify faculty, support staff and administrators that would promote our program
• Attend school events where parents are present to provide program information directly.
• Increase social media posts/ads targeting students and parents in our geographical area
• Create other avenues to recruit (media, community organizations, etc.)
• Enlist current Upward Bound students to assist with presentations at target schools
• Establish relationships and maintain constant communication with middle school counselors, teachers, and administrators to recruit 8th grade students.

Increase Tutoring Attendance

• Emphasize tutoring requirement in detail during recruitment presentations
• Inform parents of tutoring requirement during new student and parent orientations
• Track tutoring attendance closely when students first enter the program. Students can exit the program without the need to track them after high school if served less than 60 days during the academic year. New students with excessive tutoring attendance should be placed back in the recruitment pool.
• Offer weekly services other than tutoring. Weekly virtual workshops could serve as a replacement for tutoring.
• Remind students of incentives of attending weekly tutoring. Monthly stipends of $40 per month are awarded to students with perfect tutoring attendance. Additionally, students with good tutoring attendance will be the first selected for college visitation trips.

Establish New Database

• Staff has chosen to purchase Empower, a new database that provides ease in data reporting.
• Establish a timeline for transferring data and training staff
• Create data entry procedures to ensure the integrity of the data being entered