Providing Support to New Directors for Five Years
Lucinda Aborn, Ph.D., CMP Coordinator
Jill Baker, Ed.D. CMP Evaluator
Introduction
The CAPED Mentorship Program (CMP) began five years ago as a pilot project to support new DSPS directors during a time of transition. Funded by the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office, the CMP’s mission was to provide one-on-one mentoring and group training related to the responsibilities of the director position. Experienced DSPS program coordinators, directors, and deans contributed to identifying the six areas of practice for DSPS program managers, and the skills and knowledge needed to perform the job. Dr. Lucinda Aborn has served as Coordinator of the program since its inception, along with Denise Simpson, who has provided additional leadership services during the past two years and now leads mentor support initiatives.
In hindsight, it is clear just how propitious the decision was for CAPED to draft the project proposal and for the Chancellor’s Office to fund it when it did. This was particularly true when the field was forced to pivot to fully online services and classes in a very short timeframe due to the COVID-19 pandemic. But each year the field has experienced challenges, and each year the CMP leadership adjusts the program to meet them.
Overview of Pre- and Post-COVID-19 Needs and Supports Delivered
The CAPED Mentorship Program has relied upon real-time data to inform the program curriculum since the beginning of the project. While there is a standard skills-based foundation to the curriculum, the CMP leadership regularly monitors and adjusts it in response to external challenges impacting DSPS program management. For example, while the “Budget and Fiscal Resources” module includes budget management, MIS Reporting, DSPS Allocation Formula, and SSARCC, in Year 2 of the program, directors needed something more. They needed to learn how to compete for and leverage new Student Equity and Achievement dollars within their college allocation process. In another year, DSPS directors needed to respond to the Chancellor’s Office exploratory Program Plan survey, and then respond again the following year when the Chancellor’s Office administered the formal Program Plan survey (per Title 5). CMP provided targeted training for these needs, and for others that arose over time.
In Year 4, the training challenge was related to Laws and Regulations, which was addressed by a two-day legal workshop with Paul Grossman, Jamie Axelrod, Tom Thompson, and Mary Lee Vance in late February 2020. Just days after the training, as COVID-19 was becoming a global pandemic, a whole new challenge emerged when shelter-in-place orders forced colleges across the state to migrate to fully online services and classes. The sheer massiveness of the task was overwhelming even for experienced DSPS program managers. The extent of need ranged from assuring students were receiving their accommodations in the online environment, to assuring students could understand and navigate Canvas and other components of the learning management system, to educating and supporting faculty regarding accessibility and student rights. Finding accessible software to deliver virtual accommodations such as extended time for testing was also a challenge. Added to all of this, were the challenges of running a DSPS office and managing personnel in the remote environment.
CMP leadership created a new training module titled DSPS Response to COVID-19 and updated existing modules such as Institutional Accessibility Guidelines to meet current training needs. They also continued their existing collaboration with DSPS Solutions to meet the needs of both experienced and new directors.
In the 2020 End-of-Year Survey, administered in May 2020, CMP leadership reached out to protégés and mentors separately to better understand how they could meet each groups needs in the virtual environment for the upcoming year. The leadership followed up again in the fall with surveys for both groups to identify specific topics of greatest impact related to administering a DSPS program during this time of remote operations. The Mentors were especially insightful in their responses, given their experience with administering a program and having recently adapted to remote operations at their own colleges. As new directors, protégés were facing these same challenges, but they were also learning the details of budgeting, supervision, and service delivery consistent with state and federal laws. Proteges ranked DSPS Procedures as the most critical area of practice for the upcoming year, followed closely by Budget and Fiscal Resources, and Laws and Regulations. CMP leadership used the combined mentor and protégé findings to finalize the 2020-2021 curriculum and training topics.
Findings led to the creation of the monthly Zoom training series, which focused upon stated needs. Presentations included:
- “CCC Accessibility Center and Services” (specific to meeting federal and state laws and regulations governing technology and instructional accessibility) by Dawn Okinaka, Director, CCC Accessibility Center
- “Lead or be Led” presentation by Dr. Robert Simpson and Denise Simpson
- Two legal presentations by Paul Grossman
- “Three essential tools for addressing the most challenging disability law compliance questions”
- “Why your job is critically important: the intersectional social, political and legal history of how we got our disability rights”
- “Budget Panel Presentation” by Grace Hanson, Jeff Higginbotham, and Edina Rutland
- “Program Review” (specific to advocating for resources) by Jacqueline Rubalcaba
- “Engaging Faculty in Universal Design” by two CSU Channel Islands instructional designers
Findings also led to creation of more organized mentor support services, which is discussed in a separate section, and broadening of the resources available within the Canvas course shell. Between the live Zoom presentations (which were also archived for later viewing), the asynchronous resources within the course shell, and the mentor outreach, a new level of support was developed for the second year of operations within the COVID-19 remote environment.
Mentor Support Strategies
Given the importance of the one-on-one mentoring model at the center of the CAPED Mentorship Program, CMP leadership created a mentor support team. Activities began in September 2020, with a live Zoom Kick-off Event. The two mentor support providers, Dr. Jim Gioia and Denise Simpson, presented on strategies for being a successful mentor and the program expectations for mentors. A mentors-only discussion board was created to provide a platform where mentors could share strategies and learn from each other. Later in the year, the team administered a mid-year “check-in” survey to track progress and help where needed.
The mentor support team conducted three rounds of focus group discussions held in the spring of 2021. The discussions helped to fully understand mentoring challenges and possible solutions, which has been instrumental in planning for the 2021-2022 year.
Outcomes
The CMP evaluates multiple outcomes for the program. Because it is a mentoring program, protégé learning outcomes are assessed annually; however, the program also evaluates overall program effectiveness, protégé-mentor match, level of communication, effectiveness of training activities, and program management.
Protégé Learning Outcomes
For the past five years, protégés have completed a pre- and post-assessment of their knowledge and skills within the CMP’s six areas of practice for DSPS program management. In each of those years the areas of “DSPS Procedures,” “Budget and Fiscal Resources,” and “Laws and Regulations” held the top three rankings in terms of learning, importance to their job, and impact of the CMP upon their learning. These three areas comprise the core content for serving students with disabilities in the California Community Colleges System. Protégés have long ranked “Personnel” in the fourth position, as part of day-to-today operations.
What changed with COVID-19 was the marked rise in those areas of practice associated with advocating for your program within the campus planning and resource allocation process. Within the “Institutional Activities” area, “Student Equity and Achievement Programs” and “Strategic Planning” were rated at their highest levels yet for learning, impact of CMP on their learning, and importance to their job. The same was true for the area of “Campus Governance” for “Role of Administration” and “Role of Shared Governance.” Protégés learned not only how to administer their programs, but how to effectively advocate for them in the competitive arena of college-wide resource allocation processes and shared governance.
Mentor Outcomes
At the end of each year mentors are asked to describe the most beneficial outcomes of serving as a mentor. The themes emerging have been consistent from Year 1. Many mentors cite mutual learning. They describe the experience in two ways. First, when answering a question from their protégé regarding how to perform a certain task, they respond with how they do it. But in some instances they also become reflective and revisit their own processes, and explore other ways things might be done. They also cite learning from conversations with their protégés and gaining new insight from the protégé’s knowledge and experience base. The other very common outcome for mentors is the relationship with their protégé. Many of the pairs have formed friendships and shared collaborations that sustain beyond the year of the program. Protégés also cite this outcome.
Program Outcomes
Each year the cohort ranks the effectiveness of the program components, and every year the mentorship relationship is ranked highest. Participants rank “in-person training” and the Canvas course site second and third. This year was no different, with the exception of “in-person” training being conducted virtually rather than face-to-face.
Most participants found the Zoom trainings to be very helpful, particularly those related to legal issues, accessibility, and program management. Timing of the live events was an issue for some participants, who had a conflict with job responsibilities at the same time. Those participants were able to watch the Zoom recordings at a more convenient time. Participation in the Canvas course site discussions was down during the COVID-19 period, however hours spent on resource materials and module PowerPoint presentations were consistently high.
Did the Program Make a Difference?
Each year mentors and protégés are asked if their expectations were met.
- In the middle of COVID-19, 100% of protégés indicated that their expectations were met or exceeded in terms of:
- A high level of relevance of what they were learning in the program to what they were doing in their job
- Making connections with other coordinators and directors in the field
- In the middle of COVID-19, 84% of mentors indicated that their expectations had been met, which was the highest rating for this metric for all five years
Each year mentors and protégés are asked if they are better equipped to perform their jobs after participating in the program.
- In the middle of COVID-19, 91% of protégés and 84% of mentors agreed or strongly agreed that they are better equipped to perform their jobs after participating in the program
Ninety-five percent of protégés and 80% of mentors said that they plan to stay in touch with their mentorship pair in the coming year, which supports the longer-term impact of the mentorship learning model.
Impact of the Program on Retention
One of the strongest outcomes of the program over the past five years has been retention of DSPS leadership in the field. As of May 26, 2021, 86 new or interim DSPS Coordinators, Directors, or Deans participated as protégés in the CAPED Mentorship Program. Seventy-six percent of them are still serving in that type of role. Thirteen percent have promoted to higher level positions related to DSPS, such as Vice President of Student Services and Dean of Student Services. Eight percent served in interim positions and returned to their previous counselor or LD specialist positions. Three percent moved to jobs outside the California Community Colleges or retired.
Plans for the Coming Year
Findings from the recent 2021 End-of-Year survey provided feedback on what was most effective last year and how to improve support for the current year. These supports include creation of a CMP YouTube Channel to allow participants to review past presentations, continuation of the monthly Zoom training sessions, expanding the resources section, and a mentor support and sharing group that will meet online throughout the year.
CMP leadership plans to offer face-to-face training again this year, as it has been a highly effective feature of the program in the past, and provides the opportunity for the mentorship pairs to meet in person.
A special thank you to Linda Vann, Program Specialist with the CCCCO, for her continued support of the CMP. We are looking forward to another productive year. For more information about the CAPED Mentorship Program, please contact Dr. Lucinda Aborn at CAPEDMentorshipProgram@gmail.com.