Starting in the summer of 2019, Delta College will begin offering a new variety of summer class sessions. There will be three four-week sessions, three six-week sessions, one eight-week session and one 12-week session.
“We had to plan for when UCs and CSUs get done with classes and when high schools are done so we created a ton of options so students have a better chance at fitting summer classes into their schedules and more options to meet their requirements quicker,” said Delta Vice President of Instruction Dr. James Todd. “Most of the system right now is trying to reduce the time it takes to get your degree or transfer, which means taking more units.”
The new summer schedule allows students to knock out as many as nine units during the summer, and many students can mix and match the different sessions.
Todd collaborated with Enrollment Manager Christina Snedden and all of the division deans to develop this new schedule in a way that would cater to students’ needs best.
One of the overall goals of every instructional faculty at Delta is to create more platforms for students to voice what their needs are so Delta can implement changes that will help students gain a degree or transfer within two years, according to Todd.
“A student could take English 1A at the beginning of the summer and English 1B at the end, or really any class combination like that,” said Sheli Ayers, dean of Languages, Library and Learning Resources. “This is really consistent with all the changes that we’re making with the college right now under the Guided Pathways initiative and AB 705, because it allows students to get to their goal faster.”
Under AB 705, incoming students to Delta will now be placed into classes based on their high school GPA versus a placement test because research found that it was a more accurate measure of how well they’ll do in a class, according to Ayers. Delta also made the decision to remove remedial English and math classes.
“It’s a goal of the college, the Chancellor’s office and the state legislature is for students to pass transfer-level English and math within their first year at college so this summer schedule will help towards that,” said Ayers. “Since everyone is eligible for English 1A right away, it also means they are also eligible for a lot of other gateway classes that aren’t English classes that would’ve otherwise had English 1A as a prerequisite.”
Earlier this year, the early retirement program was offered to staff that met certain criteria and many faculty have taken it.
According to Todd, however, the early retirement program will not affect staffing for the summer classes.
“Other than the new summer schedule requiring me to play ‘Tetris’ with what classes I can offer and at what time, it wasn’t a lot of extra work to change the schedule,” says Dean of Arts and Communication Christopher Guptill.