Author: California Community Colleges. Chancellor's Office

Publisher:

Published: 2013

Total Pages: 17

ISBN-13:

The California Community Colleges (CCC) serve more than 2.4 million students and comprises the largest system of higher education in the nation. Each of the 112 colleges in all 72 districts use state funding allocated for Disabled Student Programs and Services (DSPS) to assist it in providing support services and educational accommodations to students with disabilities so they can have full and equitable access to the community college experience. In addition, most colleges include specialized instruction as part of their DSPS program. This report was written in response to Education Code (EC) section 67312(b), which requires the board of governors to report every two years to the Governor and the education policy committees of the Legislature, on its system for evaluating "state-funded programs and services for disabled students on each campus at least every five years." This report will focus solely on the analysis of the outcome data reported to the Chancellor's Office Management Information Systems (MIS) division by the 112 community colleges as required by EC 67312(a)(4). These data were collected from all 112 colleges and is presented in the report in system wide aggregated summaries. The data compiled for this report show that while students with disabilities served by DSPS are underrepresented in the college population, in comparison to their nondisabled peers, they: (1) Take and complete both credit and noncredit courses at greater rates; (2) Show greater persistence and essentially the same retention level (with the notable exceptions of basic skills and workforce preparation classes); and (3) Are more successful at both CCC degree (19 percent vs. 12 percent) and certificate attainment (7 percent vs. 4 percent).