History

Establishing the Round Table

The University of California President David Saxon and Claremont Graduate University President John Maguire, along with California Community Colleges Chancellor Gerald Hayward, California State University Chancellor Glenn Dumke, Superintendent of Public Instruction Wilson Riles, and California Postsecondary Education Commission Executive Director Patrick Callan, founded the California Round Table on Educational Opportunity. This voluntary association of the chief executive officers of the educational sectors — public and independent, schools, colleges, and universities – represented “a joint commitment of leaders at the State level in California education to accelerate our effort to deal with issues affecting student achievement and access and, working together with faculty, students administrators, parents, community organizations, and State government, to better serve the youth of this state, with specific attention to students from historically low college-going rates.” (Statement of Purpose and Initial Agenda for the California Round Table on Educational Opportunity, March 1981). Subsequently, this voluntary association’s name became the California Education Round Table.

Co-Publishing Competency Statements for Entering College Freshmen

In conjunction with the Intersegmental Committee of the Academic Senates (ICAS), the Round Table published statements that defined the competencies expected of college freshmen in English and Mathematics. Subsequently, competency statements in other disciplines were jointly published by ICC and ICAS.

Creating the Intersegmental Coordinating Committee

In reviewing the California Master Plan for Higher Education, the California Legislature sought to enshrine the Round Table in the statute. Not wanting to be in statute, the Round Table agreed to create an administrative arm — the Intersegmental Coordinating Committee (ICC) — that would further the Round Table’s progress in meeting its goals. 

Functioning as a Venue for Sharing Information and Discussing Policy

Historically and presently, the ICC serves as a forum for the educational sectors to share knowledge, consult on issues of mutual interest, align their actions, when appropriate, and seek to reach consensus on proposals from the Governor and Legislature.

Developing and Securing Funding for ASSIST

Through an Intersegmental Budget Change proposal, the ICC received State funding to support the development of ASSIST, which remains the official statewide course transfer and articulation system for California’s colleges and universities.

Scheduling Transfer Days / College Nights

The ICC manages statewide annual events that offer an opportunity for high school and community college students to meet representatives from California’s higher educational institutions.

Implementing College: Making It Happen

The ICC designed and supported the College: Making It Happen initiative that has provided resources and produced events for students, their families, and educators to begin the process of preparing for college in middle school.

Defining Standards in English/Language Arts and Mathematics

The ICC convened secondary school and higher education faculty to identify the skills, knowledge, and competencies expected of high school graduates in order to enhance alignment between these educational levels. The resulting publications — Taking It to the Next Level: Mathematics Assessment Standards for High School Graduates and Performance Standards and Assessment Criteria in English-Language Arts for California High School Graduates — formed the bases for recommendations to the Commission on the Establishment of Academic Content and Performance Standards that were adopted, in large measure, by the State Board of Education as state standards.

Conceptualizing and Procuring Resources for Student Friendly Services

Through an Intersegmental Budget Change Proposal, the ICC secured funding for Student Friendly Services and its Californiacolleges.edu website that was designed to enhance access to higher education through an online system that improved information for prospective students, families, counselors, teachers, and administrators. This initiative formed the basis for the California College Guidance Initiative (CCGI) that is a component of the state’s Cradle-to-Career Longitudinal Data System.

Sponsoring California GEAR UP (Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs)

Governor Gray Davis and each successive governor has designated the Round Table as the sponsor of the state grant from the United States Department of Education to increase the number of low-income students prepared to enter and succeed in higher education. By the end of its fourth grant cycle in 2024, the California GEAR UP Program will have received $105.5 million in federal funds matched by the same amount from GEAR UP partners to fulfill this goal.

Aligning Assessments Across Educational Levels

The ICC convened secondary school and higher education faculty to consider alignment of various state assessments in order to both reduce redundancy and lessen confusion for students, their families, and counselors. Alignment of Assessments Across Educational Levels contains these recommendations that became the bases for the California State University and the California Department of Education to develop the Early Assessment Program that provides students an opportunity to measure their readiness for college-level English and mathematics in their junior year of high school and to improve their skills during their senior year.

Advocating for a Cal Grant Entitlement Program

The Round Table displayed joint support through a press conference and other modalities for the Legislature’s actions to enact the largest financial aid program in the country and to transition it from one of selectivity to entitlement.

Convening Statewide Conferences in Student Success

The ICC convened annual statewide conferences at which speakers shared their models of success in furthering positive student outcomes and provided a catalogue of resources to support student achievement. 

Initiated the ARCHES (Alliance for Regional Collaboration to Heighten Educational Success)

After conducting a study of seven regional partners and interviewing educators across the state, the ICC and the CAPP (California Academic Partnership Program), initiated ARCHES in order to support and provide resources to develop collaboratives comprised of school districts, higher educational institutions, community organizations, and the business sector in local areas to address educational issues in the region.

Facilitating California’s Cradle-to-Career Longitudinal Data Base

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation funded the ICC to convene its members to discuss and ideally reach consensus on the importance of, and issues related to, Governor Newsom’s proposed statewide longitudinal database. The Cradle-to-Career advisory committees built on the information and consensus from the ICC discussions.

Securing a P3 (Performance Partnership Project) Grant

The ICC was awarded a P3 grant from the United States Department of Education that allows all Student Support Services, Talent Search, and Upward Bound Programs managed by any educational institution in the state to serve undocumented students.