Breakout Session 4

Saying the Quiet Part Out Loud: Centering Black People and Outcomes

Strand: Real Talk

Room: Royal A

Equity-focused data analysis requires more than reporting gaps. It requires deep reflection about how those gaps are created and why they persist. Building from Part 1, this session examines how IRPE professionals shape institutional truth through the analytical choices they make. Drawing from Lyndon B. Johnson’s 1965 Howard University speech and Dr. William A. Smith’s theory of Racial Battle Fatigue, participants will learn how historical and ongoing racism affects Black student success and why ignoring this context leads to harmful conclusions. The session challenges the myth of data neutrality and equips researchers with practical strategies for equitable inquiry and reporting. Participants will gain the tools necessary to shift institutional data storytelling away from deficit narratives and toward accountability and transformation. Black student outcomes become a mirror that reveals whether equity efforts are working or merely symbolic.

Presenter: Marcell Gilmore, Mt. San Antonio College

Redefining Progress: Estimating and Evaluating Time-to-Completion in Non-Traditional Educational Models

Strand: Research in Action

Room: Terrace ABC

Understanding how long students take to complete flexibly-paced, competency-based programs is essential to supporting learner success and understanding institutional patterns. However, traditional measures of time-to-completion offer little guidance for models without fixed terms, credit hours, or academic calendars.

As California’s first statewide, fully online, and flexibly-paced community college, Calbright is developing new research approaches to identify and better understand the pacing patterns of the diverse population we serve. This session will share findings from an exploratory analysis for calculating and evaluating time-to-completion and discuss strategies for interpreting variation across student groups. We will also discuss how our findings inform program design, student support, and institutional effectiveness efforts. In this session, participants will leave with practical considerations for analyzing completion times in response to the shifting, often messy, virtual education landscape.

Presenters: Rebecca Poon and Logan Rowland, Calbright College

Tracking Change Together: Lessons From Lemoore’s OERevolution and Data Journey

Strand: Research in Action

Room: Terrace DEF

This session explores Lemoore College’s #OERevolution and the collaborative role of an Open Educational Resources (OER) librarian and IRPE professional in tracking and analyzing progress toward Zero Textbook Cost (ZTC) adoption. Participants will learn how OER drives equity by reducing financial barriers, enabling culturally relevant teaching, and fostering student engagement.

This session will cover key data points such as cost savings, adoption rates, course success, and methodological considerations for defining ZTC students and improving data accuracy. Presenters will share lessons learned from a small, rural college, highlighting how organizational structures and technical systems both support and complicate this work. While IRPE professionals may not lead adoption, they play a critical role in assessment, transparency, and cross-departmental collaboration. Interactive polls and small-group discussions (cat memes included) will invite participants to reflect on their own practices and explore strategies for visualizing OER data to inform decisions and advance equitable outcomes.

Presenters: Kelsey Smith, Lemoore; Leslie Flaming, West Hills Community College District College

From Compliance to Collaboration: Transforming the Perkins-Required Comprehensive Local Needs Assessment (CLNA) Into an Equity-Centered, Iterative Planning Process

Strand: Planning for Change

Room: Harbor

The Perkins Comprehensive Local Needs Assessment (CLNA) is a core requirement under Perkins V—one that informs each district’s local application, budget, and strategies for meeting State Determined Levels of Performance. Although the CLNA is intended to prioritize equity and close achievement gaps, colleges struggle to translate the statewide framework into meaningful, actionable local planning.

This session shares how San Diego Community College District redesigned the CLNA data tools to embrace the nonlinear, imperfect, and often uncomfortable realities of equity-driven institutional change. We highlight the challenges practitioners face when navigating overwhelming and inconsistent data sources and demonstrate how SDCCD addressed them through an equity-centered CLNA website and a collaborative, iterative design process. Participants will learn practical tools, communication strategies, and templates that make complex data accessible, strengthen trust with practitioners, and support more equitable CTE program improvement across campuses.

Presenter: Sunny Xu, San Diego Community College District

Strengthening CTE Insights Through Practitioner-Focused Embedded Research

Strand: Research in Action

Room: Harbor

Through the embedded researcher model funded by Strong Workforce, researchers at San Diego Community College District partnered directly with Career Education practitioners at San Diego Miramar College to better understand student persistence and award outcomes in Automotive, Diesel, and Aviation Technology. By working closely with the CTE deans, faculties, and counselors, we explored not only the data itself, but also the program structures, student circumstances, and practitioner insights that shape how students move through these pathways. By combining quantitative analysis with the lived knowledge of practitioners, we were able to create findings that are more accurate, more actionable, and more reflective of student realities. This session will share our approach, lessons learned, and how embedded research can support meaningful, student-centered change.

Presenter: Annie Li, San Diego Community College District

The RP Group and CAIR: Partnering in the Messy Work of Change in the IR Landscape

Strand: Planning for Change

Room: Pacific

The California Association for Institutional Research (CAIR) is a volunteer-run nonprofit that aims to create professional development opportunities and communities for institutional research, planning, and effectiveness professionals across all segments (e.g., CCC, UC, CSU, private colleges and universities) of higher education in California. Join members of the CAIR and RP boards, and Dr. Darla Cooper for an honest conversation about our vision for the emerging partnership between The RP Group and CAIR, and potential areas of mutually beneficial collaboration. Come provide your ideas and feedback for how we can best serve members of the IR community in California together!

Presenters. Kristin Rascon and Jaime Sykes, CAIR; Bri Hays, Cuyamaca College; Darla Cooper, The RP Group; Possibly RP Group Board member