Breakout Session 5

Aligning SWP Projects to Vision-Aligned Reporting: A Framework for Equity-Driven Decision Intelligence

Strand: Planning for Change

Room: Royal A

California community colleges are entering a pivotal transition as Vision-Aligned Reporting (VAR) becomes the statewide framework for documenting program activities, services, and student impact. This session demonstrates how colleges can translate legacy Strong Workforce projects into the VAR structure to strengthen equity-centered evaluation and institutional effectiveness. Using a multi-year Allied Health case study (2016–2024), the presentation outlines a straightforward, replicable method for mapping activities to VR01–VR03 elements, addressing inconsistent historical labels, and improving data integrity in alignment with Vision 2030 goals.

The process and tools shared in this session can serve as a practical guide for aligning additional statewide initiatives and future projects to the VAR framework. Participants will gain insights into strategies that IRPE offices can use to enhance reporting accuracy, illuminate equity gaps, and strengthen data-driven decision-making without specialized technical exercises.

Presenters: Maricel Pedrals, Saddleback College; Denice Inciong and Nicole Ortega, South Orange County Community College District; Makuochukwu Nwabueze, Xelmetrics

Sankofa as Method: Reorienting Institutional Research Toward Memory, Accountability, and Archive-Building

Strand: Research in Action

Room: Terrace ABC

This session introduces the Sankofa Research Framework (SRF), a culturally grounded methodology that reframes institutional research as an intergenerational practice of memory, accountability, and archive-building. Developed at the Center for Policy and Research on Student Success at the Umoja Community Education Foundation, the session demonstrates how the four SRF stages—Return, Retrieve, Reinterpret, and Rebuild/Record—help IRPE practitioners confront inherited biases in data systems, recover omitted histories, integrate community interpretation, and design research products that serve as durable “artifacts of truth” in an era of misinformation.

Participants will learn how to apply SRF to reshape research questions, strengthen equity analyses, and construct accessible, contextualized archives that preserve institutional memory for future decision-makers. Through hands-on activities and dialogue, attendees will explore how Sankofa transforms research from technical reporting into a practice of collective witnessing and long-term stewardship of truth.

Presenters: Vernon Lindsay, Ahmed Naguib, and Myia Williams, Umoja Community Education Foundation

It Takes a Village to Earn CPL by Our Noncredit Credit by Exam Mechanism

Strand: Real Talk

Room: Terrace DEF

Credit by Exam, a type of Credit for Prior Learning (CPL) sounds like it should be a pretty straightforward opportunity. However, when it comes to practice, we saw quite the opposite. Despite having many active agreements (38+) from our noncredit college offerings, very few students (less than 5% of the 6,000+ enrollments) were eligible for credits. We will share lessons learned, the role of data as a guiding compass, and outline the commitment of five offices to improve the process over the past four years. But if you build it, will they come? Now that the process has improved and nearly 50% of enrollments are eligible, we are having the hard conversation that not all eligible students want to earn credits or are currently interested in transitioning to the credit colleges.

Presenters: Marc Grabiel and Hongling Yang, San Diego Community College District

Unlocking Opportunity: Rethinking Workforce Equity in Childhood Education

Strand: Research in Action

Room: Harbor

This session explores findings from the Center of Excellence’s Childhood Education Opportunities report, which examines wage outcomes and long-term mobility for teaching assistants, preschool teachers, childcare workers, and self-enrichment instructors across the Bay Region. Despite many workers holding postsecondary degrees, these occupations offer low wages, limited mobility, and high exit rates. Using labor market data from Lightcast and Career Trajectories and Occupational Transitions (CTOT) data from the Department of Labor, the session identifies accessible lateral and next-level career pathways, both within education and in related fields, that align with workers’ existing skills and require minimal to moderate training.

Participants will learn how this research can inform equity planning, program design, and advising, and how IRPE professionals can leverage data to advocate for sustainable, living wage career opportunities. The session demonstrates institutional research as a change agent, a tool for reimagining workforce systems, and a partner in improving long-term outcomes for students and workers.

Presenters: Liza Chavac and Marcela Reyes, Bay Region Center of Excellence