Cradle-to-Career February 8th Governing Board Meeting Recap

C2C Staff | February 8, 2023

Cradle-to-Career’s Governing Board meetings are public and one of the main ways for the public to engage in C2C’s work, but we know not everyone has seven hours to dedicate to watch an all-day meeting, so we’re providing an overview of our board meeting, highlighting key discussions and topics to make it easy for you to find the information that you need. For more details, click here for the full agenda and here for the meeting minutes.

On February 8th, 2023, California’s Cradle-to-Career (C2C) Data System convened the first Governing Board meeting of the year. A return to in-person, Cradle-to-Career Governing Board members gathered in Sacramento, CA, to learn more about C2C’s work and make important decisions on behalf of the data system. 

Accessibility and equity are central to Cradle-to-Career’s work, and we were pleased to hold a concurrent virtual stream featuring live interpretation services in Spanish and American Sign Language. [Click here to watch a recording of the Governing Board meeting with ASL interpretation. | Haga clic aquí para ver la grabación en español.]

The day began with the swearing-in of new governing board members Jessica Moldoff and alternates Cassandra Mar and Pamela Ong, and we also said a fond farewell to longtime higher education leader and C2C board member Patrick Perry, who retired after 35 years of public service.

Executive Director’s Office Update

After a quick overview of the day’s agenda, Cradle-to-Career’s Executive Director Mary Ann Bates gave a status update on progress made in the Office of Cradle-to-Career Data, which included hiring, procurement, development of office policies, and the build of the data system and tools. 

Governing Board members also enjoyed an interactive workshop led by C2C governance consultant Leading Resources Incorporated on the 5 Habits of High-Performing Public Agency Boards. After an energizing discussion on how the Governing Board can work together as an entity to further the goals of Cradle-to-Career, board members then voted for the creation of a Strategic Planning Ad Hoc Committee. 

Governance Manual Updates

The Board has an annual process to update the Cradle-to-Career Governance Manual that defines the policies and procedures of the Governing Board, and C2C convened a Governance Manual Ad Hoc Committee that defined a process to add new data points to P20W data set (see pgs. 29-31) and refined the process for selecting advisory board members (pgs. 23-25). The Advisory Board governance-related edits were informed by an ad hoc committee of the Advisory Boards that met last year. The Governing Board then moved to approve the proposed edits during the session.

Student Experience Audit and Joint Communication Efforts

The afternoon session started with a presentation provided by Cradle-to-Career Community Engagement Advisory Board member Patty Chavez, who provided a snapshot of the work done by the Community Engagement and Data & Tools Advisory Boards. Governing Board members then moved to adopt the charter for the 2023 Advisory Board Selection Ad Hoc Committee and establish its membership. 

C2C Director of Data Programs Ryan Estrellado provided an overview of the first Cradle-to-Career Student Experience Audit, which is required to be conducted annually by the Cradle-to-Career Act. In partnership with WestEd, the initial audit was conducted in the Fall of 2022, and the report represents an early effort to surface the barriers that students face when transitioning from high school to life after high school. Click here to read the full Student Experience Audit.

The challenges and pain points detailed in the Student Experience Audit dovetailed into a conversation led by Dr. Sylvia Alva and Catalina Cifuentes, who discussed the importance of harnessing the power of the Governing Board to truly support the scaling of operational tools like CaliforniaColleges.edu and eTranscript California that can ease the college planning and application process through unified communication efforts.

After a full day’s work, Governing Board members left the day with a renewed commitment to creating more equitable futures for Californians by building the most inclusive data system in the nation and a better sense of how we will work together to achieve that goal.

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