With the closure of the 2024 fall semester, City College has reached the highest productivity levels on record in the past 10 years. The productivity level is based on efficient schedules and student needs met.
Assistant Superintendent and Vice President of Academic Affairs María Villagómez sees first-hand the higher productivity. She defined what an efficient schedule looks like and how this affects City College students.
Villagómez said the concept of an efficient or inefficient schedule and its productivity revolves around term-to-term for example, fall semester to fall semester. Data comparison is used for things such as fill rate in classrooms, the average number of students in each course and class size.
For the 2024 fall-to-fall term comparison, City College sits at an efficiency rating of 15.8. While the state’s recommendation is 17.5, our fall term model brings City College closer to a higher level of productivity. Villagómez acknowledges that while City College’s rating of 15.8 efficient fall term is good, it shows that we’re able to do better.
Villagómez carefully illustrated why an efficient schedule is so important. An efficient schedule results in a higher average class size and an increased average fill rate of classes. These lead to an increase in the average class capacity meaning more students are able to take any given course in a semester. More students in a class helps City College save money that would otherwise be used to pay more teachers for the same amount of students learning.
“If we spent way too much [money] on the schedule it doesn’t allow us to have breathing space… to support other things that are also important,” Villagómez said. “Like services for students, basic needs, a good library with good resources, the computer loaner program, clean classrooms, up-to-date technology and lab equipment for students.”
Essentially, City College isn’t harmfully impacting student experiences and academic opportunities.
Villagómez describes City College’s unrestricted general fund budget and how the largest section goes towards instruction. This includes classes and professor salaries meaning if money can be saved from use on an inefficient schedule more will be available to other resources students need.
Recognizing that a higher rating doesn’t mean there isn’t room for improvement, Villagómez expresses the significance of City College’s productivity landmark.
“I think it’s important to celebrate important milestones,” Villagómez said. “We would not have been able to do that [efficient schedule] without the help of the faculty and the academic deans.”
She praises their hard work and help to get City College to this efficiency milestone. She uses the support and closing the gap between the school’s rating and the state’s goal as motivation for the campus staff, students, and community.
