About
Our Mission
The California Outcomes & Assessment Coordinator Hub (COACHes), established in 2021 is a resource hub that focuses on Student Learning. Our goal is for community colleges and other higher educational professionals to join colleagues in discussion and sharing promising practices around our raison d’être: supporting students, their learning competencies, and creating communities where exemplary education can thrive.
Our Vision
Our Vision is to increase “Student Learning” and be a clarion call to action on behalf of the students and communities we serve. As educational professionals, and as Learning Leaders, each of us has the power to and responsibility for becoming student-centered and equity-minded agents of change at institutions and organizations. The work of creating lasting and needed systemic change in education and our larger nation will not be done by one individual but can only be achieved through the power of a collective sharing a similar vision (focusing on skills and competencies) for a brighter future.
Our Team
Alisha Bettencourt Ph.D.
Bettencourt holds a Ph.D. in psychology from Capella University, a Master of Arts in education from Oklahoma City University, and a Bachelor of Arts degree in education from the State University of New York at Potsdam. In May 2022, she took on a new leadership role as faculty assessment coordinator to support the growing campus culture and to review and revise assessment of Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs) for instruction.
Grace Estrada Ph.D.
Grace Estrada’s passion for teaching Psychology has led her to engage in additional opportunities to help ensure a quality educational experience for each member of Evergreen Valley College’s socioeconomically and ethnically diverse student body. As the SLO Coordinator at Evergreen Valley College, she supports faculty in all disciplines in the development, assessment, and reflection cycle of student learning outcomes in their courses and programs. She also assists in the assessment of EVC’s Service Area Outcomes. Overall, her goal is to help establish a culture of thoughtful, equity-minded, and authentic assessment that truly focuses on improving student learning outcomes
Sheryl Narahara Hathaway, PhD
Sheryl Narahara Hathaway, PhD, is a digital learning expert with a focus on community-based participatory action research and instructional systems design. Her professional interests encompass neurodiversity, occupational narratives, and universal design for learning. Her career spans senior learning/development positions across major industry sectors, including defense, automotive, medical, sales, entertainment, IT, non-profit, finance and education. Dr. Hathaway’s expertise in course development, design thinking, emerging technologies, and strategic planning has been twice recognized by the international Online Learning Consortium. Currently, she works for Golden West College and California State University, Monterey Bay. Since earning her PhD from Indiana University Bloomington, master’s from SFSU, and bachelor’s from UC Davis – she is committed to creating dynamic learning environments for 21st-century students.
Heeju Jang, Ph.D.
Heeju Jang holds a Ph.D. in Education, specializing in Quantitative Methods and Evaluation, from UC Berkeley, and a Master of Arts in education from UCLA. She is a Planning and Research analyst at College of San Mateo where she provides research/evaluation oversight for all aspects of HSI-STEM grant and conducts research projects using quantitative and qualitative research methods. She designs and conducts research projects, and facilitate college-wide or department-wide discussions with faculty and staff about the alignment between instruction, assessment, and learning outcomes. She is also a T-Group facilitator at Stanford Graduate School of Business, and Stanford Continuing Studies.
Jarek Janio, Ph.D.
Dr. Janio is an associate professor of ESL at Santa Ana College, School of Continuing Education. He has been involved in Student Learning Outcomes since 2012. He has been working as a faculty coordinator, conducted research projects, written articles, and delivered numerous professional development workshops and webinars on the topics of assessment of student learning, equity, technology, and competency-based education. Dr. Janio founded the annual SLO Symposium in 2014, Friday SLO Talks in March 2020, and in collaboration with other coordinators California Outcomes Assessment Coordinators Hub (COACHes) in November 2021.
Enrique Jauregui
Enrique Jauregui has been an educator for the past 20 years and currently is serving as the SLO Coordinator at Fresno City College. He is dedicated to improving education for all students and acting as agent of change in the institution; designing, implementing and improving the assessment of Service Unit Outcomes and Student Learning Outcomes (Skills and Competencies).
Patti Manley
Patti Manley serves as the Program Review and Outcomes Facilitator at San Diego Miramar College and is also a teaching faculty in the Social Sciences-History Dept. She is dedicated to improving education for all students. She believes student learning, success and retention can be improved through campuswide collaborative efforts. She supports faculty and classified professionals through Program Review and the assessment of program and student learning outcomes.
Benny Ng, Ph.D., ACUE
Dr. Benny Ng is currently an associate professor of chemistry and the College Outcomes Coordinator at the Los Angeles Pierce College. He views outcomes and assessments as intentional work to continuously improve teaching and services provided to students. His goal is to create a culture of assessment that celebrates success and moves beyond compliance and accreditation. In addition to outcomes, he also serves as Instructional Excellence Specialist at Pierce College and ASCCC OERI Chemistry Discipline Lead.
Daniel S. Pittaway, M.S. Ed.
Danny is a tenured faculty member at Coastline College where he serves as the Student Success Coordinator and is currently the Student Learning Outcomes coordinator. He holds a master’s degree in education with a concentration in teaching English to speakers of other languages from Cal State Fullerton, a bachelor’s degree in history from Pitzer College, and a certificate in postsecondary reading and learning from Cal State Fullerton. He began his teaching career more than twenty years ago as a noncredit ESL instructor in Orange County, CA. He has also developed and taught reading courses with a focus on critical reading, specifically. He has been published both academically and as an ESL textbook series component author. He has developed curriculum for a variety of courses over the years and is currently engaged in research to understand the impact of artificial intelligence on higher education.
Liza Rabinovich
Liza Rabinovich has been an educator for the last 5 years and a lifelong student. She is currently teaching part-time at several community colleges in San Diego and working as the Faculty Outcomes Coordinator at San Diego Mesa College. Her teaching philosophy is to approach learning from a culturally-responsive lens to create meaningful learning environments that can extend beyond the classroom and cultivate independent learners. Liza is on the journey of continuous improvement and works to promote the advancement of authentic and equitable assessment at her campus to continue to support our students.
Amanda Taintor
Amanda Taintor began her higher education journey as a full-time Early Childhood Education instructor. She is now the Faculty Coordinator of Instructional Design and Outcomes for Reedley College. She loves challenging faculty to think about assessment of learning in new and creative ways stretching both herself and the faculty she supports in their pedagogical/andrological assessment and evaluation approaches
Bethany Tasaka
Bethany Tasaka is an associate professor of mathematics at San Bernardino Valley College (SBVC). She is also the Outcomes Faculty Lead and Curriculum Faculty Co-Chair at SBVC. She is the President of the Asian and Pacific Islander Association at SBVC and the Asian Pacific Islander Caucus Chair for the statewide Academic Senate for California Community Colleges. Bethany is passionate about advocating for API voices, lifting the stories of women, and breaking down silos in institutions.
