MCCCD HIRING QUALS & the HLC Standards By Cheryl Dellai for AAPT Meeting

Who controls Accreditation for Arizona? US Department of Education ◦ Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA)  The Higher Learning Commission (HLC)  / By law, the U.S. Department of Education (USDE) relies in part on accrediting agencies to determine eligibility for U.S. government assistance under certain legislation. USDE oversees a recognition program by which it identifies reliable authorities on the quality of educational organizations and programs. The Commission is among these governmentally recognized authorities and seeks renewal of USDE recognition at least every five years. Without accreditation credits can not transferred or federal student loans granted. The Commission and the U.S. Department of Education The Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) is a private nonprofit organization that coordinates accreditation activities in the United States. CHEA represents degree-granting colleges and universities as well as institutional and programmatic accrediting organizations. According to its mission statement, CHEA will serve students and their families, colleges and universities, sponsoring bodies, governments, and employers by promoting academic quality through formal recognition of higher education accrediting bodies and will coordinate and work to advance self-regulation through accreditation.” CHEA also provides information about accreditation, degree mills, and accreditation mills. The Higher Learning Commission is a CHEA-recognized accrediting body. The Commission’s CHEA recognition was reaffirmed in CHEA Any post secondary institution can be found using the CHEA database. It will give you the accrediting agency.

Who controls Accreditation for Arizona? US Department of Education ◦ Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA )  The Higher Learning Commission (HLC) The Higher Learning Commission1952/2015/F2017 The Higher Learning Commission (HLC) is an independent corporation that was founded in 1895 as one of six regional institutional accreditors in the United States. HLC accredits degree-granting post-secondary educational institutions in the North Central region, which includes the following 19 states: ArizonaArkansasColoradoIllinoisIndianaIowaKansas MichiganMinnesotaMissouriNebraskaNew Mexico North Dakota Ohio OklahomaSouth Dakota West Virginia WisconsinWyoming

NEW HLC Standards Effective September 2017 These guidelines have been revised twice in Academic Year 2015–2016 (October 2015 and March 2016) in response to the interests and needs of Higher Learning Commission (HLC) member institutions and peer reviewers following the adoption of a policy revision to Assumed Practice B.2. by HLC’s Board of Trustees on June 26, With the exception noted in the bullet immediately following, faculty teaching in undergraduate programs should hold a degree at least one level above that of the program in which they are teaching. If a faculty member holds a master’s degree or higher in a discipline other than that in which he or she is teaching, that faculty member should have completed a minimum of 18 graduate credit hours in the discipline in which he or she is teaching. If an individual faculty member has not achieved 18 graduate credit hours in the discipline in which he or she teaches, the institution should be able to explain and justify its decision to assign the individual to the courses taught. These decisions should be supported by policy and procedure that are acceptable to the professional judgment of HLC peer reviewers. This is from the March 2016 paper

NEW HLC Standards Effective September 2017 If an individual faculty member has not achieved 18 graduate credit hours in the discipline in which he or she teaches, the institution should be able to explain and justify its decision to assign the individual to the courses taught. These decisions should be supported by policy and procedure that are acceptable to the professional judgment of HLC peer reviewers. Assumed Practice (B2)refers to academic subfields. An academic subfield refers to a component of the discipline in which the instruction is delivered. The focus, in the context of HLC accreditation, is on the courses being taught and the general appropriateness of faculty qualifications with reference to such courses. The key consideration is whether a degree in the field or a focus in the specialization held by a faculty member appropriately matches the courses the faculty member would teach in accordance with the conventions of the academic field This is from the March 2016 paper

NEW HLC Standards Tested Experience Faculty teaching in career and technical education college-level certificate and occupational associate’s degree programs should hold a bachelor’s degree in the field and/or a combination of education, training and tested experience. (Note: See the Tested Experience section ) Such qualifications are allowable even in instances where technical/occupational courses transfer, which HLC recognizes is an increasing practice. Tested experience may substitute for an earned credential or portions thereof. Assumed Practice B.2. allows an institution to determine that a faculty member is qualified based on experience that the institution determines is equivalent to the degree it would otherwise require for a faculty position. This experience should be tested experience in that it includes a breadth and depth of experience outside of the classroom in real-world situations relevant to the discipline in which the faculty member would be teaching. Tested experience is typically not based exclusively on years of teaching experience, although other experiential factors may be considered on a case-by-case basis. This is from the March 2016 paper

NEW HLC Standards Tested Experience The value of using tested experience to determine minimal faculty qualifications depends upon the relevance of the individual faculty member’s experience both to the degree level and to the specific content of the courses the faculty member is teaching. An institution that intends to use tested experience as a basis for hiring faculty must have well- defined policies, procedures and documentation that demonstrate when such experience is sufficient to determine that the faculty member has the expertise necessary to teach students in that discipline. In their policies on tested experience as a basis for hiring faculty members, institutions are encouraged to develop faculty hiring qualifications that outline a minimum threshold of experience and a system of evaluation. Tested experience qualifications should be established for specific disciplines and programs and could include skill sets, types of certifications or additional credentials, and experiences. Documented qualifications would ensure consistency and transparency in hiring and human resources policies. The faculty hiring qualifications related to tested experience should be reviewed and approved through the faculty governance process at the institution—a step that should be highlighted for peer review teams, as appropriate. (This is not currently in the MCCCD Physics Quals.) This is from the March 2016 paper

NEW HLC Standards Dual Enrollment MCCCD will be applying for an extension until September 2022 under the old rules for dual enrollment. This application is due by December The older standard: Masters and 24 upper division credits or Masters and18 graduate credits in the subject taught. There is no guarantee that we will get it. Determining Minimally Qualified Faculty in the Context of Dual Credit To address these concerns, HLC determined that accredited institutions awarding college credit by means of dual credit arrangements must assure the quality and integrity of such offerings and their comparability to the same college credit offered on the institution’s main campus or at the institution’s other locations. As such, the faculty members teaching dual credit courses should hold the same minimal qualifications as required by the institution of its own faculty. HLC recognizes that many high school teachers possess tested experience beyond their years in the classroom that may account for content knowledge for the dual credit courses they may teach. These teachers may have gained relevant experience while working in other sectors or through professional development or other relevant experience that now informs their teaching. In combination with other credentials and/or tested experience, they may be able to provide direct evidence of their students’ achievement on college-level tests that reflects a level of teaching and learning akin to a college classroom. However, evidence of students’ achievement, on its own, is not sufficient to demonstrate minimal qualifications. This is from the March 2016 paper

NEW HLC Standards Dual Enrollment HLC also recognizes that dual credit faculty members who have obtained a Master of Education degree but not a master’s degree in a discipline such as English, Communications, History, Mathematics, etc., may have academic preparation to satisfy HLC’s expectations. In this context, the curricula of graduate degrees in the field of Education, when inclusive of graduate-level content in the discipline and methods courses that are specifically for the teaching of that discipline, satisfy HLC’s dual credit faculty expectations. In other words, the attainment of a Master of Education degree does not demonstrate a qualification to teach dual credit courses in a particular discipline unless it is demonstrated that the content of that faculty member’s Master of Education degree is sufficiently related to the discipline of the dual credit course. Accredited institutions should monitor closely the earned credentials along with the tested experience of dual credit faculty with the understanding that allowances for tested experience may occur.. This is from the March 2016 paper

Summary MCCCD NEW Physics Standards MCCCD new physics standards are now officially HR policy. Supervision is at the local level. The new standard will be vigorously enforced after the HLC deadline (September 2017). We basically recognize as a graduate physics degree any graduate degree under the control of a valid university physics department graduate school. We basically recognize as a physics graduate course any graduate or concurrent course under the control of a valid university physics department graduate school or cross listed with a valid university physics department graduate school. The Physics and Physics Instructional Council will evaluate other graduate credit for graduate physics content.

Official MCCCD Qualifications for Physics & Physical Science Official MCCCD Qualifications for Physics & Physical Science The Physics and Physical Science Instructional Council (IC) of the Maricopa County Community College District (MCCCD) is firmly committed to maintaining high quality teaching standards and expertise among the Physics and Physical Science faculty of the MCCCD. In response to the Higher Learning Commission’s “Determining Qualified Faculty: Guidelines for Institutions and Peer Reviewers,” August 2015, to make the primary academic teaching qualifications at the community college include either a master’s degree in the teaching field or a master’s degree in any area teaching field with 18 graduate semester hours in the teaching field, the Physics and Physical Science IC supports the following guidelines for determining if degrees and coursework are within the teaching field of Physics And Physical Science. A master’s degree (or higher) in any of the following areas is within the teaching field: Physics, Physical Science with a physics emphasis, BioPhysics, GeoPhysics, Astrophysics, Materials Science, Nanotechnology Physics Education including modelling, Chemical Physics, or Engineering Physics Master degrees or higher from the MNS physics modeling program at ASU or other universities are equivalent to a master’s in physics for the purpose of certification. Master degrees or higher from the PMS nanotechnology program at ASU or other universities are equivalent to a master’s in physics for the purpose of certification. Master degrees or higher from the any program under the auspices of the physics department of the granting university are equivalent to a master’s in physics for the purpose of certification. Master’s degree or higher with subject prefixes of PHY/PHS/PHYS/NAN or individual courses that are cross listed with physics as determined by the college or university granting the degree or courses that have significant graduate physics content to be determined by the Physics and Physical Science IC. Or a Master’s degree or higher in any subject with or 18 graduate hours in PHY/PHS/PHYS/NAN without restriction or individual courses that are cross listed with physics as determined by the college or university granting the degree or courses that have significant graduate physics content to be determined by the Physics and Physical Science IC.

Official MCCCD Qualifications for Physics & Physical Science Graduate level coursework with the following prefixes, titles or keywords is within the teaching field: Prefixes: PHY, PHS, PHYS are the primarily prefixes for Arizona Universities for physics. The physics departments of one or more AZ universities do award degrees containing the following prefixes NAN, MSE, RONC, ASTR, AST, ATMO, PTYS, and OPTI. Any cross listed course with Physics any 400 level course that is also cross listed as a 500+ level course is counted towards the 18 graduate credit hours. A list or such cross listed courses are provided with this document. A list of all cross listed physics courses from the 3 state universities is provided with this document. The cross listed prefixes include U of ARONC, ASTR, ATMO, MATH, GEOS, PTYS, ECE, MSE, OPTI, IMB, IMBM, MICRO, PHIL ASUMSE, NAN, SEM, CHM NAUAST Titles or Keywords: General keywords Physics, Physical Science or Physics Research, Physics Seminar, Thesis Writing, Physics Education. There are five primary fields of physics - classical mechanics, electrodynamics, thermal and statistical physics, and quantum mechanics. Any graduate course must address at least one or topics from one of these 5 areas. The list on words would run into the hundreds. A short list would include. The Physics and Physical Science IC are the best determiners of what on physics course has significant graduate physics content. Graduate level coursework with the following titles, prefixes, or keywords would need to be evaluated by the Instructional Council to determine if it is within the teaching field: The Physics and Physical Science IC are the best determiners of what on physics course has significant graduate physics content. Any science prefix, math prefix or any engineering prefix may be evaluated by the Physics and Physical Science IC to determine if the course has significant graduate physics content. We reserve the right to evaluate non-physics courses for their physics content. This especially true for AST, engineering physics or engineering related (applied physics) courses, and Planetary Science courses. The person examining the coursework must be able to look for cross-listing of courses and course requirements for the master’s degree. The Instructional Council will evaluate any other coursework as necessary to determine if that course is within the teaching field. Furthermore, the IC recommends that any faculty members who may need additional graduate level coursework to meet the new HLC requirements, has their proposed course of study approved by the IC before beginning the courses to ensure that the course meets the qualifications of being within the teaching field. Classical Mechanics ElectrodynamicsThermal PhysicsStatistical physics Quantum Mechanics MechanicsElectricityThermodynamicsChaosSpectroscopy FluidsMagnetismMaterialsCosmologyNanotechnology GravityOpticsEnginesRelativityInterference WavesCircuitsNuclearSolid StateAtomic, Molecular

Official MCCCD Qualifications for Physics & Physical Science The Physics and Physical Science IC are the best determiners of what on physics course has significant graduate physics content. Any science prefix, math prefix or any engineering prefix may be evaluated by the Physics and Physical Science IC to determine if the course has significant graduate physics content. We reserve the right to evaluate non-physics courses for their physics content. This especially true for AST, engineering physics or engineering related (applied physics) courses, and Planetary Science courses. The person examining the coursework must be able to look for cross-listing of courses and course requirements for the master’s degree. The Instructional Council will evaluate any other coursework as necessary to determine if that course is within the teaching field. Furthermore, the IC recommends that any faculty members who may need additional graduate level coursework to meet the new HLC requirements, has their proposed course of study approved by the IC before beginning the courses to ensure that the course meets the qualifications of being within the teaching field.