COMMON CURRICULUM: ARE WE LOSING CONTROL? SPRING 2012 ASCCC PLENARY SESSION CAROLYN HOLCROFT, FOOTHILL COLLEGE DAVID MORSE, LONG BEACH CITY COLLEGE CRAIG RUTAN, SANTIAGO CANYON COLLEGE

OVERVIEW Articulation of Courses C-ID Project TMCs and Associate Degrees for Transfer Student Success Task Force Recommendations

ARTICULATION: PROCESS & PRESSURE CCC course (COR) UC / CSU /Private U: equivalent? Articulation Officer submits COR Yes Student receives transfer credit No Feedback / suggested changes* *Is this really a choice?

C-ID PROJECT Supra numbering system to facilitate statewide articulation for major preparation or requirements C-ID course descriptors developed via joint collaboration between CCC & CSU Descriptors contain many elements found in a course outline Requisites Objectives Content CCCs submit courses for approval / equivalency with descriptor

DOES MY COURSE NEED TO BE AN EXACT MATCH TO C-ID DESCRIPTOR? Many descriptors distinguish required content from optional content CCC course must include all required topics and meet any other required aspects of the descriptor, such as unit minimums. Some optional topics can be omitted Requisites (Pre or Co) are typically not optional Reviewers understand that each college is different If any issues, you may receive feedback about revisions necessary for your course to be approved. This is similar to what is already happening with articulation

C-ID REVIEW PROCESS Each course reviewer goes through training provided by the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges Training guide provided to everyone (“C-ID Norming and Training Resource”) who is part of review process Reviewers required to attend a webinar Review process Reviewer responsibilities Primary reviewer (a CC Faculty Member) informs all course reviewers of specific items that must be included - Each discipline may be slightly different! Primary reviewer assigns one CC and one CSU Faculty member to review each course If both agree then decision is entered into C-ID by primary reviewer. If no agreement then primary reviewer can decide which reviewer they agree with or enlist a third reviewer.

C-ID AND LOCAL CONTROL: MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE? CCC faculty still decide what to include in courses CCC faculty make the decision whether or not to submit course for C-ID approval Major benefit to students if CCC courses have C-ID approval: streamlined transfer In most cases descriptors match the courses CCC faculty are already offering If a small change needs to be made, does that really mean CCC is no longer in control?

WHAT IF A MAJOR REVISION IS REQUESTED FOR C-ID APPROVAL? How could it be possible that a course that has already been approved for major articulation at universities, previously approved for CAN, etc. be rejected? C-ID is a new project These reviewers have not evaluated your course before. May be looking at criteria that were included in past Just like articulation for major preparation, courses at universities do change Could cause you to be asked to make changes to maintain your articulation agreement. Don’t make major changes to your existing COR without consulting Articulation Officer to contact local UC/CSUs to make sure changes won’t harm existing agreements

TRANSFER DEGREES Padilla (2010) – SB1440 AA-T/AS-T guarantee… admission to CSU system with junior standing students only required to complete 60 units after transfer to complete a B.A. in a major “matching” the AA-T

TRANSFER MODEL CURRICULUM Faculty Discipline Review Groups composed of CCC and CSU faculty collaborate to draft TMCs, collect feedback, and finalize TMCs Faculty Discipline Review Groups composed of CCC and CSU faculty collaborate to draft TMCs, collect feedback, and finalize TMCs CSU Faculty review TMC to determine whether: 1.The CSU offers an aligned degree 2.A student could complete the similar CSU degree in 60 units CSU Faculty review TMC to determine whether: 1.The CSU offers an aligned degree 2.A student could complete the similar CSU degree in 60 units If answer to both questions is YES, TMC and CSU Major are “similar”

DO CCC FACULTY DECIDE WHAT AN ASSOCIATE’S DEGREE IS ANYMORE?! CCC faculty have major input as FDGR (& DIG) participants Most TMCs contain many different course options – local CCC faculty can determine which to include CCCs do not HAVE to develop AA-Ts for every TMC AA-T gives MAJOR advantage to transfer students – CSUs drastically reducing admissions Is it really a choice?

BUT THERE’S AN ESSENTIAL CLASS WE WANT TO INCLUDE THAT’S NOT LISTED IN THE TMC Double-check: many TMCs allow any transferable course to be included under final category of TMC Even if not, CCC faculty can build AA associate degrees based on local agreements that are not aligned with a TMC Drawbacks: CCCCO approval isn’t fast tracked Wouldn’t automatically be given “similar” status at CSU campuses, would need further evaluation

STUDENT SUCCESS TASK FORCE RECOMMENDATIONS January ‘12 – CA Board of Governors endorsed and forwarded the 22 SSTF recommendations to the State Legislature Implementation efforts underway, involve three strategies: Some require statutory change (Ed Code) Some require regulatory change (Title 5/BOG) Many recs will be implemented voluntarily through dissemination of best practices Much concern that: (some) recommendations will centralize control statewide efforts to treat all students in the same way might cause problems for diverse student populations

RECOMMENDATION 1.1 Community Colleges will collaborate with K-12 education to jointly develop new common standards for college and career readiness that are aligned with high school exit standards. Most agree that alignment is a good thing for our students but who will be in control of this? Will it be a collaboration between the CCCs and K-12 or will the community colleges need to move into alignment with new K-12 standards? Logistics – how will collaboration manifest? Who will pay expenses? Will colleges be expected to make major curricular changes based on these standards? Will any changes be dictated or will local colleges be able to decide how they address this issue?

RECOMMENDATION 2.1 Community colleges will develop and implement a common centralized assessment for English reading and writing, mathematics, and ESL that can provide diagnostic information to inform curriculum development and student placement and that, over time, will be aligned with the K-12 Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and assessments. Does this mean that my college can not continue to use our current assessment even if it is working for us? What if this new assessment doesn’t work as well as our old one? Will we be able to change back or must we continue to use this new one? Who decides which common assessment? Are we just caving in to some off-the-shelf testing company?

RECOMMENDATION 5.1 Community Colleges will support the development of alternatives to traditional basic skills curriculum and incentivize colleges to take to scale successful model programs for delivering basic skills instruction. Will local colleges be able to develop alternatives on their own or will certain methods be preferred and encouraged? Will only certain programs be incentivized? What will these incentives be? Will this system lead to legitimate improvements in student success?

SUMMARY: NO REAL NET CHANGE IN CONTROL C-ID: We have always wanted our courses to articulate and would make changes to them to make sure they were approved. Now can gain articulation for major preparation with many CSU campuses with a single approval Transfer degrees: We still control what we include If a course that your faculty really want isn’t compatible with the TMC, can always create local degrees intended for transfer. SSTF Recommendations For many, still too early to tell how implementation will look Need to be proactive on our local campuses – many do not require local colleges to do something in a specific way so now is the opportunity to shape changes the way local faculty want

QUESTIONS? Thank you for attending this session. The presenters can be contacted at: Carolyn Holcroft: David Morse: Craig Rutan: