BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 1025
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Date of Hearing: April 9, 2013
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON HIGHER EDUCATION
Das Williams, Chair
AB 1025 (Garcia) - As Amended: March 21, 2013
SUBJECT : Public postsecondary education: credit by
examination.
SUMMARY : Requires the California Community Colleges (CCC) and
the California State University (CSU) and requests the Regents
of the University of California (UC) to provide information
about credit by examination opportunities to students wherever
course and class information is available. This measure also
requires districts to be reimbursed for costs if the Commission
on State Mandates determines that this act contains costs
mandated by the state.
EXISTING LAW : Several statutes and regulations govern credit by
examination.
1)Authorizes the UC Regents as the governing body of the UC and
grants authority to the Regents to determine final policies
and procedures on behalf of the UC (Education Code [EC] �
92020 and �92430).
2)Establishes the CSU Board of Trustees (BOT) as the governing
body of the CSU and specifies the BOT's power, duties and
functions with respect to the management, administration, and
control of the CSU (EC � 66600 and � 66606).
3)Authorizes the governing board of each CCC district to adopt
policies and procedures pertaining to credit by examination
and allows for the governing board of the CCC district to
grant credit to any student who satisfactorily passes an
examination approved or conducted by proper authorities of the
college (5 California Code of Regulations � 55050).
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS : Purpose of this bill . According to the author, "Due
to congestion, many college students are finding it hard to
complete their education in a timely manner. One option a
student can utilize in order to progress faster is the ability
to gain credit by examination, for courses that they have prior
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knowledge of." The author contends that many students are not
aware of the availability of the credit by examination option or
even how to utilize it. The author states, "It may be that in
the past counselors were relied on for the dissemination of the
information, however due to budget cuts it [is] difficult for
student[s] to see a counselor in a timely manner."
Additionally, the author believes that some college professors
are not even aware of where to find information relating to
credit by examination. According to the author, "The amount of
information available [as it relates to credit by examination]
varies from school to school with some posting the forms needed
while other are less detailed. With the internet so heavily
[accessible], any and all information that would be used by the
student should be available there.
Credit by examination . A variety of credit by examination tests
are used and accepted by the UC, CSU, and CCC. Credit by
examination tests are comprised of campus-originated challenge
examinations (differentiated from placement examinations) and
the standardized external examinations, such as Advance
Placement (AP) tests, International Baccalaureate (IB) and
College Level Entrance Program (CLEP). AP and IB exams are
taken by high school pupils who were enrolled in AP and IB
classes in high school.
A recent research brief by the Council for Adult and
Experiential Learning (CAEL), found that underserved students
who earn credit through prior learning assessments have higher
degree to completion rates and shorter time-to-degree. CAEL
also found that there is a financial savings benefit for
low-income students who take and successfully pass credit by
examination tests, since the cost of having prior learning
evaluated for credit is typically less than the cost of the
tuition for the same number of credit hours.
Segment polices . The UC, CSU, and CCC already appear to have
policies and procedures in place to ensure students have
multiple ways of receiving all the information they need
regarding credit by examination.
1)The UC admissions website lists all of the UC accepted credit
by examination options. Additionally, according to the UC
Office of the President, UC confers regularly with high school
guidance counselors regarding the UC admissions policies,
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including credit by examination. The UC admissions directors
and staff at each campus regularly attend college fairs on
high school and CCC campuses and speak at a variety of other
venues to address questions from prospective students
including credit by examination.
2)Three years ago, the Academic Senate of the CSU unanimously
endorsed a policy providing guidelines for the use of CLEP
examinations as the basis for awarding general education
credit. This policy applies to CSU students and to those
planning to transfer to a CSU campus. The CSU provided their
guidelines to the CCC whose students transfer to the CSU; the
guidelines inform the CCC students how to apply CLEP
examinations toward certifications of general education
requirements prior to transfer. Additionally, the CSU
partnered with the College Board (administers of the CLEP
examinations) to ensure students are made aware of their CLEP
options. According to the CSU and the College Board, students
are made aware of their CLEP examination options in a number
of ways, including, via faculty and advisers, admissions
office, adult and/or veterans office, registrar's office and
campus testing centers. Additionally, the CSU has posted
their CLEP policies on their website and have included their
credit by exam policies in their catalogs and other
publications for students and parents.
3)The Academic Senate for the CCC endorsed their newest policy
providing guidelines for the use of CLEP examinations as the
basis for awarding general education credit in June of 2011.
The Academic Senate's policy is very similar to that of the
CSU (as described above). Additionally, according to a
January 2013 credit by examination survey performed by the CCC
Chancellor's Office and completed by 74 CCC campuses, every
college expressed they have credit by examination policies and
procedures clearly defined and relayed to their students. The
respondents also stated that their college credit by
examination policies and procedures are listed in all course
catalogs and on their websites.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
None on file.
AB 1025
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Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by : Jeanice Warden / HIGHER ED. / (916)
319-3960