BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Carol Liu, Chair
2013-2014 Regular Session
BILL NO: SB 440
AUTHOR: Padilla
AMENDED: April 25, 2013
FISCAL COMM: Yes HEARING DATE: May 1, 2013
URGENCY: No CONSULTANT:Kathleen Chavira
SUBJECT : Student Transfer Achievement Reform Act (STAR).
SUMMARY
This bill expands the provisions of the Student Transfer
Achievement Reform Act established by SB 1440 (Padilla, Chapter
428, Statutes of 2010) to require that the California Community
Colleges (CCC) create associate transfer degrees in every major,
and in areas of emphasis within majors before academic year
2014-15 and 2016-2017, respectively, and to require that the
California State University (CSU) accept these degrees, and
develop an admissions redirection process for students who
complete these degrees but are denied admission to the CSU
campus to which they have applied. The bill also requires the
CCC and the CSU to establish a student-centered communication
and marketing strategy to increase the visibility of the
associate degree for transfer pathway, as specified.
BACKGROUND
Current law requires a CCC district to develop and grant a
transfer associate degree that deems the student eligible for
transfer into the CSU, when the student meets specified course
requirements. (Education Code § 66746)
Current law also requires the CSU to guarantee admission with
junior status to any community college student who meets these
requirements, but provides that the student is not guaranteed
admission for specific majors or campuses. However, the CSU is
required to grant a student priority admission to his or her
local CSU campus and to a program or major that is similar to
his or her community college major or area of emphasis, as
determined by the CSU campus to which the student is admitted.
Students that utilize the associate transfer degree process are
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required to receive priority over all other community college
transfer students, except for community college students who
have entered into a transfer agreement between a community
college and the California State University prior to the fall
term of the 2012-13 academic year.
(EC § 66747)
ANALYSIS
This bill :
1) Requires a community college to:
a) Create an associate degree for transfer
in every major offered by that college that has no
approved transfer model curriculum prior to the
2014-15 academic year.
b) Create an associate degree for transfer
in areas of emphasis for applied sciences, formal
sciences, humanities, natural sciences, social
sciences, and other areas prior to the commencement of
the 2016-17 academic year.
2) Requires a California State University (CSU) campus to
accept transfer model curriculum-aligned associate degrees
for transfer in each of the CSU degree options within a
major field, and defines "degree option" as an area of
specialization within a degree program.
3) Requires the CSU to accept transfer model
curriculum-aligned associate degrees for transfer in each
of the areas of emphasis outlined in (1)(b).
4) Requires the CSU to develop an admissions redirection
process for students admitted under the Student Transfer
Achievement Reform Act (STAR) program, but denied
acceptance at the campuses to which they have applied, and
requires that this process be aligned with the guarantee of
admission into the CSU system under the STAR program.
5) Requires the California Community Colleges and the CSU, in
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consultation with specified entities, to develop a student
centered marketing strategy to increase the visibility of
the associate degree for transfer pathway that includes
outreach to high schools, posters, banners, and marquees,
radio advertisements, outreach to students considering CSU
attendance, in community college course catalogs, and
information on campus websites and on the
CaliforniaColleges.edu website.
6) Makes a number of related declarations and findings,
including that, current efforts to implement the Student
Transfer Achievement Reform Act alone are insufficient to
ensure that the associate degree for transfer becomes the
preferred transfer pathway for all students across the
state.
STAFF COMMENTS
1) Author's intent . According to the author, nearly three
years after the passage of legislation to establish the
Student Transfer Reform Act
(SB 1440, Padilla, Chapter 428, Statutes of 2010) there are
still foundational elements that are lacking in the access,
flexibility, and communication of this new degree and
transfer pathway. Without robust implementation of
SB 1440 and a recommitment to the state's transfer mission,
students, and ultimately the State of California, will
suffer.
2) History . In an effort to address long standing issues and
concerns about the need to ensure a clearer, transparent
and more navigable transfer process between the California
Community Colleges (CCC) and the California State
University (CSU), the Legislature and Governor enacted SB
1440 (Padilla, Chapter 428, Statutes of 2010). This
legislation required community colleges to create two-year
60 unit associate degrees for transfer that are fully
transferable to CSU. These degrees require completion of
(1) a minimum of 18 units in a major or area of emphasis,
as determined by each community college, and (2) an
approved set of general education requirements. Students
who earn such a degree are automatically eligible to
transfer to the CSU system as an upper-division student in
a bachelor's degree program. Though these students are not
guaranteed admission to a particular CSU campus or into a
particular degree program, SB 1440 gives them priority
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admission to a CSU program that is "similar" to the
student's CCC major or area of emphasis, as determined by
the CSU campus to which the student is admitted. Once
admitted, SB 1440 students need only complete two
additional years (an additional 60 units) of coursework to
earn a bachelor's degree.
SB 1440 also required that the Legislative Analyst's Office
(LAO) provide a status report to the Legislature by spring
2012 on the segments' progress in implementing the bill's
provisions.
3) Related LAO report . In May 2012, the LAO issued Reforming
the State's Transfer Process: A Progress Report on Senate
Bill SB 1440. According to the LAO, although the CCC and
CSU made notable progress on multiple fronts, both segments
have much room for improvement. According to the LAO, an
average of just four associate degrees for transfer had
been developed per community college. In addition, a number
of community colleges have expressed reluctance to create
more than a handful of such degrees despite the CCC
Chancellor's Office goal that, by 2014, each community
college have a Transfer Model Curriculum (TMC) aligned
associate degree for transfer in every major it offers.
The LAO also reports that CSU campuses and academic
programs vary significantly in terms of accepting the
associate transfer degrees for their bachelor's degree
programs. Although the CSU Chancellor's Office had set a
goal for each CSU campus to offer at least one similar
degree for each TMC-aligned associate degree for transfer,
only six CSU campuses had achieved this goal.
Based on the progress to date in matching TMC to CSU
majors, the LAO opines that a significant number of CCC
students with an associate degree for transfer could be
denied many of the benefits of SB 1440.
4) Transfer Model Curricula (TMC) . This bill requires that,
prior to the 2014-15 academic year, a California Community
Colleges (CCC) create an associate degree for transfer in
every major that has a transfer model curriculum. Though
SB 1440 did not require it, intersegmental faculty has
developed TMC for a number of the most commonly transferred
majors. The TMC identify a set of lower division courses in
a major that will prepare CCC transfer students for the
more advanced coursework they take as juniors and seniors
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at California State University (CSU). Once a TMC is
approved by faculty, community colleges use it to design an
associate degree for transfer in that particular major.
According to the LAO's report (see staff comment #3) CCC
and CSU faculty had approved TMC for 18 majors with eight
additional TMC under development. In addition, a
Chancellor's Office survey found that about 15 colleges had
associates degrees for transfer either developed or in the
process of being developed for each major they offered with
an approved TMC.
5) LAO Report/Recommendations . The LAO made several
recommendations in
their report, including that the Legislature provide
additional guidance and clarification to CCC and CSU on
their responsibilities, as well as continued oversight to
track their progress. Specific recommendations for the
Legislature also included:
a) Statutorily endorsing the TMC approach as the
preferred basis for associate degrees for transfer,
and setting an expectation for the development of
additional TMC (such as that TMC disciplines cover at
least 90 percent of CCC transfer enrollments at CSU).
b) Statutory clarification that community colleges
are expected to create an associate degree for
transfer in every major they offer that has an
approved TMC, and consider establishing a timeline for
achievement of full compliance.
c) Statutorily clarifying its expectation that, with
limited exceptions, CSU campuses accept TMC aligned
associate degrees for transfer in each of the CSU
degree options within a given major.
d) Beginning to identify next steps if the segments
fall short of meeting the these goals, including
involving external entities to address areas of poor
compliance and the loss of some state funding or
increases if goals are exceeded.
Some of the provisions of this bill are consistent with
these recommendations.
6) Current status of SB 1440 implementation . According to the
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California Community Colleges, as of March 26, 2013, 616
associate degrees for transfer are being offered system
wide, representing 37 percent of the system wide goal. At
the time of the completion of this analysis, the CSU was
unable to provide information on the number of students who
had completed this transfer pathway and been accepted to a
campus of the CSU. In addition, the Campaign for College
Opportunity reports that an informal survey of 200 students
at San Francisco City College showed that more than 80% of
students surveyed had not heard of the associate degree for
transfer program.
SUPPORT
Alliance for College Ready Public Schools
Campaign for College Opportunity
California Communities United Institute
Hispanas Organized for Political Equality's (HOPE)
Mexican American Legal Defense & Educational Fund (MALDEF)
Partnership Scholars Program
OPPOSITION
None received.