BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Senator Carol Liu, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular
Bill No: ACR 158
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|Author: |Holden |
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|Version: |March 29, 2016 Hearing |
| |Date: August 9, 2016 |
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|Urgency: | |Fiscal: | Yes |
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|Consultant:|Olgalilia Ramirez |
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Subject: Postsecondary education: transfers
SUMMARY
This measure encourages the Academic Senates of the University
of California (UC), the California State University (CSU), and
the California Community Colleges (CCC) to expedite their
current efforts to streamline the transfer process and ensure
that all general education credits can transfer between the UC,
CSU, and the CCC systems.
BACKGROUND
Existing law:
1) Requires the governing bodies of the three public
postsecondary segments, with appropriate consultation with
the academic senates of the respective segments, to
develop, maintain, and disseminate a common core curriculum
in general education courses for the purposes of transfer.
This provision requires that a person who has successfully
completed the transfer core curriculum is to be deemed to
have completed all lower division general education
requirements for the University of California and the
California State University.
(Education Code § 66720)
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2) Requires each department, school and major of the UC and
CSU to establish discipline-specific articulation and
transfer program agreements for majors with lower division
prerequisites and establishes a number of related reporting
and other requirements. (EC § 66740, § 66741, § 66742)
3) 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. (EC § 66746)
4) Requires the CSU to guarantee admission with junior
status to any CCC student who meets specified 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 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 measure encourages the Academic Senates of the University
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of California (UC), the California State University (CSU), and
the California Community Colleges (CCC) to expedite their
current efforts to streamline the transfer process and ensure
that all general education credits can transfer between the UC,
CSU, and the CCC systems. Specifically this measure:
1) States that:
a) All students deserve the right to choose an
educational institution that best
fits their needs;
b) Students should be able to transfer as their
circumstances change
throughout their educational experience;
c) Students of low-income and minority backgrounds
are the most adversely
affected by the lack of articulation agreements across
California public
postsecondary educational institutions;
d) Students should be given clear and concise
information on how to transfer
and how their credits will transfer;
e) Students should not have to retake classes as a
result of transferring;
f) The UC and CSU should have articulation
agreements with each other so
students transferring from campus to campus or across
the systems should not incur additional expenses or
time to retake classes previously taken at another UC
or CSU;
g) Special attention should be given to ensure
Science, Technology,
Engineering, and mathematics (STEM) classes transfer
across California's public postsecondary education
institutions;
h) The UC and CSU should have common course
numbering in order to
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improve articulation across campuses;
i) All general education credits should transfer
between UC, CSU, and the
CCC systems;
j) Transferring within the UC and CSU educational
systems should be
seamless for students and not require students to
retake courses; and,
aa) The Legislature recognizes the necessity for a
more cohesive, robust, and
fair articulation process across the UC, CSU, and the
CCC educational systems so students are not unduly
burdened while trying to transfer and are able to
graduate in a timely manner.
2) Resolves that the Legislature encourages the Academic
Senates of the University of California (UC), the
California State University (CSU), and the California
Community College (CCC) to expedite their current efforts
to streamline the transfer process and ensure that all
general education credits can transfer between the UC, CSU,
and the CCC systems.
STAFF COMMENTS
1) Rationale for the bill. This bill stems from a constituent
concern regarding transferability of credits from one CSU
campus to another CSU campus. According to the author,
"This resolution is seeking to streamline the student
credit transfer processes from across University of
California campuses and California State Universities." The
author asserts that although improvements have been made
with regard to transferring from CCC to UC and from CCC to
CSU, the same level of effort has not been applied to
transferring from one UC campus to another UC campus, from
one CSU campus to another CSU campus, or from a CSU campus
to a UC campus.
2) CSU and UC sister campus transfer process. CSU and UC have
policies that facilitate the transfer of students from one
campus to another within their respective segments.
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According to CSU, due to budget restrictions, campuses are
only enrolling first time freshman and upper division
transfers. CSU policy requires a student to transfer as an
upper division student and to have completed basic skill
requirements known as the "Golden Four" which include Oral
Communication, Written Communication, Critical Thinking and
Mathematics/Quantitative Reasoning. A student completing
the "Golden Four," requirement is considered to have met
that requirement at the campus to which they transfer. It
appears that a student who has not completed the "Golden
Four," requirement and transfers to another CSU is subject
to the regulations of the receiving campus. As such course
credit may not automatically transfer in the same manner as
if they had completed the "Golden Four."
Under the current UC policy, any student may be transferred
from one college or school of the UC to another upon
approval of the dean or other responsible entity of the
college or school to which admission is sought. According
to UC, transferring from one UC to another is rare but
should it occur at all, UC course credit on a main campus
is transferable to a sister campus.
3) CCC transfer pathways. For the past several years, transfer
reform efforts have focused on establishing a clear,
transparent and more navigable transfer process for
students transferring from a CCC. Most notably, SB 1440
(Padilla, Chapter 428, Statutes of 2010) established the
Student Transfer Achievement Act, which took effect January
1, 2011. The Act required community colleges to create
two-year 60 unit associate degrees for transfer (AA-T or
AS-T) that are fully transferable to CSU. 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. The Academic Senates of the Community
Colleges and CSU continue to work collaboratively to create
and approve new transfer degrees. According the Community
College Chancellor's Office Web site 1,000, associate
degrees for transfer are being offered system wide.
In addition, UC's transfer pathways plan for the California
Community College (CCC) students streamlines the admissions
process and help students better prepare for transfer to
the University of California (UC) system. The pathways
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outline a single set of courses that will prepare transfer
students for a particular major at any of the university's
undergraduate campuses. This commitment to ease transfer
from CCC was included in the 2015 budget framework agreed
upon by the Governor and the President of the University in
an effort to create capacity and serve more resident
students.
4) Common course numbering across segments. This measure seeks
to encourage Academic Senates to adopt common course
numbering in order to improve articulation across campuses.
The project that is currently underway, the Course
Identification Numbering System, is administered by the
Academic Senate for California Community Colleges as a
faculty-driven numbering system for colleges and
universities to facilitate the identification of comparable
courses and increase articulation across all segments of
higher education in the state. The system is a
collaborative effort of the Academic Senate of the
California Community Colleges, the Academic Senate of the
California State University, the Academic Senate of the
University of California, and the Association of
Independent California Colleges and Universities.
5) Is this measure necessary? It appears that there are a
number of standardize policies already in place to
facilitate transfer including to a sister campus within a
segment. As such, the Committee may want to consider
whether legislation is necessary to request the Academic
Senates to expedite current efforts. According to the
author's office, although polices are currently in place,
students still face hurdles particularly when transferring
from on CSU campus to another CSU without completing
certain general education requirements. If the intent of
the measure is to streamline the process for CSU students
that have not completed general education requirements,
should the Academic Senates be encouraged to expedite this
process when the legislative priority has been focused on
improving and creating transfer pathways for CCC students?
SUPPORT
Association of California School Administrators
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OPPOSITION
None received.
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