BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | ACR 158|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: ACR 158
Author: Holden (D)
Introduced:3/29/16
Vote: 21
SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE: 8-0, 8/9/16
AYES: Liu, Block, Huff, Leyva, Mendoza, Monning, Pan, Vidak
NO VOTE RECORDED: Hancock
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: Senate Rule 28.8
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 76-0, 8/1/16 (Consent) - See last page for
vote
SUBJECT: Postsecondary education: transfers
SOURCE: Author
DIGEST: This resolution 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.
ANALYSIS:
Existing law:
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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 UC and
the CSU. (Education Code § 66720)
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 CSU prior to the fall term of the 2012-13 academic
year. (EC § 66747)
This resolution encourages the Academic Senates of the UC, the
CSU, and the 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.
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Specifically this resolution:
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 classes transfer
across California's public postsecondary education
institutions;
h) The UC and CSU should have common course numbering in
order to improve articulation across campuses;
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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 UC, the CSU, and the 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.
Comments
1)Rationale for the resolution. This resolution 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. The CSU and UC have
policies that facilitate the transfer of students from one
campus to another within their respective segments. According
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to the 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,"
requirement.
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 the 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 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 CCC students
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streamlines the admissions process and help students better
prepare for transfer to the UC system. The pathways 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 resolution 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
CCCs 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 CCCs, the Academic Senate
of the CSU, the Academic Senate of the UC, and the Association
of Independent California Colleges and Universities.
5)Is this resolution 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.
According to the author's office, although policies 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 this resolution 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?
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal
Com.:YesLocal: No
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SUPPORT: (Verified8/12/16)
Association of California School Administrators
OPPOSITION: (Verified8/12/16)
None received
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 76-0, 8/1/16
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Travis Allen, Arambula, Atkins, Baker,
Bigelow, Bloom, Bonilla, Bonta, Brough, Brown, Burke,
Calderon, Chang, Chau, Chávez, Chiu, Chu, Cooley, Cooper,
Dahle, Daly, Dodd, Eggman, Frazier, Beth Gaines, Gallagher,
Cristina Garcia, Eduardo Garcia, Gatto, Gipson, Gomez,
Gonzalez, Gordon, Gray, Grove, Hadley, Harper, Holden, Irwin,
Jones, Jones-Sawyer, Kim, Lackey, Levine, Lopez, Low,
Maienschein, Mathis, Mayes, McCarty, Medina, Melendez, Mullin,
Nazarian, Obernolte, O'Donnell, Olsen, Patterson, Quirk,
Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas, Santiago, Steinorth, Mark
Stone, Thurmond, Ting, Wagner, Waldron, Weber, Wilk, Williams,
Wood, Rendon
NO VOTE RECORDED: Campos, Dababneh, Roger Hernández, Linder
Prepared by:Olgalilia Ramirez / ED. / (916) 651-4105
8/15/16 20:30:10
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