BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Senator Carol Liu, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular
Bill No: AB 1016
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|Author: |Santiago |
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|Version: |May 28, 2015 Hearing |
| |Date: June 24, 2015 |
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|Urgency: |No |Fiscal: |Yes |
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|Consultant:|Kathleen Chavira |
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Subject: Public postsecondary education: Student Transfer
Achievement Reform Act
SUMMARY
This bill requires the Chancellor's Office of the California
Community Colleges (CCC) to report to on the status of each
community college's compliance with the creation of associate
degrees for transfer under the Student Transfer Achievement
Reform Act and requires the California State University (CSU) to
similarly report on campus acceptance of transfer model
curricula by concentration, to the Legislature, as specified
and also require the CSU to post specified publicly available
data on associate degree for transfer students.
BACKGROUND
Existing law establishes the Student Transfer Achievement Reform
Act under which a CCC district is required 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)
Existing 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
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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)
Existing law requires the Legislative Analyst's Office to review
and report, as specified, on the implementation of the Act by
Spring of 2012. (EC § 66749)
ANALYSIS
This bill:
1)Requires the Chancellor's Office of the California Community
Colleges (CCC) to report to the Legislature the status of each
community college's compliance with the creation of associate
degrees for transfer by March 1, 2016.
2)Requires the California State University (CSU) to submit 2
reports on campus acceptance of transfer model curricula by
concentration by March 1, 2016 and by March 1, 2017.
3)Sunsets the March 2016 reporting requirements on March 1, 2020,
and the March 2017 reporting requirements on March 1, 2021.
4)Requires, beginning December 1, 2016 and until November 30, 2021,
the CSU to annually post publicly available data on:
a) The number of students admitted with an associate
degree for transfer.
b) The proportion of students with an associate
degree for transfer who graduate from the CSU within 2 or 3
years.
c) The number of students with an associate degree
for transfer who applied to one campus and were redirected
to another campus other than that indicated on the
application.
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d) The number of those students who ultimately
enrolled at a CSU campus.
STAFF COMMENTS
1)Need for the bill. This bill responds to recent recommendations
of the Legislative Analyst regarding transfer reform
implementation. It will provide additional information for
the Legislature to track the progress of the CCC/CSU
implementation of the Student Transfer Achievement Reform Act.
2)Technical amendment. It is the intent of this bill that the CSU
annually post available data, as specified, in a manner which
is publicly accessible. Staff recommends the bill be amended
on page 3 line 4 to insert a comma after "publicly."
3)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 CCC and the 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
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 to only complete two additional years (an
additional 60 units) of coursework to earn a bachelor's
degree.
SB 440 (Padilla, Chapter 720, Statutes of 2013) expanded these
provisions to require that the California Community College
(CCC) create associate transfer degrees in every major, and in
areas of emphasis, and required that the California State
University (CSU) accept these degrees, and develop an
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admissions redirection process for students who complete these
degrees but are denied admission to the CSU campus to which
they have applied. SB 440 also required 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.
4)LAO Report - 2012. In May 2012, the Legislative Analyst's Office
(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 had made notable progress on multiple
fronts, both segments had 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 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 offered. The LAO also
reported that CSU campuses and academic programs varied
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.
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.
5)Updated report. The LAO recently updated its 2012 report with
its February 2015 report, "Implementation Update: Reforming
Transfer from CCC to CSU." The LAO found that since 2012,
both CCC and CSU have made substantial progress in meeting the
legislation's goals. The 33 model curricula developed to date
cover majors selected by roughly 80 percent of CCC to CSU
transfer students. Although some community colleges and CSU
campuses were lagging in meeting specific statutory targets,
both segments were making a good faith effort to comply with
the legislation. Other specific findings included the
following:
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a) Several colleges offer all the associate degrees they are
required to offer by fall 2015, and others have developed
these degrees and are awaiting approval. Most colleges,
however, still have a few degrees left to develop and a few
colleges are lagging far behind.
b) Despite various communication efforts, most CCC students
are unfamiliar with the new degrees and mistakenly believe
that the regular associate degree they have earned is an
associate degree for transfer. The LAO notes that recent
CCC investments in education planning for students could
improve understanding of transfer reform.
c) CSU admitted every applicant the system identified as
earning an associate degree for transfer and nearly all
students who earned the degree but were not identified
during the application process. The California State
University (CSU) was unable to provide data on the extent
to which students were admitted into their campus or major
of choice.
d) Most CSU campuses accept associate degrees for transfer and
honor the 60-unit guarantee in at least one concentration
within each related major. Nonetheless, a few campuses are
lagging in acceptance, and a few majors have low acceptance
among several campuses.
e) While growing numbers of students are earning an associate
degree for transfer and successfully transferring to CSU,
outcome data are too preliminary to draw conclusions, since
most students currently completing degrees began their
postsecondary education prior to transfer reform.
To help the Legislature monitor these reform efforts,
Legislative Analyst's Office (LAO) recommends one near-term
report from California Community College (CCC) (in fall
2015) and two from CSU (in fall 2015 and fall 2016) to
track the segments' progress in creating associate degrees
for transfer and accepting transfer model curricula. LAO
also recommend the Legislature require the CSU annually to
provide data on certain student outcomes (including
admittance to campuses and programs of choice, units taken,
and graduation rates) beginning fall 2018.
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This bill generally implements these recommendations.
SUPPORT
Board of Governors, California Community Colleges
Cal Chamber
Campaign for College Opportunity
OPPOSITION
None received.
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