Amended in Senate June 22, 2016

Amended in Assembly April 21, 2016

California Legislature—2015–16 Regular Session

Assembly BillNo. 1985


Introduced by Assembly Member Williams

begin insert

(Coauthors: Assembly Members Dodd, Gallagher, Lackey, and Steinorth)

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February 16, 2016


An act to add Article 9 (commencing with Section 79500) to Chapter 9 of Part 48 of Division 7 of Title 3 of the Education Code, relating to Advanced Placement credit.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 1985, as amended, Williams. begin deletePostsecondary education. end deletebegin insertAdvanced Placement credit.end insert

Existing law requires the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges, the Regents of the University of California, and the Trustees of the California State University, with appropriate consultation with the Academic Senates of the respective segments, to jointly develop, maintain, and disseminate a shared core curriculum in general education courses for the purposes of transfer.

This bill would require the office of the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges to develop, and each community college district to adopt, a uniform policy to award a pupil who passes an Advanced Placementbegin delete exam with a minimum score of 3end deletebegin insert examinationend insert course credit for certain requirements in abegin delete course,end deletebegin insert courseend insert with subject matter similar to that of the Advanced Placementbegin delete exam.end deletebegin insert examination. The bill would require each community college campus to post the most recent policy on its Internet Web site. If a policy is not implemented for the entering class in the fall 2017 academic term, the bill would require the California Community Colleges to adopt and implement, commencing with the 2017-18 academic year, the Advanced Placement policy adopted by the California State University.end insert

To the extent that this bill would impose new duties on community college districts, it would constitute a state-mandated local program.

The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.

This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to these statutory provisions.

Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: yes.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

P2    1

SECTION 1.  

The Legislature finds and declaresbegin delete eachend deletebegin insert allend insert of
2the following:

3(a) It is the intent of the Legislature to establish a uniform
4Advanced Placement (AP) credit policy for general education
5within the California Community Colleges.begin insert It is the intent of the
6Legislature that the Chancellor of the California Community
7Colleges, in collaboration with the Academic Senate for the
8California Community Colleges, end insert
begin insertconsider, when adopting the
9uniform policy, granting course credit to a pupil who passes an
10Advanced Placement examination with a minimum score of three.end insert

11(b) Studies consistently find that pupils who earn AP exam
12scores of three and higher are likely to demonstrate multiple
13measures of college success.

14(c) The lack of a uniform AP credit policy often serves as an
15academic and financial barrier for students enrolling in California
16Community Colleges and is a transfer obstacle for many pupils.

17

SEC. 2.  

Article 9 (commencing with Section 79500) is added
18to Chapter 9 of Part 48 of Division 7 of Title 3 of the Education
19Code
, to read:

 

P3    1Article 9.  Advanced Placement Credit
2

 

3

79500.  

begin insert(a)end insertbegin insertend insert The office of the Chancellor of the California
4Community Colleges shall, in collaboration with the Academic
5Senate for California Community Colleges,begin delete develop,end deletebegin insert do both of
6the following:end insert

7begin insert(1)end insertbegin insertend insertbegin insertDevelop,end insert and each community college district shallbegin delete adopt,end delete
8begin insert adopt and implement, commencing with the entering class in the
9fall 2016 academic term,end insert
a uniform policy to award a pupil who
10passes an Advanced Placement begin delete exam with a minimum score of
11threeend delete
begin insert examinationend insert course credit for California Intersegmental
12General Education Transfer Curriculum, California State University
13General Education Breadth, or local community college general
14education requirements, as appropriate for the pupil’s needs, in a
15course with subject matter similar to that of the Advanced
16Placementbegin delete exam.end deletebegin insert examination.end insert

begin insert

17
(2) Periodically review and adjust the policy adopted pursuant
18to subdivision (a) to align it with policies of other public
19postsecondary educational institutions.

end insert
begin insert

20
(b) If the policy to be adopted pursuant to subdivision (a) is not
21implemented for the entering class in the fall 2017 academic term,
22the California Community Colleges shall adopt and implement,
23commencing with the 2017-18 academic year, the Advanced
24Placement policy adopted by the California State University.

end insert
begin insert

25
(c) Each community college campus shall post on it Internet
26Web site the most recent policy adopted pursuant to this section.

end insert
27

SEC. 3.  

If the Commission on State Mandates determines that
28this act contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement to
29local agencies and school districts for those costs shall be made
30pursuant to Part 7 (commencing with Section 17500) of Division
314 of Title 2 of the Government Code.



O

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