BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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Date of Hearing: May 11, 2016
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Lorena Gonzalez, Chair
AB
1985 (Williams) - As Amended April 21, 2016
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Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: YesReimbursable:
No
SUMMARY:
This bill requires the California Community Colleges
Chancellor's Office (CCCCO), in collaboration with the Academic
Senate for California Community Colleges, to develop, and each
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community college district to adopt, a uniform policy to award a
pupil course credit for passing an Advanced Placement (AP) exam
with a minimum score of three, for a California Intersegmental
General Education Transfer Curriculum, California State
University General Education Breadth, or local community college
general education requirements, as appropriate for the pupil's
needs, for a course with subject matter similar to that of the
Advanced Placement exam.
FISCAL EFFECT:
One-time costs to the CCC would total up to about
$120,000-around $20,000 General Fund for the CCCCO and Academic
Senate to develop the statewide policy and $100,000 (GF-Prop 98)
in state reimbursable costs for districts and campuses to
implement compliance with the policy.
The mandated local cost assumes about $5,000 per campus for the
10 campuses with no AP policy. This work involves coordination
among faculty and staff to establish and implement the policy,
including identifying where AP courses will substitute for
general education course credit, as specified in the bill, and
updating course catalogs for a process enabling students to
petition for exam credit. As discussed below, those campuses
that currently have an AP credit policy are, by and large,
already in conformance with the bill. About 35 campuses would
have to take steps to conform to the uniform policy for more
than a handful of courses. Average costs are assumed to be about
$1,500 per campus. At the remaining 68 campuses, costs are
assumed to be minor and absorbable.
COMMENTS:
1)Background. Upon successful completion of AP courses, students
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are provided the opportunity to take an AP exam, conducted by
the College Board, for which scores range from 1-5. According
to College Board, scores of 3-5 correlate to college course
grades of C to A. At to the California State University (CSU),
all AP exams require a minimum passing score of three in order
to receive college credit. The University of California (UC)
also grants credit for AP exams on which a student scores a 3
or higher.
2)Purpose. According to a College Board report entitled AP
Credit Policies at California Community Colleges, 10 colleges
do not grant credit or have unknown credit policies for all
available AP exams, 24 colleges require a score of 4 to award
credit, and 6 colleges require a score on some AP exams of 5.
According to the author, the lack of a systemwide credit
policy for the CCC creates an unnecessary barrier for students
in receiving and transferring credits. This bill requires
adoption of a systemwide policy at the CCC consistent with
that at CSU and UC.
3)Comment. Further examination of the College Board report cited
above shows that, aside from the 10 colleges that do not grant
AP credit, the vast majority of districts for the vast
majority of AP exams award college credit for a score of 3 or
higher, and thus are already consistent with the requirements
of this bill. Of the 24 campuses that require an AP exam score
of 4 or above, 11 colleges apply this requirement just one
course and only 8 campuses apply this policy to five or more
AP courses.
Analysis Prepared by:Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916)
319-2081
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