BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Senator Ricardo Lara, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular Session
AB 1985 (Williams) - Advanced Placement credit
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|Version: August 1, 2016 |Policy Vote: ED. 9 - 0 |
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|Urgency: No |Mandate: Yes |
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|Hearing Date: August 1, 2016 |Consultant: Jillian Kissee |
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This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
Bill
Summary: This bill requires the Chancellor's Office of the
California Community Colleges (CCC), in collaboration with the
Academic Senate of the CCC, to develop a uniform policy to award
course credit, as specified, to a student who passes an Advanced
Placement (AP) examination and requires each CCC district to
implement the policy.
Fiscal
Impact:
Mandate: One-time costs ranging in the low tens of thousands
to low hundreds of thousands for campuses to either create or
adapt their AP policies to a uniform policy adopted by the CCC
Chancellor's Office. These costs would likely be determined
AB 1985 (Williams) Page 1 of
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to be a reimbursable state mandate by the Commission on State
Mandates. See staff comments. (Proposition 98)
Chancellor's Office: Costs of up to about $20,000 General Fund
to hold two full day meetings with the CCC Academic Senate to
develop the uniform policy. If additional or less time is
needed to develop the policy, the costs would change
accordingly.
Background: According to the College Board, the provider of AP exams,
these courses are designed to provide rigorous academic
coursework opportunities for high school students. Upon
successful completion of an AP course, students are provided the
opportunity to take an AP exam. Depending on how the student
scores on the exam and policies for taking AP credit at the
postsecondary education institutions, the student may earn
college-level course credit in the subject area of the exam.
Existing law authorizes the governing board of a community
college district to adopt policies to grant credit for
satisfactory completion of AP exams. The faculty in the
appropriate discipline must approve AP examinations, scores that
constitute satisfactory performance, courses offered by the
college for which credit will be granted, and requirements that
may be met by such examinations in accordance with policies and
procedures approved by the curriculum committee. The student's
academic record must be clearly annotated to reflect that credit
was earned through an AP exam. (Title 5, California Code of
Regulations § 55052)
Existing law establishes the Board of Governors and the
Chancellor of the CCC to provide leadership and direction to the
CCC while maintaining and continuing, to the maximum degree
permissible, local authority and control in the administration
of the districts. (Education Code § 70901)
According to the CCC, most colleges take some AP credit. It is
estimated that 10 out of the 113 campuses do not have an
official AP policy. There is no consistent systemwide policy
regarding what score is accepted for certain classes, and
therefore the policies vary by campus. According to the author,
the lack of a systemwide credit policy for the CCC creates an
unnecessary barrier for students in receiving and transferring
AB 1985 (Williams) Page 2 of
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credits.
The California Intersegmental General Education Transfer
Curriculum is a series of courses that CCC students can complete
to satisfy general education requirements before transferring to
most colleges and majors at University of California campuses.
Proposed Law:
This bill requires the CCC Chancellor, in collaboration with
the Academic Senate for CCC, to do both of the following:
Beginning January 1, 2017 begin development of, and each
community college district subsequently must begin adoption
and implementation of, a uniform policy to award a student who
passes an AP examination course credit in a similar course for
the California Intersegmental General Education Transfer
Curriculum, California State University (CSU) general
education requirements, or local community college general
education requirements. Each community college campus is
required to post the policy on its website.
Periodically review and adjust the policy to align it with
other public postsecondary institutions.
This bill requires that if the policy is not implemented for in
the fall 2017 academic term, the CCC is required to implement
the AP policy adopted by the CSU. At the CSU, all AP exams
require a minimum passing score of three to obtain credit.
Staff
Comments: The level of workload driven by the enactment of this
bill will depend upon the uniform policy to be adopted by the
Chancellor's Office to which the campuses will have to align.
Workload will also vary by campus as most have policies in
place, which would require less work than those estimated 10
campuses that have no policy in place.
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Campuses with existing policies will likely need to spend staff
time aligning courses to a systemwide uniform policy which the
local governing board would likely have to adopt. Costs for
these campuses could range from minor and absorbable to about
$2,000.
Workload for the campuses without an official AP policy would be
more significant, and would vary by campus as well. These
campuses would need to identify where AP courses substitute for
general education area credit, update course catalogs for a
process that enables students to petition for AP exam credit,
provide staff with the information necessary to ensure credit is
appropriately awarded, and prepare materials for the local board
adoption. Depending upon the campus, costs could range up to
$7,500 per campus.
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