BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 372
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB 372 (Roger Hernández)
As Amended May 27, 2011
Majority vote
HIGHER EDUCATION 9-0 APPROPRIATIONS 17-0
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|Ayes:|Block, Donnelly, |Ayes:|Fuentes, Harkey, |
| |Achadjian, Brownley, | |Blumenfield, Bradford, |
| |Fong, Galgiani, Lara, | |Charles Calderon, Campos, |
| |Miller, Portantino | |Davis, Donnelly, Gatto, |
| | | |Hall, Hill, Lara, |
| | | |Mitchell, Nielsen, Norby, |
| | | |Solorio, Wagner |
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SUMMARY : Requires California Community Colleges (CCC) faculty
to provide military service personal and veterans an assessment
of college-level learning gained in non-academic settings as
part of the matriculation process according to the standards of
the American Council on Education, Council for Adult and
Experiential Learning, or other equivalent standard for awarding
academic credits, and requires CCC districts to implement these
provisions only to the extent that reimbursement for the prior
learning experience assessment is provided by the federal
Department of Veterans Affairs pursuant to provision to the
federal Montgomery GI Bill.
FISCAL EFFECT : According the Assembly Appropriations Committee,
50 CCCs already conduct the assessments required under this bill
for military personnel. The remaining 62 campuses could choose
to implement the assessments whether or not they are able to
receive cost reimbursement through GI bill benefits. These
costs would not be state reimbursable.
COMMENTS : According to the author, veterans who return from
service and use higher education as a means to receive a degree
and gain employment are not able to use their service training
and technical certification towards their college course work.
Many of these veterans are using the benefits provided by the
Montgomery GI Bill or the Post-9/11 GI Bill, depending on their
service dates, to fund their education.
AB 372
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This bill specifies the following two approaches, or their
equivalent that CCCs can use to award college credit from prior
training:
1)American Council on Education (ACE) Guide . The military
issues academic transcripts for active-duty service members
and veterans. The transcripts issued by the various service
branches are endorsed and periodically evaluated by ACE and
bear its seal. ACE also publishes the Guide to the Evaluation
of Educational Experiences in the Armed Services, which
provides recommendations to colleges for evaluating these
transcripts. The Guide's credit transfer recommendations are
based on reviews of military coursework by a panel of
university faculty members convened by ACE. These faculty
members review military coursework and occupational training
descriptions pertaining to their own academic disciplines,
evaluating them according to disciplinary standards and
expectations.
2)Council for Adult and Experiential Learning (CAEL) , is a
national non-profit organization that creates and manages
learning strategies for working adults through partnerships
with employers, higher education, the public sector, and
labor. CAEL offers services to facilitate successful
matriculation of adult learners in higher education, including
assessment tools to assist in evaluating current policies and
practices for serving adult learners, best practices utilized
by successful institutions, and research and evaluations of
prior learning assessments and student academic outcomes.
Since the determinations required in this bill are made at each
campus, the application of prior learning credit is uneven.
However, 50 CCCs are members of the Servicemembers Opportunity
Colleges (SOC) Consortium, which provide educational
opportunities to servicemembers to facilitate degree attainment
such as: 1) reasonable transfer of credit to avoid excessive
loss of previously earned credit and course work duplication;
and, 2) credit for military training and experience, including
use of the ACE Guide in evaluating and awarding academic credit
for military training and experience.
In addition, the CCC Academic Senate recently passed a
resolution urging local senates to apply credit for educational
experiences during military service toward the associate
AB 372
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degree-including the fulfillment of general education, major
coursework, and other degree requirements-in accordance with the
recommendations listed in the ACE Guide.
Analysis Prepared by : Sandra Fried / HIGHER ED. / (916)
319-3960
FN: 0000933