Ed Policy Committee

2004-2005

 

Voting Faculty Reps

(one vote per division)

 

Physical Education: Diana Cushway

Counseling co-reps: Lynne Douglas, Jacquie Escobar

Social Science/Creative Arts: Bridget Fischer

SMT co-reps: Cindy Moss, Tadashi Tsuchida

Business: Paul Spakowski

Language Arts/Learning Resources: Garry Nicol, chair

 

 

Non-Faculty Reps

Classified: Char Wulbers,Counseling

Student Rep, ASSC: Melchie Cabrigas, VP ASSC

 

Ex Officio

Dean of Enrollment Services: Sherri Hancock

Dean of Counseling: Jennifer Hughes

Matriculation Coordinator: Evelyn Seth

Vice President Student Services; Rosemary Ybarra-Garcia

 

Recorder: Linda Ghio

 

 

Ed Policy Meeting Minutes

September 7, 2004

 

Present: Cushway, Douglas, Fischer, Spakowski, Nicol, Wulbers, Cabrigas, Hancock, Hughes, Seth, Ybarra-Garcia, Ghio

 

1.              Introduction of new members and discussion of Ed Policy

Committee members introduced themselves and Garry Nicol explained that the Ed Policy committee reviews college-wide policies and makes recommendations that are eventually incorporated into the student handbook, faculty handbook, and matriculation and counseling plans. This includes policies on student success, matriculation, pre-requisites, assessment, and access issues.

 

2.              Approval of May 24, 2004 minutes

Minutes were reviewed and approved, however Garry noted that when the minutes were recorded, the English department was the only department that listed course credit for AP (Item 3 - degree audit recommendation). Subsequently, Linda Rosa told Garry that the math department is also currently offering course credit for AP. Evelyn Seth will ask Don if the minutes can be corrected on the website. Clarification of GTO (Guaranteed Transfer Option) was requested and will be added to the minutes. The May minutes were then approved with these amendments.

 

3.              AS Meeting Report

Academic integrity: Garry reported that Canada College rewrote its standards on academic integrity and The Sky AS recommended that Skyline does this as well. Rosemary indicated that the change to the policy could be about an update on technology. Char asked why a committee was not formed to review the policy and recommend the change for all three colleges in the district, and not just Canada. She feels that a committee should be formed to standardize all policies for the three colleges. Jennifer reported that the degree audit committee is working to come up with consistent guidelines. Rosemary said that the policies are all very similar between the colleges – the language may be different, but the outcomes on integrity, cheating, and plagiarism are similar. Garry asked Linda to provide the committee with a comparison of Skyline’s policies in the student handbook to Canada’s.

 

Proposed increase in degree requirements: A proposal is before the state academic senate to raise the state CC graduation bar with one more class in both English and math. The Skyline rep must vote on this issue in spring. The group wondered if the Skyline position should be decided by the Ed Policy Committee or the Curriculum Committee. Lynne asked if this increase is to be district-wide and Jennifer said that if it is sent to the state academic senate, then all community colleges in the state will need to comply. If the measure fails in the state AS, there is nothing keeping Skyline from deciding to raise the degree requirements independently, as did Canada. Several committee members proposed that graduation requirements are something decided upon by the curriculum committee. Char suggested that there be a basic skills completion policy for students as she has seen a significant problem with literacy in student applications. The requirements need to be reviewed and Paul suggests that perhaps there be two tracks (one for an AA degree and another for a certificate program). Sherri feels we should see what the state AS requires for an AA degree and what is required at other schools. Jennifer suggests that in order to make an informed decision, English (and math?) instructors provide a sample of student work to show us what the proposed new standards would equate to. Rosemary feels we should raise the bar and help students improve their skills. We would need to increase the number of classes in basic skills, and provide more tutoring and support to students to help them become literate. A lot is involved in testing and set up, but students should be able to write a general letter and compute math. Bridget suggests we get a sense of what the implications are and what basic skills our students need.

 

4.              Credit by Exam

The Credit by Exam (CBE) proposal was approved by Academic Senate. The information is now in the student handbook, however, when presented at Cabinet, Regina Stanback-Stroud was surprised that she was not included in the process because she felt that the committee eliminated language regarding CBE. Rosemary suggests that we involve the Vice President of Instruction in the beginning stages of any discussion regarding instruction. Regina will talk to Garry about CBE, Challenge, CLEP and AP tests. The Ed Policy committee rewrote the language to only address CBE and separated the policies to make it less confusing for students. Next to be rewritten are sections on CLEP, AP, and a Ed Policy sub committee will fine tune CBE. Now that AP will no longer be linked to letter grades, Ed Policy will drop “scholastic honors” from the catalog as a restriction in the use of AP credit. Similarly, CLEP cannot be used for scholastic honors. It only shows that a student can get credit. In contrast to AP and CLEP, if a student fails a Credit by Exam test, the new policy now in the catalog is that the failing grade still has to be submitted. None of the three –AP. CLEP, or CBE-- can be counted for minimum-unit athletic eligibility, financial aid or veterans’ assistance. Garry will form a sub-committee and will ask Char, Sherri, Jennifer and Evelyn to help him rewrite the language for AP, CLEP and CBE to put them together in the catalog with parallel descriptions to reduce confusions among the three. He will send a copy to Regina and will report to the committee at the next meeting.

 

5.              CSU Area Credit for AP

Garry understood that only English had been specifying courses instead of satisfying CSU area, but he spoke with Linda Rosa Corazon who said that there are other classes that are not in compliance. Jennifer reported that the degree audit committee recommends that we adopt the CSU policy, which states that on an AP exam, a student will get three units of content area credit instead of specific class credit. This will make it easier for students when transferring. The group recommends that the curriculum committee make the decision for Skyline, but we recognize that ultimately the other colleges could override the degree audit attempts to foster consistency.

 

6.              Computerized prereq updates by division

Cindy Moss reported that the math department wants computerized prereq updates, but Mike has to sit down with Eric Raznick to get it started. Also Skyline needs to be in agreement with other colleges. English is already doing computerized pre and it is working well. Cindy asked why we can’t get it with the printout of student information. Garry feels that a student should get it from Websmart. Garry mentioned that prerequisite challenge procedures must be set up as outlined in the catalog.

 

7.              Probation 2 holds

Jennifer reported that it is going well. When a hard hold was put on a student’s record, follow-up had to happen and the counseling department prevented new registration from occurring. Probation 2 holds could not be done district-wide because all three campuses need to agree. Jennifer has notified all students on probation that they must come in for a review with the counseling department. Response to the letter was very encouraging. Most students are following through and very through did not respond. Jennifer hopes that the dismissal rate will drop due to intervention. She then feels she has the leverage she needs to go to the other campuses to make a proposal. It will be a bigger impact on the counseling department, but better in the long run. Jennifer will report back to the group later in the semester.

 

8.              Goals for 2004-05: Next meeting agenda items:

a.     Plagiarism/cheating policy

b.     Fine tune Credit by Exam policy

c.     Proposed standardized district matriculation exemptions

d.     Updates on status of matriculation

e.     Degree audit priorities and updates

f.      Ongoing monitoring and support for matriculation activities