Fall 2014 Articulation and Transfer Council Meeting Minutes
Pierce College Puyallup
October 16 – 17, 2014
Present: Kerrie Abb (vice-chair), Josh Baker, Tom Broxson, Matthew Campbell (IC), Joyce Carroll, Curtis
Crawford, Janet Danley, Nancy Dick, Rolita Flores-Ezeonu (past chair), Mike Flodin, Kara Garrett (via
Collaborate), Christie Gilliland, Joyce Hammer (SBCTC), Kyle Hammon (chair), Ed Harri (secretary), Mark
Harrison, Bruce Hattendorf, Katherine Hunt, Peter Lortz, Todd Lundberg, Eugene McAvoy, Peggy Moe,
Joe Shannon, Holly Smith, Mary Soltman, Elliot Stern, Michelle Hillesland, JEB Thornton, Vicki Trier, Rick
Underbakke, Peter G. Williams (treasurer), Joan Youngquist, Kip Zwolenski
Guests: Erin Blakeney, Cascadia (WSSSC); Bonnie Brunt, SFCC; Kim Chapman, Edmonds; Els Deming,
Pierce Puyallup (ARC); Bradley Lane, Seattle Central; Keith Klauss, EWU (ICRC); Sue Perrault, Yakima;
Jerad Sorber, SPSCC (ICRC);
Thursday, October 16, 2014
New member orientation – Joyce Hammer, SBCTC Transfer Director and ATC Executive Board
Joyce welcomed the new ATC members to the orientation session. There were 17 attendees, including
members of the ATC executive team. She distributed a folder with information about SBCTC, its
governance structure, and relevant acronyms. The role of SBCTC is to be a collaborative partner with the
34 individual colleges in the system. SBCTC can also guide discussions related to assignments from the
legislature.
As long as campuses stay within the requirements of the direct transfer agreement (DTA), campuses do
not have to notify the Joint Transfer Council (JTC) or the Intercollege Relations Commission (ICRC) about
proposed changes to their DTA degrees. Jerad Sorber spoke about the role of ICRC, which serves as a
subgroup of the Washington State Achievement Council (WSAC) working as an on-the-ground issue
finding body about transfer issues. ICRC often works in parallel with ATC. To be an institutional member
of ICRC, you need to be signed on to the DTA agreement. The JTC has mapped out the process for
looking at changes to the DTA.
ATC Chair Kyle Hammon noted that ATC’s mission is a combination of professional development and
maintenance of programs, which includes common course numbering and academic electives. ATC also
helps process transfer-related issues (e.g., Math in the DTA, PE activity credits, English 100) and
frequently makes recommendations that are voted on by the Instruction Commission (IC). ATC uses
workgroups to address the assignments from IC. New members were especially encouraged to ask
questions and introduce issues during the meetings.
ATC meeting welcome: Holly Smith and Tom Broxson welcomed attendees to Pierce College and
introduced Pierce College Puyallup president, Dr. Marty Cavaluzzi. Marty welcomed the attendees to the
campus and shared information about the College.
Introductions and answer session: Attendees introduced themselves and shared responses to the
following questions.


What new innovation(s) is/are being used in the classroom (either online or face-to-face)?
How has it impacted student success and learning?
Responses included a variety of innovations, both in and out of eLearning. Several members noted the
implementation of eLearning training programs for faculty, Quality Matters review of courses, and
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increased online support for students. Others mentioned the implementation of early alert systems for
struggling students and the continued increase in data utilization to understand achievement gaps.
Fall 2014 ATC
Roundtable Questions.docx
ATC executive committee report
Chair’s report – Kyle Hammon
Kyle welcomed the group and commended the group for its past efforts.
Treasurer’s report – Peter G. Williams
There was a balance of $1,101 transferred from the previous year. We have received $5,610 in annual
dues, plus one additional guest registration fee. There are still a few colleges that have not submitted
their annual dues, leaving $680 in dues and $110 in guest fees yet to be collected. That brings the
projected total balance to $7,556. If each host spends the maximum allowable of $2,200 on hosting
expenses, ATC would have a balance of $956 at the end of the year (assuming no further guest fees are
collected during winter and spring).
Secretary’s report - Ed Harri
Ed asked Mary Soltman to report on last spring’s minutes; Mary noted that she received one small
correction to the draft minutes via email. Christie Gilliland moved to approve the minutes and Mike
Flodin seconded. Motion passed.
ICRC report – Jerad Sorber (SPSCC), Keith Klauss (EWU)
ICRC met on October 9-10. There were discussions about the distribution requirements for the DTA. One
question was whether or not there needs to be two disciplines represented in the science distribution.
The baccalaureate institutions (BIs) responded that this needs to continue. There is continuing
discussion about how the BIs are accepting transfer degrees and that there is a need to check that the
catalogs match their practices and that the language is clear to students. ICRC concluded that
cumulative (and college-level) GPA should show up on the transcript, so a message will be sent to SBCTC
to make sure that it is available through ctcLink. There will soon be an update on PLA transcription rules
which have gone through SBCTC, but have gone back for minor revisions related to military credit
transcription.
There will be a review of the ICRC handbook to ensure handbook language is accurate and up-to-date.
New language needs to be incorporated, including the PE changes and a definition of activity courses.
Provisos have been updated.
There was discussion about AS-T and AAS-T degrees. The specific issue is that AAS-T is not a defined
transfer degree at the state level. The “T” originally stood for “tech,” but has evolved to be defined as
“transfer.” These degrees are causing confusion for some students. An articulation agreement is
mandatory for having AAS-T degrees. Definitions will be revisited at the spring ICRC meeting.
There was a proposal to include more language credit in the humanities distribution area; this will be
revisited in the spring meeting. At least one community college is asking why students cannot use 100level language courses for 10 credits of humanities credit instead of the current limit of 5 credits. The BIs
do not allow even one language course at the 100-level to count for humanities distribution.
Further conversation ensued about confusion on assigning distribution credit for certain courses. There
are several interdisciplinary courses that are not currently eligible for distribution credit (i.e., they
receive elective credit), but ICRC has stated that this should be reviewed. Matt Campbell noted an
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example of this confusion could be with a systems biology course that has both biologists and
economists in the interdisciplinary course. Joyce noted that undergraduate research courses are another
example.
A work group will be put together to review the ICRC handbook consisting of representatives from each
of the impacted sectors. The handbook review is specifically about making technical changes. Joyce
recommended that there be representatives from ATC looking at potential policy changes.
Action item: Holly Smith and Kyle Hammon volunteered to serve on the committee.
Kerrie Abb noted that YVCC is attempting to bring clear definitions to humanities and social sciences
distributions, and they have created definitions for arts and sciences courses. Jerad noted that, in
general, the courses that count as distribution courses in the social sciences and humanities have been
left as a local decision. ICRC has resisted developing tight rules for distribution courses to leave some
flexibility to the colleges. In the event clarification is needed, ICRC will typically defer to ATC on these
questions, since ATC is primarily composed of instructional representatives.
SBCTC report – Joyce Hammer, director for transfer education
English 100: English 100 resolution was passed last year. English 100 classes needs to be moved down to
a 2-digit number, if used for transfer, by Fall 2015. If English 100 is used for a professional-technical
course, it can retain a 3-digit number but needs to use a different prefix than ENGL.
Student absence / faith and conscience legislation (Substitute Senate Bill 5173): Presidents are
concerned that the message about legislation that allows students to have 2 days/year to celebrate their
own cultural/religious holidays without consequence to their grade is not reaching faculty. It is useful to
find a way to track these student requests in a central place, because a student would need to state that
they are missing those dates for all of their courses. One of the primary concerns surrounds clinical
hours in the health professions. Note: The higher education line is at the bottom of page 6 in the linked
document.
Jerad noted that this is similar to legislation for military service leave, and that SPSCC will be looking at a
system that requires students to notify the registration office; the registration office will then notify the
instructors. Student services VPs were notified about this legislative change at the summer WSSSC
retreat.
Action item: Kyle noted that we will address this issue, military leave, and pregnancy leave during the
winter meeting. Joyce recommended inviting AAG Dave Stolier to a meeting.
Competency based business degree: The Business DTA, taught through a competency based approach,
will be offered at 9 schools, beginning in winter quarter 2015. The degree is taught through 6-month
terms. The operations are housed at Columbia Basin College, and overseen by Connie Broughton. There
will soon be a call out for faculty positions, both full-time and part-time. There will be completion
coaches for students and an online orientation process. The degree is marketed to adults with some
college, but without a degree. It was clarified that CBC is overseeing the processes for registration,
advising, and financial aid; the faculty will work through CBC, but students will register through their
own institution.
There was extensive conversation, and a list of questions was identified for further investigation.
Action item: Joyce Hammer will look into the following questions and report back to ATC at the winter
quarter meeting.
1. Will the student transcript make it evident that the courses were taken through a competency
based approach?
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2. Will other colleges have access to the infrastructure developed through the consortium for use
with other competency based degrees they want to develop at their own colleges?
3. How will the student complaint process work if the students are registering at their own college,
but faculty are hired through CBC?
4. How will the science laboratory component in these courses work?
5. When can colleges that are not involved in the pilot join the project?
6. How will grades be awarded? Other colleges have only awarded credit or a fixed grade (e.g., B or
C) for completion. (Note: The linked CBE Issue Brief states that all grades earned will be A’s and
B’s).
SBCTC’s CBE Issue Brief
Dual credit: Historically, Washington state has offered college in the high school (CHS) programs and
Running Start (RS). CHS instructors are expected to meet similar standards to on-campus instructors. For
CHS, students pay for courses at rates set by the College and the partnering high school. In Running
Start, 93% of the funding goes to the College; 7% remains with the high school for administrative costs.
A study revealed that Running Start students pay an average of $200-$300/month for transportation
and textbooks.
There is nothing in Running Start legislation that states it must be held on a college campus. Some
universities and colleges are starting to do Running Start in the High School so they can tap into the
Running Start funding model; this has been advantageous for students in rural districts that have limited
transportation options. Joyce Carroll noted that there are WACs and RCWs that allow us to create
agreements with school districts about the use of property. Both models (RS in HS and CHS) could have
college instructors teaching the courses on the high school campuses.
There has been a lot of concern about this, particularly from presidents in central Washington. There is a
large work group looking at this issue, but there has also been a smaller, system group looking at this.
SBCTC is now making sure that our standards for CHS are clear. The position of SBCTC is (1) we are in
favor of dual-credit opportunities for everybody; (2) we want students to have the choice of model
based on what is best for the student, not based on differing costs. There is now a bill (dual credit
incentive program, $30m) being developed through the Washington Student Achievement Council,
consisting of three parts:
1) States that RS happens on a college campus.
2) The bill would also make CHS free. The funding model changes.
3) There is initial discussion for potential OSPI dual credit incentive funding that could provide
funding for low income Running Start students for textbook costs. They are also looking at fees
and transportation, but nothing is confirmed yet.
Joyce Carroll also noted that the language in the bill contains professional-technical options. There are
national standards for CHS accreditation through NACEP; EvCC is already accredited, but the bill does
not go as far to say that everyone has to be accredited. Concerns were raised about two primary issues:
1) Potentially different standards for BIs when it comes to hiring credentials
2) Different service districts for CTC’s and regional universities
Some colleges and high schools are awarding credit for coursework done in AP courses, regardless of
whether the students are taking the exams. This is a potential trademark infringement, and schools are
being cautioned to avoid this.
Legislative session: This is the first time in recent history that SBCTC is not requesting funding for
increased enrollment. Requests will be focused on Basic Education for Adults ($52.6m); performance
funding (SAI) ($57.6m); advising, career counseling, wrap-around services ($18m); opportunity grant
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($11.2m); STEM ($10.1m); rapid response workforce fund ($5m); faculty and staff salaries ($21.5m); and
capital projects ($367m).
Allocation model: A revised funding model has been approved by the presidents and moved to the State
Board, but there are still questions to be answered. The new model will increase the funding for Student
Achievement Initiative (SAI); include a maintenance level allocation; be based on a three-year average;
weight basic education for adults; and weight enrollment in high cost programs. WACTC still needs to
determine the percentage for the SAI funding; determine what constitutes high cost programs; develop
an annual stop-loss, stop-gain to protect against dramatic one-year shifts in funding; and determine a
timeline for implementation.
Action item: Joyce or Kyle will send out what has been approved so far to the ATC list serve.
Smarter Balanced assessment: This spring, high school juniors will begin taking the Smarter Balanced
assessment. A signed agreement between universities, colleges, and high schools prescribes the
placements in college math and English courses based on their test scores, but students can still use
another placement option (e.g., placement test, high school transcript) to place at a higher level.
WA_Final SBAC
WA_Final SBAC
Agreement_CTC.docx Agreement_FAQs Process.docx
Kerrie Abb and Ed Harri are ATC representatives on the implementation task force, being led by Bill
Moore.
Nursing DTA/MRP: The degree is in place, and the early-adopter schools need to align their curriculum
to the degree and begin offering it next fall. The degree is very prescriptive about the number of credits
allowable for different courses. Nursing directors and deans are meeting regularly with Joyce to prepare
for implementation.
ATC work plan development: Kyle passed out the goals, objectives, and strategies from the IC work plan
that ATC is responsible for providing information on and supporting. Matt Campbell reported that he
will obtain more clarity about the products that IC needs from ATC. ATC can develop its own objectives,
if it wishes. IC will formally approve the ATC work plan. Joyce Hammer reported that IC will want ATC to
report on the implementation of the competency-based degree, reverse-transfer, standardized
transcription of AP/IB, and implementation of Smarter Balanced.
Subgroups were formed, met for 30 minutes to plan the annual work, and identified a lead for each
strategy corresponding to an IC work plan goal and objective. Subgroups were tasked with identifying
strategies and deliverables in support of the objectives and strategies. After 30 minutes, subgroups
reported out to the entire group.
Objective
1.1
Description
Increase participation and success of underrepresented
populations in workforce and transfer pathways
2.1
Explore learning options that hold student
competencies as a fixed factor and time as variable
factors in learning
Increase transitions for students (1) among CTCs, (2)
From CTCs to bachelor degree programs, (3) from k-12
to college, (4) from basic skills to precollege to college-
2.2 / 2.3
Subgroup
Eugene McAvoy (lead), Elliot
Stern, Bruce Hattendorf,
Katherine Hunt, Bonnie Brunt
(for Jim Brady), Vicki Trier, Mary
Soltman, Kerrie Abb
Michelle Hillesland (lead),
Janet Danley (lead), Joan
Youngquist, Christie Gilliland,
Curtis Crawford
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3.1
3.2
level
Improve the ability of colleges to develop a culture of
evidence to drive institutional decision making
Support and improve high quality eLearning for students
including online, hybrid, and enhanced courses that
improves teaching and learning
Tom Broxson (lead), Mark
Harrison, Rick Underbakke, Ed
Harri
Joyce Carroll (lead) , Mike Flodin,
JEB Thornton, Kyle Hammon
Action item: All group leads will send their sections of the work plan to Ed Harri by the end of next
week.
Current draft of work plan:
2014-15 ATC Work
Plan.docx
Common course numbering subcommittee: Janet Danley noted that she has not received any common
course number proposals. Those can come in over the next two quarters; ATC votes on them in spring.
Academic electives subcommittee: Jim Brady is chairing the restricted electives task force. There are no
pending requests.
AP test score policy: Janet Danley distributed the most recent draft of the AP policy proposal, which has
now undergone several revisions. Mike Flodin addressed two major concerns with the current proposal,
particularly in the STEM courses. There is a lack of alignment with what the BIs award. There is no
differential in credit awarded based on the score, but there is at the BIs. Elliot Stern asked why a few
disciplines (e.g., English, political science) require a minimum score of 4. Janet noted that the group
looked across the system colleges for the scores used most frequently to award credit. Ed Harri raised an
issue about the Calculus BC exam being used to award credit for only Math& 152, but not Math& 151,
which is inconsistent with the course content and presents problems for AS-T and engineering degrees.
Christie Gilliland shared some concerns from GRCC faculty about English literature and psychology.
The primary question raised was whether or not the JTC directive was to develop a list identifying the
minimum requirements, but leave each college the prerogative to award more credit, if they choose.
Or, was the list expected to set the standards for minimum and maximum credit allowable? Jerad noted
that with the reciprocity agreement, a student could attend a college and get an AP score transcribed
and then use that result when transferring to another CTC. It was noted that we might be making
ourselves vulnerable as a system if we have different standards at different institutions. Peggy Moe
asked if we could vote on some of the items, if there are still items are holding being disputed. Mike
Flodin asked if the “elective” credit identified for the art courses could be used to satisfy humanities
distribution requirements.
Information about the content and outcomes can be found on the College Board website.
Action item: Members should share this proposal with their constituents and send specific suggestions
for refinement to Janet Danley. Discussion will resume in winter quarter, with a possible vote taking
place.
International Baccalaureate (IB) transcription: Mike Flodin reported that Tacoma CC generally treats
and transcribes IB in the same way that it does AP. IB schools give a diploma; TCC does nothing with that
diploma. For most IB exams, there are two levels of tests. It is the assumption of the IB program that the
higher level exam is the only level used for college credit. The IB website has recommendations about
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scores and credit but, at TCC, discipline faculty review the exams and make recommendations about the
scores and credit.
Kyle called for volunteers for an IB work group. Mary Soltman, Elliot Stern, Mike Flodin, Holly Smith, and
Kerrie Abb volunteered.
Action item: Mike Flodin will convene the group for its first meeting.
Adjournment: The meeting adjourned at 5:00p.
Friday, October 17
The meeting reconvened at 8:30a.
Professional development workshop: A Social Justice Paradigm for Academic Deans, Dr. Ata Karim,
Bellevue College
Kyle introduced the presenter, Dr. Ata Karim, Vice President for Student Services at Bellevue College. Ata
led the attendees in a discussion of leadership in a social discussion framework, which consists of access,
equity, rights, and participation. Ata asked participants to consider several questions throughout the
discussion, including:
1) What is social justice?
2) What are two examples of your immense impact on students whether or not you have direct
contact with students?
3) What are the differences in our own institutions between the stated values we espouse in our
mission and value statements and the demonstrated values we enact through structures,
processes, and practices?
The group also discussed hiring processes and strategies for making hiring processes more inclusive and
equitable. He stated that individuals will not apply for positions if they cannot see themselves in that
role based on the job description and recruitment materials. Peter Lortz noted that a team from North
Seattle College went to Oregon State University for search advocacy training. Ata challenged the deans
to consider their choice point: whether to be transactional leaders or transformation leaders. The
PowerPoint presentation and supplemental reading materials are linked here and are available on the
ATC meeting website.
Consortium purchase of TurnItIn : Kerrie Abb initiated discussion about the idea of a consortium
purchase of TurnItIn plagiarism software. The software is expensive and FTE-based, and Bellevue College
currently pays $34,000 for the use of the product. Discussion followed. Several colleges would be
interested in joining a consortium. There was discussion about intellectual property and the learning
environment that is created as a result of using plagiarism detection software. Many individuals present
have experience using TurnItIn for their own courses. It was noted that Jen Whetham, SBCTC program
coordinator for faculty development, expressed concerns about the use of this software, as do faculty
from other colleges. Others noted that where they have seen it become problematic is when faculty use
it solely as a punitive tool. Some students see this as a tool that helps protect them.
The following colleges are currently using it: Wenatchee, Peninsula, Bellevue. Others have used the free
trial version.
Action item: Kerrie and Joyce Carroll will investigate the cost with TurnItIn. They will share their findings
via the listserve or at the winter meeting.
2014-15 ATC work plan: Kyle reminded all groups to submit their work plan sections to Ed Harri by
Friday, October 24.
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Statewide meetings: Joyce Hammer reminded the group of today’s deadline for registering for the
upcoming best practices workshop. It was noted that the large number of state meetings scheduled in
October is reducing participation in many of the major workshops, including the ATD meeting and best
practices workshop.
Wrap up: Kyle thanked Holly Smith and Pierce College representatives for hosting the meeting. The
meeting adjourned at 11:26a.
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