Winter 2015 Articulation and Transfer Council Meeting Minutes
Everett Community College
January 22 – 23, 2015
Present: Kerrie Abb (vice-chair), Josh Baker, Erin Blakeney, Cascadia (WSSSC), Matthew Campbell, Pierce
(IC, WSSSC), Joyce Carroll, Curtis Crawford, Janet Danley, Doug Emory, Rolita Flores-Ezeonu (past chair),
Mike Flodin, Kara Garrett (via Collaborate), Christie Gilliland, TR Gratz, Joyce Hammer (SBCTC), Kyle
Hammon (chair), Ed Harri (secretary), Mark Harrison, Bruce Hattendorf, Michelle Hillesland, Katherine
Hunt, Eugene McAvoy, Peggy Moe, Joe Shannon, Sharon Simes, Holly Smith (via Collaborate), Mary
Soltman, Elliot Stern, Rick Underbakke, Joan Youngquist, Kip Zwolenski
Guests: Connie Broughton, SBCTC; Gail Bruce, Skagit; Bonnie Brunt, SFCC; Sharon Buck, Lake
Washington; Narek Daniyelyan, Clark; Will Durden SBCTC; Kate Krieg, Seattle Central; Bill Moore, SBCTC
Jane Sherman, WSU (Council of Presidents); Jared Sorber (via Collaborate), SPSCC (ICRC); Valerie
Sundby-Thorp, SPSCC
Thursday, January 22, 2015
ATC meeting welcome:
Kyle called the meeting to order at 10:05a. Peggy informed the group that the meeting is being recorded
using Collaborate. Dean Eugene McAvoy and Vice President Alison Stevens welcomed the group to
Everett Community College. Dr. Stevens shared information about Everett Community College students,
facilities, positions, and programs.
Introductions and answer session: Attendees introduced themselves and shared responses to the
following questions. Is your college planning to develop an alternative precollege pathway to college
level math? If so, what are the faculty planning for the pathway?
Responses included a variety of innovations related to curriculum, placement, instruction, and
alternative pathways. The majority of college reported that they are either currently developing or have
already implemented an alternative pathway to liberal arts math and statistics. Most of the revisions are
too new to evaluate the success of the work, but many report promising early results.
Kerrie Abb reported that the statewide math task force has been discussing this issue and that they will
likely identify best practices, including having both a STEM and non-STEM pre-college pathway.
Winter 2015 ATC
Roundtable Question.docx
ATC executive committee report
Chair’s report – Kyle Hammon
Kyle commended the council for its ongoing work.
Treasurer’s report – Peter G. Williams (Kyle reported for Peter)
There was a balance of $1,101 transferred from the previous year. We have now received $5,950 in
annual dues, plus $440 in guest registrations. Expenses for the October meeting totaled $1,602.08,
leaving a total balance of $5,889. There are currently $2,089.94 in January meeting invoices to be
deducted.
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Joyce noted that the expenses for the fall quarter meeting were lower than expected. Fall was one of
the first meetings in which dinner and the Friday lunch were not provided using membership dues and
meeting registration fees.
Secretary’s report - Ed Harri
Ed noted that no revisions to the minutes had been received. There were no revisions proposed. Christie
Gilliland moved to approve the minutes and Bonnie Brunt seconded. Motion passed.
2014_Fall_ATC-Minu
tes-10-16-14f.docx
Discussion about IESL (Intensive English as a Second Language Program)
Eugene McAvoy introduced an issue that has come up at Everett with IESL courses. The IESL program
looked at outcomes for its pre-college courses and noted that the outcomes for several of their precollege level courses appeared more advanced than other world languages courses. They are proposing
to renumber these courses as college level courses that would be eligible for restricted elective credit.
Some participants expressed concern about the courses being transferable electives. Other colleges
have had college level versions of IESL courses for years, with no known transfer issues. A concern was
raised about these courses being college level if they would serve as a prerequisite for ENGL& 101. This
was seen as an equivalent issue to the English 100 issue. Jane Sherman noted that WSU has six or seven
versions of English 101, including one for international students.
Action item: Joyce will clarify if there are any CIP coding issues or any implication for student Visas and
report back at the next meeting.
Chemistry& 139
Elliot Stern introduced an issue related to new financial aid regulations that could impact CHEM& 139,
as well as other courses. The rule changes mean that college-level prerequisite classes not required for a
degree will no longer qualify for financial aid, except as electives. This poses a problem for students at
Edmonds that are required to take CHEM& 139 as a prerequisite for the general chemistry sequence.
Edmonds is considering renumbering the course as CHEM 099.
It was shared that previous attempts at creating pre-college level science courses have been
unsuccessful. Others were concerned about financial aid regulations dictating curriculum decisions. It
was decided that financial aid expertise was needed to discuss this and related issues at the spring
meeting. Joyce Hammer believes that a course that is in a distribution area (e.g., Psyc& 100) is not a
problem for this rule, even though it serves as a prerequisite for other college-level courses.
Action item: Elliot and Joyce will continue to look into the financial aid restrictions to determine if there
are ways to address this problem or other areas for which this new language will be a problem. Janet
Danley will invite the Walla Walla financial aid director to the spring meeting.
Spring meeting planning
Janet Danley asked the group about their preference for a tour during the spring ATC meeting, to be
held at Walla Walla Community College on April 16-17. Janet will work with the directors for the water
and environmental center and the enology and viticulture center to provide tours.
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ctcLink implementation update from Spokane and Tacoma
Mike Flodin updated the group on the progress of the ctcLink implementation from his perspective at
one of the pilot schools. The implementation has been delayed several times. There has been a lot of
training and the data has been converted, but there are required aspects of the system that are failing
tests. When the school goes through the cut-over process, the system needs to shut down for several
days for the data to be copied, tested, and moved. Tacoma and Spokane established a registration
period for spring quarter before and after the “cut-over” period. The schools are ready for the
transition, but the decision to move over depends on functionality.
Action item: Joyce H. will check to see if a ctcLink project representative can visit during the spring ATC
meeting.
Note: The following Monday, the cutover for Spokane and Tacoma was officially delayed.
SBCTC report – Joyce Hammer, director of transfer education
Competency based degrees: Joyce asked Connie Broughton, project director for the CBE Business
degree, to provide an update on the progress of the degree implementation. The Business DTA/MRP
degree is being taught using a competency-based approach through an eight college pilot project.
Students work in six-month terms, at their own pace, under the guidance of discipline faculty, with the
assistance of a completion coach. The program has 18 courses that are the most commonly enrolled
courses in the degree; the courses are transcripted in a regular manner. Open educational resources are
being developed. Students must receive an A or B grade to demonstrate mastery, at which point they
receive credit for the course. Some of the most important initial concerns – registration, financial aid –
have come together well. The course development progress is slower than expected, and Connie is
looking for faculty to participate in course development work. The standard work pays $500 for a few
days of course development. Faculty are needed with experience in with outcomes-based instruction.
Columbia Basin College, the host institution, is currently hiring four full-time faculty, six adjunct faculty,
and a completion coach. Right now, they are using the expertise of system faculty to develop the
competencies. They eventually want to also get feedback from business and industry.
CBC will start enrolling students in March. Other institutions will begin in July, following their
substantive change processes. Faculty are being hired in the WAOL model through CBC. The program is
not using a disaggregated instruction model, although there will be instructional designers building the
courses. The faculty of record will determine the content in its final form, develop the assessments, and
grade the materials.
Smarter Measure will be used to assess student readiness. The completion coach meets with the
students prior to starting the program to determine if this mode is a good fit for them. The coach also
meets with the students on a weekly basis to check on their progress and support.
The NWCCU is requiring a substantive change proposal from each participating institution; CBC just
received approval and is willing to share their proposal with other applying colleges. Both NWCCU and
the Department of Education were concerned about how the faculty would interact with the students.
They wanted verification that faculty interaction with students will be both substantive and regular.
There is discussion about this pilot project serving as a model for prior learning assessment (PLA).
Connie (cbroughton@sbctc.edu) would appreciate feedback on the competencies and curriculum maps,
which are available at Cbewa.org.
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Academic IBEST: Joyce introduced Will Durden, I-BEST policy associate at SBCTC. Will has been at SBCTC
for five months; prior to this, he taught English at Clark College.
I-BEST began in 2005 in ABE. It was created to better serve students who were taking basic skills courses
and improve degree and certificate attainment for students beginning at the basic skills level.
Academic IBEST consists of an English Bucket Course (accelerated model that is outcomes based) plus
another academic course. The benefits of Academic I-BEST include SAI points, an enhanced 1.75 FTE
model, new college enrollments, and retention and completion gains. Over the next fifteen years, we
have a major gap between enrollment growth and employment growth. There are a lot of students who
could benefit from an Academic I-BEST program.
A college that wishes to develop an Academic I-BEST program needs to complete an application. There
are quarterly team teaching trainings (next will be April 10) and quarterly administration support
trainings (first one will be July 17). Will can come to a college campus and facilitate a more in depth
presentation with expanded question and answer time for interested colleges. There are currently
academic I-BEST programs at Clark, Lake Washington, Lower Columbia, Peninsula, and Walla Walla.
Major related programs (MRPs): the Joint Transfer Council (JTC) tasked the SBCTC with monitoring the
effectiveness and efficiencies of the MRPs (major related programs). Joyce sent the list of existing MRPs
and number of degrees earned to the listserv. There were two programs – associates in technology and
construction management – that have extremely low total numbers of completers.
It was noted that the MRP degrees are important options for the technical colleges. When earlier MRPs
have been discontinued, other colleges often have other options for those students to continue to
pursue that type of pathway, but the technical colleges do not. It was also noted that the important
question is whether or not the BIs need these degrees. Jane Sherman stated that it was unclear, from
the JTC perspective, about the different reasons the degrees are not being used.
Computer Science AS-T: Joyce has surveyed the different colleges, and received feedback from half of
the colleges. Overwhelmingly, the colleges responded that the computer science AS-T is not working
well. The physics requirement is often more than necessary, there is not enough room for the entire
Calculus sequence, and there are also differences across the colleges in programming languages.
A team has been formed and asked both CTC’s and BI’s what is needed. There is legislative pressure to
improve computer science pathways, including a number of bills geared toward increasing computer
science requirements in high schools. A major part of the problem is BI program capacity. The system
has agreed to come up with some guidelines to give our students pursuing computer science degrees.
The BI’s would like our students to have two quarters of computer programming courses that both use
the same programming language. Jane Sherman is working with the BI’s to make sure that if we build a
pathway, they will be receptive. We are looking at common courses for not only the first course in the
sequence, but also the second course in the same programming language. All of the BIs except UW will
take the other language as the alternative. UW insists on Java. It was noted that takes a great deal of
work to get CS 142 and 143 equivalencies with UW.
Jane noted that the CS degree better fits as an MRP instead of an AS-T. It will take some work to get this
done. Jane believes that we can the degree down to only one or two courses that will require student
choice based on the BI to which they are planning to transfer. Mike noted that we need to be careful
that the degree can work for both students preparing for a computer science pathway or a computer
engineering work group, thus the proposal should also be sent to WCERTE.
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Action item: Joyce asked for volunteers for a work group: Kyle volunteered one of his co-deans. Curtis
Crawford and Mark Harrison volunteered. Jane mentioned that she would get Bob Olsen, engineering
faculty at WSU. Joyce will reach out to the dean at UW.
CCN Update
Janet Danley updated the group on a request for several Machining courses to be designated with
common course numbers. Sharon Buck, Dean for transportation and applied technology at Lake
Washington Institute for Technology, presented the proposal.
This project was a curriculum development effort funded by the Center of Excellence for Aerospace and
Advanced Manufacturing. Industry led the push for common course numbering, because it was not clear
how the courses at different colleges related to one another and students were disadvantaged if they
had to move from one college to another.
All colleges that offer machining courses were invited to participate. The meetings happened over a
year, along with representatives from Boeing. Along with the developed common courses, there are also
two short certificates that are available for adoption.
Proposed course numbers, titles, and credits
Number
MACH& 104
MACH& 109
MACH& 111
MACH& 112
MACH& 113
MACH& 121
MACH& 122
MACH& 123
MACH& 131
Credits
1
1
3
2
2
7
4
4
2
Title
Machining Safety
Work Ready Skills
Precision Measurement 1
Precision Measurement 2
Inspection GD&T
Mat’l Removal Processes 1
Mat’l Removal Processes 2
Mat’l Removal Processes 3
CNC Programming 1
Number
MACH& 132
MACH& 135
MACH& 151
MACH& 152
MACH& 153
MACH& 161
MACH& 162
MACH& 171
Credits
4
2
2
3
2
3
2
2
Title
Intro to CNC Operations
Production Environments
Machining Math 1
Machining Math 2
Machining Math 3
Drawings and Specs
Intro to GD&T
Intro to CAD/CAM Systems
Participants praised the thoroughness of the proposal, and agreed that no further crosswalk information
was needed to supplement the proposal. Concerns were raised about a few issues. Could common
course numbers in a professional-technical program make it more difficult to respond to differences in
local industry needs? Sharon responded that the identified courses are at the lower levels and quite
common across different machining industries. Is the prefix MACH& too similar to MATH&, particularly
when some of the courses have “math” in their titles? Sharon agreed to revisit this issue. Sharon
encouraged members to contact her with any questions about the proposal.
Janet recommended that we observe our typical process and have this come back to ATC for a vote in
spring. She clarified that there is no database in which course descriptions are housed. There is only a
list of courses numbers and titles.
& Machining
overview doc 011215stb.docx
There was follow-up discussion about the differences in the way commonly numbered courses transfer
to BI’s. There are many examples of this.
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AP Equivalency
Janet Danley introduced the proposed revisions to the Advanced Placement system policy and shared a
history of the proposed revisions. We are very inconsistent across the system. The first proposed
addition to the policy is an attempt to address that level of inconsistency. The second proposed addition
to the policy provides a matrix of scores and corresponding credit that should be awarded.
Extensive conversation followed. Many members felt that colleges should award the same credit for the
same scores across the system and that this would be equitable for students. Others felt that this
restricts the autonomy of each college and could lower current standards, particularly in the STEM
disciplines. Others felt that each college should have the right to align with local BIs, who will reevaluate
each score for a transferring student.
It was clarified that there is not presently a legislative mandate for consistency, but that there is
legislation that requires that individual colleges need to have AP and IB policies posted on their website
that is “consistent to the greatest extent possible.” Jane Sherman told the legislature at the time that if
they wanted to have complete consistency, that they would have to accept minimum scores of 4 for
credit. Jane noted that the BIs are going to look at trying to get more consistency. It was observed that a
valuable stance from the BIs would be to agree not to remove credit when a student transfers from the
ctc to the BI with AP credit.
Another concern raised was about the language that implied that if the college does not offer the
common course named, that the college must award elective credit. Could they offer distribution credit
for another course? Concerns were also raised about the presentation of higher scores. Must colleges
award more credit for higher scores or was it optional? It was clarified that it was optional, and the table
was revised.
The course number for PHYS& 223 was changed to reflect the appropriate course. It was also
recommended that the proposal not award credit for MATH& 152 through the BC Calculus exam
without also awarding credit for MATH& 151. This could cause problems for students pursuing the AS-T
degree.
If a student chooses to have the credit for a test be awarded as elective credit, could a student then
choose to have it counted as elective credit and then take the course at the college and get distribution
credit for the “same course?” A language revision was proposed to clarify that when appropriate, the
test scores should be used for transferable credit.
The discussion was tabled at 4:45p. Janet will revise the policy and email the group for continued
discussion in the morning.
Barriers to transfer – Jane Sherman, Council of Presidents, Associate Director for Academic Policy
Jane has been involved in statewide transfer policy for 25 years. Compared to how it was before, we are
doing great work. Our work is all about communication. The more the ctc’s and BI’s know each other,
the more we trust each other. A major goal is to get a Computer Science MRP in the next four months.
Joyce noted that at the four-year schools, they are getting more specific in their requirements in the
liberal arts areas. Jane observed that the perspective about community college students and how well
prepared they are has improved over the years. Specifically, everyone wants the AS-T graduates. The
BI’s like the common course numbers, even though not all courses are accepted as equal. The BI’s often
hear that students get confused by the names of degrees.
Elliot mentioned that he would like to work with the BI’s on the topic of prescribed pathways. Colorado
has 30 different pathways, and they fit into 5 meta-majors. The state will only pay for these.
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A long time ago, everyone resisted the idea that students should be pushed into anything during the
first two years of college. The BI’s have been asked to identify programs on their campus that students
could complete in two years with a generic DTA with no advance planning. Psychology has been
identified as one of those degrees. Kyle thanked Jane for her sharing her experience and her
perspectives.
Meeting adjourned at 5:05p
Friday, January 23, 2015
AP Discussion, continued
Kyle called the meeting to order at 8:31. Janet revised the AP policy document to reflect changes
proposed on Thursday. These changes included changes to calculus credit, the revision of the physics
course number, and revised formatting to distinguish minimum required scores and higher scores that
may lead to higher credit. Ed and Elliot asked to also include language to make it clear that a college
could award distribution / transferable credit if the college did not offer the common course listed.
Joyce Carroll expressed concern from the Bellevue math faculty about awarding 10 credits of math, even
for a score of 3.
Matt Campbell introduced language that would indicate to students that their transcripts will be
reevaluated upon transfer to a BI.
Please note that AP scores are subject to re-evaluation at institutions outside the CTC system,
including baccalaureate institutions both inside and outside of Washington. Students are encouraged
to explore how AP credit may be applied at such institutions if there is an intention to transfer.
Janet noted that the list can be changed, and that it will change as tests and courses change. A
discussion ensued about voting on it and, if it is implemented, reviewing its effectiveness.
Bruce Hattendorf moved to approve the document with the noted changes. Elliot Stern seconded. Final
vote was 13 in favor, 6 opposed, with 5 abstentions. Motion passed.
Kyle thanked the group, and Joyce thanked Janet for her leadership on the proposal. Janet thanked the
workgroup participants for their contributions.
Action item: The approved document will be sent to the listserv, and the proposal will be sent to the
Instruction Commission for review.
DRAFT AP EQUIV
policy January 2015.docx
Smarter Balanced assessment update – Bill Moore, Ed Harri, Kerrie Abb
Bill Moore joined the group via ITV at 8:55. There have been limited changes to the Smarter Balanced
system agreement since last year. An implementation work group was put together to identify
implementation issues. Because high school juniors begin taking the test this spring, we could see a
small number of high school seniors using these scores as Running Start or College in the High School
students beginning in fall 2015. This needs to be communicated across campuses soon.
WA_Final SBAC
SBAC
Agreement_CTC.docxImplementation Overview.docx
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The group has identified several issues, including the score reporting process, a need for further
clarification about terminology in the math agreement, and the time needed for Running Start students
to be away to take the exam during the junior year. Discussions are ongoing with OSPI and the testing
vendor on how to efficiently retrieve scores. The math work group will look at the questions about
terminology, specifically identifying which college and high schools are on the “calculus pathway.”
It is a goal to develop a reporting and placement process that is as minimally intrusive as possible for
colleges and as minimally onerous for students. In the short-term, we may have to expect them to do
some hand carrying and make it their responsibilities, but our goal is that we will not force the students
to have to carry their scores to the college. California has been doing this for quite a few years.
Reciprocity considerations were considered. If a college offers a better deal to students than the
statewide agreement, are other colleges bound by the reciprocity agreement to honor that placement?
Some felt that the agreement established the needed consistency, but others felt that the current
reciprocity language would require a college to honor another college’s placement, regardless of tool.
Regardless, this will likely involve a small number of students. This led to further discussion about how
we code student placement, regardless of placement tool. It should be possible to differentiate the
placement tool using ctcLink.
There has been ongoing work with both English and math faculty to develop math and English bridge
courses, which will be particularly valuable for students that earn a “2” on the exam. The exam score
plus the bridge course then provides another measure for placement. In the 12th grade bridge course,
there has been a connection to higher education faculty, and they have played a role in developing the
outcomes and standards so our faculty are comfortable with what it means to be college-ready.
Bill noted that we are convening English folks on March 2 and March 5 for math. Our faculty will come
together (including some BI faculty) to carefully review the progress of these courses. Bill will send
information about the next meetings to the listserv.
Action item: Send feedback on any items in the implementation document to Kerrie, Ed, and/or Bill.
SBCTC updates, continued – Joyce Hammer
Statway: We are continuing to work with the UW on the Statway agreement. California colleges have
voted in their group to accept Statway for their admission requirement. Faculty at UW are aware of this.
The system would like to open this up to every college so we can get more BIs to accept Statway.
What we reasonably hope to get is an extension of the MOU to get more data, which is still limited. The
team will attempt to change the MOU to include the entire Seattle district, not just Seattle Central.
Wendy Rockhill, Mike Flodin, Joe Shannon, Jane Sherman, and Joyce are involved. Mike recommended
trying to remove the restriction on the number of colleges since the curriculum is standardized and also
try to include Quantway in the agreement.
AP/IB policies: Each college should make sure the AP and IB policies are posted and easily accessible.
Joyce’s assistant went into every college’s website to search and determine if it was readily accessible.
She will be contacting schools for which it is difficult to find AP/IB information
Nursing rules: The nursing rules have come out from the nursing commission. There might be some
implications for the nursing DTA/MRP, and they are getting those worked out. The rules talk about
needing to finish in 2 years, but the new degree is a 3+1 program.
Coding sheet for non-traditional learning: Joyce is going to send the new version, which has changes
from the original approval. There are changes to include High School-21 and to work with ctcLink.
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Legislative issues: A bill went forward to fund College in the High School for all students. The governor’s
version would allow low-income students to be funded. It also clarifies that Running Start is a program
that occurs on a college campus, which would eliminate Running Start in the High School.
The position of SBCTC is that CHS, RS, and AP should all be college pathway options for high school
students, and that counselors should not be discouraging students from pursuing different pathways.
SBCTC is supporting the governor’s bill. The bill says they will only reimburse costs for low-income
students for CHS, and it doesn’t supply travel funding for Running Start. The governor’s bill only supports
participation for 11th and 12th grade students.
There was extensive follow-up discussion about credentials needed to teach College in the High School
courses. There is inconsistency across the system, and it was recommended that there be continued
discussion about this issues. Several schools have interpreted the related WAC strictly, and have not
participated in College in the High School because of difficulties in finding high school teachers with
master’s degrees in the discipline.
Reverse transfer: There is not substantial progress right now. WSU is working on a pilot program with
the ctc’s that traditionally feed into it. An update will be provided at the spring meeting.
IB transcripting, - Mike Flodin
An update from the International Baccalaureate work group was postponed until the spring meeting. Via
email, a proposed language change to the current policy manual was proposed. This proposal will be
discussed and considered in spring.
Proposed language change: Washington community and technical colleges will accept in transfer from
other community and technical colleges unrestricted elective credit for an Advanced Placement (AP)
score of 3 or higher or an International Baccalaureate (IB) Higher Level (HL) exam score of 5 or higher.
Credit will be awarded on the basis of official AP or IB results, not transcript notation. Credits granted for
general education or major requirements will be specified by the receiving institution’s AP or IB credit
policies; otherwise, elective credit will be granted.
Action items
Ed reviewed the action items.
Professional development workshop, An Emerging Promising Practice in Teaching and Learning
Peg Balachowski, Associate Dean of Teaching and Learning, Everett CC, joined the meeting at 10:28.
Peg has been in her role for three weeks and stated that the leadership at Everett recognized that
leadership needs to support faculty. Everett has created an academy for new faculty, both full-time and
adjunct. Everett has identified and implemented four practices of promise: (1) innovations academy, (2)
annual teaching and learning retreat, (3) new faculty teaching academy, and (4) Title III grant associate
faculty academy. Peg discussed each of the practices and the required commitment and infrastructure
to support each of the practices. She emphasized that it is critical to support new and experienced
faculty to become risk takers in their practice. Many of these strategies can be done through peer
support, faculty reflection, and collaboration.
Following the presentation, there was a discussion about current practices at other colleges and
approaches to implementing similar practices at the local and system levels. Could asynchronous online
approaches be built at a system level to reduce cost? Pierce College has a teaching academy that is a
component of faculty promotion. Joyce noted that there is discussion about what the best practices
exchange should look like now that the funding is ending.
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Kyle thanked Peg for her presentation.
Meeting close
Kyle thanked Eugene for hosting the meeting. The meeting adjourned at 11:47a.
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