Compliance with State Law and Policy
Background: The overall accountability and quality of higher education has been in question
for some time now. We can see it in both the national and state political dialogue. Throughout
the nation, state educational boards have been under increased scrutiny to provide ‘real’ evidence
of accountability and key performance indicators for colleges and universities. Colorado has not
been exempt from such discussions. The Colorado Commission on Higher Education (CCHE) is
in the process of finalizing its Master Plan. During this process, questions regarding statutory
compliance among individual institutions has become a topic of concern. Additionally, there
have been increasing complaints from students transferring between institutions. The complaints
not only reached CCHE, but also the state legislature. In fact, the Office of Legislative Affairs
conducted an investigation and found that there were significant compliance issues throughout
state higher learning institutions. In an attempt to circumvent legislative action, the commission
tasked the Department of Higher Education (DHE) do create a checklist for compliance with
state law and policy regarding the general education core and transfer. Late this summer, the
DHE created a compliance checklist for each Colorado State institution. At the September
Academic Council and GE Council meetings the lists were discussed. Additionally, Provost
Morris had a meeting with Dr. Ian Macgillivray, Asst. Deputy Director for Academic Affairs, on
September 11, 2012 regarding the checklist for Fort Lewis College. There are three compliance
areas that directly impact the delivery of our curriculum, and therefore are in need of immediate
faculty attention. We must be in compliance for the 2013/2014 catalog.
1. A student’s ability to graduate in four-years and the 120 hour credit limit. CRS 23-1-125
(1) (a) (b) , Statewide Transfer Policy Section 4.03.09, 5.05
2. The core of courses (General Education) shall consist of at least thirty credit hours, but
shall not exceed forty credit hours. CRS 23-1-125 (3), Statewide Transfer Policy
4.03.02, 4.03.03, 4.03.04, 4.03.07, 5.01, 5.02
3. Individual institutions of higher education shall conform their own core course
requirements with the guidelines developed by the department. CRS 23-1-125 (3),
Statewide Transfer Policy 4.05, 5.02
What needs to be done and when?
1. Liberal arts core/overall general education graduation requirements must be no more than
40 credits. Currently, our liberal arts core/general education graduation requirements are
mapped to 45 credits. Thus, we need to reduce the overall credits for general education
to 40. Currently, given our 4 unit courses, the mandated GT Pathways curriculum maps
to a total 36 units. Thus, we have 9 units that we can manipulate; we must reduce at least
5. All approved curricular paths must meet minimum and maximum limits stipulated in
state statute. In the past, we argued that having one option within each major that meets
the mini/max credit criteria was sufficient to be in compliance. This is not true and is
no longer an acceptable argument.
COMPLETION DATE: December 1, 2012
2. All approved GTpathway courses must be in compliance with the original submission
and approval by GE Council. Thus, all syllabi of GTpathway courses need to be
reviewed for compliance. If the course no longer meets the content and competencies
originally approved, then the course needs to be changed to return to compliance.
Essentially, we must close the loop regarding simple compliance with approved courses.
COMPLETION DATE: December 1, 2012
3. A robust assessment plan of our liberal arts core, including value rubrics, mapping to
statewide content and competencies, and our own College-wide learning outcomes,
values and mission must be created and acted upon. In other words, we must be able to
demonstrate to the state and the Higher Learning Commission that we are validating
learning outcomes with both direct and indirect measures of assessment. This will
necessitate a broad conversation about what we want our students to know, why we want
them to know it and how we know they are getting it! This is an opportunity to make
GTPathways our own and weave our desired outcomes into the matrix the state has
mandated.
ASSESSMENT PLAN COMPLETION DATE: May 1, 2012
4. All approved programs of study (majors, options, emphases) must be mapped to 120
credit hours with the exception of engineering and teacher education, which must be
mapped to their respective CCHE approved credits. The 120 credits include all general
education courses, major courses, and any leftover electives. Assuming that general
education will equate to 40 units, this means there are 80 credits left for all major
requirements and electives.
Students must be able to complete their general education requirements (40 credits)
outside of any major requirements. In other words, a major cannot imbed GTpathway
requirements into the major to conform to the 120 hours. A student may opt to take
course that is both a GTpathway course and major requirement, thus giving them choice
in their overall electives, but a department or program may not require a student to take
a course to satisfy both a major requirement and liberal arts core. Thus, for degree
mapping we assume 40 credits are consumed for general education. Then the
departments and programs must create a major with fixed units. Specific departmental or
major requirements may not be a range, but only a fixed amount. For example, many
majors list auxiliary and/or total major requirements in credit ranges. These must be
fixed numbers. Courses still may have a range of credits, but the total amount in any one
category or auxiliary requirement or for the total major requirements must be fixed. If
there is limited or no choice for students in any sub-components of the curriculum,
departments must ensure that the courses and credits listed in any one category actually
equate to the fixed amount tallied. Importantly, majors should not be too big as to
consume all the exploration electives outside the major; for example, a student’s ability to
minor or possibly double major. Lastly, the 120 units must be completed in four
academic years, fall and winter terms. Summer school cannot be required for degree
completion.
COMPLETION DATE: December 1, 2012