Guidelines for Early College Start classes.
Preface:
The Economics Department welcomes the chance to serve those high school students
who are qualified and capable of taking College classes in economics while still in high
school. However, wherever possible, this should be done in a true college setting. Also,
these classes must always be taught by teachers fully qualified to teach college level
classes and ones who understand what is required for a course to be considered a college
course. With this in mind and with the increased interest in classes being taught in off
campus locations, or “mini-campus” locations, the department has adopted the following
“guidelines” to insure the quality and integrity of the courses taught in these locations.
For clarity and to insure completeness the guidelines are grouped into three parts,
Location, Student, and Instructor
Note: In this document “on campus” refers to CYP, EVC, NRG, PIN, SAC, RGC, and
RVS.
I. Location:
1. Wherever the class is taught, it must be open so that the class can meet according
to the ACC calendar.
2. Wherever the class is taught, there must be an assigned appropriate place for the
instructor to hold office hours at a time convenient to both the instructor and the
class.
3. Wherever the class is taught, the teacher must be able to check out a computer and
projector to demonstrate computer software in the class, when needed.
4. Whenever possible the course should be taught on campus. This will emphasize
the “college nature” of the class and will give the instructor support that they will
not have at the off campus site.
II. Student:
1. As with all ACC students, the student must go through the ACC advising,
placement test process and are encouraged to attend ACC orientation.
2. As with all ACC students, the student must be qualified for the class being taken.
This means that the student must have taken the ACC placement test and made
the appropriate score on the it.
3. If the class is taught at a High School (as part of the high school day) students
must still be advised by ACC staff. This also includes information as to
transferability of the course.
4. In the case of ECS students, the student and the parents must return to the
instructor a form stating the they realize that this is a college class and that the
following hold:
a. The student has the privacy rights of an adult student. This means that the
school, e.g. instructor, department office, dean’s office or anyone else at
ACC, cannot discuss the student’s progress or lack thereof with anyone
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
g.
h.
but the student, not even the parent.
High School extracurricular activities can not be allowed to interfere with
the college class. This includes such things as athletics, pep squads, pep
rallies and musical groups.
There will be one grade given in the class for the semester not one at
times1/3, 2/3, 3/3 and end of class. i.e. No equivalence to 6 weeks grades.
Only letter grades of A, B, C, D, F or W will be given. ACC does not give
numeric grades.
As a rule, college economics classes require a heavy investment of
independent work and time outside of class. Students should expect to
spend 2 to 3 hours or more outside of class per hour (50 minutes) in class.
The following may cause a problem for a high school senior needing this
“dual” credit. Grades will be given based on the same scale used in all
other sections of the college course. There can be no grade inflation
because the course is offered in a high school setting to a high school
student even if they need the course to graduate or to get into their
preferred college.
Students may be withdrawn for excessive absences or discipline problems.
All matters related to an ECS course must be handled through ACC not
the high school. The relevant policies are those of ACC, not the high
school.
III. Instructor:
1. As with all ACC instructors, the instructor must meet all SACS credential
requirements and ACC requirements
2. The instructor must be hired through the same process as all other ACC
economics instructors.
3. As with all ACC economics instructors, the instructor must follow all
department regulations as to text, course content, testing, grading, attendance,
calendar, course objectives and other such items.
4. As with all ACC adjunct instructors, the instructor will be assigned through estaffing just as in on campus classes. Here the instructor has a choice but is
liable to have someone else assigned to the class before their turn to be assigned
arises
5. As with all ACC instructors, the instructor must hold office hours as required of
all instructors and therefore must be given access to an appropriate place to do
so
6. As with all ACC instructors, the instructor must fully participate in the ACC
faculty evaluation process.
The unique nature of an off campus location, including a high school during the
regular day, precludes, among other things, 1) close supervision, 2) observation, 3)
the chance to discuss approaches and problems with other instructors of the same
course and 4) immediate available help when certain situations arise. Thus, the
following are unique to classes taught at the off campus location, especially at the
high school campus as part of the regular high school day. Exceptions may be
made for faculty with extensive ACC teaching experience.
7. The instructor must have taught on campus and have been through the ACC
mentoring process as an instructor.
8. The instructor must be on the “eligible to teach that particular subject” list as off
campus eligible. For this to happen the instructor must have been through the
ACC faculty evaluation process and received a “Very Good” or “Excellent” on
student evaluations and instructional performance in the course to be taught off
campus.
9. The instructor will be evaluated in a course the first semester they teach off
campus to insure that consistency of course quality is maintained. Here the
instructor will have a chance to make the Department aware of any possible
problems with the off campus situation.
10. The instructor must fully understand and accept that the instructor is
responsible solely to ACC for the course. This includes respecting privacy of
students and handling of all student issues. This is particularly important when
the class is at a high school during the high school day as certain situations
could arise that might conflict with the nature and purpose of the ACC class.