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Describing Course Prior to Transfer Course Level

Patrick PerryVice Chancellor of

Technology, Research, & Info Systems

California Community Colleges

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What is “Course Prior to Transfer Course Level”?

It is the course “level”, in terms of number of levels below the transferrable level How many levels below transfer level is this

course? It is used primarily for basic skills

but can be used for non-basic skills, degree-applicable courses

It is used only for English, writing, ESL, reading, or mathematics (TOP codes)

Can be used for credit or noncredit courses

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MIS Data Element CB21

CB21=Course Prior to College Level Chancellor’s Office MIS system

collects all course info each term Courses are coded for identification

purposes TOP code, credit status, transfer

status, units, basic skills status, SAM/voc code, etc.

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MIS Data Element CB21

Last changed in 1994

Defined number of “codeable” levels at 5 (xfer + 4 below)

Is used across math/English/reading/writing/ESL

Has little curricular definition of levels

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MIS Data Element CB21

Is used for a lot of accountability reporting Which in turn is used to justify investments

and expenditures in basic skills ARCC Technical Advisory Group: defines

metrics for mandated reports Is necessary to show student progress

through basic skills curriculum 4…3…2…1…transferrable

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What CB21 is used for

Basic Skills Improvement Rate (ARCC) Credit courses only Completed (A,B,C,CR) any math/Eng basic

skills course at 2 or more levels below Within 3 years, successfully completed a

higher level basic skills course of same discipline

Anywhere in the system Current data range: 24%-62%, avg 49%.

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What CB21 is used for

ESL Improvement Rate (ARCC) Credit ESL courses only Completed (A,B,C,CR) any ESL course

at 2 or more levels below Within 3 years, successfully completed

a higher level ESL course Anywhere in the system

Current data range: 0% to 81%, avg. 42%

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What CB21 is used for

Proposed Basic Skills Supplemental Report: Basic Skills Progress Rate Track freshmen forward 8 years that

attempted any basic skills course any time

Report by the lowest level of math/English/ESL ever attempted (>=4 levels below transferable level; 3, 2, 1 levels below; CR, NC).

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Basic Skills Progress

For the aforementioned cohort: Percent who completed any degree-

applicable or transfer level math/Eng/ESL (in same curricular lineage)

Percent that eventually earn a degree/certificate, and/or transfer/transfer prepared

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Percent of Assessed Students Recommended for Placement

into levels of credit basic skills math/English/ESL courses (as defined by CB 21) in a given year

done by annual survey of colleges

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Coding CB21

Normally done at campus Saved in local ERP system (Datatel,

Banner, Peoplesoft, etc) Sent to System Office end of term

by local MIS Reports run thereafter (ARCC) Resubmission always allowed and

welcome

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Problems arise when…

Miscoding (wrong TOP, credit, basic skills status)—humans and transference

Recoding term to term without change in actual curriculum (solved with unique_id#)

Ambiguity of data element codes: College X’s 3 levels below math is different than College Y’s 3 levels below math We need a rubric as to what these mean

across campuses for each discipline

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Establishing a Rubric

Is not standardization Does not drive curricular changes Is not common course numbering or

articulation

IS a mapping exercise designed to maximize our ability to show student progress AND your good work

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Rubric: Math

Currently, CB21: A=prereq. for transfer math

(Intermediate Algebra) B=prereq./prep. for “A” (Algebra

I/Elem. Algebra) C=prereq./prep. For “A/B”

(Arithmetic) Y=>3 levels below transfer level (N/A)

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Rubric: English

Currently, CB21: A=prereq. for transfer Eng. Comp.

(Subject A) B=prereq./prep. for “A” (Not available) C=prereq./prep. For “A/B” (Not

available) Y=>3 levels below transfer level (Not

available)

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Rubric: Writing, Reading, ESL

Not addressed at all

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Your Assignment…

Is to create a mapping rubric for each of the disciplines that encompass transfer/course prior to transfer levels

Has uniform and understandable curricular definitions (course or SLO) for each level in each discipline

Try to retain existing data element (transfer + 4 other BS levels)

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Things to Consider

If you code every basic skills class at 4+ levels below, you will have few improvements

It pays to have a full “progression sequence” using as many levels as are available to show differentiation

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Things to Consider

However, levels must mean the same thing across campuses Student movement does not preclude

you from getting credit for success elsewhere…

…provided your neighbor is coding properly and uniformly as well

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Things to Consider

If your “progression” has more than 4 steps: Keep as many as you can, but some may

have to be coded at the same level You may have 7 levels of ESL, your

neighbor has 3 If we allowed everyone to code their own

number of levels, colleges would be advantaged/disadvantaged based solely on their curricular segmentation

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Things to Consider

Don’t forget to properly code your transferrable courses as such…this is also a valid and high-order outcome of student progress

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What we are NOT Talking About

Basic Skills Status coding, maximizing $$$

Degree-applicable status, what is “college-level” or not

Noncredit This is ONLY about creating a rubric

for levels below transfer in 5 disciplines

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Making Changes

The results of your work will provide new clarity to this data element

System Office/ASCCC will promote workshops on the new meanings and how to use the rubric

Subsequent MIS submissions will be superior

Success Rates should reflect accurately and uniformly

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Making Changes

All MIS data must be submitted through your normal MIS data submission process Contact your CISO; change usually made

in your ERP system Setup a formalized coding process for

courses each term We’d love to do it centrally, but…there

are 150,000 courses a year

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Take off Your Departmental Hats

You are now working at 30,000 feet

How it works at your college in your department is secondary to this systemwide exercise Because the SYSTEM will benefit And the STUDENTS will benefit

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THANK YOU

This is an extremely important task.

YOU are the people that know this best.

Your assistance is greatly valued.