Bill Text: CA AB1111 | 2021-2022 | Regular Session | Chaptered
Bill Title: Postsecondary education: common course numbering system.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Passed) 2021-10-06 - Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 568, Statutes of 2021. [AB1111 Detail]
Download: California-2021-AB1111-Chaptered.html
Assembly Bill
No. 1111
CHAPTER 568
An act to add Section 66725.5 to the Education Code, relating to postsecondary education.
[
Approved by
Governor
October 06, 2021.
Filed with
Secretary of State
October 06, 2021.
]
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 1111, Berman.
Postsecondary education: common course numbering system.
Existing law, known as the Donahoe Higher Education Act, sets forth the missions and functions of California’s public and private segments of higher education and their respective institutions of higher education. The act requires, not later than June 1, 2006, the California Community Colleges and the California State University to adopt, and authorizes the University of California and private postsecondary institutions to adopt, a common course numbering system for the 20 highest-demand majors in the respective segments. The act requires, not later than June 30, 2006, the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges and the Trustees of the California State University to report to the Legislature, and requests the Regents of the University of California to report to the Legislature, on the status of the activities of their respective segments related to that numbering system
and on the plans to implement a common course numbering system for the majors that are not the 20 highest demand majors. The act also requires each campus of a public postsecondary educational institution to incorporate the common course numbering system in its catalog at the next adoption of a campus catalog after June 1, 2006.
This bill would require the California Community Colleges, on or before July 1, 2024, to adopt a common course numbering system for all general education requirement courses and transfer pathway courses, and require each community college campus, on or before July 1, 2024,
to incorporate common course numbers from the adopted system into its course catalog. The bill would require the common course numbering system to be student facing and ensure that comparable courses across all community colleges have the same course number. By requiring community college campuses to incorporate common course numbers in their catalogs, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.
This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.
Digest Key
Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: YES Local Program: YESBill Text
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
SECTION 1.
The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:(a) California currently has the Course Identification Numbering System (C-ID), which is a collaborative faculty effort involving the California Community Colleges (CCC) and the California State University (CSU) intended to improve seamless articulation for students both intersegmentally (CCC to CSU) and intrasegmentally (among CCCs).
(b) According to the C-ID website, C-ID is a faculty-driven system that was initially developed to assign identifying designations (C-ID numbers) to significant transfer courses. The C-ID
number is a designation that ties that course to a specific course “descriptor” that was developed by intersegmental discipline faculty and reviewed statewide.
(c) Most C-ID numbers identify lower division transferable community college courses such as majors preparation or general education that are common with such courses in four-year institutions such as those in the CSU and University of California (UC) systems.
(d) C-ID began by developing descriptors for courses in 20 disciplines that are among those most frequently transferred. The next area of focus has been on the courses in the transfer model curricula that describe the major components of Associate Degrees for Transfer. C-ID will then expand to include more and more courses each year.
(e) Currently, C-ID has 368 approved descriptors and 33 draft descriptors from over 81 different disciplines and does not change local numbering systems.
(f) In February 2021, the Recovery with Equity Taskforce that was established through the Governor’s Council for Post-Secondary Education released Recovery with Equity: A Roadmap for Higher Education After the Pandemic, a report and set of recommendations aimed at helping California’s higher education systems recover from the pandemic more integrated, equitable, and resilient than before, and more aligned with the economic needs of the state.
(g) One of the recommendations from the report is to develop a common course numbering system at the CCC.
(h) The report states that the aim would be to align all
community college courses so that students transferring to four-year institutions know, as they are pursuing their courses, that they are meeting the requirements of the receiving institutions.
(i) Many community college students take courses at multiple community colleges within a district or even across districts.
(j) Without a student-facing common course numbering system and comprehensive transfer policies, students struggle to transfer credits between institutions and to plan out a coherent roadmap to earning their degree.
(k) C-ID provides a mechanism to identify comparable courses and is a critical step to developing a student-facing common course numbering system at the CCC that would be easier for students to understand
and navigate.
SEC. 2.
Section 66725.5 is added to the Education Code, immediately following Section 66725.3, to read:66725.5.
(a) (1) To streamline transfer from two- to four-year postsecondary educational institutions and reduce excess credit accumulation, on or before July 1, 2024, both of the following shall occur:(A) The California Community Colleges shall adopt a common course numbering system for all general education requirement courses and transfer pathway courses.
(B) Each community college campus shall incorporate common course
numbers from the adopted common course numbering system in its catalog.
(2) The common course numbering system shall be student facing, based on the work of the workgroup established in Item 6870-101-0001 of Section 2.00 of the Budget Act of 2021, and ensure that comparable courses across all community colleges have the same course number.
(3) To support the development and implementation of a common course numbering system for the California Community College system, the workgroup established in Item 6870-101-0001 of Section 2.00 of the Budget Act of 2021 shall consider starting with courses included in the Course Identification Numbering System (C-ID) and expanding to general education requirements and transfer pathway courses pursuant to subdivision (b).
(b) The common course numbering system may have the same alphabetical identifier and same numerical identifier for each course that shares the same C-ID course description, pursuant to both of the following:
(1) For all courses included in the C-ID, the California Community Colleges may adopt the alphabetical and numerical identifier of the C-ID course descriptor as the same common course number at all community
colleges.
(2) For all general education requirements and transfer pathway courses that are not included in the C-ID, intersegmental discipline faculty through the C-ID process may develop a C-ID course descriptor for each of these community college courses. Once a C-ID course descriptor is developed, the California Community Colleges may adopt the alphabetical and numerical identifier of the C-ID course descriptor as the same common course number at all community colleges.
