AGENDA ITEM SUMMARY

AGENDA ITEM

Committee on Transfer and Articulation Update
Coordinating Board for Higher Education
April 6, 2006

DESCRIPTION

The CBHE's standing advisory committee, the Committee on Transfer and Articulation (COTA), works within the board's statutory authority to “establish guidelines and to promote and facilitate the transfer of students between institutions of higher education within the state” (Section 173.005.2(7), RSMo). The intent of this agenda item is to provide the board with an update of COTA activities.

Background

COTA held one meeting since the February 2006 board report. The following summary highlights COTA's progress on several statewide initiatives.

Review of CBHE-Recommended High School Core Curriculum

COTA has appointed a Subcommittee for Review of Admissions Standards (SRAS) that will be co-chaired by COTA members or alternates: Dr. Evelyn Jorgenson, Dr. Jeanie Crain, and Dr. Kandis Smith. A copy of the charge to SRAS, which is attached, provides historical context about Missouri's approach to collegiate admissions and outlines separate phases for the work of the subcommittee. During its first phase, SRAS will review the structure and applicability of the CBHE-Recommended High School Core Curriculum. SRAS will also proceed in later phases to review the structure of admissions policies in Missouri higher education, their recommended applicability across educational sectors, as well as the architecture of placement into developmental education. Subcommittee members are encouraged to examine recommendations of the Missouri Developmental Education Consortium (MODEC), which has been charged by the Presidents and Chancellors Council of the Missouri Community College Association (MCCA) to collect information on placement instruments and cutoff scores statewide, as well as to define competencies for entrance into college-level reading, writing, and mathematics.

Teacher Education Articulation/Associate of Arts in Teaching

COTA continues to express its support for the collaborative development of an articulated associate of arts in teaching (AAT) degree for presentation by partner institutions to the MDHE and DESE for approval. COTA believes an approved AAT degree would provide more consistent pathways for teacher education students moving from two- to four-year institutions and would also simplify program administration.

COTA members are scheduled to meet with members of the Missouri Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (MACTE) to further discuss benefits and opportunities of a new AAT degree.

Dual Credit

COTA is committed to fulfill its responsibility for monitoring dual credit and has begun to explore the potential of conducting a survey of institutional dual credit practices. Further discussion is set for COTA's upcoming April 18, 2006 meeting. Specific elements being considered for inclusion in a new survey include:

• Scope and magnitude of course offerings and enrollment
• Faculty qualifications
• Tuition charges
• Student eligibility measures
• Structures for program / faculty oversight
• Acceptance of transfer credit
• Grade patterns
• Postsecondary persistence / completion of enrolled students

Dr. Jim King, executive director of the Missouri Association of Secondary School Principals (MASSP), and a selected group of high school principals will visit with COTA about ways MASSP and its membership can be more actively involved in providing information about dual credit practices and in ensuring alignment of dual credit programs with state policy guidelines.

Transfer/Articulation Conference

Planning for a February 2007 transfer and articulation conference is underway. The Transfer and Articulation Conference Coordinating Committee (TA-CCC) chairs have been appointed (list attached). The conference will promote cross-sector conversations of relevant issues in Missouri higher education. An initial planning meeting of TA-CCC chairs is scheduled for April 11, 2006 . While a few institutions have submitted names of persons to work on the TA-CCC, any additional academic and student services personnel interested in helping to plan the conference should contact Jeremy Kintzel at Jeremy.Kintzel@dhe.mo.gov .

STATUTORY REFERENCE

Sections 173.020(3) and 173.005.2(6), RSMo, Responsibilities of the Coordinating Board
Section 173.005.2(7), RSMo, Coordinating Board oversight over student transfer

RECOMMENDED ACTION

This is a discussion item only.

ATTACHMENTS

Attachment A: List of Current COTA Members
Attachment B: Charge to the Subcommittee for the Review of Admissions Standards
Attachment C: Transfer/Articulation Conference Coordinating Committee Members

Attachment A

CBHE Committee on Transfer and Articulation
January 23, 2006

Dr. Evelyn Jorgenson, President (Chair)
Moberly Area Community College

Dr. Don Doucette, Vice Chancellor
Metropolitan Community College

Dr. Marsha Drennon, President
State Fair Community College

Ms. Karen Finkenkeller, Director
ITT Technical Institute

Dr. R. Alton Lacey, President
Missouri Baptist University

Dr. Stephen Lehmkuhle, Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs
University of Missouri System

Dr. Julio Leon, President
Missouri Southern State University

Dr. James Scanlon, President
Missouri Western State University

Dr. Gregory Fitch, Commissioner (ex-officio voting member)
Missouri Department of Higher Education

Support Staff

Dr. Robert Stein, Associate Commissioner
Missouri Department of Higher Education

Mr. Jeremy Kintzel, Program Specialist
Missouri Department of Higher Education

Ms. Laura Vedenhaupt, Research Associate
Missouri Department of Higher Education

Alternates

Public 4-year: Kandis Smith, Jeanie Crain
Public 2-year: John Cosgrove
Independent: Arlen Dykstra

Attachment B

Coordinating Board for Higher Education
Committee on Transfer and Articulation

  Charge to the Subcommittee for the Review of Admissions Standards (SRAS)

Background

The Coordinating Board for Higher Education (CBHE) has in the past embarked on substantial review/re-evaluation of the structure and purpose of Missouri's system of postsecondary education. Adopted in 1992, the report of the Critical Choices Task Force identified major public policy goals and objectives that have served as a foundation for CBHE priorities and initiatives for almost 15 years. The Blueprint for Missouri Higher Education, adopted in 1996, reaffirmed these major public policy goals and objectives. Embedded in Critical Choices and subsequently in the Blueprint is a program that has been promoting selectivity and mission focus for all public institutions.

Concerning admissions standards, the state adopted a tiered system defining four mission categories: highly selective, selective, moderately selective, and open enrollment. By definition, each category established a threshold for admission by specifying a combined percentile score represented by a student's high school percentile rank and the student's percentile rank on a nationally normed test, e.g, ACT or SAT. These admissions guidelines were set to apply to all first-time, full-time degree-seeking students and transfer students with 23 or fewer credit hours. In addition to identifying ACT scores that would qualify students for an automatic admit in each category, institutions were given a 10 percent window for exceptions after choosing an aspired admissions category for their institution.

In addition to the admissions categories, the CBHE also identified completion of a 16-unit high school core curriculum as an additional guideline for entrance to public four-year institutions. See - http://www.dhe.mo.gov/mdhecentralhscorecurriculum.shtml - for details. As a result of this action, Missouri significantly advanced the preparation level of high school graduates entering public four-year institutions; the number of incoming FTFTDS freshmen at public four-year colleges and universities who have completed the core curriculum has risen from 46% in fall 1992 to 92% in fall 2004. However, following adoption of the CCTF report in 1992 and the Blueprint in 1996, changing circumstances and unanswered questions have necessitated re-evaluation of these structures:

• changes to the State Board of Education (SBE) High School Graduation Requirements, (to be implemented for the graduating class of 2010)
• alternative admissions models, including recent changes to University of Missouri System guidelines
• lingering questions regarding the role of tiered admissions as guidance to the two-year public, independent, and proprietary sectors the growing presence of transfer students (23,206 undergraduate transfer students in fall 2004 at public and independent institutions in Missouri), illustrating the positive role of commonalities in minimal thresholds for access to collegiate-level work for first-time students

The CBHE and COTA recognize that admissions policies, including the recommended high school core curriculum, are ultimately the responsibility of institutional governing boards, but that these policies can provide valuable guidance in encouraging program quality and unified expectations of minimal student preparation necessary to be successful in beginning collegiate level coursework across Missouri's diverse system of higher education.

Charge

The SRAS is charged with reviewing and recommending changes, if any, to the CBHE public policies on admission standards.

Phase I

Scope of Review: CBHE recommended 16-unit high school core curriculum

Recommendations to include:

• Total number of required hours
• Distribution of required hours, i.e. identification of disciplines
• Identification of applicable core courses/course titles that fulfill requirements
• Applicability of high school core curriculum guidelines to educational sectors, i.e. two-year public, independent, and proprietary sectors

Timeline: Complete review and make recommendations or provide status report to COTA by May 30, 2006.

SRAS members are encouraged to examine:

• Revisions adopted by the SBE (to be implemented for the graduating class of 2010) to high school graduation requirements.
• Components of the SBE college preparatory studies certificate.
• Course applicability guidelines communicated by the SBE in "interpretive notes" in the DESE Graduation Handbook (pgs. 7-9) - http://dese.mo.gov/divimprove/sia/graduationhandbook.pdf

Phase II

Scope of Review: CBHE admissions guidelines by mission category, i.e., open enrollment, moderately selective, selective, and highly selective

Recommendations to include:

• maintenance or changes to voluntary admissions categories
• standards for each mission category, i.e., assessments and performance levels
• opportunities for alignment with P-12 assessments
• applicability of admissions standards to educational sectors
• exceptions or exemptions
• tracking systems to evaluate effectiveness of policy

Timeline: Complete review and make recommendations or provide status report to COTA by January 31, 2007

SRAS members are encouraged to examine:

• Recommendations from the Missouri Developmental Education Consortium (MODEC) on entrance competencies for collegiate level work.
• Admissions standards currently used by Missouri colleges and universities

Attachment C

Transfer/Articulation – Conference Coordinating Committee
Committee Chairs
February 10, 2006

Council on Public Higher Education (COPHE)

Jeanie Crain
Special Assistant to the President
Missouri Western State University
425 Downs Drive, ADM 121
St. Joseph, MO 64507
816 271-5997
crain@missouriwestern.edu

Independent Colleges and Universities of Missouri (ICUM)

Rita Gulstad
Dean of Extended Studies and Learning Resources
Central Methodist University
411 Central Methodist Square
Fayette, MO 65248
660 248-6292
rgulstad@centralmethodist.edu

Missouri Community College Association (MCCA)

John Ganio
Vice Chancellor for Education
St. Louis Community College
300 South Broadway
St. Louis, MO 63102
314 539-5286
jganio@stlcc.edu

Missouri Association of Private Career Colleges and School (MAPCCS)

Chris Gearin
President
Hickey College
940 Westport Plaza Drive
St. Louis, MO 63146
314 434-4590
cgearin@hickeycollege.com