The following material arises from the University of Oregon's productivity
planning process and is made available here in the hope of engaging the
whole university community in that process. This material contains the
conclusions of one of the nine productivity working groups; it does NOT
represent official university policy.
We solicit your responses and suggestions. Please direct them to the chair of the working group or to Charles Wright, Department of Mathematics.
Faculty Productivity Committee on Articulation With High Schools and
Community Colleges (Draft Report, November 22,1993) David Conley, DEPM
Ken Kempner, DEPM Alan Dickman, Biology Jerry Kissler, Senior Vice-Provost
Stephen Durrant, East Asian Languages Gary Martin, School of Music, chair
John Gage, English Alex Murphy, Geography David Hubin, Academic Affairs
Martha Pitts, Admissions David Johnson, Graduate Student, music Kenneth
Ramsing, Decision Sciences
Working Groups
Executive Summary:
This committee was charged with exploring ways to increase faculty productivity through improved articulation with senior high schools and community colleges. In its meetings it developed the following issues, each of which is discussed in the body of the report.
Issues:
1. Awarding credit for demonstrated competence.
Issue: Should the university facilitate student degree progress by increasing significantly opportunities to receive credit on the basis of demonstrated competence?
Discussion: There are currently opportunities for both high school and college students to earn credit for Advanced Placement, CLEP, A-level International Baccalaureate, or UO Credit by Exam. There are also opportunities to waive some courses. For example, students may waive WR 121 or place into second or third-year language courses based on Achievement Test scores. However, while waivers may place students more appropriately, they do not move students more rapidly toward degree completion since they must still complete the required number of credits.
Among the issues discussed were the following:
1. Should the university promote the use of standardized tests such as AP, CLEP, IB to increase the number of students taking them? The Admissions Office could develop incentives for prospective students to take more of these tests. The Testing Office could administer the tests both on- and off-campus, and make preparation materials available. University faculty could give workshops and classes to help prepare students.
Advantages: These standardized examinations are readily available, familiar to students and parents, and based on nationally accepted standards. The tests are used to award credit at a number of schools across the country. Many high schools already have preparation programs. Test administration involves little extra cost to the university. Many students should be able to complete a significant number of general education credits through such testing, thus shortening their time to degree.
Disadvantages: Most students need structured preparation for these tests. Currently only a small number of students--presumably the best students from the best high schools--take advantage of them. If high schools cut back on their programs, the university might find it necessary to provide preparation through workshops and short courses that would help students pass the tests. Because the tests are standardized, our faculty have no control over the content. The tests may work better in some areas, such as foreign languages, than in others, such as laboratory sciences.
2. The university could expand and promote its own system of credit by examination (CBE) for specific UO courses for both college and high school students. UO faculty would develop and update the exams to fit our curriculum.
Advantages: In contrast to the standardized tests, our own faculty would control the content and quality of such tests. The university could use examination fees to create incentives for students by charging students only a small amount to take the test. If they pass the test they would then pay a larger amount to obtain the credit. Some part of these fees could be used to reimburse departments for developing and administering the examinations.
Disadvantages: In addition to the problems listed in #1 above, it takes an enormous amount of time to develop, update, administer, and grade the examinations. Course content changes from year to year and teacher to teacher. The committee agreed that for this proposal to be effective, we would have to create a positive climate for credit by examination among university faculty, who have in the past been suspicious and resistant. We would need to demonstrate to parents, students and university faculty the real advantages of earning credits in this way and thereby reducing the time it takes to earn a degree.
Proposal: The university should develop a clear policy for awarding credit through demonstrated competence. Specific high school courses or alternative study programs that develop as part of Certificates of Advanced Mastery (CAM) might be designated as acceptable for college credit (i.e. transfer credit). As part of this procedure, university departments should review credit policies for examinations within their disciplines to determine whether more credit is justified for any of them.
Each of the following programs should be expanded as feasible and desirable, thus increasing significantly the number of options high school students have to earn college credit prior to traditional college admission.
Issue: Should the university consult with community colleges to promote greater similarity in potential transfer courses, thus enabling more efficient transfer of community college credits into U of O degree programs?
Discussion: There is a common perception that community college courses do not go into sufficient depth, and are therefore not acceptable as transfer credits. This perception should be explored and to the degree possible, resolved. Sometimes the perception is based in fact; other times it is based on the UO faculty's belief that their specific content is a mandatory content for the awarding of credit. Differences in courses may relate to topics covered, materials used, projects required, idiosyncratic approaches by the instructor, or types of examinations given. The problem seems to exist primarily in general education courses for persons who do not complete the Associate of Arts (AA) degree prior to transfer, although some problem exists for courses related to the major.
Proposal: No massed corrective procedure seems appropriate to this issue. Instead, departments and schools need to establish appropriate channels of communication to resolve the concerns specific to that discipline. There already exist a number of state organizations within higher education that bring together professors and community college teachers in specific disciplines. These organizations, or perhaps weekend conferences of a similar structure, seem to be appropriate forums for addressing concerns about transfer credit and articulation. Changes in community college course structure might be an appropriate solution, as might recognition by university faculty that differently directed courses may legitimately be accepted for transfer. Furthermore, appropriate consultation with community college advisors might prove valuable in helping community college students ascertain which courses are readily accepted, and which ones are less likely to be accepted for transfer.
The U of O might explore the possibility of joint enrollment with Lane Community College. Students enrolled at LCC cannot now take upper division courses at the U of O. A joint enrollment program would all students to take some lower division courses at LCC that may be inaccessible at the UO because courses are full or offered at an inaccessible time. LCC students might likewise fill empty spaces in UO courses. This issue involves administrative, budgetary, and financial aid issues, but such a practice would be in keeping with the concept of seamless education.
3. Articulation through more productive use of Summer Session
Issue: What role can the Summer session play in facilitating articulation for high school and community college students?
Discussion: Because many high school students arrive at the university unprepared for college-level work, summer session could serve as a transitional period that enables these students to improve their academic skills. Summer session could also benefit advanced high school students who could take introductory-level courses and move more rapidly through their freshman year. Not only could summer session courses help high school students with the transition to the university, but students could also receive assistance in advising, financial aid, housing, and so forth. Similarly, summer session could assist community college students who wish to transfer to the university. Appropriate courses for transfer students would facilitate their moving into upper division work, in addition to offering advising assistance directly related to their majors.
Summer school would be appealing to high school and community college students because it offers somewhat reduced tuition. With the changing nature of the university budget, however, tuition rates need to be carefully evaluated if summer school is to be attractive to students. Because so many high school and community college students need to work during the summer, they are not always available or interested in attending summer session. Courses might be most effective if delivered in locations and at times appropriate to meet the needs of these students. Delivering courses off campus poses scheduling difficulties not only for potential students, but for UO faculty.
Finally, because summer school is self-support, faculty pay, course availability, and delivery of courses are all areas needing further consideration. In particular, if we are to offer high quality articulation courses, faculty will need incentives to forgo summer research and travel time to teach such courses.
Proposal: Consider offering appropriate courses for pre-freshmen, incoming freshmen, and community college students. Courses and advising during summer session might be delivered in Portland and other off-campus locations to better meet the needs of high school and community college students. Journalism and Architecture already use short courses and weekend workshops that could serve as models for the remedial, introductory, or gateway courses that will facilitate student degree progress.
4. Development of a Regional Testing Center.
Issue: Should the University of Oregon create a Regional Testing Center, enhance existing testing programs such as CLEP (College Level Entrance Placement), CBE (Credit by Examination), and add others such as AP (Advanced Placement) or SAT (Scholastic Aptitude Test)? Should high school students be encouraged to take such tests to satisfy CAM proficiency requirements, and earn credit for University of Oregon coursework?
Discussion: Although some alternatives exist that allow students to earn credit for University courses by showing proficiency, there are reasons to enhance these alternatives. AP programs at high schools are at risk in the next round of Measure 5 budget cuts; enactment of CIM and CAM programs will change the way students approach the UO; and making full use of these options will increase our productivity.
The university's Credit by Examination (CBE) program, has the advantage of examinations being written and evaluated by our own faculty. This makes it possible for the faculty to set appropriate standards for the awarding of credit. Student use of Credit by Examination has waned in the past decade. Currently, it is mostly used by graduating seniors to fulfill some needed requirement for graduation. We have procedures and eligibility requirement currently in place (see attached document) that could facilitate our reinvigoration of this program.
CLEP is a useful means of awarding credit for language and other proficiencies. It is used primarily for languages, but it is available in other subjects as well. Tests such as CLEP might facilitate movement into and through courses such as general chemistry where labs are fully enrolled, and no more can be offered. This enrollment limit hinders degree progress for many students, especially those in chemistry and biology.
Proposal: The University of Oregon should explore the possibility of expanding its current Testing Office and giving it greatly increased visibility as a Regional Testing Center. U of O representatives should communicate with high school and community college counselors to ensure that incoming students know of the availability of current programs such as CBE and CLEP. One-time-only funds, such as those available in the next round of RFPs from the Chancellor's Office, could be used to establish proficiency exams for many 100-level University of Oregon courses, especially those which satisfy General Education requirements. Fees paid by students to earn Credit by Examination might be divided between the testing center, to pay for processing, and the appropriate department, to pay faculty to evaluate the examinations.
5. Early Admission or Conditional Admission.
Issue: Should the University develop a policy for early, or conditional admission of bright high school students who demonstrate appropriate ability earlier in their lives?
Discussion: Under House Bill 3565, the line between secondary education and university education should become more permeable. The university will be required to assess proficiency in a whole array of subject areas and establish standards for conditional admission and placement. We will need to determine, also, how credit should be awarded for the completion of college-level work in the high schools, whether a limit should be established for credit granted to an entering student, and whether the student should pay for any college-level credit granted upon admission. Moreover, if students are concurrently enrolled in high school and the university, can we assure that a portion of the money designated to the schools for that student's education will flow to the university? Indeed, a large number of students engaged in such programs would require educational officials to rethink the way in which money is allocated between the different educational levels of the state system.
Proposal: The university should explore whether early admission is necessary or desirable to accomplish a smoother articulation between the schools and the university. If early admission is granted, should there be a limit on the number of credits accepted under early admission and a reduced cost for these credits? These and other relevant issues will need to be explored and policies will need to be established.
6. Short courses and workshops.
Issue: Does the university need to develop short courses and workshops for high school students, to be offered on this campus and at other locations?
Discussion: Opening classes to pre-freshman will assist in accelerating the academic programs of these students. The courses may be workshops, short courses, and other similar types of courses offered on weekends and summer. The UO Summer Session has for many years offered a variety of such courses. That model needs to be studied, and where appropriate, introduced into the schedule of the regular academic year. The dominant model of all courses going for the full duration of the term may not serve us well. For example, the School of Journalism currently offers approximately ten weekend workshops for 1 credit each. It is possible that the pre- freshman courses or Duck Link might work with appropriate revisions. The University of Minnesota and University of Colorado are currently offering such course work.
Proposal: The initiative for this proposal would be at the university department level. It might be associated with the reduced tuition rate program discussed next, or by using other fee structures. It will be necessary for the university departments (a) to present the material at an academic level appropriate for entering students, (b) monitor the quality of the offerings to assure they are commensurate with UO standards, and (c) to arrange for giving appropriate academic credit.
The advantage of this proposal is that it permits pre-freshmen and entering freshman to share in courses and workshops which are appropriate for their general university undergraduate requirements, and thereby accelerates their progression through the academic program.
7. Reduced Tuition for early enrollment.
Issue: Should students working on college credit during the CAM program in high school be given reduced tuition rates to encourage their early enrollment in the university?
Discussion: A reduced tuition admission policy is proposed for AP, CLEP, CBE and other approved work prior to formal admission. This policy would be in effect only during the students' transition into collegiate careers, and would be limited to a given number of credit hours before formal admission. The reduced tuition during this transition accomplishes two purposes: (a) it is an excellent recruiting device in that it encourages good students to enter the University of Oregon early and (b) it is an incentive for students to complete as much preparational and initial work as possible prior to entering the university. Further, this will encourage a small number of students to accelerate their programs in order to get through the university more expeditiously.
This proposal would decrease revenue from tuition for a limited number of students, but should bring increased numbers of students to the UO because of the same savings. This increased enrollment might well offset the funds lost by the reduced rate.
This transitional program should not be used as a "foot in the door" to gain admission if not qualified. Instead, we would continue to require that students meet regular admission standards to be fully admitted to the university.
A variation of this reduced tuition policy would be to have a "stair step" process so that as students take more courses under the reduced fee arrangement the fee increases until it reaches that of regular tuition.
Proposal: That the UO consider the reduced tuition concepts described above.
8. U of O use of Ed-Net.
Issue: Can Ed-Net or other transmission media be used to facilitate a variety of pre-freshman courses and workshops for advanced high school students?
Discussion: With the failure of Measure 1 in Oregon, it is very possible that fewer high schools will be able to offer AP courses to outstanding students. This is an opportunity for the university to offer these and similar courses via electronic transmission to students around the state. In addition, coursework might relate to a number of other standardized tests as well as the university's own Credit By Examination program for general education courses. Unless already admitted to the university, students passing these Ed-Net courses would receive transfer credit for such work.
Proposal: This proposal would require a substantive change in the procedures for offering AP courses, but little change for other courses. Several advantages are evident: (a) It will accelerate the entering student's progress through the university if they have AP courses, (b) it will make AP courses available to students from remote locations around the state, and (c) it will give this university greater visibility throughout the state, particularly with outstanding students.
The difficulty of the proposal is that it requires substantial coordination with high schools. Further, using electronic communications is expensive, both because of the transmission and for having a faculty member responsible for giving the lectures. An alternative is to do short courses (e.g. several weekends) , or workshops which would prepare students for specific AP examinations after they have taken the "base" course at their high school.
[Submitted by: Charley Wright
Fri, 3 Dec 93 14:03:51 PST] [Copyright 1993, University of Oregon]
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