Online Courses & the University of California’s A-G Subject Area

Requirements

Hannah Frankel

High School Articulation Analyst

University of California | Office of the President

California Consortium for Independent Study (CCIS) ConferenceJanuary 31, 2014

Today’s Session

Overview and key online policy definitions

New “a-g” review process for online courses

Next steps for institutions with existing online courses

Additional policy highlights

Overview and Definitions

California Consortium for Independent Study (CCIS) ConferenceJanuary 31, 2014

A-G Course List

UC and CSU admissions requirements include satisfying a 15-course pattern of “a-g” college-preparatory courses.

– May only use courses that appear on a “a-g” course list.

Submit “a-g” courses and revisions via the A-G Online Update website: https://doorways.ucop.edu/update.

Approve courses for “a-g” purposes based on criteria established by UC faculty.

Course list accuracy is important!– Course lists available at https://doorways.ucop.edu/list.

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A-G Course Submission Timeline

New update cycle opens on February

1

PHASE 1

February 1-May 31

New courses submitted have

up to 2* resubmission opportunities

PHASE 2

June 1-July 31

New courses submitted have 1

resubmission opportunity

PHASE 3

August 1-September 15

New courses submitted have no resubmission

opportunity

Update cycle closes on

September 15

*Phase 1:1st resubmission due by July 312nd resubmission due by September 15

Big Changes for 2015-16!

NEW A-G Course Management System or A-G CMP.– Replace the Online Update website.

Part of UC’s initiative to improve overall “a-g” course submission and review process.

Major highlights:– Clarifying and updating the “a-g” subject area course criteria.– Developing and distributing new “a-g” course evaluation rubrics.– Streamlining the course submission form to align with the “a-g”

course criteria.– Increasing “a-g” resources and Articulation staff.

Key Definitions

What is an online course?– More than 50% of instruction is through Internet-based methods

with time and/or distance separating teacher and student.

What is a commercial online course?– Courses that are sold or licensed to individual schools or district

for delivery by the high school or online school.

What is a non-commercial online course?– Teacher-created, home-grown online courses offered by the local

high school or district only to their students.

More Definitions

What is an online course publisher?– Develops their own online curriculum and sells or licenses their

courses for delivery by a teacher at a local high school.

What is an online school?– Diploma-granting institution offering all or the majority of their

courses through Internet-based methods, with time and/or distance separating the teacher and student.

NEW A-G Review Process for Online Courses

California Consortium for Independent Study (CCIS) ConferenceJanuary 31, 2014

Home-Grown / Non-Commercial Courses

NEW Online Course Review Process:1) Assessment against iNACOL course standards.

a) CLRN course certification, OR

b) Self-assessment conducted by institution

2) Review by UC for final “a-g” approval.

Effective for new courses in the 2014-15 update cycle.– Effective for online institutions for 2013-14 update cycle.

Online courses approved for 3-year term.

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Step #1: CLRN Certification vs. Self-Assessment

Type of Institution / Online Educational Program CLRN Certification

Self-Assessment

Online course publishers serving public schools

Online course publishers serving only private institutions Public high schools opening home-grown online

courses to students outside of their district Public high schools opening home-grown online

courses only to students within their district

Private high schools

Step #1A: CLRN Certification

A CLRN-certified course must:– Meet at least 80% of CA Content or Common Core Standards.– Fulfill all 15 “power standards” from the iNACOL course

standards.– Satisfy at least 27 of the remaining iNACOL course standards.

CLRN certifies only courses that align with a set of standards.

– Courses not aligned with standards are self-assessed (Step #1B).

To submit a course to CLRN: http://clrn.org/elr/index.cfm?event=publisher.login

Step #1B: Self-Assessment

Institution conducts self-assessment against iNACOL course standards.

Self-assessment form completed online as part of the new course submission for UC “a-g” review.

– Paper version of self-assessment form available on “a-g” Guide.

Online Course Self-Assessment Form

URL: https://doorways.ucop.edu/update

Step #2: UC A-G Course Review

Submit courses to UC for final “a-g” review.– Courses submitted via Online Update website.– May only submit CLRN-certified or self-assessed courses.

Single submission if online & classroom curricula are the same.

– Separate submissions if online & classroom curricula are different.

Online courses reviewed using same criteria and process as non-online courses.

Commercial / Purchased Online Courses

Responsibility of online course publisher to undergo 2-step “a-g” course review process every 3 years.

Adding UC-approved online courses from a publisher to an “a-g” course list:

– Courses are submitted as “previously approved” courses.– Not required to re-add courses every 3 years.

Courses from publishers must be on your “a-g” course list!– Why? So students can use the courses to satisfy “a-g” subject

requirements.– Do not put courses from online schools on your “a-g” course list.

Publishers’ “a-g” course lists available on Course List website.

Next Steps: Existing Online Courses

California Consortium for Independent Study (CCIS) ConferenceJanuary 31, 2014

Commercial / Purchased Online Courses

2013-14 update cycle: Online publishers completing re-review process through January 31.

2014-15 update cycle: NO actions required for publisher courses that were re-approved under new policy.

– Re-approved courses will remain on 2014-15 “a-g” course lists.

What if a publisher’s online course was not re-approved?– Course will be removed from 2014-15 “a-g” course lists on Feb 1.– NOT affect students that completed the course during or before

the 2013-14 academic year.– Course could earn re-approval during 2014-15 update cycle.

Institutions will need to re-add course to 2014-15 “a-g” course lists.

Home-Grown / Non-Commercial Online Courses

Identified home-grown online courses in demographic information submission during 2013-14 update cycle.

– On “a-g” course list, home-grown online courses marked with the note: “A version of this course may be offered online.”

To maintain course approval for 2014-15 year and beyond:– Conduct self-assessment against iNACOL course standards.– Use “Revise Course” section to submit assessment.– Begins online course’s 3-year approval term.

Deadline to complete assessment: May 31, 2014.– UC will remove all non-assessed online courses on June 1.

Additional Policy Highlights

California Consortium for Independent Study (CCIS) ConferenceJanuary 31, 2014

Additional Policy Highlights

Principal certification for non-UC-approved online courses– Not acceptable for online courses completed in 2013-14 year and

beyond.– Acceptable for summer 2013 courses completed by students

entering 11th and 12th grades.

Non-online institutions offering online courses required to meet UC’s institutional expectations.

Lab Science & VPA Online Courses

Online courses in the laboratory sciences.– OK if it has required, supervised, on-site wet labs.– NEW process for lab science courses from online publishers

Online publishers may submit courses to UC without the lab component.

Schools intending to add UC-approved online lab science courses from an online publisher are required to submit the lab component.

Online courses in the visual & performing arts. – NOT currently accepted.

Online college-level laboratory science and visual & performing arts courses ok!

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Resources

California Learning Resource Network (CLRN)– http://clrn.org

International Association for K-12 Online Learning (iNACOL)– http://inacol.org

University of California “a-g” subject requirements:– A-G Course Lists – https://doorways.ucop.edu/list

– A-G Online Update – https://doorways.ucop.edu/update

– A-G Guide – http://www.ucop.edu/agguide/

UC High School Articulation unit– E-mail: hsupdate@ucop.edu

– Phone: (510) 987-9570