BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó






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          |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE            |                       AB 1016|
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                                   THIRD READING 


          Bill No:  AB 1016
          Author:   Santiago (D)
          Amended:  7/8/15 in Senate
          Vote:     21  

           SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE:  9-0, 6/24/15
           AYES:  Liu, Runner, Block, Hancock, Leyva, Mendoza, Monning,  
            Pan, Vidak

           SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE:  7-0, 7/13/15
           AYES:  Lara, Bates, Beall, Hill, Leyva, Mendoza, Nielsen

           ASSEMBLY FLOOR:  77-0, 6/2/15 - See last page for vote

           SUBJECT:   Public postsecondary education:  Student Transfer  
                     Achievement Reform Act


          SOURCE:    Author


          DIGEST:  This bill requires the Chancellors Office of the  
          California Community Colleges (CCC) to report to on the status  
          of each community college's compliance with the creation of  
          associate degrees for transfer under the Student Transfer  
          Achievement Reform Act and requires the California State  
          University (CSU) to similarly report on campus acceptance of  
          transfer model curricula by concentration,  to the Legislature,  
          as specified, and also requires the CSU to post specified  
          publicly available data on associate degree for transfer  
          students. 










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          ANALYSIS:   


          Existing law:


          1)Establishes the Student Transfer Achievement Reform Act under  
            which a CCC district is required to develop and grant a  
            transfer associate degree that deems the student eligible for  
            transfer into the CSU, when the student meets specified course  
            requirements.  (Education Code § 66746)


          2)Requires the CSU to guarantee admission with junior status to  
            any community college student who meets these requirements,  
            but provides that the student is not guaranteed admission for  
            specific majors or campuses. However, the CSU is required to  
            grant a student priority admission to his or her local CSU  
            campus and to a program or major that is similar to his or her  
            community college major or area of emphasis, as determined by  
            the CSU campus to which the student is admitted. Students that  
            utilize the associate transfer degree process are required to  
            receive priority over all other community college transfer  
            students, except for community college students who have  
            entered into a transfer agreement between a community college  
            and the California State University prior to the fall term of  
            the 2012-13 academic year. (EC § 66747)


          3)Requires the Legislative Analyst's Office to review and  
            report, as specified, on the implementation of the Act by  
            spring of 2012.  (EC § 66749)


          This bill:


       1)Requires the Chancellor's Office of the CCC to report to the  
            Legislature the status of each community college's compliance  
            with the creation of associate degrees for transfer by  
            December 1, 2016.

       2)Requires the CSU to submit two reports on campus acceptance of  
            transfer model curricula by concentration by December 1, 2016,  







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            and by December 1, 2017.

       3)Sunsets the March 2016 reporting requirements on December 1,  
            2020, and the December 2017 reporting requirements on December  
            1, 2021. 

       4)Requires, beginning December 1, 2016, and until November 30,  
            2021, the CSU to annually post publicly available data on:

               a)        The number of students admitted with an associate  
               degree for transfer.

               b)        The proportion of students with an associate  
               degree for transfer who graduate from the CSU within two or  
               three years. 

               c)        The number of students with an associate degree  
               for transfer who applied to one campus and were redirected  
               to another campus other than that indicated on the  
               application.

               d)        The number of those students who ultimately  
               enrolled at a CSU campus.

          Comments


       1)History.  In an effort to address long standing issues and  
            concerns about the need to ensure a clearer, transparent and  
            more navigable transfer process between the CCC and the CSU,  
            the Legislature and Governor enacted SB 1440 (Padilla, Chapter  
            428, Statutes of 2010).  The legislation required community  
            colleges to create two-year 60 unit associate degrees for  
            transfer that are fully transferable to CSU. These degrees  
            require completion of (a) a minimum of 18 units in a major or  
            area of emphasis, as determined by each community college, and  
            (b) an approved set of general education requirements.  
            Students who earn such a degree are automatically eligible to  
            transfer to the CSU system as an upper-division student in a  
            bachelor's degree program. Though these students are not  
            guaranteed admission to a particular CSU campus or into a  
            particular degree program, SB 1440 gives them priority  
            admission to a CSU program that is "similar" to the student's  
            CCC major or area of emphasis, as determined by the CSU campus  







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            to which the student is admitted. Once admitted, SB 1440  
            students need to only complete two additional years (an  
            additional 60 units) of coursework to earn a bachelor's  
            degree. 

            SB 440 (Padilla, Chapter 720, Statutes of 2013) expanded these  
            provisions to require that the CCC create associate transfer  
            degrees in every major, and in areas of emphasis, and required  
            that the CSU accept these degrees, and develop an admissions  
            redirection process for students who complete these degrees  
            but are denied admission to the CSU campus to which they have  
            applied.  SB 440 also required the CCC and the CSU to  
            establish a student-centered communication and marketing  
            strategy to increase the visibility of the associate degree  
            for transfer pathway. 

       2)Legislative Analyst's Office (LAO) Report - 2012.  In May 2012,  
            the LAO issued Reforming the State's Transfer Process: A  
            Progress Report on Senate Bill SB 1440.  According to the LAO,  
            although the CCC and CSU had made notable progress on multiple  
            fronts, both segments had much room for improvement. According  
            to the LAO, an average of just four associate degrees for  
            transfer had been developed per community college. In  
            addition, a number of community colleges expressed reluctance  
            to create more than a handful of such degrees despite the CCC  
            Chancellor's Office goal that, by 2014, each community college  
            have a Transfer Model Curriculum (TMC) aligned associate  
            degree for transfer in every major it offered.  The LAO also  
            reported that CSU campuses and academic programs varied  
            significantly in terms of accepting the associate transfer  
            degrees for their bachelor's degree programs. Although the CSU  
            Chancellor's Office had set a goal for each CSU campus to  
            offer at least one similar degree for each TMC-aligned  
            associate degree for transfer, only six CSU campuses had  
            achieved this goal.

            The LAO made several recommendations in their report,  
            including that the Legislature provide additional guidance and  
            clarification to CCC and CSU on their responsibilities, as  
            well as continued oversight to track their progress.

       3)Updated report.  The LAO recently updated its 2012 report with  
            its February 2015 report, "Implementation Update: Reforming  
            Transfer from CCC to CSU."  The LAO found that since 2012,  







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            both CCC and CSU have made substantial progress in meeting the  
            legislation's goals. The 33 model curricula developed to date  
            cover majors selected by roughly 80 percent of CCC to CSU  
            transfer students. Although some community colleges and CSU  
            campuses were lagging in meeting specific statutory targets,  
            both segments were making a good faith effort to comply with  
            the legislation.  Other specific findings included the  
            following:

          a)   Several colleges offer all the associate degrees they are  
               required to offer by fall 2015, and others have developed  
               these degrees and are awaiting approval. Most colleges,  
               however, still have a few degrees left to develop and a few  
               colleges are lagging far behind. 

          b)   Despite various communication efforts, most CCC students  
               are unfamiliar with the new degrees and mistakenly believe  
               that the regular associate degree they have earned is an  
               associate degree for transfer. The LAO notes that recent  
               CCC investments in education planning for students could  
               improve understanding of transfer reform. 

          c)   CSU admitted every applicant the system identified as  
               earning an associate degree for transfer and nearly all  
               students who earned the degree but were not identified  
               during the application process.  The CSU was unable to  
               provide data on the extent to which students were admitted  
               into their campus or major of choice. 

          d)   Most CSU campuses accept associate degrees for transfer and  
               honor the 60-unit guarantee in at least one concentration  
               within each related major. Nonetheless, a few campuses are  
               lagging in acceptance, and a few majors have low acceptance  
               among several campuses. 

          e)   While growing numbers of students are earning an associate  
               degree for transfer and successfully transferring to CSU,  
               outcome data are too preliminary to draw conclusions, since  
               most students currently completing degrees began their  
               postsecondary education prior to transfer reform. 

               To help the Legislature monitor these reform efforts, the  
               LAO recommends one near-term report from CCC (in fall 2015)  
               and two from CSU (in fall 2015 and fall 2016) to track the  







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               segments' progress in creating associate degrees for  
               transfer and accepting transfer model curricula. LAO also  
               recommends the Legislature require the CSU annually to  
               provide data on certain student outcomes (including  
               admittance to campuses and programs of choice, units taken,  
               and graduation rates) beginning fall 2018.

               This bill generally implements these recommendations. 

          FISCAL EFFECT:   Appropriation:    No          Fiscal  
          Com.:YesLocal:   Yes


          According to the Senate Appropriations Committee, both the CCC  
          Chancellor's Office and the CSU indicate that costs would be  
          minor and absorbable to implement this bill. 




          SUPPORT:   (Verified7/14/15)


          Board of Governors, California Community Colleges
          California Chamber of Commerce
          Campaign for College Opportunity


          OPPOSITION:   (Verified7/14/15)


          None received

          ASSEMBLY FLOOR:  77-0, 6/2/15
          AYES:  Achadjian, Alejo, Travis Allen, Baker, Bigelow, Bloom,  
            Bonilla, Bonta, Brough, Brown, Burke, Calderon, Campos, Chang,  
            Chau, Chiu, Chu, Cooley, Cooper, Dababneh, Dahle, Daly, Dodd,  
            Eggman, Frazier, Beth Gaines, Gallagher, Cristina Garcia,  
            Eduardo Garcia, Gatto, Gipson, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gray,  
            Hadley, Harper, Roger Hernández, Holden, Irwin, Jones,  
            Jones-Sawyer, Kim, Lackey, Levine, Linder, Lopez, Low,  
            Maienschein, Mathis, Mayes, McCarty, Medina, Mullin, Nazarian,  
            Obernolte, O'Donnell, Olsen, Patterson, Perea, Quirk, Rendon,  
            Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas, Santiago, Steinorth, Mark  







                                                                    AB 1016  
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            Stone, Thurmond, Ting, Wagner, Waldron, Weber, Wilk, Williams,  
            Wood, Atkins
          NO VOTE RECORDED:  Chávez, Grove, Melendez

          Prepared by:Kathleen Chavira / ED. / (916) 651-4105
          7/14/15 18:33:10


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