General Questions

Questions about PA 12-40 may be directed initially toward the academic affairs officer(s) on a campus. Those officers may consult with the BOR academic affairs office and/or the BOR VP for community colleges and BOR VP for state universities. The VPs are advised by the PA 12-40 Advisory Group and a group of campus Presidents. In some instances, the full Board must approve programs, such as the intensive college readiness experience.

No.

Class sizes and student-faculty ratios are determined at the institution level.

The act requires BOR in consultation with the P20 Council to make recommendations about how provisions of PA 12-40 should apply to hearing impaired or deaf students. This provision was added during legislative deliberations. The justification for a narrow tailoring of this report toward students with a specific disability is not known, although BOR may include discussion of other special populations in its report.

The legislation is silent about English as a Second Language. Since these courses are language learning classes directed at speakers of languages other than English, they are not considered remedial in nature and not covered by provisions of the law.

Any 100 level course or higher is a college-level course. The law does not make provision for what courses may count toward general education or not. Credits awarded for courses remain under the purview of the faculty at a campus.

The single semester of remediation or intensive college experience is open to any student without demonstrating a proficiency level. The outcomes of each level of developmental education should be equivalent regardless of the institution at which the students participate in the instruction.

Embedded Level: College-level Instruction with Embedded Support

The following parameters have been established and others may emerge

• These courses will have the same learning outcomes as college-level English and math courses without embedded support.
• All institutions will have common outcomes for these courses.
• Courses may include additional contact, billing, and/or credit hours.
• Credits assigned to embedded components remain under the purview of faculty on a campus.

Yes. That said, both the community colleges and the state universities have applied for and received funding from the BOR to develop these courses in a collaborative manner, with common outcomes.

Community colleges and state universities have received funds for developing these offerings with common outcomes and common competencies for placement. Initial estimates are that students who have skills in the 11th or 12th grade range would be candidates for college-level courses with embedded support.

Entry level includes just mathematics and English.

Intensive Level: The Intensive Readiness Experience and the Single Semester Developmental Course

Yes, although one semester intensive-level offerings must be approved by the Board of Regents (section 1d). That said, both the community colleges and the universities have applied for and received funding from the BOR to develop these offerings in a collaborative manner.

The curriculum of intensive college readiness experience and the one semester of remedial support offerings must be at least at the secondary level (9th grade) to qualify to be eligible for students to receive federal financial aid for them. That said, the law does not bar a student who holds a high school diploma or equivalent but demonstrates competency below the 9th grade level from enrolling in one of these offerings.

Most transitional strategies indicate students may enter and exit based on demonstration of competencies. Ideally, students would enter into a more formalized developmental education offering as soon as they demonstrate competencies that indicate they would be likely to succeed at that level.

Students get one semester for reading/writing and one semester for mathematics.

It is an instructional package with the same learning outcomes as the single semester developmental course but in a different format and/or timeframe. It may take place prior to the start of the semester and be computerized, customized, modular or accelerated. Funded by the College Access Challenge Grant, individual colleges will design the intensive readiness program in spring 2013, providing a more specific answer to this question.

Faculty at each institution will develop the curriculum at all levels.

Several options.

Successfully achieve the learning outcomes.

Any of the above.

The remedial support can come in the form of an intensive developmental experience or a single course and will not receive credit toward graduation if below the 100 level. "Advance toward earning a degree" alludes to federal financial aid regulations and means that the course is aligned with subsequent courses in a program of study moving toward graduation.

Students in the "intensive readiness experience" or the single semester of developmental education can enroll in other courses unless barred by college prerequisite requirements. The law does not provide for conditional admission or change existing open access to community colleges.

Students can repeat the single semester of developmental work as consistent with existing policy. This policy may be reviewed and reframed to make the repeat policy for developmental coursework consistent with federal financial aid guidelines for repeating a course.

Transitional (a.k.a. "Regional") Strategies

These groups were assembled to devise common approaches for the transitional level addressing students with very large gaps in skills - those estimated to have skills at the 8th grade level or below.

Yes. Any student involved in a program on a given campus, including those in the "regional" remediation programs, can use that campus' facilities.

Regional strategies represent approaches for learning support and instruction for students with the largest skill gaps. Campus faculty or staff will provide these at the discretion of the institution. Classes below the high school level cannot be included in the financial aid budget for federal student aid (Federal Student Aid Manual, 2012-13, 1-4). Programs will be offered at no cost to the student and these models are still under development and discussion. Students may receive federal financial aid for other qualifying coursework.

Placement and Advising

Those who are near but not quite college-ready will be required to take gateway mathematics and English courses with embedded support. Students below that level will be required to take one semester of developmental education or the intensive readiness experience. For students at the eighth grade skill level or below, the regionally developed strategies will be recommended but not a requirement.

The PA 12-40 Advisory Group with input from Deans of Students, CAOs and faculty groups will make a recommendation to the BOR on what the measures should be. Faculty groups such as CCET and Math Issues will make recommendations on placement levels to the PA 12-40 Advisory Group and those will be reviewed and a recommendation made to the Vice Presidents.