Curricular Policies (Senate: 1/30/96, 4/9/96; President:  5/7/96, 7/24/96; Editorial Amendment: 9/00, 8/01; 9/03)   Responsibility for the development of the curriculum rests with the faculty, subject to system guidelines in the Administrative Code, Title 5, and in other pertinent statutory documents.   New degree programs, including options and concentrations, are projected on the University's Academic Master Plan prior to their detailed design.  Undergraduate degree programs with options, concentrations, or special emphases must have a common core requirement of at least five courses.  Departments/divisions/schools may request a variance based on the standards of the discipline.  This variance must be approved through academic governance processes.  Each graduate degree program  with options, concentrations or special emphases must include a common core experience.  Each college within the University must establish a policy defining acceptable core experiences.   Each college within the University must establish a policy defining acceptable core experiences for graduate degrees within the college.  This college policy shall be subject to approval by the Curriculum Subcommittee and the Educational Policy Committee.   Justification for their addition to the program is developed concurrently, in terms of academic and professional needs, student and community interests, and fiscal feasibility. Modifications in existing courses and programs also are given formal consideration, and all programs are reviewed in an ongoing process which has a five-year cycle.   The curriculum has both residence and external components, and includes undergraduate and graduate segments. Courses, degree and certificate programs, and modifications thereof are proposed by the faculty in the respective disciplines or interdisciplinary areas. Following departmental/divisional/school approval, these proposals are reviewed by the Instructional Affairs Committee of the corresponding college.   At the university level, new major programs, options, minor/credential programs and certificates and resolution of unresolved challenges to curricular modifications are considered by Curriculum Subcommittee.  The subcommittee submits approved proposals to the Educational Policy Committee, where the curricular actions stand approved unless questioned and agendized for further consideration.   Detailed policies and procedures on curriculum development appear in Appendix E. Curriculum Calendar (Senate: 1/16/90; President: 3/15/90; Editorial Amendment: 9/00; 8/01) Curricular proposals may be considered by departmental/divisional/school, college and University committees and subcommittees only during fall, winter and spring quarters. Curricular proposals which did not receive final action prior to the end of spring quarter shall be held on the agenda of the committee or subcommittee until fall quarter.   The Educational Policy Committee subcommittees shall not meet during summer quarter. Non-curricular items which cannot wait until fall quarter, such as policy issues requiring timely response and referrals of student petitions which cannot be handled by executive action, shall be referred to the Educational Policy Committee for consideration. Philosophy of Academic Advising (Senate: 10/22/91, 10/28/97; President: 11/5/91, 11/20/97) Academic advising is central to the educational process. It is a multifaceted academic and academically related all-university function intended to facilitate an experience for students that is both educationally and socially meaningful and successful. Academic Advising is a continuous process through which the advisor and student design, evaluate and modify a plan that meets the students' individual needs, educational objectives and University expectations. At California State University, Los Angeles, the task of academic advising is uniquely challenging and critical because of the diverse nature of the student body. Students need regular and sensitive advising to achieve their academic goals, clarify their career objectives and better understand how the University can assist them in realizing their goals and objectives.   The purposes of advising are to assist students to maximize the benefits of their educational experience by providing guidance in the selection of curricular programs and courses; to help students become familiar with career opportunities directly and indirectly related to their academic interests and professional ambitions; to acquaint students with campus resources and services, including how these can help meet their educational and personal needs and aspirations; to encourage students to develop the independence and personal skills necessary to make informed judgments about their educational objectives, careers, and use of campus support systems and other opportunities available on or through the campus.   Advisement services at Cal State, L.A. must be responsive to the needs of students who among other things: -  Make up the most ethnically and linguistically diverse campus in the nation. -  Are likely to be low income and the first in their family to attend college. -  Are older, on the average, and have more responsibilities than most students at traditional universities. -  Are more likely to not only be working, but working more hours than their counterparts at traditional universities. -  Are more likely to commute, and many travel long distances to campus.   To this end, advisement is a campus-wide, integrated support service for all students which provides appropriate resources to which students may be referred and/or access directly.   The faculty is  responsible for academic advising; however, other campus personnel also provide advisement services. All individuals involved in advising must recognize that they are part of the overall system for advisement and must interact with each other in order to be effective.   If students request; or appear to need professional counseling, they should be referred to professional counselors in the health center.   An effective system of advising is an important factor in retaining students and is the essential first step in facilitating students' success at Cal State L.A. Collectively and individually, each unit that provides advisement services makes an important contribution to retaining students and, more significantly, to their ultimate academic and personal success. This contribution not withstanding, students share major responsibility in contributing to and ensuring their own success, and, as such, must be active participants in the advisement process.   All advisement services should be dispensed with respect for the individual to whom they are being provided. The ultimate success of an effective advising program depends on the individual commitment of faculty and staff to perform to the limits of their personal capabilities and professional expertise.   The importance of advising must be manifest in the University's policies that govern retention, tenure and promotion. Goals of Advisement at Cal State, Los Angeles (Senate: 10/22/91; President: 11/5/91) Maintain a coordinated, integrated system of advisement that supports the teaching and academic mission of the University. Provide advisement services to students in a manner appropriate to their needs and the achievement of their educational goals. Make available to all students, especially prior to and during their first quarter, comprehensive information about student academic policies and procedures and advisement programs and services on campus. Maintain an advisement center that provides advisement services to undecided majors and provides advisers with appropriate resources, including training and information on all aspects of academic advisement, including general education. Offer faculty development courses/workshops on a regular basis to enhance communication and/or mentoring skills necessary for meeting the needs of a culturally diverse student body. Increase the retention of students and their ultimate educational success through a coordinated and integrated system of academic advisement. Encourage and motivate students to increase their performance levels to their full potential. Assist students to become responsible, informed and active participants in the decision making process related to all aspects of their educational careers. Timing of Advisement (Senate: 10/22/91, 7/11/06; President: 11/5/91, 8/3/06) Academic advisement shall be required for all new students prior to or during their first quarter in attendance. After the first advisement session, each student shall be advised annually or more often as necessary to enhance academic success.  By the end of their first year in residence, students must meet with an academic advisor to develop a degree plan to be filed on-line.   After reaching 90 units and before completing 120 units, all students shall meet with an academic advisor to review their progress toward graduation based on the results of an on-line degree audit.   Students who reach 180 units and have not filed a graduation application shall meet with an academic advisor to review their progress toward graduation based on the results of an on-line degree audit and develop a plan to help ensure timely and efficient progress toward graduation.  The plan shall include remaining requirements and dates of future progress checks.   Participation in the California Articulation Numbering System (CAN) (Senate: 5/16/89; President: 8/8/89; Editorial Amendment: 8/01) The California State University, Los Angeles shall participate in the CAN system. The following guidelines shall govern Cal State L.A.'s participation in CAN: Faculty involvement shall be evident through the entire process of qualifying courses in CAN. Decisions to include courses in the CAN program shall entail department/divisional/school consultation and approval. A review of courses in CAN and Cal State L.A.'s participation in CAN shall be undertaken at least every five years to insure that like numbered courses remain acceptable and that participation in CAN continues to provide optimal benefits. The campus Articulation Officer shall serve as a liaison between campuses and as a consultant to faculty in the CAN course certification process. Basic Skills Program (Senate: 8/27/85; President: 9/9/85; Editorial Amendment:  8/01) A maximum of 4% of the University's FTEF shall be devoted to the basic skills program. The 4% will include the coordinator. This allocation will be reexamined by the Educational Policy Committee each year since dislocations affecting faculty and students may occur as a result of this allocation.   The following courses shall be included in the basic skills program: Education 093, English 095 and 096, Mathematics 081, 082, 083, 090 and 091 and Speech 094. Exit-level competency requirements should be built into the basic skills program courses and their sequencing.   A student may attempt a basic skills course no more than twice. Students must receive permission from the offering department/division/school prior to reregistering for a basic skills course.   Students required to take basic skills courses must progress every quarter toward satisfying these requirements. Those who have not completed their basic skills requirements within the first 30 units of baccalaureate credit courses taken at Cal State L.A. will be placed on restricted registration.   After testing and assessment of scores is completed, each student who requires preparatory work for block A of the general education program will be assigned a basic skills adviser in the Educational Opportunity Program (EOP), in his or her major department/division/school, or the advisement center. The basic skills coordinator will coordinate the assignment to a basic skills adviser.   The basic skills advisers are responsible for acquainting the students with the basic skills curriculum, requirements, and other support programs designed to serve those students; acquainting the students with alternative locations (high schools, community colleges) if they need more than two attempts to complete a basic skills course; and planning a workable schedule in which the students can complete their basic skills and basic subjects courses in their first 30 units. The advisers and counselors will also be provided with test data pertaining to competencies in the basic skills and grade records to properly advise and track these students. The names of these advisers and counselors should be listed in the quarterly Schedule of Classes. Those students in need of the basic skills curriculum must have their programs over-stamped by one of these advisers or an EOP adviser until they complete the basic subjects (block A) of the Cal State L.A. general education program. The basic skills advisers in major departments will be assigned by the departments/divisions/school. Departments/divisions/schools may request that basic skills advisers receive reassigned time. EOP advisers will be secondary (i.e. supportive) to department/division/school advisement, including basic skills.   Under the auspices of the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs, the University should establish a basic skills program consonant with the policies outlined above. This program shall be reevaluated by the Educational Policy Committee every fall quarter. Early Entrance Program (Senate: 3/8/83; President: 3/30/83) Purpose. The Early Entrance Program is created to meet a demonstrated demand for educational programs to serve students who are extremely gifted and who need the academic challenges of a university environment to develop intellectually, but who are chronologically younger than traditional undergraduates and who have not yet graduated from high school.   Organization. The administration of the program will be coordinated by an Academic Program Coordinator, serving part-time and reporting to the Dean of Undergraduate Studies. An Administrative Program Coordinator will serve as a resource person to the Academic Program Coordinator. Both coordinators will be appointed annually.   Admission Criteria. Student participation in the program will be by invitation, based on performance in an academic assessment inventory administered by the Academic Program Coordinator, on personal interviews of the student and parents, and, where appropriate, on interviews of the Gifted Coordinator or the Principal of the student's school of origin.   Academic Program. Following admission to the Early Entrance Program the student's university study list will be determined by the Academic Program Director, based on the student's diagnostic scores, previous performance, interviews with student and parents, and, for continuing students in the program, on performance at Cal State L.A. and on faculty recommendations. The Academic Program Director also will assume responsibility for identification of the Cal State L.A. faculty members in whose courses these students will enroll, until a proven record of university work is established. Instructors will be asked to provide mid-quarter progress reports to the Academic Program Coordinator, who also will interview students periodically to assess their adjustment to the program and suitability for retention.   Students accepted for the Early Entrance Program will ordinarily enroll in 4 or 8 units per quarter for a maximum of four quarters. They may progress to regular undergraduate status when in the judgment of the Coordinators and the Director of Admissions, the students' university records, academic preparation and personal performance warrant admission to a degree program.   It is anticipated that full matriculation will be attained within one calendar year. Students who are admitted to the University following participation in the Early Entrance Program will be encouraged to participate in the General Education Honors Program and to maintain affiliation with the Early Entrance Program. Students who are not selected for full-time matriculation through the Early Entrance Program will be redirected to the PACE or ACE program, as appropriate.   The allocation of academic credit for university coursework completed at Cal State L.A. will be arranged by the Administrative Program Coordinator.   Procedures During Enrollment. The Academic Program Coordinator will be charged to provide continuing contact with Early Entrance Program students while they are on campus, and will inform participants and their parents in writing of the University's behavioral expectations for students while they are enrolled in the program. While chronological ages of participants will require that the University assume a limited role in loco parentis with regard to mandatory out-of-classroom activities initiated by the Academic Program Coordinator, it must be clearly understood by all persons that the University cannot and will not assume unusual custodial or supervisory responsibilities for these students.   Evaluation of suitability for participation therefore will reflect an assessment of the student's personal resources for adjustment to a university environment. However, the supportive function of the Program's peer group activities will provide assurance that the participants are not left wholly to their own devices or made to feel socially or culturally isolated. The Academic Program Coordinator will develop a procedure for reintegrating students within their elementary or secondary school community if participation in the Early Entrance program is terminated short of full matriculation on the basis of parental request or the Academic Program Coordinator's decision, or by mutual consent.   Periodic Review. The Undergraduate Studies Office, which directs coordination and furnishes support for the Early Entrance Program, will review it annually to assure that it conforms with all university regulations and meets appropriate academic standards. Definition, Purpose, and Guidelines for Assessment (Senate: 11/23/93, 12/1/98; President: 1/13/94, 2/1/99; Editorial Amendment: 9/00, 8/01) General Definition of Assessment. Assessment is the process by which academic institutions evaluate student progress in learning and success in achieving educational goals. Assessment of courses, programs, and University activities, involve among other things, a measure of student outcomes.  Achievement may be assessed directly by measuring the changes, progress and/or gains that occur with students or indirectly, by using other indicators such as employment, employers' satisfaction and the percent of students who continue their education in graduate or professional programs.   Purpose of Assessment. The purpose of assessment is to assist in improving learning, teaching and academic advising at the individual, course, program and institutional levels. Assessment should be on-going, consistently applied, and based on teaching and learning goals and objectives.  Each academic department/division/school or program should utilize information from assessment to analyze and improve the effectiveness of its academic programs in such areas as curriculum, academic advisement, faculty development and student services. Data from outcomes assessment will not be used for cross-program rankings or comparisons of individual faculty.   Assessment Plan.  Faculty, students and academic administrators shall work together to develop a campus strategy for coordinating and supporting student outcomes assessment activities that includes:   (a)  development of an institutional plan for assessment; (b)  incorporation of evaluation of assessment data in the review of the effectiveness of the general education program; (c)  incorporation of the evaluation of assessment into program review procedures; and (d)  development of an assessment program to review the academic support programs (e.g. Writing Center, Library, Tutoring Center). Assessment of  Programs Assessment is a significant portion of both the academic and academic support programs review.  It should assist in unit planning and improvement.  Program review shall include an evaluation of the extent of assessment measures have been used to document effectiveness and to improve the program. Each unit shall develop, in consultation with the college dean or other college level entity as determined by the college, an assessment plan based on the goals and objectives of the unit, college and University.  The assessment plan shall identify the methods for evaluating the student outcomes of the program.  The plan shall include a description and justification for the selection of current evaluation practices, as well as a description of other assessment measures the unit might consider using in the future, and a timetable for implementation of the plan.  Assessment methods should generate both quantitative and qualitative information.  A summary of assessment activities shall be provided triennially to the college dean and included as part of the program review self-study. The General Education Subcommittee, working with units that offer courses in General Education, shall be responsible for assessing the General Education program. The program review of General Education shall include an evaluation of the extent to which student outcomes assessments have been utilized to improve the program. Administration and Students Academic Administrators shall support faculty and departments by providing resources for a reference library, workshops and other appropriate activities. Student input shall normally be sought in the development of assessment activities of academic programs and departments/divisions/schools.