2003-2004 Standards and
Practices Committee
Mark Snowhite, Chair, Crafton Hills College
Dave Clarke, College of the Siskiyous
Karolyn Hanna, Santa Barbara City College
Beverly Reilly, Rio Hondo College
Sophie Rheinheimer, Las Positas College
Julie Adams, Executive Director, ASCCC
Contents
Background
PURPOSE OF PAPER
Reasons and Conditions for Changes to the Disciplines
List
REASONS CONSIDERED ACCEPTABLE FOR SUBMITTING
PROPOSALS
Proposals to update language to reflect new terminology
Proposals to create a new discipline
Proposals to make an existing discipline’s
minimum qualifications MORE restrictive
Proposals to make a currently existing discipline’s
minimum qualifications LESS restrictive
Request for a change that requires change in
regulations
REASONS CONSIDERED UNACCEPTABLE FOR SUBMITTING
PROPOSALS
Discipline Review Process
Timeline
Resources for Local Senates
Appendices
Appendix A: Sample Proposals
Appendix B: Revision to Disciplines List Form
Background
The system of minimum qualifications to teach
or perform other faculty services in the California
community colleges began in 1988 with the signing
into law of the Community College Reform Bill
(AB 1725). This legislation replaced the state’s
community college faculty credential with minimum
qualifications and required the Board of Governors,
relying primarily on the advice of the Academic
Senate for California Community Colleges, to
develop a framework of minimum qualifications
that allows districts to institute hiring practices
that meet their local needs.1 Implementation
of this mandate became the responsibility of
the Academic Senate for California Community
Colleges, which this legislation directed “to
prescribe… a working definition of the
term discipline and prepare and maintain a
list of disciplines that are reasonably related
to one another…” (Education Code §87357
(b)). In consultation with other system constituents,
the Academic Senate recommended, and the Board
of Governors adopted, a process for establishing
the list of disciplines and related disciplines
(referred to as the Disciplines List) to be
used to determine minimum qualifications for
California’s publicly supported community
college faculty. The Board adopted the original
Disciplines List in July 1989.
The Education
Code further requires that these minimum qualifications
undergo periodic review
so that they can be changed to reflect current
standards. For this reason the Education Code
requires that the Board of Governors
establish a process to review at least every
three years the continued appropriateness of
minimum qualifications, and the adequacy of the
means by which they are administered. The process
shall provide for the appointment of a representative
group of community college faculty, administrators,
students, and trustees to conduct or otherwise
assist in the review, including particularly,
representatives of the academic senates, collective
bargaining organizations, and statewide faculty
associations. In addition, the group shall broadly
be representative of academic and vocational
programs in the curriculum from both urban and
rural districts, and representatives of ethnic
minority communities. (Education Code, §87357
(a)(2))
In accordance with this mandate, the Academic
Senate conducts a review of the Disciplines List
every three years to recommend additions and
changes that keep it current. As required by
the section of the Education Code quoted above,
this review invites input from all major community
college constituent groups and other stakeholders
in the California Community College system.
The
review of this entire process is examined through
the consultation process and involves
representatives from the Chief Executive Officers
(CEOs), Chief Instructional Officers (CIOs),
Chief Student Services Officers (CSSOs), Chief
Business Officers (CBOs), and other constituent
organizations. The first disciplines review was
conducted in Spring 1990 and amended the original
Disciplines List, approved the prior year. Since
that time, reviews have been conducted, on a
three-year cycle, in 1993, 1996, 1999 and 2002.
The Disciplines List actually consists of two
lists of disciplines: “Disciplines Requiring
a Master’s Degree” and “Disciplines
in Which a Master’s Degree is not Generally
Expected or Available.” The disciplines
on the master’s list require a master’s
degree in that discipline (or in some cases,
a specified professional license) or a master’s
in a related discipline along with a bachelor’s
in that discipline or related disciplines. The
disciplines on the non-master’s list require
any bachelor’s degree and two years of
appropriate work experience or any associate
degree and six years of appropriate work experience
(Education Code §87357 (b) and Title 5 §43407).
These lists are intended to assure the professionalism
of faculty and guide day-to-day decisions regarding
employment.
Title 5 Regulations specify additional
minimum qualifications for certain subgroups
of community
college faculty. These include the following:
Noncredit faculty (§53412)
Apprenticeship
instructors (§53413)
Those in disabled
students programs and services (§53414)
Learning assistance or learning skills coordinators
or instructors, and tutor coordinators (§53415)
Work experience instructors or coordinators
(§53416)
EOPS directors (§56262)
EOPS counselors
(§56264)
AB1725 intended that the Disciplines
List allow some local flexibility. Thus districts
may establish
qualifications greater than the minimums so long
as those qualifications would provide the basis
for better teaching or other service. In addition,
districts may hire applicants who do not possess
the minimum qualifications as precisely defined
in the Disciplines List if they possess qualifications
that are deemed equivalent. Districts are therefore
required to develop standards and processes for
determining equivalency to the minimum qualifications,
based on policy and procedures recommended by
their local academic senates (see Equivalency
to the Minimum Qualifications, Spring 1999 and
Qualifications for Faculty Service in California
Community Colleges: Minimum Qualifications, Placement
of Courses Within Disciplines, and Faculty Service
Areas, Spring 2004). Colleges also have the prerogative
to place courses within disciplines—on
recommendation of their curriculum committees—thus
allowing faculty with the minimum qualifications
in a discipline to teach the specific courses
within that discipline.
Purpose of Paper
The purpose of this document is to provide
faculty members with a guide to the disciplines
review
process. The following sections of this paper
will discuss reasons or conditions for recommending
changes and/or additions to the Disciplines
List and outline the review process. The
paper will
conclude with resources for local senates and
other constituent groups to use as they consider
proposing changes to the Disciplines List.
