Agenda Item J-5 UPDATE: ACADEMIC SERVICES REPORT September 14, 2018 Academic Services Report Academic Services covers a broad range of areas from workforce credit education to dual credit, transfer coursework to curriculum, distance learning to program review. KCTCS Workforce Solutions Annual Report Each of the sixteen KCTCS colleges has a Workforce Solutions department. Staff work with business and industry personnel to provide credit and non-credit training to incumbent workers. Training may be credit or non-credit based on the topic and number of hours of training provided and can be in any area from welding skills to Certified Nurse Assistant to leadership or supervisory skills. Non-credit training includes community education classes, which provide lifelong learning opportunities in areas such as sign language, travel and other courses. Adult education courses prepare individuals to take the assessments to receive a General Educational Development certificate (GED). See Attachment A, Agenda Item J-5, Workforce Solutions Annual Report. In 2017-2018, KCTCS colleges served 5,057 companies and provided workforce training for 40,024 participants. The number of individuals receiving academic credit for workforce training in 2017-2018 increased by 8 percent from 2016-2017 while there was a decrease in the workforce non-credit headcount. This is largely due to shifting classes from non-credit to credit because of the new policies around performance funding. Colleges continue to evaluate the workforce training delivered as non-credit to determine if they are at a postsecondary level and should award academic credit. It is anticipated there will be continued growth in this area in 2019-2020 due to policy changes from the Council for Postsecondary Education (CPE). See Attachment B, Agenda Item J-5, Workforce Solutions Annual Report. The KCTCS Workforce Assessment Centers are high stakes centers that administer several Kentucky licensing exams in addition to industry-recognized assessments. KCTCS colleges administer Kentucky licensing exams for Insurance, HVAC, Electricians, EMTs, Paramedics, Real Estate and Cosmetology. The colleges administered 73,464 assessments for industry certifications, pre-employment assessments or licensure. Colleges provide a wide range of classes in community education that focus on personal enrichment. In 2017-2018, there were 20,317 participants from age 6 to 60 plus. KCTCS TRAINS Report The centerpiece of the KCTCS workforce and economic development effort is KCTCS TRAINS. The TRAINS program is designed to support the cost of training provided to companies by KCTCS colleges. Through TRAINS, companies receive funding to assist with the cost of providing workforce training and assessment services to current and potential employees. TRAINS funds are allocated on a market driven, project basis. Companies may apply individually or as a training network with other companies. The network approach is successful for companies who only need one or two employees trained and are able to join with other companies to obtain costeffective and timely training. 125
Since fiscal year 2000-2001, KCTCS has supported and funded workforce development training. As of June 30, 2018, 25 career pathway projects, 22 academic program development projects, and 2,060 business and industry training projects have been funded. Of the 2,060 business and industry training projects, 1,999 have been completed and 61 projects remain active. These projects have provided training and assessment services for 265,804 participants. From July 1, 2017, through June 30, 2018, KCTCS colleges awarded 10,376 hours of academic credit to 5,569 individuals and provided non-credit training for 965 individuals for 4,134 clock hours through TRAINS workforce development training projects. In Attachment C, Agenda Item J-5, for fiscal year 2017-18, KCTCS has funded 105 business and industry training projects through June 30, 2018; the average wage is $30.47. Proposed Changes for the AA and AS The General Education Curriculum committee, composed of one general education faculty member from each of the sixteen colleges, is discussing possible changes to the requirements for the Associate in Arts and the Associate in Science. At the urging of the KCTCS Transfer Peer Team, the committee began researching barriers to KCTCS students who transfer in certain majors. Kentucky public post-secondary advisors, who attended the CPE Transfer Summit in spring 2018, also supported this request and shared the same concerns. The General Education Curriculum committee met in August 2018 to put together a curriculum revision that will allow students to complete their AA and AS requirements with six additional credit hours of electives, rather than six additional hours of general education coursework. If KCTCS faculty support the curriculum revision, the KCTCS Board of Regents Policy 4.12 Policy on Collaborative Program Development will need to be reviewed and revised in the upcoming academic year to reflect these changes for fall 2019. Dual Credit The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) posted an updated dual credit policy on June 28, 2018 stating: Institutions must ensure that their dual enrollment courses and programs comply with the Principles of Accreditation. This applies to all such educational programs and services, wherever located or however delivered. In addition, institutions being reviewed should also be prepared to demonstrate clear institutional control over these dual enrollment courses and programs. The Curriculum and Instruction section included a new policy: Institutions may not offer courses which combine students enrolled in the college course with students who are only receiving high school credit. SACSCOC policy Quality and Integrity of the Undergraduate Degree. - http://www.sacscoc.org/pdf/081705/dual%20enrollment.pdf This new policy was developed to ensure the academic integrity of dual credit classes by ensuring the curriculum was specific to the dual credit course and that the course was under the control of the faculty of the high school whether taught by a college instructor or a high school instructor credentialed by the college. However, since this is new practice, most high schools and 126
Area Technology Centers that offered dual credit courses were beginning the school year with both dual credit and non-dual credit students in the same class sections. On August 2, 2018, Dr. Belle Wheelan, President of SACSOC, announced they would delay this policy for one year due to the hardship that was placed on some high schools to accommodate this policy change. KCTCS heard from several colleges that their Area Technology Center partners were pulling out of dual credit agreements due to this policy. Since the policy has been delayed, those agreements are now back in place. The delay in implementing the policy will allow KCTCS colleges and high school partners to work on a transition before it takes effect in fall 2019. Work Ready Kentucky Scholarship Governor Bevin signed an Executive Order on July 11, 2018, establishing the Work Ready Kentucky Scholarship (WRKS) program for the 2018-2018 academic year. The WRKS covers tuition for academic programs in five statewide high-need employment areas, including advanced manufacturing, business and information technology, construction, healthcare, and logistics. The Executive Order extends eligibility to high school students in grades 9-12 enrolled in dual credit coursework that is part of an approved Career and Technical Education (CTE) pathway. WRKS will pay for two (2) CTE-related dual credit courses this year. KCTCS submitted 486 technical courses that will be eligible for the scholarship. The scholarship is also available to college students who do not yet have an Associate s Degree or higher. Eligibility and application requirements differ between high school students and college students. The 2018-2019 WRKS scholarship for adults has been increased to cover up to sixty credit hours towards an Associate degree in one of the five high-need areas. Assessment and Placement Policy The KCTCS Assessment and Placement policy was updated for fall 2018 to align with Council on Postsecondary Education (CPE) updated College Readiness Indicators. The KCTCS Assessment and Placement Workgroup continues to work on a major revision of this policy for fall 2019 implementation. In fall 2019, the KCTCS Policy must align with a new CPE statewide admissions regulation that limits KCTCS colleges to enrolling students into no more than one developmental education course offering in each of the three content areas (reading, English and math). If necessary, a student may then be enrolled in a co-requisite course, a course that includes enhanced academic supports, such as additional hours of instruction, tutoring, mentoring, or advising that awards credit toward a credential or degree. This CPE admissions regulation requires public postsecondary universities to enroll all students in a co-requisite or college level course in their first term, eliminating all stand-alone developmental courses. Distance Learning Update The System Director of Distance Learning Initiatives, Dr. Leah Parsons Simpson, began work with KCTCS on May 1, 2018. Dr. Simpson was tasked with exploring the strengths and weaknesses of KCTCS s two online modalities, Learn by Term and Learn on Demand. To aid in this exploration, Dr. Simpson visited Distance Learning Peer Team members at all sixteen colleges between May 15 and July 17. During these visits, three themes emerged as areas of focus for all colleges: 1) quality assurance, 2) the distance learning business plan, and 3) 127
competition between and among the system s colleges. To improve quality of online learning, the System Office plans to create a series of professional development opportunities for faculty and staff, including the KCTCS Optimizing Online Learning (KOOL) Conference, hosted by Bluegrass Community and Technical College on October 26, 2018. KCTCS Senate Orientation Meeting KCTCS hosted the KCTCS Senate Orientation Meeting on Tuesday, August 7, 2018. The Senate includes faculty representation from all colleges. The Senate s primary responsibility is to determine academic policy and curricula development to be recommended to the president of the Kentucky Community and Technical College System. There were 165 registered attendees and the day s breakout sessions provided updates on Kentucky s changes to admission standards for post-secondary public institutions coming fall 2019, proposed changes to the Associate in Arts and Associate in Science requirements, an update on the Math Pathway curriculum changes, and Q&A sessions for faculty promotion and curriculum submission. Background The Academic Affairs and Curriculum Committee has asked to be updated periodically about different areas in Academic Affairs. In the past, the Chancellor s Office provided individual updates; after review one update from all areas proved to be more efficient. The last Academic Affairs Report was given at the March 16, 2018 meeting. 128
129 Attachment A, Agenda Item J-5
Attachment B, Agenda Item J-5 KCTCS Workforce Solutions 2018 Annual Report College Workforce Credit/BIT Workforce Non-Credit Workforce Total Community Education Workforce Assessments Adult Education College Total Companies Served Ashland 407 888 1,295 1,408 1,486 126 4,315 230 Big Sandy 2,793 336 3,129 150 230 300 3,809 71 Bluegrass 209 634 843 220 2,054 1,048 4,165 310 Elizabethtown 1,882 304 2,186 230 1,055 615 4,086 433 Gateway 269 1,543 1,812 35 15,079 788 17,714 1,263 Hazard 1,333 756 2,089 6,952 482 100 9,623 112 Henderson 102 130 232 165 186 260 843 42 Hopkinsville 572 888 1,460 514 2,618 743 5,335 170 Jefferson 1,513 809 2,322 10 7,373 870 10,575 338 Madisonville 2,648 932 3,580 938 4,866 311 9,695 287 Maysville 402 484 886 768 2,081 252 3,987 196 Owensboro 1,710 7,096 8,806 1,331 9,239 476 19,852 361 Somerset 853 746 1,599 301 2,921 394 5,215 353 Southcentral 828 2,873 3,701 0 4,781 1,001 9,483 520 Southeast 2,091 1,074 3,165 100 53 214 3,532 97 West KY 2,504 415 2,919 7,195 2,795 336 13,245 274 System Office* 16,165 16,165 Totals 20,116 19,908 40,024 20,317 73,464 7,834 141,639 5,057 130
131 Attachment C, Agenda Item J-5
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