The institution has a published policy for evaluating, awarding, and accepting credit for transfer, experiential learning, advanced placement, and professional certificates that is consistent with its mission and ensures that coursework and learning outcomes are at the collegiate level and comparable to the institution’s own degree programs. The institution assumes responsibility for the academic quality of any coursework or credit recorded on the institution’s transcript.

   X   Compliance                    ___Partial Compliance                       ___Non-Compliance

Narrative

St. Petersburg College is in compliance with this comprehensive standard because its published policy for transfer and award of credit is consistent with its mission and ensures that the credits awarded or transferred are commensurate with its own degree programs.

Policies for evaluating, awarding, and accepting credit

The State of Florida Board of Education has established policies to facilitate the transfer of credit between Florida institutions of higher learning.

Excerpt from 6A-10.024 Articulation Between and Among Universities, Community Colleges, and School Districts

To facilitate the determination of equivalency of courses, the State of Florida has established a statewide numbering system:

Excerpt from 6A-10.024 Articulation Between and Among Universities, Community Colleges, and School Districts

Florida Statutes require that after a Florida university or community college has published its general education core, the integrity of that curriculum shall be recognized by the College and other public universities and community colleges.  Once a student has been certified by such an institution on the official transcript as having completed satisfactorily its prescribed general education core curriculum, regardless of whether the associate degree is conferred, the College shall require no further such general education courses.  Further, any transfer student who has provided documentation of completion of an Associate in Arts, Bachelor’s degree or higher from a regionally accredited postsecondary institution shall be presumed to have met all general education requirements for the associate degree at the College.

Section 240.4015, Florida Statutes, requires the Articulation Coordinating Committee (ACC) to establish passing scores, course and credit equivalents for Advanced Placement (AP), International Baccalaureate (IB), and College Level Examination Program (CLEP) exams. Public community colleges and universities in Florida are required to award credit for AP, IB, and CLEP as designated in the ACC Guidelines.  The ACC Guidelines also address other credit-by-exams such as DANTES/DSST and Excelsior College exam equivalents as authorized by the State Board of Education Rule 6A-10.024.

Board of Trustees (BOT) Rules 6Hx23-4.02 and 6Hx23-4.17 together specify requirements for transfer and award of credit.

6Hx23-4.02     Admission Requirements.  Describes policies for accepting and awarding credit for accelerated High School programs and courses transferred in from other accredited institutions.

6Hx23-4.17     Credit from Nontraditional Sources. Describes the College policy for accepting or awarding credit from the following nontraditional sources:  the Advanced Placement Program, the International Baccalaureate Program, the College-Level Examination Program, Assessment of Prior Learning/Experiential Learning Program (ELP), and Correspondence or Extension Courses. 

Approved credit is placed in the student’s academic record and counts as either elective credit or as a program requirement.

Alignment with the College Mission

Policies and procedures for awarding of transfer credit are aligned with the College’s mission:

Excerpt from College mission statement

The purpose of allowing a broad range of opportunities for transfer and award of credit is to support the College’s mission to provide accessible education.

Ensuring comparability to SPC’s own degree programs

St. Petersburg College accepts responsibility for ensuring that the quality of accepted transfer credit is commensurate with credit awarded for coursework delivered by the College itself.  To ensure comparability of courses accepted for transfer, the policy of St. Petersburg College is to use the standards and comparison guidelines developed by the Transfer Credit Practices (TCP) booklet, the State of Florida’s Articulation Coordinating Committee (ACC) Guidelines, the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers, the Guide to the Evaluation of Educational Experience in the Armed Services and NAFSA: Association of International Educators, the Pinellas Education Articulation Committee (PEAC), and acceptable international evaluation agencies.

Reviewing academic quality

Transfer credit.  Transcripts from other colleges are evaluated for transfer credit regardless of whether or not the student has been admitted in a degree seeking status.  Credit is placed in the St. Petersburg College academic record and is identified as transfer credit from the appropriate school on the College’s official transcript.  All acceptable coursework is transferred, including courses for which grades of D and F were awarded.  Transfer credit bears the same weight as credit earned locally.  Only credit from regionally accredited institutions is transferable to St. Petersburg College, with the exception of credit from proprietary schools participating in Florida’s common course numbering system that has been certified as acceptable by the State of Florida’s Articulation Coordinating Committee, and courses from institutions with which the College has locally developed articulation agreements.  Transfer students must complete at least 25 percent of program requirements at St. Petersburg College to be eligible for award of the credential sought.

Dual Enrollment.  Florida School Law (2004), Chapter 1007.235, provides the oversight and compliance for articulation with colleges.  Articulation with high schools through the dual enrollment process is addressed in Chapter 1007.271.  The overall objective of the articulation activities is to increase access and provide outreach through contractual agreements.  College oversight of these agreements is a collaborative process that rests with the Vice President of Educational and Student Services, College wide articulation committee, articulation officers, workforce development, legal counsel and the Office of the College President.  The Inter-institutional articulation agreement between St. Petersburg College and the Pinellas County School District is evaluated annually by the Pinellas Education Articulation Committee (PEAC) through a letter of understanding accepted by both parties.

Credit from non-traditional sources.  St. Petersburg College is committed to accepting and granting of College credit based upon the ACC Guidelines. The maximum amount of credit which may be granted from all sources of non-traditional credit is 45 semester hours.  This also includes correspondence or extension courses as well as the Experiential Learning Program (ELP).

Experiential Learning Program.  The College has an extensive Experiential Learning Program (ELP) to assess students’ prior learning and award college credit when appropriate. Credit may be awarded under this area for learning in a discipline or program area(s) offered by the College.  Credits awarded under ELP utilize a "P" grade.

The discipline Program Directors and Deans, by Collegewide agreement, have determined which courses are eligible for assessment through Experiential Learning and consult annually with advisory committees, discipline instructors, and Experiential Learning coordinators to update the listing of courses eligible for assessment through the Experiential Learning Program.  Program Directors in the Associate in Science and Certificate Programs may limit credit earned through Experiential Learning to 50 percent of the core courses and/or courses within the major.  If a student can demonstrate prior learning, the College will award credit for achievement rather than have the student repeat the learning sequence.

International Institutions.  Credit is also accepted from international institutions when a foreign credential evaluation has been performed by an acceptable evaluation agency that certifies the credit as equivalent to that earned in a regionally accredited institution in the United States.

Military.  St. Petersburg College allows credit for military experience and training.  As part of its participation nationally as a Servicemembers Opportunity College (SOC school) SPC follows the general principles of good practice outlined in the Joint Statement on the Transfer and Award of Credit.  Further, SPC uses the ACE Guide to the Evaluation of Educational Experiences in the Armed Services to award credit for appropriate learning acquired in military occupations, service schools, and other military training at levels consistent with ACE Guide recommendations or those from the Community College of the Air Force.

Acceleration mechanisms.  The College complies with state regulations governing acceleration mechanisms for gaining college credit and Board of Trustees Rules govern the evaluation and granting of that credit.  Acceleration mechanisms addressed by the State through the Articulation Coordinating Committee include Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate, and College-level Examination Program.  Credits under Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate, and CLEP are awarded without letter grades or quality points assigned.

       Guidance on credit-by-exam from the Articulation Coordinating Committee

College Level Examination Program (CLEP).  The College participates in the general examination program and the selected subject examination program.  Decision as to acceptability of subject examinations is made by the Educational and Student Services Office, within the restrictions imposed by Paragraph 6A-14.031(1)(a), State Board of Education Regulations.

Advanced Placement (AP)  Advanced Placement examinations are a special program of the College Entrance Examination Board (CEEB) offering special instruction to high school seniors.  The examination must have been taken while the student was still enrolled in high school.  Advanced Placement credit is treated as transfer credit.  The procedures followed for the granting of credit are the same as those followed for the College-Level Examination Program.

International Baccalaureate (IB).  The International Baccalaureate Diploma Program offers high school students a rigorous program of study that meets international standards of proficiency in English, a foreign language, Mathematics, Social Studies, Experimental Science, and electives.  In addition, students complete an extended essay, community service, and a Theory of Knowledge course.

Ensuring student competence

In all cases, SPC ensures that students receiving credit for such programs have achieved the same knowledge, skills, and experiences as those who have completed its own educational programs.

Experiential Learning Program.  The assessment of experiential learning takes place through means consistent with generally accepted techniques of measuring college-level learning. The techniques may include written and oral examinations, portfolio evaluations, interview assessments, and project or product evaluations, as determined by the appropriate Program Director or Dean.  The assessment will certify that students have the knowledge and skills established in the curriculum of the College for equivalent courses.  In addition, other methods of evaluation shall include use of ACE guidebooks, DANTES, the MOS Specialty Guide, the CAEL Guide, and correlation of military training with college-level credit.  Such assessment shall certify levels of attainment consistent with the content and performance expectations established in the curriculum of the College for equivalent courses.  Information concerning such assessments is available in the Experiential Learning Office on each campus.

Military.  St. Petersburg College accepts the professional opinion of the ACE evaluators, nominated from postsecondary institutions, professional and disciplinary societies, education associations, and regional accrediting associations, in determining the quality of the assessments and learning gained in military courses and occupations.

           Description of evaluation process from ACENet Military Guides Online

Credit through Acceleration Mechanisms.  By direction of Florida Statute 1007.27, the Articulation Coordinating Committee (ACC) has set passing scores for Advanced Placement (AP), International Baccalaureate (IB), and College-Level Examination Program (CLEP) exams.  If a student receives the score listed on an AP, IB or CLEP exam, state universities and community colleges must award the minimum recommended credit for the course even if they do not offer the course.

CLEP.  The required level of performance on the examinations will be that required to ensure transferability under the articulation agreement.  The acceptable examinations, minimum acceptable scores for each examination, the course(s) for which credit will be granted and the number of semester hours credit for each examination are published in a brochure, "College-Level Examination Program at St. Petersburg College," by the Central Records' Office.

International Baccalaureate.  St. Petersburg College will grant college credit to a student who presents a score of 4, 5, or 6 on one or more of the International Baccalaureate examinations, which is transferable among Florida institutions of higher education participating in the statewide articulation agreement.

Advanced Placement.  Credit will be granted to students who achieve scores of 3, 4, or 5, on one or more of the advanced placement program examinations.  Such credits will be transferable to institutions of higher education within the State of Florida which participate in the state Advanced Placement Program.

            Example from Board Rule regarding credit awarded for Advanced Placement

Disseminating transfer and award of credit policies

Transfer and award of credit policies stipulated by BOT Rules are published in the College Catalog and are also viewable on the College Web site.

                                Credit from non-traditional sources Web page

The Catalog and Web site also state that “specific exams, passing scores and course equivalents are published by SPC's Central Records office and information related to credit granted can be obtained in the campus testing and advisement offices.”

Periodic reviews of policies for evaluating, awarding, and accepting credit

The State’s Common Course Numbering System (CCNS) is updated continuously as new courses are added by any Florida state university or community college.  The ACC Credit-by-Exam Equivalencies is updated annually, with the latest revision in August 2006.

Annually, SPC policies for evaluating, awarding, and accepting of credit are reviewed when the College Catalog is prepared for the subsequent year.  For example, when the Florida Board of Education Rule changed to require acceptance of other state university and community college General Education core curriculum as meeting the institution’s General Education requirement, the SPC Board of Trustees amended its board rule to extend the courtesy beyond Florida schools to all schools with regional accreditation.

       Excerpt from BOT Rule 6Hx23-4.02.  Admission Requirements

In addition, admissions policies regarding the acceptance of credit towards a Baccalaureate degree are reviewed and updated when new Baccalaureate programs are developed.  An example is the update to the Admissions policy for Paralegal Studies:

       Excerpt from Board of Trustees Rule 6Hx23-4.02

References