The institution publishes academic policies that adhere to principles of good educational practice.  These are disseminated to students, Faculty, and other interested parties through publications that accurately represent the programs and services of the institution.  

_X_Compliance                      ___Partial Compliance                       ___Non-Compliance

Narrative

St. Petersburg College is in compliance with this comprehensive standard because it has sound academic policies that are readily available to all stakeholders and interested parties.

St. Petersburg College (SPC) has a strong commitment to educational excellence and the academic policies adhere to principles of good educational practice, as reflected in the College mission statement.  All programs are in compliance with Florida statutes and Florida Department of Education Rules.  Bachelor’s, Associate in Arts and articulated Associate in Science degree programs comply with state common prerequisites requirements, state regulations on common degree length and common course state course numbering system conventions.  The State articulation agreement guarantees associate in arts degree graduates admission and full transferability of general education requirements and common prerequisites to a state university or public four year college in Florida.  The unique nature of St. Petersburg College as a four-year public institution also has assisted in the creation of articulation agreements with other community colleges and four-year colleges and universities.  For further information on the development and cyclical review of degree programs and curriculum, see 3.4.1 and 3.4.12.

SPC determines good academic practices through two primary avenues, researching best practices and institutional data analysis.  In the first avenue, Faculty and administrative staff search for best practices through conferences, grants, periodicals, and graduate course cohort studies, and incorporate them through the normal development or update process of College publications.  These publications are reviewed annually by administrative staff to incorporate innovations and best practices.  In addition, SPC determines the need for changes to academic policies by monitoring academic data for problem areas.

The College’s Governance Model ensures that new or revised academic policies and procedures undergo careful review, discussion and agreement before being recommended to the Board of Trustees for action.  When a need surfaces for a new or revised academic policy, the College forms a cross-functional, cross-discipline committee with Faculty and administrative staff to recommend possible changes to academic policies.  After the committees develop proposed solutions, they brief these solutions to various standing councils, such as the Faculty Governing Organization (FGO), the Provost Council, and the Cabinet, and incorporate feedback.  Academic policies are written into Board of Trustees rules and procedures.  The College publishes notifications of such changes according to provisions of the Administrative Practices Act (APA), including timely publishing for rule development and adoption.  Print and other media are created by the office of Institutional Advancement, then reviewed and signed off by the content providers and, ultimately, approved by the President of the College.

General Academic Policies.  St. Petersburg College encourages Faculty to employ research-based best practices to engage students in their education.  The Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education developed by Chickering and Gamson (1991) are included in the Faculty Manual and in the Pathways to eLearning course required for all Faculty teaching online.  SPC has the policy of disseminating other best practices through professional development opportunities on Faculty In-Service Days, in Title III and other grant workshops, through online professional development courses, and through attendance at the annual conference of the National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development (NISOD), whose focus is teaching excellence and academic leadership.

Academic policies concerning course content, Faculty evaluations, grades, attendance, final examinations, academic freedom, and academic honesty are stated in Board of Trustees Rules and Procedures and published annually in the Faculty Manual.

• Course content.  The objectives and content of any course offered by St. Petersburg College will be the same and will be taught so as to comply with the course description.  Course content requirements are found in the College’s course outlines. Faculty are allowed to add objectives to their syllabus, but must cover the course objectives from the College’s course outlines.  At the first class meeting, instructors are required to present in written form vital information to each class.  This includes the instructor’s attendance policy, textbooks required for the course, course objectives, and the grading policy.  The college provides an electronic syllabus template that has all the required elements, including the course objectives pulled from the College’s course outlines.

·         Grades.  A student’s grade may not normally be changed except by the instructor who assigned the original grade or the Student Grievances Committee, under appropriate circumstances.  The Committee on Academic Appeals (SP/G and TS), the Student Appeals Committee (CL) will determine justification for changing a student’s status in a course (i.e., to Withdrawn or Audit).  SPC monitors grade distributions and withdrawals to ensure abnormal patterns are addressed.  When a comparison across the Florida Community College system showed SPC with a high rate of withdrawals, the College formed a committee to address the issue and make recommendations for policy changes.  As a result of the new policy the College has experienced fewer withdrawals and will continue to monitor these numbers.  In the most recent study, College preparatory pass rates increased (45.4% to 50.4%) with withdrawal rates declining twice as much as failure rates are increasing (Spring to Spring comparison). This suggests that at least a portion of students who may have withdrawn in the past were successful in completing remedial courses.

• Attendance.  Regular class attendance is expected of all students.  It will be the responsibility of each instructor to insure that all students are informed of his/her class attendance and excessive absence policy in writing via the course syllabus.  The instructor determines when the absences of a particular student have become “excessive;” however, Board of Trustees Rule has established guidelines to provide consistency across the College.   Individual instructors may publish and enforce more stringent attendance policies than defined within the College’s guidelines.

Excerpt from Board of Trustees policy 6Hx23-4.30  Class Attendance

• Final examinations.  The giving of the final examination shall be left to the discretion of the individual instructor, with the concurrence of the program director or appropriate supervisor.  With the exception of the Collegewide Common Finals, students averaging an “A” or “B” may be exempted from the final examination by obtaining permission from the instructor.  Final examinations must be administered at the time indicated in the Collegewide Final Examination Schedule, unless a change is approved by the appropriate program director and the appropriate site administrator.
• Academic freedom.  Faculty members are entitled to full and complete freedom within the framework of established College Rules and Procedures.  Faculty members will exercise their academic freedom with integrity, sensitivity, taste, judgment, and conscientious regard for the rights of others and to the best interest of the College.  Students have academic freedom in the classroom in discussing their course topic and in research of their course topic.
• Academic honesty.  St. Petersburg College expects students to be honest in all of their academic work.  By enrolling at the College, students agree to adhere to high standards of academic honesty and integrity and understand that failure to comply with this pledge may result in academic and disciplinary action, up to and including expulsion from the College.  As members of the College community, students also have an ethical obligation to report violations of the SPC academic honesty policies they may witness.

Distance learning academic policies are published on the eCampus Web site and include:

·         Online student code of conduct.  ECampus advises students that the practices of courtesy and respect that apply in the ordinary classroom may actually require more attention in a distance learning venue.  Guidelines include getting involved in the course, being persistent, sharing tips and questions, thinking before pushing Send, considering the context, asking for feedback, acting with respect and integrity, and recognizing consequences of not following the online code of ethics.

Service standards.  The College expects the instructor to meet the following standards unless specific alternate expectations are provided to the student.  Ecampus Program Directors monitor adherence to the standards through periodic scans of courses.  Results from Student Surveys of Instruction last Spring indicate a mean of 6.04 on a 7-point scale for Faculty members communicating effectively, 6.12 for providing information to help students determine their grades, and 6.16 for students’ feeling there was sufficient interaction with the instructor and other students.

·         Proctoring for Distance testing.  If students live outside Pinellas County and are unable to come to SPC for testing, they must identify a proctor that is authorized to conduct the test elsewhere, preferably a National College Testing Association (NCTA) Proctor.  Proctors at off-site locations must follow the following procedures:

§         Maintain the security of the test by keeping it in a protected environment.

§         Administer the test in a secure, proctored setting that provides good testing conditions for the examinee.  Testing environment will be comfortable, free from distractions, and visually monitored.

§         Verify the identification of the examinee (Photo ID with signature)

§         Ensure the security of test questions.  Test questions shall not be revealed, copied, or otherwise reproduced.  All materials used by the student during testing shall be collected.

§         Provide no assistance to the examinee in answering the test questions.

• Pathways to eLearning requirement.  In the Pathways to eLearning course required for all distance learning Faculty, use of the The Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education developed by Chickering and Gamson is reiterated, as well as requesting that Faculty apply the Six Principles of Good Web Design and the 15-step Accessibility Checklist.
• Signature Courses.  A signature course is a "high enrollment" course that has been developed by teams of full-time Faculty, administrators, and instructional technologists to include the required curriculum from the course outline and research-based online instructional strategies.  All adjunct instructors must use the signature course as a basis for their online instruction. Full-time Faculty members may choose to use the signature course as option to replace their course.  An instructor may embellish a signature course if desired but may not remove content from the course.  The signature course ensures a high level of quality across courses with multiple sections.
• Online Mentoring Agreements.  Online Faculty designers will receive additional pay for mentoring each new instructor using their reproduced online course in the Electronic Campus.  Faculty mentoring can include collaboration in design, teaching practices, evaluation, and continuous improvement.  The time spent in the mentoring relationship must equal a minimum of 32 hours.

Academic policies for underprepared students.  In accordance with SPC’s open admissions policy, all degree-seeking students who do not have an acceptable score on the SAT or Enhanced ACT taken within two years of applying are required to take SPC’s placement test in reading, writing, and arithmetic prior to registration.  Test results are used for course placement.  Competency-based preparatory instruction is required for students who score below the cutoff score established by state of Florida.  Students may not extend beyond three attempts in each required course except through an academic appeals process based on major extenuating circumstances.  SPC is piloting a Smart Start extended review course through the Title III grant to reduce the number of preparatory courses students need to take.  In the pilot of 18 students, nine were able to skip one and one person was able to skip two of the preparatory courses indicated by their initial test results.  The course has been institutionalized as a Lifelong Learning course, offered in the Spring of 2006 on two campuses.

Academic policies for disabled students are found in Board of Trustees rule 6Hx23-4.021.  Students and prospective students requesting accommodations in their academic work at St. Petersburg College (SPC) must present appropriate documentation.  It is the student’s responsibility to request services supported in the documentation (such as tutoring or note taking).  Auxiliary aids to assist disabled students are available in the form of note takers, readers, tutors, interpreters, and extended examination time.  Tape recorders, calculators and spell checkers are permitted in class with proper documentation of need.  Disabled students are provided with early registration opportunities as well as counseling and advisement in advance of registration time frames.  6,887 disabled students availed themselves of the wide variety of services offered at St. Petersburg College in 2002-2003, 7,112 students in 2003-2004, and 6,494 students in 2004-2005.  For more information on services for disabled students, see 2.10.

Availability of policies

Prospective students may secure information on academic policies from a variety of sources and media:  MySPC interface on the College Web site, the College Catalog, the Student Handbook, the Supplement to the Faculty and Student Handbook, program brochures, and Schedule Booklets.

          Excerpt from Student Handbook on Academic Freedom

The College’s primary online interface is the students’ MySPC, which offers ready access to the College catalog and other sources of academic policies.  The online College Catalog and Student Handbook provide detailed descriptions of academic policies relevant to students.  The online Faculty Manual provides detailed descriptions and links to Board rules.

        Excerpt from Faculty Manual on academic policies affecting students

College students, Faculty and staff all have online access to the Board of Trustees Rules and Procedures via the College Web site.  Notices and agenda for Board of Trustees meetings are also published in print and electronic form, available for view by any student, staff member or member of the general public.  This process and the public hearing declared for such considerations provide a thorough method for making policy recommendation available to constituents both prior to and after formal Board meetings and action.

The College brochures are published semi-annually and annually in hard copy, CD-ROM format and also available in a ‘live’ constantly updated format on the College Web site.  Program of study and curriculum information are also available via the web-enabled PeopleSoft Student Information System, online program and course databases and through an interface with the Florida Advising and Counseling Tracking System (FACTS).  The Student Handbook is created each year by a Collegewide committee, with strong student representation, with strong emphasis on relevant academic and student information, in a format conducive to meeting student interest and need.  The Supplement to Faculty and Student Handbook is used to provide relevant, timely information on academic honesty, College rules and required federal and state information on academic excellence, college crime and retention and graduation.  Both booklets are also made available as a comprehensive CD-ROM and are also available in a ‘live’ version with links on the College Web site.

The Interactive Student Orientation (ISO), individual orientations and advising sessions are all utilized by student development staff to impart information on student success, registration, drop/add procedures, appeals and academic progress.

Changes to academic policies.  There is a statement on the table of contents page in the college catalog, student handbook, and other publications that forewarns students that “The College … reserves the right to change any provision or requirement when such action becomes necessary.”  When that happens, the College engages in an extensive education process to communicate the changes to Faculty and students.  For example, in Summer 2006 the College increased the rigor of its class attendance policy to improve reporting for Federal Financial Aid, in answer to a first-time deficiency in the College’s state audit.  The Board of Trustees Rule now requires Faculty to maintain an attendance record in the College’s Course Management System software, rather than a paper-based system, so the College can instantly monitor attendance at the program and College level for the purpose of reporting student status changes to the Federal Government for recalculation of benefits, if needed.  In this rule change, the Board of Trustees also established Collegewide standards for allowable absences and required Faculty to publish their specific attendance policy in their syllabi.  The rule change was communicated in a series of mandatory meetings for Program Directors and Deans and at the mandatory Fall Faculty Day at the opening of the Fall Semester.  The College also held extensive training for Faculty on use of the Course Management System Attendance Manager.  Students were informed of the change through the syllabi and the online College Catalog was updated.

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