Academic Council Meeting Report

24 July 2003

David Woodall, the new Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs from OIT was welcomed to his first meeting. The minutes from the previous meeting were approved without revision.

Aligning Public University Admission with K-12 Student Learning—This was a report developed by the Board of Higher Education that outlined Oregon’s progress towards aligning proficiency standards for entry into OUS institutions with Oregon’s K-12 standards. Oregon has a 10-year history of policy moving in this direction. However, the policy arena is very dynamic at this time at both the state and federal areas. Oregon is the first state to have accomplished the K-16 alignment and have it supported by the Joint Boards of Education. Proficiency standards for entry into OUS have been aligned with state assessments at the high school level in English, math, and science, and commonly used national assessments.

Results of a decade of alignment of K-16 standards and assessments with OUS expectations of student preparation of admission, and outcomes of The First Year Study linking college success with high school performance, indicate that evidence of proficiency significantly enhances information traditionally provided in the admission process. Given the changes in the policy arena in this area the OUS staff proposed that the Board clarify its policy position as follows:

“Evidence of applicants’ proficiency will be required in fall 2006 to complement rather than replace current undergraduate admission requirements. For this policy to become effective, implementation of an integrated data transfer system between Oregon high schools and postsecondary institutions is necessary.”

Changes in Performance and Accountability Activities—The OUS Board is moving to a single annual performance report in July of each year. The modified process would implement a separate target setting and evaluation process for fall each year, add a new employer satisfaction survey, and modify the current survey schedule. Additional performance indicators of affordability and finance will be considered.

Programs Proposals—several program proposals were reviewed and discussed. OIT and OHSU offer joint programs in Clinical Laboratory Science (CLS) and Paramedic Education Program (PEP). OIT proposed merging the CLS and PEP programs into the Department of Allied Heath Partnership Programs. The proposal was forwarded to the Board with AC recommendation for approval.

The OSU B.A./B.S. in Education discussion was continued from the previous AC meeting. This program proposes to offer duel degrees in Education and Science with the intent of increasing the training of science and math teachers. A number of additional questions regarding documenting need for the program and potential overlap with other OUS programs resulted in deferral of this proposal until next meeting.

OSU proposed a PhD in Community Impact Anthropology and several questions regarding need arose that resulted in deferring this proposal until next meeting.

OSU proposals for M.S. in Molecular and Cell Biology and B.A./B.S. in Earth Science were forwarded to the Board with AC recommendation for approval.

OUS presented two Collaborative Reading Education and Distance Education (CREADE) Program proposals, one for a Reading Endorsement in Education and one for a Literacy Education Course of Study. These programs are collaborative distance degree offerings by EOU, PSU, WOU, SOU and OSU. The proposals forwarded to the Board with AC recommendation for approval.

Enrollment Projects—enrollment for fall term indicates as system-wide increase in the number of new students of about 5%. There was very little discussion regarding the systems ability to absorb these additional students with the current funding levels.

Legislative Update—Kerans provided a brief update regarding the status of both the OUS budget and the capital construction bonding. There has been very little movement on these issues because of the stalemate over the state-wide budget. Current funding proposals have OUS at $28M less than the Governor’s April revised budget proposal. Republicans are proposing a $10M add back while the Democrats numbers are about $15M better. Elimination of fee/tuition remissions is still being discussed. An end to the session is not in sight.

Dan Edge

28 July 2003