Under
the Transfer
Pathways to Baccalaureate Completion development plan Minnesota two-year college and university faculty were
given a charge to create transfer pathways. The process required effective communication
and collaboration among faculty in the same discipline at different
institutions to ensure that the transfer pathways aligned lower-division and
upper-division curricula to enhance students’ ability to complete baccalaureate
degrees. Developed pathways would offer prospective students the opportunity to
streamline preparation for the bachelor’s degree by transferring a completed
associate degree at a two-year college.
Transfer Pathways Teams Charge
A
Transfer Pathway Team (TPT) is a discipline-specific group, working to create
statewide transfer pathways to baccalaureate degrees. TPT members are charged
with developing a statewide transfer pathway to baccalaureate degree that
allows a student to transfer the full Associate of Arts, Associate of Science,
or the Associate of Fine Arts degree in the TPTs respective field of study into
a parallel baccalaureate degree program offered at a MnSCU university.
TPT
members will work together to identify the discipline competencies required for
entry into the field of study at the junior level. The resulting transfer
pathway will also include the 24-40 credits of Minnesota Transfer Curriculum
(MnTC) courses as defined by the degree type. (MnSCU Board Procedure 3.36.1
http://www.mnscu.edu/board/procedure/336p1.html , specifically Part 3, Subpart
B, 3, 4, 5, and 7).
The goal of the statewide transfer
pathways to baccalaureate degrees is not to create a common associate degree
program or a bachelor degree program in the field of study. Rather,
institutions will use the pathway to baccalaureate degree to ensure minimum
competency requirements are met at the associate degree level and that students
are academically prepared to transfer into the parallel baccalaureate degree
program as juniors (MNSCU, 2016).
Authority
The
TPTs will create the transfer pathways. It is recommended they will begin their
work with a review of all of the current degree requirements (university and
college) and articulation agreements in the related fields of study.
The
TPTs will:
·
be self-governed to meet the designated deadlines agreed upon
by the TPCT
·
have full autonomy to consider the full range of
strategies/ideas to achieve the goals
·
review previous pathways for possible overlap or to become
part of another pathway
·
identify the competencies required for entry into the field
of study at the junior-level
·
identify possible courses where the competencies may be
completed
·
seek program advisory committee input, where appropriate
·
seek input from other related disciplines that may be
affected by their work
·
submit regular interim progress reports to develop a written
statewide transfer pathway to baccalaureate degree that includes 24-40 credits
of MnTC courses and allows students to transfer the full Associate of
Arts-Pathway, Associate of Science-Pathway, or Associate of Fine Arts Pathway
degree in the TPT’s respective field of study into a parallel baccalaureate
program offered at any MnSCU university
·
list all university degrees into which the pathway will
transfer
·
ensure the parallel bachelor’s degree can be completed in an
additional 60 credits
·
develop a model degree map
·
submit the final transfer pathway to the TPCT for approval
Once the transfer pathways are
approved, the faculty at the colleges and universities will determine how their
current curriculum will fit into the new transfer pathways. If needed, campus
curriculum review and approval processes will be followed to implement the new
transfer pathways (MNSCU, 2016).
Expectations
Each
TPT member is expected to:
·
Participate in TPT discussions and work with fellow TPT
members to develop the final transfer pathway to baccalaureate degree.
·
Meet all deadlines established by the TPT and the TPCT.
·
Vote on the transfer pathway before it is submitted to the
TPCT for review.
·
Communicate with the TPCT liaison member frequently.
·
Assist with all other tasks as agreed upon by the TPT to make
progress.
·
Work with all members to build consensus in team decisions
and recommendations.
·
Identify and pursue opportunities for collaborating in
program offerings (MNSCU, 2016).
The Minnesota Elementary
Education Transfer Pathway exhibits a fundamental difference between majors
that result in professional licensure/certification, etc… and those that do
not. Embracing this difference will help guide efforts. The result will be the production of an
Elementary Education Transfer Pathway that promotes sustained success for
prospective teachers within 120 credits
and eight traditional semesters.
The Minnesota Elementary
Education Transfer Pathway (EETP) was charged with identifying a pathway
whereby graduates earn a four-year degree and achieve licensure. Unlike
other major Pathways, development of a Minnesota Elementary Education Transfer
Pathway potentially leads to professional licensure upon successful criteria
explicated by the university’s Teacher Education Program (TEP) and satisfaction
of Board of Teaching regulations. Therefore,
the template for any Pathway resulting in professional licensure must be clear,
concise, and correct.
For instance, the EETP
Workgroup spent considerable time on a single passage: “Because completion for
an Elementary Bachelor degree, satisfaction of all Standards of Effective Practice
(SEP: 7810.2000) and Content Standards (8710.3200), clinical/field work
requirements, and passing scores on the MTLE assessments have historically
met the licensure requirements for the Minnesota Department of Education,
we must ensure all generals and requisite courses for acceptance
into a four-year Teacher Education Program are met within the Transfer
Pathway’s associate degree …”
The impact of “must
ensure” compared to “encourage”
is the difference between a Pathway that embraces defined autonomy
(Marzano & Waters, 2009) based on high expectations compared to a Pathway
that could inadvertently promote lower expectations. Through the process it became more understood
and consensus was reached that a student unable to satisfy the TEP’s admission requirements
could graduate with the AS-P degree but he or she will then only be eligible to
enter the 4-year institution as a non-licensure candidate in a parallel program.
Remediation was still an option, which also parallels typical processes for the
4-year program.
One aspect of effective
implementation. As educators have
learned from the past, great mandates are easily derailed by poor
implementation. Effective implementation
requires systemic enculturation of policies, practices, and processes into
programs. Systemic enculturation takes time.
For instance, rather than pages of admission requirements for each
institution, appendices were developed.
These appendices included links,
which made comprehension of options more user-friendly and access to
information efficient. However, what
would happen to the efficiency and effectiveness if consistent monitoring and
safe-guarding of the links were not systemically enculturated?.
Based on what was
developed for the EETP, future Pathway developers are encouraged to clearly and
correctly introduce the Pathway by noting, “Completion of the AS-P provides
admission to the 4-year institution at a junior level but the individual
institution’s Teacher Education Program (TEP) criteria must be met for
acceptance into the Elementary Education licensure program.” This provides the needed caveat to mitigate ambiguity,
maintain high expectations, ensure accountability is with the sending rather
than receiving institution alone. The safeguards the student seeking transfer
and the accepting university’s TEP.
Ambiguity will create
assumptions, which can lead to confusion at best and anarchy at worst. For any
(Elementary) Education licensure program’s Transfer Pathway, it is crucial to
slow the green light of Transfer Pathway acceptance afforded non-licensure
majors into a 4-yr university by including an amber light that signals
potential tracks for continuing toward professional licensure. This parallels
existing programs. Making the metaphor real means including the minimal
requirements for achieving the designation of "Conditional
Acceptance" into the university's Teacher Education Program (TEP). A clear
designation of TEP admission status allows the TEP to subsequently ensure all
criteria expected within the parallel program has been satisfied by the entering
AS-P graduate. Thus, local autonomy is secured, all students are treated
fairly, and the TEP's Board of Teaching accreditation
data is less likely to be questioned.
To cite:
Anderson, C.J. (November 30, 2016) The Minnesota Elementary Education Transfer Pathways: Promoting opportunities for success.
[Web log post] Retrieved
from http://www.ucan-cja.blogspot.com/
References:
Marzano, R. & Waters,
T. (2009). District Leadership That Works. Bloomington, In:
Solution
Tree
Press
Transfer Pathways to Baccalaureate Completion (2015) Retrieved from http://www.asa.mnscu.edu/transfer/policies/docs/Transfer-Pathways-Report-2015-final.pdf
