Section III: Programs

(Educational Programs Standards for All Educational Programs)

3.4.4.  The institution has a defined and 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 course work 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 course work or credit recorded on the institution’s transcript.   

JUDGMENT OF COMPLIANCE

Compliance.

NARRATIVE/JUSTIFICATION FOR JUDGMENT OF COMPLIANCE

Northeast Alabama Community College demonstrates compliance in the evaluation, awarding, and acceptance of credit. All public institutions in the state of Alabama participate in the statewide articulation agreement for the freshman and sophomore years as mandated by Legislative Act 94-202. This legislation created the Alabama Articulation and General Studies Committee (AGSC) under whose guidance faculty committees, with representation from public institutions of higher education throughout the state, formulated a General Studies Curriculum for the first two years of study. Under this agreement Northeast accepts transfer credit from all public institutions of higher education within the state. All transfer courses must adhere to the AGSC Course Requirements and Guidelines:

1.     Courses must be collegiate-credit courses at the freshman or sophomore level (i.e., 100 or 200 level).

2.     Courses must be broad in scope, present major intellectual or aesthetic ideas, and not be specialized or vocational in purpose.

3.     Courses must present the essential characteristics and basic processes of inquiry and analysis in the discipline.

4.     Courses must encourage the development of critical thinking skills and require students to analyze, synthesize, and evaluate knowledge.

5.     Courses must consider the subject in its relation to other disciplines and its application to human concerns.

The college adheres to the following policy, as published in the Catalog, both in print and online, concerning transfer of credit from non-public and/or out-of-state institutions:

The policy regarding the awarding of credit for transfer states: Coursework transferred or accepted for credit toward an undergraduate degree must represent collegiate coursework relevant to the degree, with course content and level of instruction resulting in student competencies at least equivalent to those of students enrolled in the institution’s own undergraduate degree programs. In assessing the documenting equivalent learning and qualified faculty, an institution may use recognized guides which aid in the evaluation for credit. Such guides include those published by the American Council on Education, The American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers, and the National Association of Foreign Student Affairs.

Northeast adheres to State Board Policy 706.01 in determining credit awarded through non-traditional means. The college accepts credit from the College Level Examination Program (CLEP) and recognizes the College Entrance Examination Board’s (CEEB) Advanced Placement (AP) Program, accepting scores of 3 or higher on AP subject examinations for credit in courses corresponding to the AP tests. Northeast follows the American Council on Education (ACE) recommendations for credit granted for military training based on the ACE Guide to the Evaluation of Educational Experiences in the Armed Services.

The current Director of Admissions and Student Services has 14 years of experience in evaluating credit for transfer. When there is a question regarding academic viability of credit, the burden of proof rests with the student to supply necessary supporting documents. Transcripted credit must be from a regionally accredited institution of higher learning. The director may request that the student produce a course description or syllabus to ensure that the credit is comparable to the corresponding NACC course.

The institution has entered into an Articulation Agreement with the Jackson County Board of Education Earnest Pruett Center of Technology and the DeKalb County Board of Education DeKalb County Technology Center. This agreement, limited to the Drafting and Design Technology Program, is designed to award credit at the postsecondary level for coursework completed while the student is in high school. The purpose is to avoid a duplication of instruction. There are several qualifications in the agreement to ensure that the course work and learning outcomes are at the collegiate level. A Drafting Competency Form, completed and signed by the high school instructor, verifies that specific skills have been mastered by the student. These competencies are the same as those required for the college-level course. In addition, the student must have maintained a “B” grade average in all high school drafting courses, and the student must be admitted unconditionally to the college. This articulation agreement is limited to four drafting courses, or a total of 12 semester hours. No grade is assigned; credit only is entered on the student’s college transcript, and this does not affect the grade point average at the college.  After the Drafting Competency Form is completed by the instructor, the local superintendent of education signs it, and then the signatures of the NACC Drafting Department Chair, the Dean of Technology and Workforce Development, the Director of Admissions and Student Services, and the Registrar are required, each person verifying that all qualifications pertinent to his or her administrative area have been met. Additionally, a temporary articulation agreement has been issued in the form of a memorandum to the DeKalb County Technology Center for the articulation of several Emergency Medical Services (EMS) courses and one Office Administration (OAD) course in medical transcription. This temporary agreement was issued to support the Technology Center in a grant application for health programs. No plan will be implemented, nor will students be granted credit, until a permanent articulation agreement delineating specific requirements for each course and student eligibility is established. These articulation agreements enhance the fulfillment of the mission of the college to provide “Technical, vocational and career education programs that prepare students for employment in occupational fields and which lead to certificates, diplomas and/or associate degrees” (Goal Six).

Other kinds of nontraditional credit may be awarded only with official documentation and when recommended by ACE.

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