College of Alameda Ed Master Plan 2007-2012

APPENDIX I – Acronyms & Definitions

Key acronyms and terms used in this plan are defined below.

BFAP- Board Financial Assistance Program. Financial aide to students provided by the Board of Governors through the California Community College System.

BSI – Basic Skills Initiative.

Census - the date enrollment is established in a class for funding purposes.Census is the Monday closest to the point at which 20% of the class has been completed (Title 5 §58003.1.b). For the primary terms, this date is typically the Monday of the fourth week of a semester based on 20% of 17.5 weeks = 3.5 weeks rounded to four weeks); the number of students enrolled in a class on that date is the enrollment number used in the funding formula. For short term classes, the census date is calculated individually for each short term pattern.

CSEP Committee for Strategic Educational Planning

CTE Career Technical Education DWEMP - District Wide Educational Master Plan

CCTI - Center for Creative Technology Integration (CCTI) the vision of the CCTI is to become a vibrant technology center for collaborative learning among the faculty, staff and administration of the college and to develop, deploy and sustain campus online courses and instructors, contract education, and just-in-time-training for our community partners and local businesses.

DWEMPC- District Wide Educational Master Plan Committee

Foundation Skills Education- Skills in reading, writing, mathematics, and English as a Second Language, as well as learning skills and study skills which are necessary for students to success in college-level work. (The Research and Planning Group for California Community Colleges, July 2007)

CareerTechnical Education - The term “career-technical education” is used in place of the term “vocational education” to be consistent with current usage in state and federal legislation and programs. Career Technical Education (CTE) courses and programs are those educational options that offer specific occupational and technical skills related to identified industry clusters.

FTE or FTEF- full-time equivalentor full time equivalent faculty. This is used to refer to a full-time faculty load, e.g., a 3-hour lecture class is listed as .20 FTE or 20% of a 100% load (15 units).

FTES- Full Time Equivalent Students, is one of our most important measures and is used to evaluate a variety of things. For state accounting purposes, a full-time student who attends 15 hours per week for 35 weeks (two primary terms). The rule is: 15 hours x 35 weeks = 525 total WSCH = 1 FTES.

Another common look at FTES on a semester basis is the number of students enrolled times the hours per week for 17.5 weeks divided by 525: 10 students x three hours per week x 17.5 weeks = 525. 525 divided by 525 = 1 FTES.

There are four specific formulas for FTES depending on the characteristics of the course and scheduling pattern: (1) weekly (semester length), (2) daily (short term), (3) actual hours (also called positive attendance), or (4) independent study, work experience, distance learning methods. The amount of money paid by the state for each FTES will differ among Districts.

Census FTES is used as the basis for the funding we receive from the Chancellor’s Office to run the college. FTES, along with student count, is a measure of the size of our institution.

FTES, when paired with course classification and scheduling information, is used to compute facilities entitlement for the campus. One way the Chancellor’s Office evaluates facilities utilization and judges our need for additional space is by viewing the way FTES is broken out over the course of the week (how many FTES are generated in the morning between 8 and noon, in the afternoon, on the weekend, off-site, etc.).

Course-Generated FTES -Most academic departments sponsor a set of courses, the majority of which are required within a major that the department offers. Each course that a department wishes to offer must go through a formal approval process. Once approved, a section of the course can be offered by the department and any enrollments in the course will be calculated as FTES credited to that department.

Uses: Course-generated FTES (by the department offerings of the course) is our best measure of service provided to the campus by a department.

It is important that the department is monitoring the growth or decline of theFTES generated by their courses over time in order to be prepared to make appropriate shifts in course offerings and faculty assignments.

EXAMPLES of FTES Computation – spring 2008 Semester from the legacy system /SCI & /SFI screens

OPN CW1 CURRFTES

ART 001 0040 INTRO TO ART HISTORY 37 36 33 3.600

36 students x 3 hrs/wk x 17.5 weeks = 108 X 17.5 = 1890 1890 divided by 525 = 3.6 FTES.

CIS 001 0790 INTRO TO CIS Online0 40 40 5.333

40 students x 4 hrs/wk x 17.5 weeks = 160 X 17.5 = 2800 2800 divided by 525 = 5.33 FTES.

Primary Term - The fall and spring semesters are primary terms.The terms are between 16 to 18 weeks long including both instructional and flex days. Courses within this average 17.5 week period may meet for the full 17.5 weeks (semester length courses; FTES calculated by weekly attendance accounting formula) or may meet for fewer that the full 17.5 weeks (see short term courses below). Summer is an intersession, as are courses taught in between primary terms.

Short Term - Short term courses meet for less than the 17.5 weeks of a primary term.These courses may be scheduled within the primary term period (e.g., 6-week or 12-week classes) or during an intersession (e.g., summer, winter). Funding for short-term classes may be calculated either by the daily attendance accounting method or by actual hours attendance accounting method.

SMT- Senior Management Team.

WSCH - weekly student contact hours.As a generalization, the formulas for state funding are a function of weekly student contact hours (the amount of time faculty and students interact). This is simply a count of the number of scheduled hours per week students meet with faculty. This provides an estimate of the funding to be allocated during the coming year. However, if a college schedules a significant number of non-traditional classes, e.g., 12-week classes, one-day seminars, etc., an estimate based on WSCH will be a less accurate estimate

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