TOP and CIP Code Discussion

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History of TOP Codes

• The Taxonomy of Programs was first published in 1979. It was designed by Chancellor’s Office staff, and is used only by the California Community College system. The taxonomy was originally based on a 1973 publication of the Chancellor’s Office called the “Classification of Instructional Disciplines,” which in turn, had been drawn from the federal government’s Higher Education General Information Survey (HEGIS).

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History of TOP Codes

• The TOP was revised in 1981, 1982, 1983, and 1995. In 1999 and 2000 individual change pages were issued to correct minor errors and to add vocational asterisks to a few codes.
• 2004 was the last time the manual was updated.
• Asterisks were first introduced in the fourth edition (1983) in order to designate programs within which the enrollments are countable for purposes of supplemental apportionments from the federal Vocational Education Act (now called the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Technical Education Act).
• They now also mark programs in which student completions are tracked for accountability purposes under various federal and state vocational education mandates.

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What is a TOP Code?

• The Taxonomy of Program (TOP) is a system of numerical codes used at the state level to collect and report information on programs and courses, in different colleges throughout the state, that have similar outcomes
• The TOP was designed to aggregate information about programs. However, a TOP code must also be assigned to every course in our system. Although the TOP does not contain as many specific choices as would a system designed for courses, each course should be given the TOP code that comes closest to describing the course content.

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What is in the TOP Code?

• Discipline - The most general level of the taxonomy. This level is indicated by the first two digits of the six-digit code.
• Subdiscipline – Is the next level of the taxonomy indicated by the third and fourth digits of the six-digit code. These numbers indicate logical subsets of disciplines. Subdisciplines are used to categorize occupations that are either broad in scope, or do not have specializations, or whose specializations are narrower than can be usefully distinguished and tracked at the State level.

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What is in the TOP Code?

• Field – Is the third level and indicated by the fifth digit of the six-digit code, and is a logical subset of the second level. It is used when necessary to define several specialties within a subdiscipline that are sufficiently distinguishable to be consistently reported and tracked at the State level.
• Emerging Occupations and Unique Programs – Is the final code used in each discipline is “XX99.00–Other.” In all disciplines where vocational programs are identified, the final code is shown with the phrase “Specify (includes all emerging occupations).”
• This phrase is included to allow the coding of new programs brought about by technological advances or other changes in the market place. Programs classified in the 99 “Other” category remain in that code until that occupation becomes widely recognized enough to merit its own TOP code, and a new category is created. The “Other” code may also be used for one-of-a-kind programs that do not fit into any other category.

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What the TOP Code is Used For?

• In the Inventory of Approved and Projected Programs, to make information available about where programs of particular types are offered around the state

• In the Management Information Systems database, to collect and report information on student awards (degrees and certificates) issued in particular types of programs

• In the Management Information Systems database, to collect and report information on enrollment and Full Time Equivalent Students (FTES) in courses within particular curriculum categories

•  Vocational Education accountability reports on program completions and course success in particular types of vocational programs

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Not Intended for…

• The TOP does not control faculty minimum qualifications or faculty service areas. These are controlled by the minimum qualifications “disciplines lists” adopted by the Board of Governors upon the recommendation of the Academic Senate. The disciplines lists are not based on the TOP.
• The TOP is not intended to have any effect on faculty load calculations or faculty compensation.
• The TOP does not control how a college organizes its departments or divisions, or which programs are placed under which divisions.
• The TOP does not control how local instructional budgets are allocated.
• The TOP should not influence how local program review is conducted.

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Classifying Courses

• Local program titles often differ substantially from college to college.
• For example, one college has a program called “Mechanized Agriculture,” another has a program called “Agriculture Engineering Technology,” and a third has one called “Agriculture Equipment Operations & Maintenance.”
• Since they have similar outcomes, information on all three is collected and reported at the state level under TOP code 0116.00, which carries the standardized title “Agricultural Power Equipment Technology.”

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College Purposes

• Use them in EOPS when colleges are submitting programs for a high unit major designation.
• TOP are tied to SAM codes that determine funding. Specific to funding, TOP codes determine if a course or program is designated as CTE and therefore eligible for CTE funding such as Perkins and Strong Workforce.
• Generating reports on program awards, classifying expenditures, and personnel budgets reports. Others?

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State Purposes

• The first two digits of the Taxonomy, the most general level of classification, are used for:
• Reports on staffing: the teaching assignment of each classroom faculty member is characterized by the two-digit TOP discipline of most of the courses he or she teaches.
• Budget reports: spending on instructional programs is broken down by two digit TOP discipline.
• Facilities planning: assignable square feet for laboratories varies according to the TOP discipline.
• Certain data collected by TOP codes are also reported by the Chancellor’s Office to the federal government. For this to happen, the data must be converted to the system of classification used by the U.S. Department of Education, which is called the Classification of Instructional Programs (CIP)

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History of CIP Codes

• On the federal level, the HEGIS discipline categories were replaced in 1979-80 by the “Classification of Instructional Programs” (CIP), produced by the U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics. The CIP became the system of program nomenclature generally used in higher education data reporting, except in the California Community College system.

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What is the CIP?�

• The Classification of Instructional Programs (CIP) provides a taxonomic scheme that supports the accurate tracking and reporting of fields of study and program completions activity.
• CIP was originally developed by the U.S. Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) in 1980, with revisions occurring in 1985, 1990, 2000, 2010 and 2020.

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Establish TOP code Review and Creation Process

• The TOP code manual has not been updated since 2004
• Although new TOP codes have been created to support ADT implementation for new subfields
• Some revisions are therefore required
• CCCs have not transitioned to the national CIP codes
• There is a local request to add a new TOP code
• Discussion Questions:
• What process should we establish to review, update and/or create TOP codes or should we transition to CIP codes?

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