Early College Credit and CTE Glossary of Terms & Definitions

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1	Glossary of Terms
2	Term	Definition	Sources

3	A-G Courses	The set of high school courses students must take to be eligible to enter either the California State University (CSU) or University of California (UC) systems. Required a-g courses beginning with the class of 2003 and beyond include: (a) Two history/social science; (b) Four English language arts; (c) Three math (through Algebra II or Integrated Math III); (d) Two laboratory science (two different disciplines); (e) Two foreign language (same language); (f) One visual/performing arts; and (g) One elective from the above subjects. Students must also meet other criteria to gain admission to the university systems.	EdSource Glossary of Education Terms
4	AB 288	Assembly Bill 288 (2015) authorizes the governing board of a community college district to enter into a College and Career Access Pathways (CCAP) partnership with the governing board of a school district with the goal of developing seamless pathways from high school to community college for career technical education or preparation for transfer, improving high school graduation rates, or helping high school pupils achieve college and career readiness. The bill requires the partnership agreement to outline the terms of the partnership, as specified, and to establish protocols for information sharing, joint facilities use, and parental consent for high school pupils to enroll in community college courses. The bill authorizes specified high school pupils to enroll in up to 15 units per term if those units are required for these pupils’ partnership programs and specified conditions are satisfied, and would authorize a community college district to exempt special part-time and full-time students taking up to a maximum of 15 units per term from specified fee requirements.	California Legislative Information
5	AB 30	Assembly Bill 30 College and Career Access Pathways partnerships (2019) extends AB 288 legislation authorizing the creation of CCAP partnerships and changes the process (voting at one meeting, special admits don't need to reapply, moves chancellor reporting up and sets a 5 year reporting cycle, makes the Sec 2k certification "a plan")/ requires “plan” vs “certification”. Date on summary reports updated; in effect until 2027. This bill was approved and filed on October 4th, 2019.	California Legislative Information
6	Academic Supports	The term academic support may refer to a wide variety of instructional methods, educational services, or school resources provided to students in the effort to help them accelerate their learning progress, catch up with their peers, meet learning standards, or generally succeed in school. Reduction of academic rigor is not an academic support.	Glossary of Education Reform
7	Access	Access is both the opportunity to competitively apply for college programs and to have the skills to enter and complete them successfully. In education, the term access typically refers to the ways in which educational institutions and policies ensure—or at least strive to ensure—that students have equal and equitable opportunities to take full advantage of their education. Increasing access generally requires schools to provide additional services or remove any actual or potential barriers that might prevent some students from equitable participation in certain courses or academic programs. Factors such as race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, disability, perceived intellectual ability, past academic performance, special-education status, English-language ability, and family income or educational-attainment levels—in addition to factors such as relative community affluence, geographical location, or school facilities—may contribute to certain students having less “access” to educational opportunities than other students.	Glossary of Education Reform
8	Accomodations	Changes in the way tests are designed or administered to respond to the special needs of students with disabilities and English learners (EL). Accommodations might include allowing a student to take more time for a test or using Braille forms of the assessment. California distinguishes between accommodations and modifications. Modifications, such as allowing a calculator for a math test, affect the validity of the test results. However, some Special Education students may need modifications in order to take a test.	EdSource Glossary of Education Terms
9	Advanced Placement (AP)	A cooperative educational program administered by the College Board that offers high school students the opportunity to master college-level content high school courses and earn college credit.The College Board, which administers the AP program, currently offers 37 courses and examinations in 22 subject areas including biology, calculus, and American history. Examinations are graded on a five-point scale, five being the highest possible score. College credit is earned by achieving a satisfactory score on an AP exam, usually a three or better. The exams have a cost associated for students, creating a barrier to access, and are typically taken in conjunction with participating in an AP course at a high school.	EdSource Glossary of Education Terms
10	Apportionment	Distribution of funds for local educational agencies (LEAs) in support of the public school system.
11	Articulation	A planned process that links two or more educational institutions together to facilitate a smooth transition for students to move from one course, program, or educational level to the next. Its purpose is to coordinate policies and practices among sectors of the education system, minimizing or eliminating course repetition. Successful completion of an articulated course assures faculty that the student has taken the appropriate course, received the necessary instruction and preparation, and that similar outcomes can be assured, enabling progression to the next level of instruction. (http://ciac.csusb.edu)	Bay Region Guide: High School to Community College Course Articulation - Framework for Effective Practice
12	Average Daily Attendance (ADA)	The total number of days of student attendance divided by the total number of days in the regular school year. A student attending every day would equal one ADA. ADA is not the same as enrollment, which is the number of students enrolled in each school and district. (Enrollment is determined by counting students on a given day in October.) ADA usually is lower than enrollment due to factors such as students moving, dropping out, or staying home due to illness. The state uses a school district’s ADA to determine its funding.	EdSource Glossary of Education Terms
13	Basic Aid	Some community college and high school districts, known as “basic aid” or “excess tax” districts, fund their revenue limit entirely through property taxes and receive no general purpose state aid. They also retain any excess property taxes within their district. Starting in 2013–14, a district’s general purpose funds are calculated through a new Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF). As under the revenue limit system, the LCFF entitlement will be financed through a mix of property taxes and state aid.	Public Policy Institute of California Basic Aid
14	Career Pathway	A series of connected education and training programs and support services that enable individuals to both secure employment within a specific industry or occupational sector, and to advance to higher levels of education and employment in that sector. Each step on a career pathway is designed to prepare workers for their next level of employment and education. Career pathways focus on easing and facilitating student transition from: high school to community college; developmental to credit postsecondary coursework; and community college to university or employment. (See also Pathway & Career Technical Education (CTE) Model Curriculum Standards)	Jobs for the Future Counseling to Careers: Helping Students Select Best Bets (2013)
15	Career Technical Education (CTE) Model Curriculum Standards	The Career Technical Education (CTE) Model Curriculum Standards guide the development of CTE pathways by high schools. They are designed to assist California districts and schools in developing high-quality curriculum and instruction to help ensure that students are career and college ready and to prepare them for future careers. Each of the 15 industry sectors contain from three to seven pathways. (See also Pathway & Career Pathway)	California Department of Education
16	Career Technical Education (CTE) Pathway (High Schools)	A sequence of courses in a high school leading to defined career or career area course sequences, including a combination of introductory, concentrator, and capstone courses. (See also Career Technical Education (CTE) Model Curriculum Standards, Pathway & Career Pathway)
17	Career and Technical Student Organizations (CTSOs)	Career and Technical Student Organizations (CTSO) enhance student learning through contextual instruction, leadership and personal development, applied learning and real world application. CTSOs work as an integral component of the classroom curriculum and instruction, building upon employability and career skills and concepts through the application and engagement of students in hands-on demonstrations and real life and/or work experiences through a Career and Technical Education (CTE) program. CTSO’s help guide students in developing a career path, a program of study and provide opportunities in gaining the skills and abilities needed to be successful in those careers through CTSO activities, programs and competitive events.	CTSO Definition Document
18	College and Career Access Partnership (CCAP) Agreements	An agreement or contract between a community college and K12 school district that documents how the partners will provide college and career pathways to students for the purpose of offering or expanding dual enrollment opportunities for students who may not already be college bound or who are underrepresented in higher education. A participating community college district may enter into a CCAP partnership with a school district partner that is governed by a CCAP partnership agreement approved by the governing boards of both districts. As a condition of, and before adopting, a CCAP partnership agreement, the governing board of each district, at an open public meeting of that board, shall present the dual enrollment partnership agreement as an informational item. The governing board of each district, at a subsequent open public meeting of that board, shall take comments from the public and approve or disapprove the proposed agreement. The required contents of these agreements are identified in the law and in guidelines.	Dual Enrollment and Assembly Bill 288 (CCAP) Legal Opinion 16-02
19	Concurrent enrollment	Term sometimes used to describe to students being enrolled in two distinct academic programs or educational institutions, typically a community college and high school. This term does not appear in Ed Code, so dual enrollment is the preferred terminology.	California Community CollegeChancellor's Office
20	Credit by exam	Students take a high school course that is deemed college-level based on the depth and rigor of the material and that has an end-of-course exam. Colleges may use the exam score to grant college credit. Examples include credit by exam models include AP and IB. Articulation is a credit by exam form of credit, but was sometimes called credit-in-escrow because historically the award of the credit was deferred until the student completed credits at the college.
21	Crosswalk	Describes a mechanism or approach to translating, comparing or moving between meta data standards or converting skills or content from one discipline to another. While the term is commonly used in the context of data transfers, the word “crosswalk” is increasingly used in the educational context; as states transition from their current curricula to the common core, they are creating crosswalks to showcase how to move from the old to the new.	U.S. Department of Education
22	Dual Credit	Courses which provide high school students with the opportunity to receive both transcripted high school and college credit immediately upon completion of the class.
23	Dual enrollment	Programs that allow students to take both high school and college courses at the same time. The term dual enrollment refers to students being enrolled—concurrently—in two distinct academic programs or educational institutions.	Legal Opinion 16-02 Dual enrollment identified as the preferred term, instead of concurrent enrollment.
24	Early College	Early College High Schools are schools with all the characteristics of Middle Colleges – location on a college campus, strong academic program, supportive environment – and are designed to serve the same target population. Early Colleges also have a defined and structured program that enables the high school students to earn both their high school diplomas and their Associates Degree in 4 to 5 years with no cost to the student.	Middle College National Consortium (MCNC)
25	Early College Credit	Any vehicle through which students earn college credit, including articulation, all forms of dual enrollment and credit through AB and IB exams.
26	Equivalency	Process by which local boards of trustees determine whether a faculty candidate possesses qualifications that, though not identical to the minimum qualifications, are not lower than the minimum qualifications for hire. A local governing board must jointly agree with the academic senate on the process and must "rely primarily upon the advice and judgement" of faculty serving on equivalency committees. (AB1725). If an instructor does not meet minimum qualifications, they must be approved through the college's equivalency process.	ASCCC Community College Terms
27	Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)	The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) is a federal law that affords parents the right to have access to their children's education records, the right to seek to have the records amended, and the right to have some control over the disclosure of personally identifiable information from the education records. When a student turns 18 years old, or enters a postsecondary institution at any age, the rights under FERPA transfer from the parents to the student ("eligible student"). The FERPA statute is found at 20 U.S.C. § 1232g and the FERPA regulations are found at 34 CFR Part 99. Dual enrollment students may waive their FERPA rights to allow their parents to access their educational records.	US Department of Education
28	Feeder Schools	A school from which many or most students progress to a particular higher-level educational institution.	Oxford Dictionary
29	Full Time Equivalent Student (FTES)	The Program Based Funding formula used by the state to determine district funding. It is based on Weekly Student Contact Hours evaluated on one, census day per term. FTES are calculated based on Weekly Student Contact Hours (WSCH). The formula is WSCH x 17.5 weeks divided by 525.	ASCCC Community College Terms
30	Guided Pathways	The Guided Pathways framework creates a highly structured approach to student success that provides all students with a set of clear course-taking patterns to promote better enrollment decisions and prepare students for future success.	California Community College Chancellor's Office (CCCCO)
31	Individual Education Plan (IEP)	A plan developed for a specific student that outlines what that student needs to learn in a specified period of time and what special services need to be provided based on the student’s ability. Special Education students have IEPs that sometimes require exemptions from tests or accommodations for testing such as an exam in Braille.	EdSource Glossary of Education Terms
32	Instructional Service Agreements (ISA)	Instructional Service Agreements (ISA) exist between public agencies or private entities and the District to provide specific educational services. Although ISAs are offered pursuant to an agreement with a third party, they are significantly different from contract education because they must be open for the enrollment of all admitted students who meet established enrollment prerequisites. Community college districts may claim full-time equivalent students (FTES) and state apportionment for courses given through instructional service agreements/contracts provided that California Education Code and title 5 requirements are met.	California Community College Contracted District Audit Manual (CDAM) 2018-2019
33	Joint Power Authority (JPA)	An entity created through agreements which allow the public entities to combine their powers and resources to work together on a common problem or goal. A Joint Powers Authority is a new, separate government organization created by member entities to work for the common good of all entities, but is legally separate from them.	California Schools JPA
34	Juvenile Court School	Juvenile court schools provide public education for juveniles who are incarcerated in facilities run by county probation departments. These schools are located in juvenile halls, juvenile homes, day centers, ranches, camps, and regional youth education facilities and are operated by the county board of education in the county in which the facility is located.	California Department of Education
35	Local Education Agency (LEA)	A public board of education or other public authority legally constituted within a State for either administrative control or direction of, or to perform a service function for, public elementary schools or secondary schools in a city, county, township, school district, or other political subdivision of a State, or for a combination of school districts or counties that is recognized in a State as an administrative agency for its public elementary schools or secondary schools.	U.S. Department of Education Definitions
36	Memorandum of Understanding (MOU)	Contract between two entities defining terms of an agreement. In the Dual Enrollment context, many non-AB288 Dual E agreements are codified through MOUs.
37	Middle College	Middle College High Schools are secondary schools, authorized to grant diplomas in their own name, located on college campuses across the nation. The Middle Colleges are small, with usually 100 or fewer students per grade level and they provide a rigorous academic curriculum within a supportive and nurturing environment to a student population that has been historically under-served and underrepresented in colleges. While at the Middle College, students have the opportunity to take some college classes at no cost to themselves. These are often located on a community college campus.	Middle College National Consortium (MCNC)
38	Minimum Qualifications	Minimum qualifications describe the education and experience required to teach in a discipline at a California Community College. For academic disciplines, the minimum qualifications are a masters’ degree in the discipline of the assignment, or a bachelor’s degree in the discipline of the assignment and a master’s degree in a reasonably related discipline. A statewide ‘disciplines list’ defines the degrees that are considered to be reasonably related. For disciplines in which a master’s degree is not generally expected or available, the minimum qualifications are a bachelor’s degree (in any major) and two years of experience in the occupational area of the assignment. Assignments that fall into this category are generally in technical, trade, or industrial fields.	California Communty College Chancellor's Office (CCCCO) Minimum Qualifications
39	Pathway	A series of courses that lead to an educational goal, including high school graduation or community college certificate, degree, or preparation for transfer. It is a series of courses that begins as early as possible that leads to entry level employment which provides access to family sustaining, high wage, high demand careers.
40	Regional Occupational Centers and Programs (ROCPs)	ROCPs provide high school students 16 years of age and older, and also adult students, with valuable career and technical education so students can (1) enter the workforce with skills and competencies to be successful, (2) pursue advanced training in postsecondary educational institutions, or (3) upgrade existing skills and knowledge.	California Department of Education
41	Single credit	Courses which provide only high school or community college credit. See also 'Dual Credit'
42	Special Admit Students	Community colleges may admit minors who do not hold high school diplomas, or equivalent, to its credit courses as special part-time or special full-time students. These students are considered special admit students.	California Department of Education
43	Transcripted credit	The process of adding earned credit to a student's transcript, for example posting articulated courses to the student’s official college transcript or community college classes to a students high school transcript.	Bay Region Guide: High School to Community College Course Articulation - Framework for Effective Practice
44	Under-represented student populations	The preferred term is student populations under-represented in higher education, which does characterize the under-represented status as a characteristic of the student but shifts the onus to the educational entities. This term refers to student populations for which the percentages present in higher education are lower than the percentages in the general population. This could also be considered in terms of student populations in given fields (e.g.) STEM. Given that many dual enrollment programs align with pathway programs in the high schools, the under-representation could also be in certain career fields. In California, this could be Black, Latinx, or based on income status or gender. Each dual enrollment program must define what under-representation means and it may vary for pathways within each dual enrollment program.
45	Units (CC)/Credits (HS)	A numerical value associated with a course. A typical secondary course is 5 – 10 credits and a typical community college course is 3 – 5 units.	Bay Region Guide: High School to Community College Course Articulation - Framework for Effective Practice
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47	Submit corrections, additions, or clarifications to the definitions above here.
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49	Last Updated: 16 March 2021
50	Created by: Mallory J. Stevens, EdD
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