Course Curriculum, Instruction, and Grading ▇. ▇▇▇▇ College courses offered as dual credit, regardless of where they are taught, follow the same syllabus, course outline, textbook, grading method, and other academic policies as the courses outlined in the Hill College catalog.
B. Approved courses being taught for dual credit must follow the approved master syllabus of the discipline and of Hill College.
C. Textbooks should be identical to those approved for use by Hill College. Should an instructor propose an alternative textbook, the textbook must be approved in advance by the appropriate instructional department of Hill College and the Vice President of Instruction. Other instructional materials for dual credit/concurrent courses must be identical or at an equivalent level to materials used by Hill College.
D. Courses which result in college‐level credit will follow the standard grading practices of Hill College, as identified by college policy and as identified in the appropriately approved course syllabus. The grades used in college records are A (excellent), B (above average), C (average), D (below average), F (failure), I (incomplete), W (withdrawn), WC (withdrawn COVID). The lowest passing grade is D. Grade point averages are computed by assigning values to each grade as follows: A = 4 points, B = 3 points, C = 2 points, D = 1 point, and F = 0 points. Grading criteria may be devised by Hill College and the ISD to allow faculty the opportunity to award high school credit only or high school and college credit depending upon student performance.
E. Faculty, who are responsible for teaching dual credit/concurrent classes, are responsible for keeping appropriate records, certifying census date rosters, providing interim grade reports, certifying final grade reports at the end of the semester, certifying attendance, and providing other reports and information as may be required by Hill College and/or the School District.
Curriculum a. The School shall administer the TSIA college placement exam to all prospective Students or refer Students interested in taking Dual Credit courses to the College’s Testing Center, if the School is not a College Board testing site, prior to submitting their name to the College Office of High School Programs for enrollment into courses requiring specific TSIA scores, abiding by the rules set forth by the College Board and the College. Students must attain TSIA scores aligned with the courses in their selected degree plan to ensure appropriate college level placement, assess college readiness, design individual instructional plans, and enable students to begin college courses based on their performance.
b. The School shall implement a plan for TSIA success, including academic preparation classes for Students. The School, in partnership with the College, will provide academic interventions for Students who do not pass TSIA. Such Students will be administered the identified interventions prior to retesting any portion of the TSIA that was not mastered with required score(s). The School shall make any TEA required TSIA reports regarding the number of students who have currently passed each section of the TSIA, including a breakdown of TSIA data for subpopulations of targeted students. The School will share the report with the College Testing Center or College Designee.
c. The School District will share the results from TSIA administered via School District - College Board approved test sites and electronically submit to the College in the required technical format that facilitates official delivery/receipt. The TSIA scores will be electronically uploaded into the College’s official system of records. The College agrees to adhere to the confidentiality requirements of FERPA. The College will use students’ TSIA assessment score data exclusively for official College business.
d. The College Academic Chairs or Faculty Liaison, along with the School Principal or designee, will be responsible for developing and refining a clear and coherent academic program across the two institutions for curriculum alignment for Students participating in the Dual Credit program.
e. The 86th Texas Legislative Session passed SB 25, which states each institution of higher education shall develop at least one recommended course sequence for each undergraduate certificate or degree program offered by the institution. Each recommended course sequence must:
(1) Identify all required lower-division courses for the applicable certificate or degree program;
(2) Include for each course, if applicable:
(A) The course number or course equivalent under the common course numbering system approved by the coordinating board under Section 61.832; and
(B) The course equivalent in the Lower-Division Academic Course Guide Manual or its successor adopted by the coordinating board;
(3) Be designed to enable a full-time student to obtain a certificate or degree, as applicable, within:
(A) For a 60-hour degree or certificate program, two years; or
(B) For a 120-hour degree program, four years; and
(4) Include a specific sequence in which courses should be completed to ensure completion of the applicable program within the time frame described.
f. The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACS-COC) approved a policy statement in December 2018 that directed its institutions to ensure that course content and rigor of dual enrollment courses be comparable to that of the same courses taught to the institution’s other students.
g. To adhere to the requirements set forth in the goals outlined in HB1638, the College and the School District will maintain course agreements for each course taught at the School, regardless of instructional site. The College will provide the college course outcomes in the Course Agreement Form and the respective syllabi. The form will include the length of the course, number of credits awarded, and approved textbook(s) and/or instructional materials that will be required for Students to use in their respective courses. The course agreement requirement for the School extends to designation of academic and workforce courses for Traditional Dual Credit and ECHS. College, School District and School shall ensure that a dual credit course and the corresponding college course offered at the School are equivalent. Academic representatives from the College will develop and publish the student learning outcomes in the course syllabus to satisfy the requirements each College course. The School District will identify the corresponding Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills that align to each College course, thereby allowing students to attain dual credit from both institutions.
h. The College will provide the School District and School the minimum number of instructional minutes required to meet the contact hour requirement, per course, taught on the School site.
i. The 86th Texas Legislative Session passed HB 3650 which requires that the School District and the College consider the use of free or low-cost open educational resources in courses offered as dual credit, for which the School uses as part of its course offering to satisfy the prescribed courses in the identified degree plans.
j. Course Agreements will include any additional instructional requirements, any required faculty development/training, and the requirements for evaluation of teaching. A Course Agreement will be completed by the deadline designated in the yearly Dual Credit Timeline for any course, but not later than the start of the first instructional day that course is delivered. All courses offered for Dual Credit must have an approved Course Agreement. The Course Agreement will be effective for three years unless either party requests a modification or if the publisher makes changes to the current Instructional Materials. For course sections taught at the School, the College will maintain the same instructional materials and editions for Dual Credit courses taught at the high school campus for a minimum of three years, unless otherwise specified in the applicable Course Agreement or as otherwise specified in Section 13 -
Course Materials The adoption of any course materials, print or electronic, after a Course Agreement is signed will require an agreed and signed addendum.
Extracurricular Activities Effective July 1, 2009, stipends for participation in extracurricular activities which are authorized by the appointing authority shall be: Inland $950/year Sailing $400/year Art Club Advisor $300/year Drama Club Advisor $300/year Cross Country Skiing $150/year Boys’ Basketball $1000/year Girls’ Basketball (if class D) $1000/year Asst. Boys’ Basketball $750/year Asst. Girls’ Basketball (if class D) $750/year Scorekeeper/Timekeeper $10/game Soccer $400/year Track $400/year Cross County Running $400/year Girls’ Basketball (if not class D) $400/year Sports Activity Director $400/year Athletic Director $200/year
PROPOSED MOBILITY PROGRAMME The proposed mobility programme includes the indicative start and end months of the agreed study programme that the student will carry out abroad. The Learning Agreement must include all the educational components to be carried out by the student at the receiving institution (in table A) and it must contain as well the group of educational components that will be replaced in his/her degree by the sending institution (in table B) upon successful completion of the study programme abroad. Additional rows can be added as needed to tables A and B. Additional columns can also be added, for example, to specify the study cycle-level of the educational component. The presentation of this document may also be adapted by the institutions according to their specific needs. However, in every case, the two tables A and B must be kept separated, i.e. they cannot be merged. The objective is to make clear that there needs to be no one to one correspondence between the courses followed abroad and the ones replaced at the sending institutions. The aim is rather that a group of learning outcomes achieved abroad replaces a group of learning outcomes at the sending institution, without having a one to one correspondence between particular modules or courses. A normal academic year of full-time study is normally made up of educational components totalling 60 ECTS* credits. It is recommended that for mobility periods shorter than a full academic year, the educational components selected should equate to a roughly proportionate number of credits. In case the student follows additional educational components beyond those required for his/her degree programme, these additional credits must also be listed in the study programme outlined in table A. When mobility windows are embedded in the curriculum, it will be enough to fill in table B with a single line as described below: Component code (if any) Component title (as indicated in the course catalogue) at the sending institution Semester [autumn / spring] [or term] Number of ECTS* credits Mobility window … Total: 30 Otherwise, the group of components will be included in Table B as follows: Component code (if any) Component title (as indicated in the course catalogue) at the sending institution Semester [autumn / spring] [or term] Number of ECTS* credits Course x … 10 Module y … 10 Laboratory work … 10 Total: 30 The sending institution must fully recognise the number of ECTS* credits contained in table A if there are no changes to the study programme abroad and the student successfully completes it. Any exception to this rule should be clearly stated in an annex of the Learning Agreement and agreed by all parties. Example of justification for non-recognition: the student has already accumulated the number of credits required for his/her degree and does not need some of the credits gained abroad. Since the recognition will be granted to a group of components and it does not need to be based on a one to one correspondence between single educational components, the sending institution must foresee which provisions will apply if the student does not successfully complete some of the educational components from his study programme abroad. A web link towards these provisions should be provided in the Learning Agreement. The student will commit to reach a certain level of language competence in the main language of instruction by the start of the study period. The level of the student will be assessed after his/her selection with the Erasmus+ online assessment tool when available (the results will be sent to the sending institution) or else by any other mean to be decided by the sending institution. A recommended level has been agreed between the sending and receiving institutions in the inter-institutional agreement. In case the student would not already have this level when he/she signs the Learning Agreement, he/she commits to reach it with the support to be provided by the sending or receiving institution (either with courses that can be funded by the organisational support grant or with the Erasmus+ online tutored courses). All parties must sign the document; however, it is not compulsory to circulate papers with original signatures, scanned copies of signatures or digital signatures may be accepted, depending on the national legislation. * In countries where the "ECTS" system it is not in place, in particular for institutions located in partner countries not participating in the Bologna process, "ECTS" needs to be replaced in all tables by the name of the equivalent system that is used and a weblink to an explanation to the system should be added. The section to be completed during the mobility is needed only if changes have to be introduced into the original Learning Agreement. In that case, the section to be completed before the mobility should be kept unchanged and changes should be described in this section. Changes to the mobility study programme should be exceptional, as the three parties have already agreed on a group of educational components that will be taken abroad, in the light of the course catalogue that the receiving institution has committed to publish well in advance of the mobility periods and to update regularly as ECHE holder. However, introducing changes might be unavoidable due to, for example, timetable conflicts. Other reasons for a change can be the request for an extension of the duration of the mobility programme abroad. Such a request can be made by the student at the latest one month before the foreseen end date. These changes to the mobility study programme should be agreed by all parties within four to seven weeks (after the start of each semester). Any party can request changes within the first two to five-week period after regular classes/educational components have started for a given semester. The exact deadline has to be decided by the institutions. The shorter the planned mobility period, the shorter should be the window for changes. All these changes have to be agreed by the three parties within a two-week period following the request. In case of changes due to an extension of the duration of the mobility period, changes should be made as timely as possible as well. Changes to the study programme abroad should be listed in table C and, once they are agreed by all parties, the sending institution commits to fully recognise the number of ECTS credits as presented in table C. Any exception to this rule should be documented in an annex of the Learning Agreement and agreed by all parties. Only if the changes described in table C affect the group of educational components in the student's degree (table B) that will be replaced at the sending institution upon successful completion of the study programme abroad, a revised version should be inserted and labelled as "Table D: Revised group of educational components in the student's degree that will be replaced at sending institution". Additional rows and columns can be added as needed to tables C and D. All parties must confirm that the proposed amendments to the Learning Agreement are approved. For this specific section, original or scanned signatures are not mandatory and an approval by email may be enough. The procedure has to be decided by the sending institution, depending on the national legislation.