This "Program and Course Approval Handbook" assists California Community College (CCC) administrators, faculty, and staff in the development of programs and courses and the submission of these proposals for review by the Chancellor's Office. By law, the Chancellor is required to prepare and distribute a handbook for program and course…

The California school that parents want to turn into a charter now has two organizations seeking to make the change. At the end of a process that drew just four applicants, two relatively small California organizations are each making a case that they be allowed to help lead one of the most publicized school turnaround efforts in the nation's…

This paper is part of a nonpartisan project to identify specific state-level policy changes that could have a significant impact on teaching quality and be accomplished in a constrained fiscal environment. Of course, many aspects of California's teacher development system could be strengthened, better funded, or otherwise changed for the better.…

The Caltech Energy Conservation Investment Program (CECIP) was initiated in 2009. It manages $8 million within an existing fund in the school's endowment, which had been created to finance capital projects. Any member of the Caltech community may submit a project proposal, and projects are considered for approval as long as they have at least a 15…

The California Postsecondary Education Commission is directed by state law to review and comment on new academic program proposals from the University of California (UC), the California State University (CSU) and the community colleges. Program review is one of the CPEC's primary responsibilities--it coordinates the systems' long-range plans,…

This annual report provides a summary of program planning and review activities conducted by California Postsecondary Education Commission (CPEC) during the 2008-09 academic year. During this period, CPEC staff conducted an extensive review of a proposal to establish a medical school at UC Riverside and a nursing school at UC Davis, and conducted…

The Improving Teacher Quality (ITQ) State Grants Program is currently operating professional development grants for California teachers at 40 sites statewide. This is as large a cadre of projects as the California Postsecondary Education Commission has operated since the ITQ Program began with the passage of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001.…

In 2008, the California Community Colleges Board of Governors amended its Title 5 Regulations to include provisions for granting conditional approval for educational centers. Prior regulations pertained to full or final approval only. The Commission's current guidelines do not contain provisions for conditional approval. This agenda item outlines…

On January 10, 2008, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger released his proposed budget for the 2008-09 fiscal year. State revenues for the 18 months covering the last half of 2007-08 and 2008-09 are projected to be nearly $16 billion below planned expenditures. The budget seeks to close this shortfall by cutting 2008-09 funding for most programs by 10%…

Every year, the Improving Teacher Quality State Grants Program issues a Request for Proposals (RFP) to award funds provided annually from the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. In recent years, each RFP has focused on a specific objective tied to state priorities in teacher quality. Six grants were awarded in 2008: (1) Bell Gardens Science…

A number of activities are progressing in the Improving Teacher Quality (ITQ) program, the federally funded program that the Commission administers to provide professional development to California educators. This program is part of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB), and continues the work that began as the Eisenhower Teacher…

The Palomar Community College District has proposed to establish a new educational center in the northern region of the District. The California Postsecondary Education Commission recommends approval of the proposed center. The information in the Palomar Community College District Needs Study satisfies all Commission criteria for establishing a…

In December 2007, the California Postsecondary Education adopted the last in an initial series of reports on the nexus between postsecondary education and workforce development by requesting staff to return with plans and priorities to pursue implementation of ten general policy options, grouped into three categories. One option is already being…

This report provides an update on current grant projects funded through the Improving Teacher Quality State Grants Program. These include grants targeted to academic literacy in secondary education and to the retention of science and mathematics teachers. The Commission also received information on plans for the 2007 competition process, which…

In 2007, the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges amended its Title 5 Regulations to grant conditional approval to proposals for educational centers if certain criteria were met at the time of submission. Among other requirements, a district would need to demonstrate that a proposed center would serve at least 500 full-time…