Chair Madkins began the meeting by thanking the Commissioners for their willingness to travel to the Commission early that morning. He explained that the decision had been made to hold as many one-day meetings as possible as a cost-cutting measure that has been made necessary by the state of the budget in California. He also thanked the audience for their flexibility and willingness to work within the new schedule.

Committee Structure Changes

Staff presented a recommendation that the Policy Manual be amended to reconfigure the current committee structure. One part of the recommendation was that the Preparation Standard Committee and the Performance Standards Committee be combined. The combined committee will be called the Professional Services Committee. The Committee’s responsibilities will include all things previously handled by the two committees. The recommendation was approved by the Commission. A second part of the recommendation was to establish a committee called the Professional Practices Committee. Their responsibilities will include reviewing and recommending to the Commission necessary changes in policies, procedures, regulations or statues that govern the review of disciplinary actions to be taken by the Commission and the Committee on Credentials; and as an advisor when vacancies occur in the Committee on Credentials, and overseeing the selection process of new members.

Consent Calendar

The January 2004 consent calendar was approved. The consent calendar included a recommendation to approve the subject matter program in English for California State University, Fullerton.

Legislation

Staff highlighted several bills that are of interest to the Commission:

• AB-54 – Oropeza – This bill requires the Commission to study cultural competency training and submit a report to the Legislature by May 1, 2005. This bill has been signed by the Governor and is now being implemented.
• AB-242 – Liu – This is a two-year bill that would enact recommendation to develop a master plan for education in four areas: teacher credentialing, higher education, school district and miscellaneous. Commission staff is expecting amendments to this bill.
• SB 187 – Karnette – This bill makes technical changes to the district intern program. This bill is in the implementation stage. A coded correspondence has been issued. You will find the coded correspondence at http://www.ctc.ca.gov/codcor.doc/030028/030028.html.

Coping with the Budget

Commission staff gave an update on how the Commission is dealing with the current state of the budget. Staff referred to an Executive Order that was issued by the Governor which requires agencies and departments cancel or postpone any non-essential trips. Staff also reported that over the past two years they have lost a total of 24.3 positions. Dr. Swofford thanked CCAC for their part in helping staff manage their workload. The application processing time has remained at 75 days, thanks in part to CCAC’s help and cooperation.

Subject Matter Standards

Commission staff presented the recommendation for the subject matter requirements for Art, Languages other than English, Music and PE. They were approved by the Commissioners. These standards will now be sent to the field for review. Field review surveys must be returned to the Commission by March 1, 2004. The staff expects to present the program standards for consideration and approval at the May 6, 2004 meeting. Initial administration of the subject matter exams is scheduled for Fall 2004. NES will conduct studies after each initial test administration. It is expected that recommended passing standards will be presented to the Commission at a meeting late this year. This means that candidate scores will not be available until early next year.

Accreditation Reforms

To continue the dialogue on the process to be used to reform the current accreditation process, the CSU, UC and Private and Independent IHEs jointly presented suggestions for the Commission’s consideration. Chair Madkins received the suggestions and gave the speakers his personal assurance that the development process for the revised accreditation system would be inclusive and that all stakeholders would have an opportunity to contribute.

Staff was directed to provide a session at the February meeting to review the statutory or regulatory provisions, which exist in state law as well as in CCTC and/or COA published procedures, which govern the accreditation process and any possible revisions to it.

The complete agenda and text of the items may be found at http://www.ctc.ca.gov/aboutctc/agendas/january_2004/january_2004_agenda.html.

The next meeting is scheduled for February 5, 2004. This will be a one-day meeting.