Prior Educational Experiences Review Findings & Recommendations

Top Georgia Institutions Offering Dual Enrollment Courses

Top 50 Liberal Art Colleges Top 50 Regional Universities in the South Different Ways of Treating AP Scores   Top 50 Liberal Art Colleges Top 50 Regional Universities in the South Doesn’t accept AP credit 6 Generally accepts scores 3 and higher 16 46 Generally accepts scores 4 and higher 28 4 Accepts AP credit only after student completes follow-up course and earn minimum grade 2 Doesn’t allow AP courses to fill general education requirements 7 1 Doesn’t allow AP courses to count toward requirements in major 5 Doesn’t accept AP credit for courses taken prior to junior year Has course equivalencies for only a few AP courses Has course equivalencies for most AP courses 12 27 Has course equivalencies for most AP courses, but has 1-5 subject areas or competencies (i.e. diversity, humanities, etc. ) that cannot be fulfilled through AP credit 21 Allows only 2-8 AP courses to count toward graduation Only allows 1 AP credit in disciplines with multiple exams (i.e. English, history, math, etc.)

Top 50 Liberal Art Colleges Top 50 Regional Universities in the South Different Ways of Treating Transfer Courses   Top 50 Liberal Art Colleges Top 50 Regional Universities in the South Minimum grade of D or higher 6 Minimum grade C- or higher 11 5 Minimum grade C or higher 23 16 Minimum grade for summer course B- or higher 1 All course credit must be completed at institution 2 (both military academies) 75-80% of course credit must be completed at institution 2 Half of course credit must be completed at institution 30 4 37-48% of course credit must be completed at institution 3 20-34% of course credit must be completed at institution 12 75% of last year’s course work must be completed at institution Half of last two year’s course work must be completed at institution No more than half of graduation hours completed at a 2-year college 7 Only liberal arts courses accepted

United States Institutions Different Ways of Treating IB Higher/Standard Level Exams Courses   United States Institutions Accepts HL exams only 75 % Accepts SL exams in Diploma Programme 2.63 % Accepts SL and HL on same terms 1.31 % Accepts SL exams in only some disciplines 7.89 % Accepts SL exams but requires higher exam scores on SL exams 8.55 % Accepts SL exams but HL exams are awarded more credit hours 4.6 %

Recommendations to forward to Academic Council 1. The PEER Committee recommends that Berry only accept transfer credits that have a grade of C or better. Rationale: This is consistent with the practice at most top liberal arts institutions and most top regional universities in the South. 2. The PEER Committee recommends that students complete a minimum of 64 hours in residence at Berry College. Rationale: Currently, we require students to complete a minimum of 62 hours in residence at Berry. Students who earn a Berry degree would complete slightly over half of the hours required for graduation at Berry. 3. The PEER Committee recommends that Berry remove the maximum number of hours of Prior Educational Experiences that students are allowed to transfer into the college. Rationale: Currently, Berry allows a maximum of 62 semester hours of credit from accredited colleges to be transferred into the institution. Removing the maximum number of credits hours allowed recognizes students prior academic credits but does not lessen the number of courses students have to take at Berry. 4. The Peer Committee recommends that students complete a minimum of 15 hours in Foundations in residence at Berry College. Rationale: This change allows Berry to continue granting credit for students’ Prior Educational Experiences, while at the same time insuring students are exposed to the college’s general educational program. This change is also consistent with the residency requirements currently in place for majors and minors.

Recommendations to forward to Academic Departments 5. The Peer Committee recommends departments, especially those that award the most Prior Educational Experiences credit, consider seeking Foundations’ credit for one or two upper-level courses that meet the required learning outcomes of the Foundations’ curriculum. Courses that have pre-requisites that are already in Foundations would be especially appropriate to include.   Rationale: This would insure that students who bring in many Prior Educational Experiences could meet the proposed 15-hour Foundations’ residency requirement. 6. The PEER Committee recommends that all Berry departments set the minimum AP scores they accept to 4. Those departments that choose to continue accepting AP scores of 3 or higher, should submit a written justification for their decision to Academic Council. Rationale: This is consistent with the practice at many top liberal arts institutions. 7. The PEER Committee recommends that Berry continue to accept scores of 5-7 on the HL IB exams, but should begin awarding credit for SL exams that achieve a score of 6-7. Rationale: The content of International Baccalaureate SL courses is similar to what is covered in AP courses, they meet for at least 150 hours – similar to what is expected in a dual enrollment course, and SL student takes an internationally normed exam to demonstrate their learning as is required to receive college credit for AP courses. A more generous acceptance of IB courses might make Berry a more attractive institution for high achieving international students, as well as students at IB schools in the United States.  

Recommendations to forward to Provost 9. The PEER Committee recommends that an appropriate standing committee be charged with monitoring the academic performance of students who enter with AP credit to insure that they remain well prepared for college-level work and to succeed in Berry courses.   Rationale: Should the academic performance of students entering with AP credit begin to indicate that these students are unprepared for college-level work, the institution might want to reconsider its stance on accepting AP courses for college credit. 10. The PEER Committee recommends that an appropriate standing committee be charged with monitoring the academic performance of students who enter with Dual Enrollment credit to insure that they remain well prepared for college-level work and to succeed in Berry courses. Rationale: The PEER Committee is concerned with several aspects of the Dual Enrollment program in the state of Georgia. Should the academic performance of these students begin to indicate that they are unprepared for college-level work, the institution might want to reconsider its policies for accepting transfer credits from first-year students. 11. The Peer Committee recommends that an appropriate standing committee be charged with monitoring the percentage of first-year students who bring in Prior Educational Experiences and the number of those courses that these students bring in. Rationale: While the Prior Educational Experiences brought in by students has not yet resulted in large number of students graduating early, should the percentage of incoming students with Prior Educational Experiences rise to 65-70% or should the number of credits these students bring in increase to 15-20 hours it might have a significant effect on both the curriculum and the college’s financial model.  

Recommendation to forward to Registrar 8. The PEER Committee recommends that “free electives” or “hours toward graduation” be designated on the degree audit and advising worksheet to “Exploration Courses.”   Rationale: Many Berry students and the parents of potential Berry students have a tendency to value only those academic courses/credits that are categorized and accompanied by a checkbox. The number of “exploration courses” a student has to complete, like free electives, will be dependent on the student’s major(s) and minor(s). This would a mean advisors could stop telling students with Prior Educational Experiences that do not fit into Foundations or their major, “That course doesn’t count for anything except for hours to graduation,” and could instead say, “That course slots into the Exploration Courses category!”