Updated June 2014

CIS Faculty Coordinators Handbook

It’s not easy to understand both the big picture and the critical details of the University of Minnesota’s

College in the Schools program! It’s a complex partnership involving players from both outside and

inside the University. This Faculty Coordinators Handbook introduces faculty coordinators to both the

BIG picture and the details of the CIS faculty coordinator’s job.

NOTE: Another “must read” is the CIS Administrative Handbook, which contains additional, essential

detailed information about the processes and policies of CIS.

Table of Contents

I. Overview of College in the Schools (CIS) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 4

a. Mission statement

b. Concurrent enrollment defined

c. History of CIS

d. CIS administration

e. Essential 5 facts

f. Benefits to students, teachers, and schools

g. Student eligibility

h. Entry Point Project

i. Costs to partner schools

j. Partner roles and responsibilities

II. Directories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 10

a. CIS staff (including who does what)

b. College of Continuing Education administration

c. Faculty coordinators

III. Faculty coordinators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 12

a. Job description

b. Faculty assistant job description

c. Appointment as a faculty coordinator

d. Compensation

e. Faculty coordinator meetings

f. Selecting teachers

IV. Supporting materials for CIS teachers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 18

a. Exams, lab activities, common assignments, lecture notes

b. Moodle

c. Grading rubrics

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d. Other U of M resources

V. CIS teacher professional development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 19

a. Purpose

b. Hallmarks of effective professional development

c. Requirements

d. Budgets

e. When to schedule workshops

f. Planning workshops

g. Important workshop topic: grading

h. Pertinent University resources

i. CIS office/staff role in professional development activities

VI. CIS On-campus student field days . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .p. 24

a. Required, or not?

b. Purpose

c. Field day activities

d. Planning field days

e. Budgets

f. Teachers at field days

g. When to schedule field days

h. Who does what: A Field Day Checklist

VII. Visiting CIS teachers in their classrooms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 26

a. Purpose

b. Frequency

c. Instructor self-assessment

d. Reporting

e. Giving feedback to teachers

f. Consider meeting with administrators

g. Reimbursements for mileage

VIII. High school context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 28

a. Options for advanced courses: CIS one of several

b. U of M CIS enhances high schools’ position

c. Thorny issues (enrollment caps, departmental politics)

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IX. University context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 30

a. Partnership with University academic departments

b. Ensuring University quality

c. Why academic departments choose to partner with CIS

d. Making the faculty coordinator work “do-able.”

e. Thorny issue (CIS as a threat)

X. Minnesota context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 33

a. Multiple players

b. About the Minnesota Concurrent Enrollment Partnership (MnCEP)

c. Legislative efforts: seeking parity for concurrent enrollment

d. 2007 legislation

XI. National context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 34

a. Ensuring quality

b. About the National Alliance of Concurrent Enrollment Partnerships (NACEP)

c. Credits widely recognized

d. Research and evaluation

XII. Appendices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . p. 36

a. CIS/AP/IB/PSEO comparison chart

b. Sample faculty coordinator appointment letter

c. Sample teacher professional development agendas and materials

d. Professional development and field day cohort budgets and guidelines

e. Field day checklist

f. Faculty site visit/observation reporting form

g. Sample letter to teacher, reporting on site visit

h. NACEP standards

i. Credit recognition list

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I. OVERVIEW OF COLLEGE IN THE SCHOOLS

Mission Statement

College in the Schools (CIS) at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, is a concurrent enrollment

program serving high school students, teachers, and schools by increasing access to college learning,

supporting excellence in teaching, and strengthening high school-University connections.

College in the Schools . . .

Gives students first-hand experience with the high academic standards and increased workload

typical of college education as well as the personal responsibility required to be successful in college

study.

Provides teachers with ongoing, University-based professional development that is directly related

to the content, pedagogy, and assessment of the University of Minnesota courses they teach through

CIS.

Strengthens curricular, instructional, and professional ties between high schools and the University

of Minnesota.

Concurrent enrollment defined

Concurrent enrollment courses are postsecondary courses taught by high school teachers in the high

school as part of their regular teaching assignment during the normal school day. These teachers are

selected, prepared, and continuously supported by postsecondary faculty. Students simultaneously earn

high school and postsecondary credit. The National Alliance of Concurrent Enrollment Partnerships is

the national professional association for all partners involved in concurrent enrollment.

History of CIS

The Minnesota Postsecondary Enrollment Options Act (124D.09) provides advanced high school juniors and

seniors the opportunity to take a postsecondary course(s), either on a college campus or in their own high

schools. Students taking a postsecondary course earn simultaneously both high school and postsecondary

academic credit. (See appendices for a chart that highlights the similarities and key differences between the two

forms of PSEO as well as other forms of accelerated learning.)

CIS started small in 1986

CIS began in 1986-87 with one course, under Minnesota’s groundbreaking Postsecondary Enrollment

Options Act. English composition, English literature, American history, and German cohorts were

started in the program’s early years. In recent years, CIS has experienced significant growth spurts.

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CIS administration

1. CIS is part of the College of Continuing Education’s Degree and Credit Programs unit.

2. CIS has 4 full-time staff, a part-time student worker, and a part-time special projects coordinator.

3. An advisory board comprising the wide range of CIS stakeholders meets twice a year. Members

include representatives from K-12 education (superintendents, principals, counselors, gifted and

talented staff, CIS teachers); the community (parents); the University (faculty and administrators);

and related organizations (College Now, Minnesota Department of Education).

Board members are appointed for three-year terms and provide these important services to CIS:

advising on strategic issues; enlarging the CIS communication network; and advocating on behalf of

CIS.

Essential 5 facts

1. CIS courses are actual U of M courses. CIS policies and practices ensure that the content, pedagogy,

and assessment in CIS sections are the same as in the on-campus sections of the same courses. The

same textbooks used in on-campus sections of a course are ordinarily used in the CIS sections. In

some CIS discipline cohorts, high schools use textbooks that are not used on campus; however, the

textbooks must be college texts and must be approved by the faculty coordinator. If on-campus

sections use the same exams, then CIS sections all use the same exams; if on-campus sections use a

variety of instructor-created exams, then CIS sections can use a variety of exams.

2. CIS students earn University of Minnesota credit. CIS students are registered as nonadmitted students

through the College of Continuing Education; students’ credits and grades are recorded on an official

University of Minnesota transcript.

3. U of M credit earned through CIS is recognized by other colleges and universities, coast to coast.

Annual survey results have consistently shown that 92%-97% of respondents who sought to have

their UM credits earned through CIS recognized by other colleges or universities were successful.

Credit recognition means: (1) U of M credit was counted toward graduation requirements; and/or

(2) students were exempted from required courses and/or (3) students were given advanced

placement in a subject—all as a result of their earning U of M credit through CIS.

4. CIS provides exemplary, ongoing professional development to teachers at no additional cost to the

school or teacher. CIS requires teachers to participate in CIS discipline-specific workshops for as

long as they teach in CIS. Led by U of M faculty who serve as CIS Faculty Coordinators, these

workshops cover the content, pedagogy, and assessment of the courses taught by CIS teachers; in

addition, University faculty and other experts engage teachers in considering related topics.

5. CIS at the U of M-Twin Cities is accredited by the National Alliance of Concurrent Enrollment

Partnerships (NACEP).

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Benefits to high school students, teachers, and schools.

For students . . .

Encourages high school seniors to elect a more challenging academic schedule.

Allows students to demonstrate mastery of content and skills through multiple and varied assessments.

Builds academic behaviors that support college success.

Gives students greater flexibility in their college academic schedules, because they’ve already completed

many general education requirements while in high school.

Supports timely college graduation.

Can save families significant amounts of college costs, because college credits earned during high school can

shorten the time to college graduation.

For teachers . . .

Professional development builds the breadth and depth of teachers’ discipline-specific knowledge and skills.

Provides teachers with a collegial network of university and high school instructors

Offers access to University libraries and academic department resources.

Improves job satisfaction.

For schools . . .

Strengthens high school academic departments. When CIS teachers understand and share with their

colleagues what students need to know and be able to do to succeed in a U of M course, the high school

academic departments may choose to strengthen other related courses.

Keeps high-achieving students in the high school. Eighty-five percent of respondents to the 2011 Impact

Survey agreed or strongly agreed that fewer students left their school buildings to take courses on college

campuses, because CIS provided the courses in the high school. This fact benefits schools because:

o The presence of high-achieving students in the high school can raise the academic bar for all

students and provides the school with capable student leaders.

o When students remain in the high schools, the schools retain all of their per-pupil state funding.

Student eligibility

Students must be juniors and seniors in high school. Many of the courses available through CIS

currently require students to be in the 70th or 80th percentile – or higher—of their high school classes.

However, CIS is working with faculty to define course-specific eligibility criteria, rather than relying on

overall academic indicators such as class rank.

Entry Point Project seeks broader academic and demographic range of students

In fall 2009, CIS launched an initiative to increase the academic range of students served. Partnering

with the Department of Postsecondary Teaching and Learning (PSTL) as well as with Writing Studies,

CIS created the Entry Point Project (EPP). The three courses comprising the EPP all employ Universal

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Instructional Design. Courses are designed to provide both challenge and support; to scaffold students’

knowledge and skill; and to integrate the development of skills such as critical thinking, writing, and

speaking with the acquisition of content knowledge. A fourth course – PSTL 1211: Multicultural

Perspectives in Sociology – became available to high schools in 2013-14.

Target audience:

1. The Entry Point Project is designed to be welcoming to and supportive of students who meet one or

more of the following criteria:

in the 50th-80th percentile of their high school class;

from families where English is not spoken at home;

from racial or ethnic backgrounds underrepresented in higher education;

from low income families; and/or

from families where the student will be the first to attend college.

2. To ensure that the target audience is well served, at least 60% of the class seats must be filled by

students meeting the required student qualifications. Teachers and schools may also exercise

discretion in targeting particular groups mentioned above who are currently underserved in their

schools, giving priority to students in those groups.

Courses available through Entry Point Project:

1. College Algebra through Modeling (PSTL 1006)

2. Writing studio (Writ 1201)

3. Physics by Inquiry (PSTL 1163)

4. Multicultural Perspectives in Sociology (PSTL 1211)

Costs to partner schools

In 2014-15, the charge for CIS is $145 per student per course. Note that CIS charges on a per-course basis,

not a per-credit basis. CIS is prohibited by law from generating a profit for the College of Continuing

Education and the University. The program is revenue-neutral—due to growth we have been able to keep

the fee that we charge schools flat for the past six years.

The Minnesota Department of Education prohibits the University and the high school from billing students

for the cost of the concurrent enrollment course. Some CIS schools ask parents to contribute voluntarily to

CIS costs; some schools, through groups such as academic booster clubs, language clubs, etc., fundraise to

cover CIS costs. Schools cannot prevent a qualified student from taking the class on the grounds that s/he

did not contribute to the cost of the class.

Schools also pay for:

Text books and materials for students (including lab materials). (Our U of M faculty coordinators

are keenly aware that high schools cannot purchase new books frequently; text changes in CIS

courses are ordinarily minimal.)

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Substitute teachers to cover CIS teachers’ classes on CIS workshop days.

Substitute teachers and student transportation costs for CIS field days at the U of M. Note:

Students and teachers are required to attend field days of the Entry Point Project courses and

Animal Science. CIS strongly encourages schools to send students to all other field days.

Partner roles and responsibilities

CIS partners include University academic departments and departmental administrators, University

faculty and staff, high school teachers, high schools administrators and counselors, and the College of

Continuing Education. CIS partners rarely see each other, because we are physically separated, often by

many miles. What do we all do to make CIS work? Here’s a skeleton outline….

Teacher roles & responsibilities

1. Teach CIS course(s)

2. Attend CIS workshops

3. Participate in CIS student field days (Field days – except for those associated with EPP and the

animal science course – are optional.)

4. Approve students for admission, using CIS guidelines

5. Develop course syllabus, following U of M guidelines

6. Cooperate with CIS office for administrative business, including submission of grades, course

evaluations, etc.

Note: Teachers may also elect to serve on a Course Advisory Committee.

School/district roles & responsibilities

1. Pay CIS fee

2. Provide release days for teachers to attend workshops and required field days (See # 3 above.)

3. Observe U of M class size limits

4. Provide transportation for students to campus field days

5. Provide texts and other required materials for students

U of M academic departments

1. Grant permission to offer an introductory course through College in the Schools

2. Assist in the identification of a CIS faculty coordinator for the department’s CIS course

U of M faculty coordinator roles & responsibilities

1. Ensure that CIS course is congruent with the course as taught on campus

2 Select and mentor new CIS teachers

3. Provide oversight and ongoing support, in addition to workshops, to CIS teachers

4. Assist, as needed, in students’ efforts to secure recognition of U of M credit

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5. Serve as liaison to the U of M academic department that owns the course

CIS roles & responsibilities

1. Policy decisions/issues.

2. With U of M academic departments, identify courses for inclusion in CIS portfolio

3. Participate in selection of faculty coordinators; support and oversee faculty coordinators

4. Support teachers vis-à-vis school and/or parents

5. Set up all CIS class sections

6. Register students at U of M

7. Bill schools

8. Participate in planning and implementation of workshops and field days

9. Handle student concerns/complaints

10. Participate in selection and preparation of new CIS teachers

11. Maintain relationships with stakeholders, including legislators

12. Conduct program evaluation

13. Prepare and administer program budget

14. Set up payroll

15. Participate in the Minnesota Concurrent Enrollment Partnership

16. Ensure that CIS meets NACEP standards

17. Create and publish all publications (web site, student brochure, administrative handbook,

student handbooks)

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II. DIRECTORIES

College in the Schools staff

Julie Williams, CIS Director

Program policy

Social sciences liaison

Entry Point Project liaison

Stakeholder relations

Course development

Program evaluation

Program administration

612-626-8179; juliew@umn.edu

Jan Erickson, CIS Associate Director

Student and instructional support

New teacher selection & preparation

World and classical languages and psychology

liaison

School liaison

612-624-9898; j-eric1@umn.edu

Cynthia Tidball, Communications Coordinator

English language arts, science, & math liaison

Web and print publications

Database manager

612-626-0214; tidba002@umn.edu

Susan Henderson, Special Projects

School liaison

Special projects

hende002@umn.edu

Koleen Knudson, Course and Office Manager

Course management

Student registration

Workshop & field day coordination

Data management

612-621-1852; kknudson@umn.edu

Maria French, Student Worker

Assists with workshops and field days

Facilitates collection and distribution of SRT’s

and syllabi

Manages bulk mailings

612-625-1855; cis@umn.edu

College of Continuing Education Administration

Mary Nichols, Dean

201 Coffey Hall

612- 624-1751; nicho039@umn.edu

Bob Stine, Associate Dean

Degree and Credit Programs

20 Classroom Office Building

612-624-1251; rstine@umn.edu

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U of M CIS Faculty Coordinators

Name Email College Title Department

Bruch, Jr, Patrick patbruch@umn.edu CLA Associate Professor Writing Studies

Carlson-Lombardi, Angela carls135@umn.edu CLA Teaching Specialist Spanish and Portugese

DeNoble, Jan denob002@umn.edu CLA Teaching Specialist Writing Studies

Fletcher, Randy fletc002@umn.edu CLA Associate Professor Psychology

Haines, Paul haines@physics.umn.edu CSE Adjunct Associate Professor Physics

Hsu, Leon lhsu@umn.edu CEHD Associate Professor Postsecondary Teaching and Learning

Jensen, Murray msjensen@umn.edu CEHD Adjunct Associate Professor Postsecondary Teaching and Learning

Johnson, Tim trj@umn.edu CLA Professor Political Science

Kelly, Margaret Delehanty deleh003@umn.edu CLA Teaching Specialist Postsecondary Teaching and Learning

Kerr, Betsy bjkerr@umn.edu CLA Adjunct Associate Professor French and Italian

Liu, Donald dliu@umn.edu CFANS Program Director / MCEE Applied Economics

Matsumoto, Fumiko matsu021@tc.umn.edu CLA Teaching Specialist Asian Languages & Literatures

McNaron, Toni mcnar001@tc.umn.edu CLA Adjunct Professor English

Michaels, Tom michaels@umn.edu CFANS Professor Horticultural Science

Norling, Lisa norli001@umn.edu CLA Adjunct Associate Professor History

Odash, Diane odas0002@umn.edu CLA Senior Teaching Specialist Communication Studies

Peters, Bill pete2038@umn.edu CFANS Teaching Specialist Horticultural Science

Reynolds, Thomas reyno004@umn.edu CLA Associate Professor Writing Studies

Rogness, Jonathan rogness@math.umn.edu CSE Program Director Mathematics

Rozeboom, Kyle rozeboom@umn.edu CFANS Lecturer Animal Science

Schneller, Renana schne068@umn.edu CLA Teaching Specialist Classical and Near Eastern Studies

Seykora, Tony seyko001@umn.edu CFANS Teaching Specialist Animal Science

Smith, Stephen smith504@umn.edu CLA Adjunct Associate Professor Classical and Near Eastern Studies

Staats, Susan staats@umn.edu CEHD Associate Professor Postsecondary Teaching and Learning

Steinhagen, Ginny stein093@umn.edu CLA Teaching Specialist German, Scandinavian, and Dutch

Zou, Zhen zouxx009@umn.edu CLA Teaching Specialist Asian Languages & Literatures

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III. FACULTY COORDINATORS

Job Description & Appointments

Faculty Coordinator Job Description

Summary:

1. Select and prepare new CIS teachers

2. Provide ongoing support to CIS teachers

3. Ensure that CIS course follows campus practice re content, pedagogy, and student assessment

4. Support student learning

5. Fulfill CIS administrative responsibilities

Details:

1. Select and prepare new CIS teachers

a) Participate with CIS associate director in the review of teacher applications and in the

interviewing of applicants. Faculty coordinator makes final decision about the acceptance or

denial of each teacher application.

b) Prepare teachers new to CIS to teach the University course the summer prior to offering the

course at their high school. This preparation may be done through a single workshop, a series of

workshops, an online training combined with a workshop, or through meeting individually with

new instructors. New teacher preparation is in addition to the summer professional

development that faculty coordinators organize for all teachers in the CIS cohort.

c) If appropriate and desired, create peer-mentoring system for new teachers.

d) Optional: Conduct a directed study with first-year CIS teachers for graduate credit. If you do

decide to offer a directed study, teachers need not participate—unless completing a directed

study is a condition that needs to be met by a teacher who has been accepted provisionally. The

work performed by teachers is defined by the faculty coordinator. CIS faculty coordinators have

asked CIS teachers to complete a variety of assignments, including keeping a reflective journal of

their first year of teaching, writing a research paper pertinent to the U of M course, or preparing

specific course/lesson materials.

2. Provide ongoing support to CIS teachers

a) With the Course Advisory Committee and/or cohort teachers and CIS staff, plan and implement

a minimum of three professional development days each year for CIS teachers on topics related

to the content, pedagogy, and assessment of the CIS course and teachers’ intellectual

development in the field.

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Typically at least two activities will be workshops held on week days during the academic year

(one in the fall and one in spring); workshops are ordinarily five to six hours in length. Summer

workshops or other professional development activities are scheduled at the convenience of the

coordinator and the CIS teachers. CIS recommends that summer professional development

activities not exceed five days; most summer CIS workshops run one to three days. Because CIS

tracks and monitors professional development activities, please ensure that you plan activities with

your liaison and that you report all professional development activities to the CIS office. CIS

generates documentation for teachers for each professional development activity, which teachers

may use to meet continuing education requirements.

b) Maintain contact with CIS teachers as needed throughout the year by phone, email, or personal

visits to support their teaching of the CIS course.

c) Distribute minutes of workshops, reporting policy and/or practice announcements, to absent

teachers

d) If appropriate and desirable, work with CIS teachers, your CIS course liaison, and CIS

communication director to create a Moodle site for sharing teaching resources among the

teacher cohort.

e) Mentor teachers by visiting them in their classrooms at least once every three years; teachers

new to your cohort must be visited during the teacher’s first year in CIS. Complete school visit

form and submit to CIS office.

f) Consult with CIS staff and teachers on occasion of student academic misconduct.

3. Ensure that sections taught through CIS follow campus practice related to course content, pedagogy,

and assessment.

a) Review CIS syllabi from teachers each term (CIS office will post them as we receive them, in an

online folder that only you and the office staff can access.); determine if content, pedagogy, and

assessment are congruent with campus course-specific practice.

b) Evaluate teaching by visiting all teachers in their classrooms at least once every three years; all

teachers new to your cohort must be visited in the first year. Complete school visit form and

submit to CIS office.

c) Review course evaluations.

d) Review grading in CIS sections to ensure consistency with U of M standards. (Some cohorts

organize professional development around grading, asking teachers to bring examples of papers

or other assignments that they consider worthy of an “A”, “B”, “C”, etc.)

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4. Support student learning

a) If a student field day is not required for your cohort, decide if you will offer an on-campus

student field day. If you decide to have one, work with your Course Advisory Committee and/or

CIS teachers and CIS staff to plan and oversee the implementation of the field day.

b) Write supporting letters for students encountering difficulty in securing recognition of their U of

M credits earned through CIS

5. Fulfill administrative responsibilities

a) Working with CIS communication director and/or your CIS course liaison, keep information

published on the CIS web site updated.

b) Represent CIS within the University, especially to the academic department that owns the

course.

c) Advise the CIS staff, as needed, on issues pertinent to your cohort or to the CIS program as a

whole.

d) Provide the CIS office with information about field days, workshops, and other professional

development activities, including agendas.

e) Respond promptly to requests for information from the CIS office.

f) Participate in biannual faculty coordinator meetings.

g) Participate as needed in event and program evaluation.

Faculty coordinator assistant

If the size of the teacher cohort is sufficiently large and if the CIS faculty coordinator desires it, CIS will

pay for a faculty coordinator assistant. The assistant can be hired as a graduate student assistantship

(12.5% or 25%), or on a straight hourly basis (no assistantship involved). If paid on an hourly basis, the

assistant may be a retired CIS teacher or another qualified person in your academic department.

Faculty coordinator assistant job description. The faculty coordinator assistant works for the CIS faculty

coordinator and CIS staff. The work may include the following:

1. Assist the Faculty Coordinator and CIS staff with planning and implementing teacher professional

development activities and student field days by performing tasks such as:

Attending Course Advisory Committee meetings

Making all arrangements with guest speakers (except payment)

Preparing agendas for teacher workshops

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Communicating with teachers about attendance at professional development activities and

student field days

Working with Course Advisory Committee and faculty coordinator, do all setup, document

copying and distribution, seating coordination, and role assignments (both student and

teacher) for student field days; communicate with teachers about these materials and plans.

Ordering and picking up any food not ordered through vendors with whom CIS works

Reporting expenses to appropriate CIS staff

Taking notes at workshops and distributing them to all absent teachers

Other work as assigned

2. Visit CIS teachers in their schools (if qualified and if delegated by Faculty Coordinator)

3. Review CIS teacher syllabi (as delegated by Faculty Coordinator)

4. Review CIS teacher grading (as delegated by Faculty Coordinator)

5. Maintain contact with teachers via email or newsletters (as delegated by Faculty Coordinator)

6. Facilitate the sharing of teaching resources among CIS teachers by preparing documents and

materials for distribution via email and/or Moodle.

Qualifications: Advanced content knowledge in appropriate discipline and/or familiarity with College in

the Schools; knowledge of instructional best practices; understanding of high school environments and

respect for precollege teaching. If observing CIS teachers, expertise in evaluating teaching is required.

Appointment as faculty coordinator

1. Appointments are for one year, although CIS hopes that faculty coordinators will continue with the

program for a minimum of three years. CIS wants you to have time to learn the job and time to build

relationships with CIS teachers.

2. In spring semester, CIS will email faculty coordinators (with copies to department chairs), informing

them of the program’s desire to retain them as faculty coordinators for the following year. An official

appointment letter will be mailed in August—after salary raises have been implemented—providing

you with the exact amount of your CIS payment.

3. A sample appointment letter is found in the appendices. You will see that the letter includes a form

for you to sign and return to the CIS office to indicate your acceptance of the appointment.

Compensation for faculty coordinators

1. Faculty coordinators are ordinarily paid a 3-credit salary for one semester on an overload basis

during the regular academic year. You have some choice about how you receive payment: you can

choose to be paid once a term at the end of the term or you can choose to be paid biweekly over an

entire academic year.

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2. Alternative arrangements: Sometimes a faculty member is interested in the faculty coordinator

position, but does not want to take on all of the faculty coordinator responsibilities. In this situation,

the faculty coordinator responsibilities and salary can be divided and shared with another

staff/faculty member in the department. Also, a faculty coordinator may request that CIS work be

inloaded. If the academic department and college dean’s office approve the request, CIS will buy out

a portion of the faculty member’s time.

3. Payment for summer workshops is made separately from academic-year pay. Compensation is

based on $500 for an eight-hour day and prorated as appropriate. Payment is for the actual hours of

the workshop or professional development activity; the assumption is that this will cover the

preparation. Faculty coordinators must report the total number of hours of the summer

professional development activities (both for new teachers and for veteran teachers to Koleen

Knudson in the CIS office.

4. CIS processes payment for summer professional development at the end of each month.

Faculty coordinator meetings

CIS faculty coordinators meet twice a year to share best practices, provide input into policy decisions,

address concerns, and learn about pertinent developments related to CIS and to concurrent enrollment

statewide and nationally.

Selecting teachers

1. Reviewing applications. The CIS teacher application provides an overview of the candidate’s

experience and interest in teaching a U of M course. Components include a letter of intent, resume,

academic transcripts, recommendation from the principal, and a signed partnership agreement

form. The CIS office receives each application, copies it, and forwards you a copy. After reviewing

the file, faculty coordinators decide whether or not to interview the candidate. The CIS

office schedules the interviews. The faculty coordinator and the CIS associate director interview

each candidate together.

The CIS application deadlines for most teacher applications are November 1 and April 15. Applications

for replacements for current CIS teachers are accepted and reviewed throughout the academic year.

2. Interviewing teachers.

Interviews are ordinarily conducted in the CIS office.

Purpose of interviews. Interviews are intended to help CIS learn more about a teacher's

qualifications, teaching style, and experience; why the applicant wants to teach through the CIS

program; and what the high school context is (scheduling, workload, student population, etc.).

The interviews also serve the purpose of allowing the high school instructor to meet the faculty

coordinator, learn more about the course, and gain insights about the department’s philosophy

and the University’s expectations of instructors and students.

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3. A few typical interview questions (in random order)

Tell us about your experience teaching (your field here) to advanced juniors and seniors.

If we were to walk into your current class on a typical day, what would you and the students be

doing?

What in your background prepares you to teach the University course?

What does _______ mean to you and how might this be evident in your classroom? (e.g.,

historiography, inquiry, peer teaching and learning, cooperative learning, multicultural, etc.)

CIS teachers are charged with raising the rigor of study and inspiring students to rise to the

challenge of succeeding in a college course. How might you create a collegiate atmosphere in

your classroom?

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IV. SUPPORTING MATERIALS FOR CIS TEACHERS

Exams, lab activities, common assignments, and lecture notes

Any materials used in all sections of the course taught on the U of M campus must also be provided or

made accessible to CIS teachers—lab activities, exams, etc.,

Even if the course taught on campus does not use common assignments or exams, CIS faculty

coordinators can develop and share common assignments for CIS teachers to use.

Some faculty coordinators provide CIS teachers with copies of lecture notes and graphics used in the on-

campus course.

Moodle

CIS recommends creating a Moodle site for sharing information, resources, assignments, rubrics, etc.

with and among teachers. Some faculty coordinators require teachers and students to use Moodle or

some other electronic tool. If you’re considering having a Moodle site, talk with your CIS course liaison

to learn more about how this technology can work in the high schools.

Grading Rubrics

CIS strongly urges faculty coordinators to develop—in collaboration with CIS teachers, if the University

academic department does not have them—rubrics to be used in grading student work.

Other U of M resources

Faculty coordinators should encourage teachers—and their students—to use other University

resources, such as the libraries, museums, and department-specific resources. CIS offers cohorts the

opportunity to work with a University librarian to create course-specific library websites for students,

as starting points for research assignments.

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V. CIS TEACHER PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Preparing and supporting CIS teachers

Purpose

The primary purpose of teacher professional development is to provide high school instructors with the

collegial support they need to teach a University course in their high school. Over time, i.e., not all in one

workshop, you are required to address the content, pedagogy, and assessment of the University

course they are teaching. Professional development may also focus on the discipline as a whole,

addressing new research, recent controversies, etc.

Most cohorts, especially during the first few years, offer workshops as the primary professional

development activity. The workshops connect CIS instructors with faculty and resources of the

University, provide highly valued opportunities to share professional best practices, and give the faculty

coordinator opportunities to both teach and learn from these energetic and dedicated instructors. As

cohorts mature, professional development activities in lieu of some workshops might be appropriate.

For example:

Offering series of short webinars, replacing one workshop during the academic year.

Organizing visits by individual teachers to other classrooms to see how the course is taught on

campus or by other CIS teachers. As part of this teachers might complete a reflective assignment

to discuss at the next workshop.

Meet individually or in smaller groups with teachers who are working on teaching materials for

particular topics. These would be presented at a workshop and/or shared online through a

Moodle site.

Organize conference calls with small groups of teachers to discuss a reading.

Work with a state association to offer appropriate sessions for CIS teachers attending a

statewide discipline-specific conference.

CIS teacher professional development is one of the keys to ensuring that CIS sections of a University

course are of University quality. Many colleges and universities sponsoring concurrent enrollment

programs like CIS seek to ensure the quality of the concurrent enrollment instruction by requiring

teachers to hold particular academic credentials, most often a master’s degree in the discipline or 18

hours of graduate credit in the discipline. The University of Minnesota – Twin Cities CIS program does

not make this requirement, although both CIS staff and faculty coordinators closely review the academic

preparation of each teacher applicant. CIS has taken the position that a teacher’s good academic

preparation, experience teaching the discipline, history of continual learning, and participation in

ongoing discipline and course-specific professional development—all combined with classroom

observation by faculty coordinators—are sufficient and effective qualifications and measures to ensure

University quality instruction.

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Minimum requirements

Workshops for all teachers in your cohort. CIS requires that each teacher cohort hold a minimum of three

days of professional development for all teachers each year: two days during the academic year (one in

fall and one in spring) and at least one in the summer. The academic year workshops are ordinarily four

to six hours long; the summer workshop is a minimum of one full day. Many cohorts meet two to three

full days in the summer. CIS discourages requiring teachers to attend summer workshops longer than

five full days (primarily because most teachers are not paid for their time in workshops).

Workshops for teachers new to your cohort. In addition, each cohort must hold a workshop for teachers

new to your cohort. The length and time of these workshops are at the faculty coordinator’s discretion.

If there are only one or two new teachers for your cohort, your workshop may be more of an informal

directed study than a workshop. Often faculty coordinators will meet with new teachers early in the

summer and then again late in the summer. This schedule allows you to orient teachers to the course,

gives teachers the summer to do reading and preparation, and provides a time before classes begin for

you and the teachers to address questions or problems.

NOTE: CIS holds a New Teacher Orientation in early August for teachers from all cohorts who are new

to CIS. At this workshop, the agenda focuses on the how-to’s of managing a University course. We share

the policies and practices that ensure quality in CIS sections, discuss University policies regarding

attendance, academic conduct, and grading, and show teachers how to register students and submit

grades through the University system. Teachers also are oriented to the library and to resources

available to students such as the Office of Disability Services, the Writing Center, etc.

Hallmarks of effective professional development

CIS teacher workshops and other professional development activities have many qualities that are

hallmarks of excellent professional development. CIS workshops:

1. Respect and nurture intellectual and leadership capacity of teachers

2. Are sustained, focus on a specific course, consider the high school context, and require

participation and reflection

3. Provide ample opportunity for professional conversation

4. Build trust and a collegial relationship among teachers themselves and between the teachers

and the faculty coordinator

5. Encourage collaboration and sharing of materials, resources, and ideas

6. Create a climate supportive of change and risk taking

7. Include discussion about and use of technology—its role in teaching and in the discipline

8. Support the sharing of teacher expertise by preparing and using mentors, teacher advisors,

coaches

Cohort Budgets

CIS has developed guidelines and annual budgets that faculty coordinators can use to support teacher

professional development activities and field days. Our goals are to:

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Make funds available to all CIS cohorts in an equitable manner

Encourage the planning and delivery of rich, effective teacher professional development

Support excellent student field days

Professional development for teachers is the prioritized use of these funds; funds may be used to

support field days if the allotted funds allow a cohort to develop both quality workshops and student

field days.

Scheduling professional development activities

1. In the fall identify dates for your summer professional development activities. This early planning

allows CIS to tell prospective CIS teachers what dates they will be required to participate.

2. During the summer identify dates for the entire academic year’s professional development activities

and field days. It is best to do this with teachers, either at a workshop or by using an online survey

tool. High schools have many days when teachers and/or students are not available.

3. Consult with your teachers and your CIS course liaison to determine if your proposed dates will

conflict with other CIS professional development activities and field days that involve the same

teachers you work with. (For example, writing teachers often also teach the literature class; history

teachers sometimes also teach political science or applied economics, etc.)

Planning teacher professional development

1. Help is available! The best resource for planning professional development is often CIS teachers

themselves. You can do a mini-survey—during a workshop or by email—asking teachers what

topics they would like to spend time addressing. You can also identify up to three teachers from the

cohort to serve as a Course Advisory Committee. (CIS will pay committee members a small annual

honorarium for helping you plan professional development and student field days.) Committee

meetings can be held after a workshop or by email or phone. The CIS course liaison working with

your cohort is also a good source of ideas and advice about professional development. Faculty

coordinator meetings also will be a source of great ideas about how to prepare teachers.

2. You can invite presenters from the University or community to deliver part of a workshop. These

presenters may share thoughts and results from their research or demonstrate how s/he teaches a

particular section of the syllabus. Or, they might provide related or contextual information that

contributes to excellent teaching of particular subjects in the course. The cohort budget can be used

to offer honoraria to speakers and presenters.

3. Staff from several University offices—for example, the Writing Center and the Center for Teaching

and Learning—present without charge as part of their regular work.

Addressing U of M grading

One of the most frequent concerns and questions teachers new to CIS have is about grading: “How do I

know what an ‘A’ is at the University of Minnesota?” As faculty coordinator, you also will want to know

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that assessment standards in CIS sections are comparable to those in on-campus sections. Following are

practices that have been effective for addressing grading standards in CIS cohorts.

1. Discuss grade distribution reports provided to you by the CIS office; these reports include the grade

distribution for all sections of a course, both those taught on campus and those taught in the high

school. This practice can be useful in identifying outliers with a pattern of grading especially hard or

especially easy.

NOTE: There are reasons why grades in CIS sections might be higher than grades in non-CIS

sections of the same course. CIS students are living at home without the distractions of first-time-

ever independent living; CIS instructors are often more experienced and skillful teachers than the

staff and graduate students teaching introductory courses on campus; and CIS teaching and learning

is often enhanced by the fact that CIS students and teachers have sometimes known each other for

years; etc.

2. Examine the factors that are being used to determine a grade. Are they comparable to factors in on-

campus sections? (Discussion participation, papers, exams, attendance, etc.)

3. Discuss and/or review sample grading rubrics. Consider dedicating workshop time to creating

rubrics for grading papers, exams, and other student work. Or, give workshop time to review and

modify a draft of such rubrics which has been created by a subcommittee.

4. Consider inviting staff from the University’s Teaching and Learning Center—or a teacher from

within your cohort who may be trained in creating rubrics—to work with your cohort on creating

and using grading rubrics.

5. Grade a set of student papers/exams at a workshop. The faculty coordinator, faculty assistant, and

each teacher should grade the papers individually, followed by a full discussion of why people gave

the grades they did.

6. Evaluate teachers’ assignments. Do they demand University and/or departmental-level thinking

and writing?

7. Suggest that giving two final course grades (one for high school and one for the University) is an

appropriate option that reflects the higher academic standards of the University.

8. If your cohort has a Course Advisory Committee, consider engaging them in planning how to address

the grading issue.

U of M’s Teaching and Learning Center

This center has a wealth of material online that CIS teachers can access. Many CIS teachers have years of

experience and are virtually a teaching and learning center themselves. But many will also appreciate

knowing about this great University resource.

Go to http://www1.umn.edu/ohr/teachlearn/ to familiarize yourself with the Center.

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How the CIS office will help with your professional development activitiy . CIS staff will:

1. Assist in planning, as needed

2. Remind (via email) teachers of an upcoming workshop or other activity

3. Distribute the agenda or other materials via email before the event

4. Secure and pay for a meeting room (we look for free rooms first, but will rent space if suitable

free space is not available).

5. Secure and arrange for delivery of requested AV equipment

6. Order and pay for food (we provide either a breakfast, OR a light lunch)

7. Make certain that teachers sign in

8. Prepare and send letters of attendance to the teachers (these can be used to earn required

recertification hours.)

9. Attend for at least part of the workshop to make announcements and answer questions about

administrative issues

10. Clean up the room at the conclusion of the workshop, discarding waste and retrieving leftover

food, materials, etc.

11. Pay speakers, as needed

Sample workshop agendas

See agendas in appendices of this handbook.

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VI. CIS STUDENT FIELD DAYS

Required or not required?

In response to concerns expressed by some school administrators, CIS no longer requires participation

in most on-campus student field days. (The expense of field day transportation and the frequency of

teachers being out of the school building were primary concerns.) However, CIS does require two

groups of CIS courses to hold on-campus field days that students and teachers are required to attend:

1. All courses designated as Entry Point courses

2. Courses with required labs that cannot be implemented at the high school. (Currently,

Animal Science 1101 falls in this category.)

Purpose of field days

Field days are designed to complement the University curriculum delivered through CIS classes and give

students the opportunity to meet students from other schools, interact with on-campus students and/or

faculty, and explore the resources of the University’s Twin Cities campus. For some students, the field

day is a revelation, showing them that the campus is not scary and difficult to navigate. For all students,

the field days are external confirmation that the course they’re taking through CIS is a real University

course.

Activities at field days

Each discipline cohort has its own unique student field day, lasting from three-five hours. Faculty

coordinators, working with their cohorts’ teachers and CIS staff, plan the field days. A good field day is

an interactive field day!

Planning student field days

Help is available! The best resource for planning student field days is often CIS teachers themselves.

You can devote some workshop time to a discussion of field day plans.

You can also identify three teachers from the cohort to serve as a Course Advisory Committee. (CIS will

pay committee members a small annual honorarium for helping you plan professional development

activities and student field days.) Committee meetings can be held after a workshop or on an entirely

different day or by email or phone.

The CIS staff liaison working with your cohort is also a good source of ideas and advice.

You can invite presenters from the University or community to deliver part of the field day program.

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Budget

See appendices for workshop budget and guidelines.

Teachers at student field days

Faculty coordinators can ask teachers to play roles at the field day, if they wish. For example, at field

days in which students break out into small discussion groups, teachers often facilitate or monitor the

discussion.

Some CIS cohorts use the lunch break as a teacher meeting time or simply as a time for teachers to talk

with each other.

Scheduling field days

Please work with your teachers to identify dates for the entire academic year’s field days during the

summer.

If your field day requires multiple breakout rooms, the field day must be scheduled at times in which

University classes are not in session – during the winter break or after finals in May. When classes are in

session, it is impossible to secure a sufficient number of rooms to accommodate a field day with many

breakout groups.

Consult with your teachers and your CIS course liaison to determine if your proposed field day date will

conflict with other CIS workshops and field days that involve the same teachers with whom you work.

(Writing teachers often also teach the literature class; history teachers sometimes also teach political

science or economics, etc.)

Who does what for CIS field days: A Field Day Checklist

See appendices for a checklist that is also available on the CIS web site under Student and Administrative

Resources.

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VII. VISITING CIS TEACHERS IN THEIR CLASSROOMS

Faculty Site Visits and Instructor Self-Assessments

Purpose

A CIS faculty site visit is one way that the program ensures that the U of M course taught in the high

school is the same as, or comparable to, the course taught on the U of M campus. The National Alliance

for Concurrent Enrollment Partnerships requires faculty site visits for College in the Schools'

accreditation and states that the faculty coordinator, representing the department associated with the

course, makes a site visit "to provide discipline-specific verification of the course as the

college/university course." A site visit also provides "an opportunity for collegial interaction" between

the faculty coordinator and the teacher and "allows the faculty to observe course delivery, student

discourse and rapport." It is an opportunity for faculty to connect with teachers regarding course

content, collegiate pedagogy and student learning.

Frequency

Faculty coordinators are required to make a classroom observation at least once during a teacher's first

year teaching the course, and thereafter on a three year cycle. Additional site visits may be made for a

variety of reasons including observation of multiple types of pedagogy, student performance, mentoring,

and to provide lectures and/or lessons directly to students.

Instructor self-assessment

To maximize the value of the site visit, CIS is asking the faculty coordinator to contact the teacher with

the following questions in advance of a site visit. The intent is to provide the teacher with time to reflect

and write responses, and return these to the faculty coordinator 2-3 days before they meet.

What is your greatest pedagogical challenge in teaching this class?

What are the logistical or administrative issues you are dealing with this term?

Describe the dynamics of this class. Are there any classroom management issues?

What else would you like the faculty coordinator to know before s/he makes a site visit to you

class?

Reporting

CIS faculty coordinators and faculty coordinator assistants will be asked to include, at a minimum, the

information requested on the faculty site visit/observation report (see appendices). This information

may be submitted in the form of a letter and/or on the report form.

You must submit your letter or this faculty site visit form and mileage request to Koleen Knudson

at kknudson@umn.edu for processing. CIS requires a copy of the form or letter, in part, because they

serve as documentation for meeting NACEP standards when applying for reaccreditation.

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NOTE: If the classroom observation raises serious concerns about the effectiveness and/or competency

of the teacher, discuss the situation with your CIS course liaison; or – if the teacher is in his or her first

year and your concerns are related to issues present at the time of the teacher’s acceptance, you may

choose to discuss the situation with the CIS associate director as well. A plan of action to address the

concern must be recorded on the Faculty Site Visit/Observation Report form.

Giving feedback to CIS teachers and their administrators

If your feedback to the teacher is largely positive, consider putting it in writing and copying the school

principal. See an example of such a letter in the appendices. Teachers appreciate it!

Consider meeting the high school principal

Ask the CIS instructor you are visiting if it would be useful or advisable to meet the principal or assistant

principal before or after doing the classroom observation. This meeting, even if short, reinforces the

idea that the University pays attention to what happens in the CIS sections of its courses. This meeting

need not be the occasion for providing feedback about the CIS instructor’s teaching, but can be simply an

opportunity to “put a face with a name” and to express appreciation for the school’s participation in CIS.

Mileage reimbursement

Request reimbursement for mileage incurred when visiting CIS teachers:

1. Complete the Mileage Reimbursement form, found on the CIS web site (www.cce.umn.edu). Follow

the Student and Administrative Resources link, and then the For Faculty Coordinators link. The

form may be completed on line, saved, and emailed to Koleen Knudson at kknudson@umn.edu for

processing

2. Submit your reimbursement requests by the end of month in which the visit was made. Monthly

submission is required by the University’s financial system.

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VIII. CIS IN THE HIGH SCHOOL CONTEXT

CIS is one of several options for earning postsecondary credit

In Minnesota, high schools can choose to offer students Advanced Placement (AP) courses, International

Baccalaureate (IB) courses, or concurrent enrollment courses. Some high schools offer students all

three options for earning postsecondary credit while in high school! Many CIS partner high schools offer

concurrent enrollment courses from more than one postsecondary institution. Students may also elect

to participate in the PSEO program that allows them to study on the postsecondary campus.

One of the most significant differences among AP, IB, and CIS is that CIS (and most concurrent

enrollment programs) allow students to actually earn postsecondary credits (as opposed to becoming

eligible for postsecondary credit). CIS also allows students to earn their grades by virtue of their

performance on multiple and varied assessments.

See the CIS/AP/IB/PSEO matrix included in the appendices of this handbook for a more detailed

comparison of the options open to students and schools.

Students may also earn college credit by taking a CLEP test and scoring sufficiently high (CLEP is the

abbreviation for the College Level Examination Program, administered by the College Board).

CIS can enhance schools’ community image and student recruitment efforts

For many schools, offering college courses, especially courses from the University of Minnesota, not only

meets the academic needs of students but also helps keep school enrollments strong. Parents like to see

their students take rigorous courses!

CIS presents some challenging issues for high schools

1. Enrollment caps required by the U of M in certain courses are often difficult for high schools to meet.

In high schools, class size is often 30 to 40 students. Keeping classes small to satisfy University

enrollment caps requires adding sections to the school’s course schedule (and providing teachers

for those sections) and/or requiring other high school instructors to teach even larger classes.

Unless individual faculty coordinators request, and departments approve, different caps CIS

requires the same enrollment caps that are enforced on campus. Doing so has potential for creating

bad feelings among colleagues at the high school and is a not-so-hidden cost to high schools for

offering CIS courses.

2. Release time for teachers to attend CIS workshops is occasionally perceived as an unnecessary

expense and teacher absence by school administrators. Although principals are required to sign an

agreement each year promising to comply with the program’s requirements, administrators are

sometimes reluctant to release teachers. Tell your staff liaison if you are aware that a teacher is

denied the opportunity to attend the workshops; CIS staff will contact the principal to clarify the

requirement.

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3. Textbook purchases. Because of tight budgets, high schools typically buy new textbooks for any given

subject area only once every seven to ten years. Buying new texts even on such a reasonable

schedule of every three years can be extremely challenging for a school/district. Faculty

coordinators are asked to work with their departments to allow schools to use older versions of

required texts, until it becomes impractical to manage.

4. In a survey of CIS partner school principals that CIS conducted several years ago, principals

identified money to be the single greatest obstacle to adding new CIS sections/courses to their high

school curriculum. Sometimes, simply continuing to offer a CIS course can put a strain on a school

budget. Even if principals, school boards, etc. recognize that the U of M credit earned through CIS is

highly valuable, their budgets may simply be—and usually always are—very tight. Offering CIS

courses can mean a school cannot offer another important program.

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IX. CIS IN THE UNIVERSITY CONTEXT

Partnerships with U of M departments provide foundation for CIS work

CIS is nothing if not a partnership! No single partner—not the high school, not the University’s academic

department, not the CIS program office—could “do” CIS without the others.

CIS can offer a University course to high school students only if an academic department gives its

permission to do so. The department retains its oversight of the course through the person of the

faculty coordinator, who—following processes of the CIS program—selects teachers, prepares them to

teach the University course, and supports them throughout their tenure with CIS. The faculty

coordinator also observes CIS instructors in their high school classrooms to evaluate the delivery of

instruction in University courses.

One of the most fundamental responsibilities of the Faculty Coordinator is to help CIS maintain a healthy

partnership with the University’s academic department.

Ensuring University quality

Below are the CIS policies and practices that ensure that U of M courses offered through CIS retain

University quality.

1. All University of Minnesota courses taught through College in the Schools (CIS) are courses that

carry University degree credit and have been approved through normal University processes. They

are catalogued University of Minnesota courses, available to students on the University campus as

well as to qualified students in high schools participating in the CIS program.

2. A University of Minnesota faculty or academic staff person is appointed by the relevant academic

department and approved by the CIS director to oversee the course(s) available through CIS and the

instructors teaching CIS sections. The faculty coordinator or liaison:

a. Defines teacher qualification requirements on behalf of the department; accepts or denies

teacher applications;

b. Defines student qualification requirements;

c. Plans and delivers a minimum of three discipline-specific professional development

activities each year that address the content, pedagogy, and assessment of the course(s)

taught by CIS instructors;

d. Reviews each CIS instructor’s syllabus each term to ensure it meets campus standards;

e. Reviews student work graded by CIS teachers to ensure that University grading standards

are followed;

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f. Observes CIS instructors teach, to ensure that the pedagogy and content match that in

college-campus sections;

g. Reviews official University reports of grade distribution in CIS sections; and

h. Reviews summaries of Student Rating of Teaching surveys completed by CIS students.

3. University courses taught through CIS use the same or comparable texts as are used in the course on

the college campus.

4. As long as they teach through CIS, instructors are required to participate each year in discipline-

specific workshops led by the U of M CIS faculty coordinator. These workshops address the content,

pedagogy, and assessment of the University course(s).

5. The U of M Twin Cities CIS program is accredited by the National Alliance of Concurrent Enrollment

Partnerships (NACEP). To become accredited, CIS-Twin Cities demonstrated that it met or exceeded

standards of excellence applying to curriculum, student selection, instructors, student assessment,

and program evaluation. See NACEP standards in the appendices or at www.nacep.org.

Why do University departments participate in CIS?

1. CIS helps develop high school students who are better prepared for college.

2. CIS provides departments an outreach opportunity with a significant multiplier effect. Each CIS

instructor typically teaches well over 100 high school students each term. In addition, each CIS high

school instructor can influence colleagues in his or her own academic department, raising

expectations for teacher professionalism and student performance.

3. The presence of a CIS course in a school can change the curriculum of an entire high school academic

department, so that it better prepares students for success in the U of M courses offered through CIS.

The consequence is that the school’s curricula better prepares all students for higher education.

4. Recruitment to the University is not a CIS goal. However, some departments find that offering a

class through CIS strengthens the “pipe-line,” and encourages students to apply to the U of M.

5. Participating in CIS requires neither financial risk nor financial investment from the academic

department.

How do U of M faculty and staff find time and energy to participate in CIS?

The extensive administrative support provided to the faculty coordinator by CIS makes the faculty

coordinator’s job manageable. CIS takes care of matters such as:

1. Student registration and billing

2. Course evaluations – distribution and collection

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3. Logistical arrangements for workshops and field days

4. Program policy development and implementation

5. Administrative relations with schools

6. Salary and honoraria payment

7. Program evaluation

The instructional support provided to the faculty coordinator by CIS makes the coordinator’s job

manageable.

1. CIS can pay for a TA or a retired CIS teacher to assist the faculty coordinator in implementing

teacher workshops and student field days. (If the teacher cohort is quite small, CIS will likely not

pay for an assistant.)

2. A course advisory committee, composed of 2-3 CIS teachers who receive a modest honorarium from

CIS for their work, helps the faculty coordinator plan teacher workshops and student field days.

Thorny issue

Some University departments believe CIS enrollments have hurt registration numbers in their on-

campus large lecture courses.

However, we know that the majority of CIS students do not choose the U of M after graduating from high

school. Data from the past 7 years shows that only 20% of CIS participants ever matriculate at the U of

M (all campuses included).

It is important to remember, too, that students may matriculate at the U of M with credits earned

through Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate, CLEP (College Level Examination Program),

and concurrent enrollment programs sponsored by other postsecondary institutions across the state

and country. The Twin Cities U of M CIS program is only one of many ways for students to earn college

credit while in high school.

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X. CIS IN THE MINNESOTA CONTEXT

Many players in Minnesota

College in the Schools at the Twin Cities U of M campus is only one among many concurrent enrollment

programs in Minnesota. U of M campuses at Crookston, Duluth, and Rochester also offer concurrent

enrollment programs, using College in the Schools or College in the High Schools as the program name.

Although these programs are all U of M programs, they operate separately and independently of each

other; practices and policies—including fee structures—differ from campus to campus.

About 25 institutions—both four-year and two-year institutions—in the MnSCU system also offer

concurrent enrollment programs.

Minnesota Concurrent Enrollment Partnership (MnCEP)

In August 2004, Minnesota concurrent enrollment administrators initiated biannual meetings to share

best practices and identify common interests. (Private colleges are invited and welcome, but

participation has come primarily from the U of M and MnSCU.) U of M-TC CIS participates—sharing best

practices frequently—because we believe that concurrent enrollment will thrive or decline as a whole,

both in Minnesota and throughout the country.

Seeking parity at the legislature

The legislature has for many years allocated dollars to subsidize school and student participation in

Advanced Placement (AP): this legislation has paid or partially paid for the initial teacher training and

student exam fees. For a time, teachers were paid a bonus for the number of their students receiving

scores of 3 or better on AP exams. The Minnesota Department of Education has administered the funds

and advocated on behalf of Advanced Placement. More recently, the legislature extended similar support

to the International Baccalaureate (IB) program.

Since legislation was passed in 2007 (124D.091), the state also partially reimburses high schools for

costs incurred when offering concurrent enrollment courses. Although the legislation allows the state to

reimburse high schools up to $150 per student registration, the legislature has never allocated sufficient

funds to pay at this rate. Instead, the state dollars are prorated and the reimbursement amounts paid to

schools have been in the range of $40 per registration. Decisions about what kind of programs to offer

ambitious, capable high school students are often made primarily on financial grounds.

2007 legislation requires NACEP accreditation (or demonstration of comparable quality)

The legislation passed in 2007 stipulated that by 2011, high schools must—in order to receive

reimbursement for costs from the state—partner with concurrent enrollment programs accredited by

the National Association of Concurrent Partnerships (NACEP). Or, they can partner with concurrent

enrollment programs that demonstrate that they meet standards comparable to NACEP standards. CIS

at the U of M-Twin Cities has been accredited since 2005.

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XI. CIS IN THE NATIONAL CONTEXT

Concurrent enrollment has increasingly been recognized by policymakers and educators nationwide as

a reform movement that can launch students on an efficient, effective trajectory to the timely completion

of postsecondary study.

The quality issue

The quality and rigor of concurrent enrollment programs vary widely, giving some people cause for

viewing all concurrent enrollment programs with great skepticism. The variation in quality stems

largely from the degree of oversight postsecondary institutions exercise.

Although CIS does not agree with its perspective, Advanced Placement (AP) points to the national

norming of AP exams as a guarantee of quality. International Baccalaureate (IB) supporters point to the

prescribed curriculum and common standardized exams as a means of ensuring quality in the IB

program. Critics of concurrent enrollment – and we do not agree with them – believe that when high

school teachers teach a course and do the grading—both of which teachers do in concurrent

enrollment—there is no trustworthy assessment of student performance.

National Alliance of Concurrent Enrollment Partnerships (NACEP)

Recognizing the centrality of the quality issue, the National Alliance of Concurrent Enrollment

Partnerships was formally established in 2002. This major organizational step was preceded by years of

informal, but intense conversation about how such an organization could improve, support, and

guarantee the quality of concurrent enrollment programs.

NACEP developed a set of standards that, when met by a concurrent enrollment program, ensures that

the quality of instruction delivered through the concurrent enrollment program is the same as that of

instruction delivered on the sponsoring postsecondary campus. (Note: NACEP standards do not ensure

that all concurrent enrollment courses are equal, because all postsecondary institutions are not equal.)

These standards are divided into five categories and pertain to curriculum, instructors, student services,

student assessment, and program evaluation. Go the NACEP web site to view the standards in detail

(www.nacep.org).

When programs can demonstrate that they meet or exceed the NACEP standards, they are accredited by

the NACEP board. Accreditation must be renewed every seven years. CIS has been NACEP accredited

since 2005.

Concurrent enrollment credits widely recognized, nationwide

In 2006, the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE) published Moving the Needle

on Access and Success, a report designed to “inform members of the policy, education, and research

communities about existing state and institutional policies and practices associated with four

accelerated learning programs: Advanced Placement (AP), dual/concurrent enrollment, the

International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma Program, and Tech-Prep.”

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Published with support of the Lumina Foundation and based on a national survey reaching all 50 states,

this report includes an important comparison of credit recognition among colleges for students who

have taken AP and/or IB courses as well as dual credit/concurrent enrollment courses and Tech Prep

courses. See Table C10 reproduced below (or page 151 in the report itself).

Table C10. Share of all institutions that report granting elective or required credit for accelerated learning

options, by institutional control (from Moving the Needle on Access and Success, WICHE, page 151). Note:

Table format has been slightly changed to accommodate spacing on this page.

Public % Private % All %

Advanced Placement Elective 75 80 77

Required 91 92 91

Dual/Concurrent Enrollment Elective 77 67 73

Required 92 78 87

International Baccalaureate Elective 39 60 46

Required 40 63 48

Tech-Prep Elective 48 20 39

Required 53 12 39

See also – in the appendices -- a list of colleges and universities that former CIS students have reported

recognized their U of M credit earned through CIS.

Research and evaluation of concurrent enrollment

Please see the CIS (www.cce.umn.edu/CIS/), MnCEP (www.mncep.org) and NACEP (www.nacep.org)

web sites for an annotated bibliography and links to many recent reports and studies.

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XII. APPENDICES

1. CIS/AP/IB/PSEO comparison chart

2. Sample faculty coordinator appointment letter

3. Sample teacher professional development agendas and materials

4. Professional development and field day cohort budgets and guidelines

5. Field day checklist

6. Faculty site visit/observation reporting form

7. Sample letter to teacher, reporting on site visit

8. NACEP standards

9. Credit recognition list