AcademicAffairs@NOVA
In AcademicAffairs@NOVA, the Office of Academic Affairs will share important updates on the first Thursday of each month. The focus of this first submission surrounds changes to credits granted for AP Scores. The Virginia Community College System (VCCS) recently finished a review of how the 23 colleges in the VCCS award credit for Advanced Placement (AP) exams.
The Issue: Per the State Committee of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV), VCCS colleges are required to grant course credit for AP scores of 3 or higher; however, the 23 VCCS colleges varied in the number of credits and classes for which they were granting credit. To address the issue, the VCCS voted on system-wide consistency to create equity in credits awarded and increase efficiencies. Consistency in credits awarded will make it possible to automate the awarding of credit for official AP scores and decrease the number of exams being brought in for elective (or EEE) credit that then require substitution requests.
Side Note: NOVA has long granted course credit, also known as credit for prior learning (CPL) for Advanced Placement (AP) and other standardized assessments of learning. Our Credit for Prior Learning Manual lists the assessments and scores.
The Process: A small VCCS taskforce took the following steps:
- Compiled the credits being given by exam for all 23 colleges.
- Reviewed the AP exam learning outcomes and aligned them with VCCS course descriptions and course content summaries.
- Surveyed faculty from all 23 colleges in the disciplines for which there are AP exams.
They used results from all of the above to arrive at their recommendations. Computer Science was the only discipline for which the taskforce was unable to make a recommendation. Once the Computer Science common curriculum is created/updated, a decision will be made on the credits for AP scores.
The Outcome: The consistent credits for AP scores were approved by the VCCS Academic and Student Affairs Committee (ASAC) on November 8. They will be implemented system-wide beginning January 1, 2025. While a mid-academic-year change to policy is unusual, beginning implementation now allows us to work through the technical details so that auto-awarding credits can begin (hopefully) by fall.
The Impacts: You can see a crosswalk that compares previous AP score equivalencies with new score equivalencies here. Students who submit a transfer credit evaluation request for AP scores on or after January 1, 2025, will follow this new guidance. NOVA’s Office of Academic Affairs is in the process of updating the CPL Manual, collaborating with the College Records Office and communicating the changes with academic advisors and the college community.
If you have any questions about the implementation plan, please reach out to Phuoc ‘Thomas’ Dang, CPL coordinator, at PDang@nvcc.edu. For other questions, contact Jen Daniels, associate VP of academic affairs (JDaniels@nvcc.edu).
Submitted by:
Eun-Woo Chang, VPAA/CAO, EChang@nvcc.edu