SB0467sam001 103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY

Sen. Cristina Castro

Filed: 4/16/2024

10300SB0467sam001 LRB103 02918 RJT 72379 a

AMENDMENT TO SENATE BILL 467

AMENDMENT NO. ______. Amend Senate Bill 467 by replacing everything after the enacting clause with the following:

"Section 5. The Illinois Articulation Initiative Act is amended by changing Sections 5 and 25 and by adding Section 35 as follows:

(110 ILCS 152/5)

Sec. 5. Legislative findings. The General Assembly finds and declares that in January of 1993, the Board of Higher Education, the Illinois Community College Board, and transfer coordinators from Illinois colleges and universities jointly launched the Illinois Articulation Initiative to ease the transfer of students among Illinois public and independent associate and baccalaureate degree-granting institutions. The General Assembly finds and declares that the Illinois Articulation Initiative was driven by the following foundational ideas:

(1) that associate and baccalaureate degree-granting institutions are equal partners in educating college freshmen and sophomores;

(2) that faculties should take primary responsibility for developing and maintaining program and course articulation;and

(3) that institutions are expected to work together to facilitate transfer for lower-division baccalaureate programs; and .

(4) that nearly 300 common course descriptor codes are used to identify approved courses with common course content and learning outcomes.

The General Assembly finds and declares that students have benefited by receiving the General Education Core Curriculum and transferring across institutions of higher education.

(Source: P.A. 99-636, eff. 1-1-17.)

(110 ILCS 152/25)

Sec. 25. Board of Higher Education and the Illinois Community College Board duties.

(a) The Board of Higher Education and the Illinois Community College Board shall co-manage the implementation, oversight, and evaluation of the Illinois Articulation Initiative, including determining when panels must be discontinued or convened and the specific requirements of the General Education Core Curriculum. Panels must be convened across the fields of General Education, Communications, Humanities and Fine Arts, Life Sciences, Physical Sciences, Social and Behavioral Sciences, Mathematics, Elementary and Secondary Education, and other fields as determined by the Board of Higher Education and the Illinois Community College Board.

(b) The Board of Higher Education and the Illinois Community College Board shall provide a joint report on an annual basis to the General Assembly, the Governor, and the Illinois P-20 Council on the status of the Illinois Articulation Initiative and the implementation of this Act.

(c) On or before September 1, 2024, the Board of Higher Education and the Illinois Community College Board, in collaboration with public institutions, shall establish a workgroup to develop a comprehensive implementation plan for the adoption of a common course numbering system. The common course numbering system shall be consistent with course codes assigned through the Illinois Articulation Initiative. The common course numbering system shall be student-facing to ensure that comparable courses across all public institutions have the same course number.

The implementation plan shall be adopted by both the Board of Higher Education and Illinois Community College Board on or before June 30, 2025. The workgroup established under this subsection (c) shall convene annually thereafter to review progress toward fully implementing the developed common course numbering system.

(Source: P.A. 103-469, eff. 1-1-24.)

(110 ILCS 152/35 new)

Sec. 35. Common course numbering.

(a) Beginning with the 2026-2027 academic year, all public institutions shall adopt a common course numbering system for all Illinois Articulation Initiative General Education Core Curriculum courses based on the implementation plan of the workgroup established under subsection (c) of Section 25.

(b) Beginning with the 2027-2028 academic year, all public institutions shall adopt a common course numbering system for all Illinois Articulation Initiative major courses based on the implementation plan of the workgroup established under subsection (c) of Section 25.

(c) Each public institution shall incorporate common course numbers from the adopted common course numbering system developed by the workgroup established under subsection (c) of Section 25 in each public institution's course catalog.

Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon becoming law.".