Introduction

What is contained in this website and is the sum total of work accomplished to date, through a series of California Community College Chancellor’s Office Grants designed to develop a Statewide Standardized Postsecondary Agriculture Curriculum and Articulation Model. This work could not have been accomplished without the cooperation and collaboration of all stakeholders in postsecondary education in agriculture; the California Community Colleges, the California State Universities, and the University of California. In addition, this work could not have been taken to this level without the agreement from the very beginning that what we were creating was a system that provided a seamless transition for students between all segments of postsecondary agriculture programs without duplication of efforts and needless repetition of subject matter. This was accomplished because all of those involved in these various projects put students’ needs first. Agriculture has accomplished what other disciplines have found virtually impossible.

It became evident from the beginning, that an organization was needed that brought all of the segments of postsecondary education in agriculture to one table to assist in the overview and collaborative efforts of the faculty at the various institutions. Thus, in 2001, an organization was formed called the California Postsecondary Agriculture Articulation Collaborative (CPAAC), which met two times each year in conjunction with the Community College Agriculture Midwinter Institute in December and the California Agriculture Teachers Association Conference in June. The purpose of these meetings is to disseminate the materials developed each year, discuss changes in curriculum and procedures, and expand articulation. In 2003, CPAAC partnered with the Statewide Academic Senate Intersegmental Major Preparation Articulated Curriculum (IMPAC) Project to promote the adoption of the Statewide Agriculture Curriculum into the California Articulation Number (CAN) System. This monumental task was accomplished in February, 2005, just prior to the ending of the CAN System as we know it.

Recently, the leadership of the Statewide Academic Senates (ICAS) of the University of California, California State University, and California Community Colleges embarked on an ambitious course numbering project, C-ID, to replace the soon-to-be-defunct (2008-09) California Articulation Number - CAN System. Whereas the CAN system included only CSU and CCC, the new C-ID System includes all segments of higher education in California( CCC, CSU, UC, Private Institutions) and is already an improvement. Additionally, where the old CAN system relied mostly on course descriptions to determine equivalency, the new C-ID system will utilize a new Course Descriptor Model (course outline) that includes much more information, such as, Course Description, Course Objectives, credit hours, texts, etc. and will include an approval process made up of faculty in the particular disciplines.

Our existing statewide agriculture curriculum committees will play a major role in the C-ID approval process with each committee being made up of two community college faculty, one CSU Faculty, and one UC faculty. There will also be an overall Agriculture Faculty Discipline Review Group of 3 members each from each segment of higher education (selected from our statewide Ag curriculum committee members) that will oversee the approval process and interact with the other disciplines in the C-ID Project.

It is our hope, just as it has always been, that institutions will continue to see the value in easy articulation between institutions and seamless transitions for students moving between all segments of postsecondary education in agriculture. To put it mildly, this work has been an enormous endeavor that has been, and will continue to be, nourished by dedicated faculty, articulation officers and deans, and will evolve and change as the field deems necessary. To say the least, we look forward to a bright future for all stakeholders in preparing the skilled and willing workforce for an agriculture that is so diversified and dynamic.

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