Program Recommendations
The California Community College Chancellor’s Office (CCCCO) requires that all requests to add new credit Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs must include a recommendation from the appropriate CTE Regional Consortium as per title 5, section 55130(b)(8)E. The community colleges in California are organized into ten economic regions, served by seven regional consortia of CTE faculty and administrators from community colleges in that region. This regional recommendation process ensures program offerings meet local and/or regional labor needs and do not unnecessarily duplicate programs in the region.
From the Chancellor’s Office
Program Recommendation Steps
If you are you a CTE faculty member who has been tasked with developing a new CTE certificate or degree (program) for your college, you will need to secure regional consortium recommendation from the South Central Coast Regional Consortium (SCCRC) before you submit your program approval documents to the State Chancellor’s Office for formal approval (chaptering).
Your college CTE Voting Dean can advise you on the regional recommendation process and your college’s own curriculum approval process. You should also consult your college’s curriculum committee chair (or designee) early in the development process.
A new or substantial change to existing programs may be announced at a regional meeting or by submitting the online Google Form called Notice of Intent to Submit Program for Regional Recommendation (link is below in blue). This provides an opportunity to inform the regional colleges of new or substantial changes to existing programs that will be submitted to the SCCRC for Regional Program Recommendation. The submission of the Notice of Intent helps to initiate dialogue and provides opportunities to share ideas, existing curriculum and/or other information and resources to strengthen each and every program in the regional colleges.
You can see a list of all SCCRC Notices of Intent here.
The PCAH 7th Edition (page 93) states: “Pursuant to Education Code § 78015 Labor Market Information (LMI) data is specifically required for all new CTE program proposals, where available. Current LMI and analysis, or other comparable information, must show that jobs are available for program completers within the local service area of the individual college and/or that job enhancement or promotion justifies the proposed curriculum. Regional, statewide, or national labor market evidence may be included as supplementary support, but evidence of need in the specific college service area or region is also necessary.”
The Chancellor’s Office and the SCCRC rely on consistent LMI data provided by the region’s Center of Excellence (COE) in order to make a recommendation for program approval. A Program Recommendation Report that is NO MORE THAN TWO YEARS OLD is required from the Center of Excellence. This report needs to be uploaded to the Program Submission page on the RegionalCTE website. At their discretion, colleges may submit other LMI data in addition to the LMI provided by the COE.
- LMI Data Request Form
- See sample program recommendation and LMI reports at the Center of Excellence website
- To contact Center of Excellence Director, Adele Hermann, call (805) 553-4625 or email ahermann@vcccd.edu
Log in to www.regionalcte.org. In addition to general program information, you will provide a narrative response to the topics listed below. These narrative responses should be the SAME responses you will provide to the CCCCO when you are ready to submit your program for formal approval (chaptering) by the Chancellor’s Office.
- Program Goals and Objectives – must address a valid workforce preparation purpose and may address transfer preparation.
- Catalog Description – includes program requirements, prerequisite skills or enrollment limitations, student learning outcomes, and information relevant to program goal.
- Program Requirements – includes course requirements and sequencing that reflect program goals. The GE pattern and the calculations used to reach the degree total must be shown following the program requirements table.
- Enrollment and Completer Projections – projection of number of students to earn degree annually.
In addition to the narrative responses above, you will also attach the following to your submission: - LMI Report – provided by the COE and any other LMI data that you may have.
Once the program is submitted via the online system, the Regional Consortium Chair is notified and will initiate the regional review and voting process. The region is committed to a 2-week minimum review, and will act on all requests for regional recommendation within 30 days, provided the request is complete at the time it is submitted.
The Regional Chair and the Center of Excellence will review the submitted programs and ensure that the required LMI documentation is provided and up to date, prior to opening voting. Voting will be done using the online voting and comment feature on the RegionalCTE website. Emails will be automatically generated to the CTE voting deans notifying them that voting is now open.
Our aim is that each college is represented by one vote from a “voting Dean” designated by their college. We initiate voting reminders via email, and if needed, phone calls. Once a minimum of 5 “Recommended” votes are cast and certified, SCCRC will modify the status of the program from “Under Review” to “Recommended.”
SCCRC notifies the program submitter and voting Dean of the college via email, informing them of the final status of their submitted program and that formal documentation of this will be found in the minutes of the upcoming SCCRC Regional Meeting following the date of recommendation.
Your responsibility to submit documentation as required by the State Chancellor’s Office is elaborated on in the Chancellor’s Office Program and Course Approval Handbook (PCAH), 8th Edition, 2020
