New Course Submission

The tools on this page are designed to assist educators in developing curriculum that meets the "a-g" subject area requirements.

As high schools in California strive to meet the needs of students to become better prepared for college and careers, many are creating curriculum that integrates academic content with career-related content, providing both rigor and relevance for students. When doing so, there is pressure by parents, students, and school personnel for these new courses to meet UC/CSU eligibility requirements. We hope that the many tools and resources on this web site will help in the process.

Adding/Removing Previously Approved Courses. Please remove courses that will not be taught in the upcoming school year (2009-10). It has been our experience that some schools are reluctant to do so because the course may be offered again in the future and school personnel do not wish to repeat the review process for the course. In practice, however, should your school later decide to offer a previously deleted course - if the course was approved within the last three years and the course title has not changed - then you can simply request to have the course added to your course list without submitting to UC a complete course description. The update submission site has a template for new courses that includes a question addressing previously approved courses.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What is the process for course evaluation?

A: As a course comes into UCOP, it is reviewed by Undergraduate Admissions staff and then by the subject expert, both reviewers will look at the entire course description/outline. They look particularly at the academic rigor of the course, which includes the number and level of pre-requisites, the level of student work required, how the subject specific questions were addressed, the depth of the key assignments, etc. Based on these criteria and others (see Course Evaluation Checklists), each reviewer will independently determine if a course can be approved based on faculty's guidelines. A “Checklist for Course Review and Feedback” is sent back to the school, including the teacher of the course, for each and every course that is not approved, indicating criteria that were not met.

Q: Who initially evaluates the courses?

A: All online submissions come into the UC administrative side of the "a-g" online web site where they are placed in a queue in the order received. Several UC articulation staff members review these submissions on a first-come, first-served basis. If the initial reviewer has questions about a course, she consults with others. If further evaluation is required, the course is brought to the entire articulation staff who meet weekly. Finally, in some instances, when articulation staff cannot determine acceptability of a course, course descriptions may be sent to a UC faculty member for further analysis. Eventually UC will implement a dual review process. For example: outlines that are submitted for visual and performing arts ("f") approval will be reviewed by two reviewers. The first reviewer will be a visual and performing arts expert from the Office of the President, and the second reviewer will be a subject matter expert, usually a visual and performing arts teacher. If further evaluation is needed then a Committee or UC art faculty professor will determine the acceptability of the course.

Q: If I have not received word regarding my course of study, what is going on?

A: Some courses take longer to review due to volume or subject area. Literally thousands of new courses are submitted each year and it takes time to conscientiously review them all. Generally the review process will take from 2 - 3 months. In some cases, the course description is sent for review to the Reviewers' Committee or to a UC professor for further analysis. These extra steps can add weeks or months to the review timeline.

Beginning several years ago, we noticed that some emails notifying schools about UC decisions on submissions were being returned. We believe that those schools' mail servers were blocking them as possible spam.

On the home page of the update site, schools can check the status of a course by clicking on either "Courses in Progress", "Courses in Review", "Results" or "Find Submissions" to learn about the outcome of the course.

Q: If courses submitted to UC for approval were not approved, can these course descriptions be revised and resubmitted? If so, what is the process for doing so? What is the timeline?

A: Yes, a course(s) that was previously not approved can be "resubmitted." UC expects you to add/rewrite the reasons for the denial by revising the course outline. A new resubmission tab has been added to the submission process. This new enhancement will retain your original course outline intact – requiring you to input only the necessary revisions requested. Before "re-submitting" a course, we recommend that you consult the helpful hints portion of this web site and review the non-approved course descriptions to understand the reasons why courses are typically not approved.

Q: Who from our school/district should submit courses to UC for approval?

A: Each school and district should have a process established for submission of courses to UC. The principal or head of school is considered by UC to be the certifying agent for the school. However, an assistant principal or head counselor from a school site, or a curriculum coordinator from the district, may be designated for this responsibility. It is essential that teachers go through proper channels for course submission, as delineated by the school/district. UC prefers to have a single point person from each school/district.

Q: If a course has already been approved at another school in our district, do we need to submit it for approval?

A: If you are offering a course that is identical (i.e., same course content, text, student expectations, etc.) to a course already approved at another school in your district, then you can simply request to have it added to your course list without submitting to UC a complete course description. UC expects the submitting school to use the exact same course title. When you do so, please tell us which school has already received approval.

Q: What is the purpose of the watermark, "FOR REFERENCE ONLY," that UC has added to course descriptions posted on the "a-g" Guide?

A: Schools should submit new course descriptions that present in detail courses as their instructors will teach them, for their own particular students and their own particular circumstances. The words "for reference only" appear as a reminder to schools that posted course descriptions--examples of courses that have been approved by UC--have been made available as a curriculum resource for illustrative purposes only. Descriptions that merely copy those of others will not be approved.