August 18, 2025

Common Course Numbering Update: August 2025

The Academic Senate for California Community Colleges (ASCCC) has been busy with Common Course Numbering (CCN) this summer! Thank you to all the faculty who volunteered to participate in the template development process and to those appointed, including intersegmental discipline faculty, articulation officers, and facilitators who collaborated during the 18 CCN Faculty Workgroups (CCNFWs) convened during four sessions in June to develop CCN templates for 44 Phase III courses. In total, 226 faculty were appointed to CCNFWs from among 624 nominated community college and appointed four-year faculty, with the work supported by 10 facilitators, 12 articulation officers, and 5 system office personnel resources.

CCNFWs are composed of 12 community college faculty and up to 6 four-year faculty: 2 each from CSU, UC, and independent colleges and universities, including member colleges and universities of the Association of Independent California Colleges and Universities (AICCU) and Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). Each CCNFW was facilitated by an ASCCC facilitator and a CCC, CSU, or UC articulation officer, with personnel from CSU, UC, and the CCC Chancellor’s Office available as resources, particularly for questions about transferability, Cal-GETC Standards, and articulation.

There were 47 Phase III courses identified by the Chancellor’s Office for CCN template development based on CCN Council recommendations. While many of the courses have existing general education approvals, some only had prior CSU GE Breadth approval. Each CCNFW met for three to four afternoons in one week and were tasked with developing from one to seven templates during their session. In total, CCNFWs developed CCN templates for 44 of the 47 expected courses; 2 templates in child development and 1 in psychology were held for future development.

Since CCNFW Phase III convenings finished the last week of June, the 44 draft templates were reviewed against C-ID descriptors to ensure continued C-ID alignment. Templates were also reviewed for consistency with the CCN Template Style Guide to better ensure consistent formatting across all templates. Resulting template drafts were prepared for release and feedback via post-convening surveys. Surveys are now available; please visit the Open Surveys section of the ASCCC CCN Development and Faculty Engagement webpage to access the surveys.

Post-convening surveys are the primary means of collecting the intersegmental faculty feedback critical to establishing the CCN templates as a vehicle for articulation, including transferability and Cal-GETC review. If you teach in any of the disciplines for which CCN templates were developed, please complete the survey, then share the link with college and university colleagues to gather their input as well.

Consistent with ASCCC resolutions calling for an articulation-first approach to template development and release, the CCC Chancellor’s Office is collaborating with the CSU Chancellor’s Office and UC Office of the President to pilot UC transferability and Cal-GETC review processes using templates. Details of the pilot are still being determined. The perspectives and feedback provided by faculty and articulation partners have been integral in shaping this work, and we remain committed to ensuring those voices continue to guide the process. Moving forward, progress will depend on our continued collaboration across systems, as only through robust partnerships can we achieve the shared goal of creating clear, student-centered transfer pathways.

Community college academic senate presidents, curriculum chairs, articulation officers, and an increasing number of discipline faculty were involved in course outline of record revisions to incorporate CCN. Your questions, ideas, and suggested improvements have all served to inform the effort; thank you! It is a monumental lift to change the way courses are numbered in the community colleges and the ways community college courses are articulated to other colleges and universities. It has not been easy, so thank you, too, for your patience during this monumental intersegmental effort. The transformation is critical to supporting reduced student credit loss at transfer and increased student mobility. Together the community colleges are building a bridge to transfer; the collaborations with intersegmental partners continue so we can ensure a strong, intersegmental foundation and infrastructure for successful transfer attainment.

Fall 2025 is an exciting time as the first six courses, including Honors and Embedded Support template variations, are going live to students. Congratulations to colleges on their CCN-related communication efforts. It has been exciting to see social media posts and posters at colleges announcing the effort and linking past course numbering with the first six commonly numbered courses. It will be an ongoing effort to support the local transitions moving forward.

If you are on LinkedIn or Instagram, consider following @TransferNationCA, a new digital space to spotlight the people, stories, and momentum behind transfer transformation in California. It’s where the human side of transfer meets structural change. It is a place to uplift the experiences of students, faculty, and advisors who are clearing the path for more transparent, equitable, and student-ready transfer outcomes. Common Course Numbering, ASCCC efforts, and the contributions of community college faculty have been highlighted in some of the early @TransferNationCA posts. Follow, reshare posts, and tag @TransferNationCA in your own transfer-related posts.

In community,

Cheryl Aschenbach, ASCCC CCN Faculty Director