May 28, 2025

ASCCC Common Course Numbering Update: May 2025

As we move into summer, it is an ideal time to update you on the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges (ASCCCs) efforts related to the Chancellor’s Office Common Course Numbering project which saw significant activity during the busy spring of 2025. 

There is no question that implementing common course numbering in the California Community Colleges is a big lift, including statewide faculty template development efforts; local curriculum revision efforts; articulation officer support, communication, and submission of CORs to ASSIST; and review of college submissions for UC transferability and Cal-GETC by intersegmental teams of reviewers. 

Perhaps the most challenging task is considering implementation of the CCN-related articulation reforms necessary to ensure common course numbering does not exacerbate student confusion and mobility of courses within and across California’s higher education segments. 

We are now just 15 months into CCN implementation. It is important to acknowledge and celebrate how much has been accomplished in a relatively short amount of time, at least by higher education standards. It is also important to acknowledge and learn from the challenges experienced so far. Most important, however, is that everyone remain committed to achieving the vision of the 2023 Chancellor’s Office CCN Task Force Report and Recommendations. This will require all involved with intersegmental articulation to think outside the box, seek creative solutions, and leave ineffective and inequitable practices in the past. 

Thank you to all who have contributed to statewide and local CCN efforts and activities. Your engagement, participation, and efforts in moving CCN closer to reality for students are appreciated. Please continue to collaborate with a mindset of curiosity, innovation, and intention to improve mobility of community college courses.

With gratitude,

Cheryl Aschenbach, President
Academic Senate for California Community College

The highlights you’ll find in this update:

• Phase I Articulation: submissions of course outlines, results to date, next steps
• Phase II Updates: IIA template release, IIB template updates
• Phase III: timelines for June convenings
• Articulation
• CCN Communications & Resources: webinars, presentations, office hours, and CCN branding
• Next Steps: Phases IV+, CCN Strategic Plan

Phase I Articulation

California community college articulation officers submitted Common Course Numbering (CCN) aligned course outlines of record to ASSIST for Cal-GETC transferability review in December of 2024. Since late April, articulation officers have been receiving Cal-GETC approvals and denials of their CCN courses, beginning with COMM C1000 Introduction to Public Speaking followed by ENGL C1000 Academic Reading and Writing and ENGL C1001 Critical Thinking and Writing.

CCN is a brand new effort, so it is not surprising that Cal-GETC determinations include some denials. Phase I was intended to be a proof-of-concept phase to gather insights and plan for adaptations. Consistent with the vision for CCN, we hoped to see all CCN aligned CORs approved for Cal-GETC. While that has not been the case, the course review outcomes are being collected and reviewed for patterns that will help guide process and development improvements. 

What happens if a college’s commonly numbered course is denied Cal-GETC approval? Since general education course approvals have a two-year phase-out period, no Cal-GETC approval will be lost for the fall 2025 or fall 2026. This allows time for the ASCCC, Chancellor’s Office staff, articulation officers, and others to collect information on transferability and articulation of commonly numbered courses, analyze trends, and engage with system office personnel for the California State University (CSU) and University of California (UC) systems to determine what, if any, revisions need to be made to the template content or structure. The California Community Colleges Common Course Numbering Task Force Report and Recommendations includes an ambitious vision for template-based transferability and articulation of commonly numbered community college courses that requires an articulation mindset shift across all segments as well as changes to CSU and UC articulation policies and processes. It will take time and continued collaboration to achieve this vision.

The ASCCC regularly communicates with the Chancellor’s Office and appreciates the articulation community sharing of course transferability decisions via the CIAC listserv or, in some cases, directly with the ASCCC. Cal-GETC determinations are an on-going topic of conversation at CCN Council meetings as well as intersegmental articulation meetings, the latter of which includes representatives of the three public higher education system offices and academic senates. For now, continue to collect and, where possible, share information about approvals and denials of your commonly numbered courses to inform next steps. There is an intention to update templates, but it is too early. Updating Phase I templates now, before enough transferability and articulation information has been collected, could mean updating them again in another year once all Phase I courses are processed for transferability and articulation and more is learned. Local colleges may choose to update their course outlines, aside from the Part I elements, or take other actions to resubmit for Cal-GETC approval prior to the updating of CCN templates.

Phase II Updates

In Fall of 2024, the Academic Senate convened and facilitated CCN Faculty Workgroup (CCNFW) discipline clusters that met in late October, mid-November, and early December. Following each convening, post-development surveys were distributed as an opportunity for faculty to provide input on the templates developed during the convenings. The October CCNFWs met again in December to review post-development survey results and adjust proposed CCN course templates in response to feedback. As a result, templates for eight courses and corresponding honors templates were finalized and sent to the Chancellor’s Office mid-January; the Chancellor’s Office released those templates as Phase IIA in early March, accompanied by memorandum ESS 25-11 Common Course Numbering (CCN) System Update and Implementation (Phase II). Phase IIA courses are to be student-facing by Fall 2026; colleges may choose to implement them sooner.

The November and December CCNFWs reconvened in February to review feedback and revise Phase IIB templates. ASCCC distributed another survey to gather final input on the updated template drafts given that response rates on the initial post-development survey were lower than expected, likely due to the winter break, holidays, and varied spring start dates. The final surveys closed May 7 and CCNFWs are reviewing feedback. As Phase IIB templates are finalized they will be sent to the Chancellor’s Office. Phase IIB templates are to be student-facing by Fall 2027; colleges may choose to implement them sooner.

In collaboration with the Chancellor’s Office, it has been decided that the Phase II CCN templates for Human Anatomy with Lab and Human Physiology with Lab will be held for release to complement the availability of Phase III’s Human Anatomy and Physiology I and II. The intent is to reduce any confusion or concerns with simultaneous visibility of the related courses, and allow sufficient time to research existing prerequisite use based on extensive survey feedback related to this topic.  

Phase III Update

The ASCCC was once again asked to work with faculty to develop CCN templates for forty-seven courses in Phase III and will be convening eighteen CCN Faculty Workgroups (CCNFWs). Some of the CCNFWs met in Phase II, so participating faculty were contacted and invited to continue their service. ASCCC sent communications to California community college academic senate presidents and to the UC and CSU academic senate leaders in early March; communications included the list of courses, calls for nominations of faculty to participate in eighteen CCNFWs, and a link to all pre-development surveys. Phase III CCNFWs will be composed of 12 community college faculty and up to six 4-year faculty: two (2) each from CSU, UC, and independent colleges and universities. Community college faculty nominations and 4-year faculty appointments were due April 15, the same day pre-development surveys closed. For Phase III, more than 600 nominations were received from 88 community colleges, from as few as one (1) nomination to as many as 26. With 12 CCC faculty serving on each of the 18 CCNFWs, just over 200 faculty were selected for CCNFWs. 

Faculty nominations are reviewed by ASCCC leadership with the intention of developing a diverse faculty cohort. Considerations include factors such as discipline, college geographic region, college size, and participant demographics. These considerations are impacted by the number of participating colleges, the number of nominations made by each college, and the number of nominations for a particular discipline across all colleges. As a unique facet to the June convenings, seven (7) CCNFWs (Art History, Biology - Anatomy and Physiology, Child Development, Communication Studies, History, Math, and Sociology) were initially formed during the Fall 2024 convenings. Faculty who participated in these Phase II CCNFWs were contacted about their interest in Phase III participation, with continuing members thereby reducing the number of available faculty openings for those disciplines. Overall, there is a concerted effort made, taking into account all of these influences, to ensure all colleges who nominated faculty have at least one (1) faculty member included in the selection process.   

The ASCCC reviewed community college nominations and made appointments in mid-April with consideration for regional diversity and equitable representation across colleges. Faculty have been contacted, and CCNFW rosters for the June convenings are set.

The schedule of June CCNFW convenings is on the ASCCC CCN webpage under the Phase III tab. Following convenings in June, post-development surveys will be prepared for distribution and made available on the Open Surveys tab for vetting from Monday, August 18th through Monday, September 29th. CCNFW re-convenings are being scheduled for mid- to late-October, after which templates will be finalized with the intention of sending them to the Chancellor’s Office in early December. 

The CCNFW convenings would not be possible without the support and collaboration of ASCCC facilitators and articulation officers (with representation from CCC, CSU, UC, and independents) who work closely with each CCNFW to guide the process as well as provide critical information about transferability, general education standards, and articulation. Additionally, representatives from the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office, California State University Office of the Chancellor, and University of California Office of the President are available as resources to the CCNFWs during the template development convenings.

Articulation

The ASCCC December 2024 CCN Update included the statement that the ASCCC continues its advocacy for improved intersegmental articulation practices that include articulation of the CCN course templates for system-level consistency rather than the variability across colleges that results from individual college articulation using local course outlines of record. The system-level articulation of commonly numbered courses using the CCN template developed and vetted by intersegmental faculty is still the Chancellor’s Office vision for implementation of CCN, and the ASCCC shares that vision.

Articulation meetings of CSU, UC, and CCC system office and academic senate representatives, facilitated by Sova, continued at least monthly since December. Articulation processes and challenges have been more clearly identified, and the vision of the 2023 Common Course Numbering Task Force Report and Recommendations and processes are a critical component of ongoing discussions.  

CCN Communications and Support

We encourage you to visit and bookmark the ASCCC dedicated CCN webpage to view on-going communication and receive up-to-date information about common course numbering efforts. Information is organized by CCN phase and includes open surveys, including the Phase III post-development surveys available beginning August 18th.

The ASCCC continued to offer common course numbering support this spring, primarily through information at the South, North, and Central Curriculum Regionals and three CCN Support Office Hours. Thank you for all who joined ASCCC representatives at the regionals or for the webinars. 

The ASCCC also partnered with the Chancellor’s Office for their CCN webinar held on April 14, 2025. Slides and recording for that webinar are now available on the Chancellor’s Office CCN Resources and Items of Interest webpage.

Interested in Chancellor’s Office CCN branding for your communications? The Chancellor’s Office now has a full suite of CCN-branded images for use on webpages, print media, social media, and more. Additionally, CCN images have been developed specific to higher education segment: California Community Colleges, California State University, University of California, and Association of Independent California Colleges and Universities. Visit the Chancellor’s Office CCN Resources and Items of Interest webpage and look for Communications Toolkit: Common Course Numbering Logos/Assets.

Looking for more information? You can find information about Common Course Numbering in the following places:

• ASCCC Common Course Numbering (CCN) Development and Faculty Engagement webpage, which includes information about template development processes and faculty engagement 
• Chancellor’s Office Common Course Numbering Project webpage
• Chancellor's Office Course Outline of Records Submission webpage, which includes CCN Templates and COCI submission information. 
• Chancellor’s Office CCN Resources and Other Items of Interest webpage, which includes memos, program updates, timelines, and webinars.

Additionally, questions can now be sent directly to the ASCCC CCN team: ccnsupport@asccc.org. 

Next Steps

The CCN Council has been engaged in an extended discussion about future CCN template development phases and sustainability of the project. Phases I-III were intended as initial implementation phases, so the work is not done. There will be Phases IV+ to further build an inventory of commonly numbered courses as expected by AB 1111 (2021 Berman) and needed by students. Determining how many courses will be commonly numbered and what the criteria will be for whether a course is commonly numbered are important parts of this conversation. In recognition that curriculum is never static, sustainability conversations include considerations for continued template development processes and for regular CCN template review cycles. Development of an updated Common Course Numbering Project Strategic Plan, including goals and strategies, will continue into the early fall. Once finalized, it will be available on the Chancellor’s Office CCN Project webpage and will guide CCN efforts in 2025-2026 and beyond.