College in the Schools Instructors

College in the Schools (CIS) – Instructors

A significant reason why Central Lakes College’s College in the Schools (CIS) program has developed into one of the premier concurrent enrollment programs in the state is the constructive collaboration that exists between secondary and post-secondary educators.  Through shared resources, professional development events, on campus experiences, site visits and shared curriculum, CIS Instructors are provided many opportunities to increase their content and college-readiness understanding.  Furthermore, our entire CIS staff is available to answer any questions instructors may have regarding student enrollment, registration and grade reporting.   For more information, please see our CIS High School Instructors Guide, which provides an overview of the roles and responsibilities of a CIS Instructor.

New CIS Instructors

High school Instructors interested in teaching for the CIS Program should complete the CIS Instructor Application and attach a resume and college transcripts. Additional documentation—such as course descriptions or syllabuses–may be required.  Once all requested materials are received, CLC reviews and decides to approve, provisionally approve or deny an application, according to Higher Learning Commission policy.

To be fully qualified to teach CIS courses, an instructor must have either:

A Master’s Degree in their content area: English, Math, Chemistry, History, etc., OR

A Master’s Degree in any field + 18 graduate credits in the subject area that they will teach: For example, a CIS Math Instructor might have a Master’s in Education + 18 graduate credits in Math

A new CIS Instructor may be provisionally approved to teach CIS courses provided they submit a Professional Development Plan (pdf) that demonstrates a schedule of appropriate graduate program or course completion by September 1, 2025.

Career & Technical Instructors require a mix of formal academic preparation and discipline-specific work experience in the technical field. If you have any questions about appropriate graduate courses and/or programs to meet requirements, please contact Paul Preimesberger.

Course Syllabi

CIS Instructors are required to maintain approved course syllabi at the beginning of each semester or year (depending on the duration of the course) that is in alignment with the equivalent CLC course syllabus.

Before the first day of school, CIS Instructors should submit the course syllabus to their assigned CIS Collaborator for their review and approval. A syllabus is submitted for each course, each year. The Collaborator will review the syllabus and if approved notify the CIS Instructor of the approval and then submits the syllabus to the CLC Academic Affairs office. If the syllabus is not approved, the Collaborator works with the CIS Instructor to make the necessary changes before submitting it to the CLC Academic Affairs office. Please review the CIS Syllabus Example (pdf) as a template for constructing your own syllabus.

CIS Course Descriptions

A list of courses from the CLC Academic catalog that are available to CIS partner schools are listed here: CLC CIS Courses.  Additional course information, including a topical outline, learning outcomes, and pre-requisites may be obtained on CLC’s Course Outline Page.

Student Learning Assessment

At CLC, high-quality teaching and learning are extremely important. To foster high-quality teaching and learning, CLC has developed a Student Learning Assessment Program. The Student Learning Assessment Program supports high-quality teaching and learning both inside and outside the classroom. The Student Learning Assessment Program provides the tools, methods, and supports to faculty and staff to assess what students can do with what they know. After completing the assessment process, faculty and staff can make changes based upon the assessment results to further improve student mastery of specific learning outcomes.

CIS instructors are expected to conduct course Level assessments in a manner that determines grades for student assignments and projects, as well as for the course itself.  All CLC and CIS courses have common course outlines identifying course-specific and college-wide outcomes that students will be expected to achieve upon completion of the course. When teaching a course, CIS instructors must ensure the course content and specific course level assessment measures meets the course objectives. Course Level Assessment activities should occur regularly within the classroom.

Course Instruction and Grading Tools

CIS instructors utilize eServices (for class list and grade entry) D2L Brightspace for online instruction.

Professional Development

All CIS instructors are expected to attend the annual CIS In service to stay informed of college expectations as they relate to current course content and rigor.  Failure to attend may result in a finding of “non-compliance” and loss of eligibility to teach CIS courses.

Role of the Collaborator

CLC faculty serve as CIS Collaborators to provide on-going support to the high school instructors. The role of the CIS Collaborator is to assist with CIS Instructor credential reviews and professional development plans, provide ongoing support to CIS Instructors by leading discipline-specific professional development opportunities, making classroom observations, provide teaching resources, and communicating in multiple ways, ensure that the CIS course demonstrates the same content, learning, environment, assessment, and pedagogy as CLC college courses, maintain contact with CIS Instructors throughout the year, by phone, e-mail, or personal visits, as needed, to support their teaching of Central Lake College’s CIS course, and visit CIS Instructors in their classrooms a minimum of once during the term for a repeated course and a minimum of twice if it is a new CIS course and/or instructor. The CIS Classroom Observation Materials (pdf) is the form utilized for classroom evaluation.

Site Visits

CLC Collaborators regularly visit CIS classroom and provide feedback to the CIS Instructor. Visits are planned after the High School instructor completes the CIS Classroom pre-observation form (pdf)

NACEP Accreditation

The CLC College in the Schools (CIS) program has been accredited by the National Alliance of Concurrent Enrollment Partnerships (NACEP) since 2012. Our current accreditation is valid through 2026.   Accreditation serves as a guarantee to students, policy-makers, and other postsecondary institutions that the accredited partnership meets rigorous national standards.

 

Updated 01/25/2023

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