Narrative and Program Attachments

State the goal of the program

The goal of the Paralegal Certificate is to provide Career Technical Education opportunities in the legal field.

State the objectives of the program

The Certificate provides the skills to work in all areas of law performing para professional legal tasks. The emphasis of the Program is on legal research and writing, case management, discovery and legal analysis. Research is done using a legal data base product used within the professional legal community. Other areas of the Program offer hands-on training using additional current software employed by the surrounding legal community.

Include the program learning outcomes

Upon completion of this program a student should be able to:

1. Describe the practice of law and the paralegal’s role in the legal profession.
2. Demonstrate the skills and knowledge needed to work in civil litigation.
3. Conduct legal research.
4. Apply the ethical rules and regulations applicable to paralegals and other legal professionals to given situations.
5. Demonstrate strong written and oral communication skills.

If CTE, include career opportunities

On completion on this Certificate potential careers exist in, but are not limited to, law offices, public/private companies, governmental agencies and other industries such as finance, real estate companies and non profit companies. The growth for this profession increased 1.4% for the year 2017/2018.

State the program goals and objectives.

The Paralegal Associate of Science degree goals and objectives were designed to prepare the student to enter into the paralegal profession. To enhance a graduate's ability to obtain employment, the Program requires an internship in a law office environment doing paralegal level tasks. This aids the graduate by demonstrating to potential employers that the candidate has had practical paralegal work experience in the legal field.

State what students may expect as an outcome.

Student completing the certificate have demonstrated skills to work in all areas of law performing para professional legal tasks.

Include the SLO’s

After completing this degree in Paralegal, a student will be able to:

• Describe the practice of law and the paralegal’s role in the legal profession.
• Demonstrate the skills and knowledge needed to work in civil litigation.
• Conduct legal research.
• Apply the ethical rules and regulations applicable to paralegals and other legal professionals to given situations.
• emonstrate strong written and oral communication skills

If CTE, include possible careers

Examples of Paralegal employers include:

• Law Firms
• Government Agencies
• Corporate Legal Departments
• Non-Profit Organizations
• Financial Institutions
• Insurance Companies
• Real Estate Companies

If goal is transfer, list baccalaureate major or related majors

The Architecture Program at West Valley College is primarily transfer oriented. It prepares students to enter 4- and 5-year architecture programs at the university level.

Advise if degree is more than 60 units; state how this impacts degree completion

The degree exceeds 60 units as it is preparing students for the five year professional degree in Architecture.

Reference accrediting and/or licensing standards if applicable

This certificate satisfies California Department of Education Title 5 coursework requirements for the Child Development Teacher Permit.

In addition, it also satisfies the Department of Social Services Title 22 Community Care Licensing requirements for qualified pre-school teachers in a licensed early childhood program.

Complete the table below to show course requirements and sequencing.

(Degree Name)

Program Requirements table (if there is no elective list)

Major Core Requirements (total units)

Major Elective Courses (total units)

Required Major Total: ## units

Completion of Local AA Requirements: ## units

Possible Double Counting: ## units

Non-major Electives to reach 60 units: ## units

Total Units: 60 units

Recommended Sequence

Fall, Year 1: total ## units

ADMJ001, …

Spring, Year 1: total ## units

####, …

Fall, Year 2: total ## units

ADMJ008, …

Spring, Year 2: total ## units

####, …

Proposed Sequence

#### is a prerequisite for ####

Examples

• Credit Program Requirements
• Noncredit Program Requirements

The purpose of this certificate aligns with the college’s mission statement which supports students to reach their transfer and career goals in the field of early childhood education.

Include the role he proposed program will fulfill in the college’s mission and curriculum offerings.

Include how the program is appropriate to the objectives and conditions of higher education and community college education in California

With the department’s commitment to set up students for success, the proposed stackable certificate plan (Level 1 and 2) provides an opportunity to increase degree and certificate completions, increase the number of student transfers, improve the time to completion, and increase the job placement percentage in the field in our regional community.

Demonstrate a need for the program—include some history of the program proposal origins, its purpose, its relevancy for the region and college

The Child Studies department offered CHST 002 as first a dual enrollment course at Westmont high fall 2018 semester. During spring 2019, we offered CHST 001 at Del Mar high and CHST 002 at Branham high. These courses are part of the required core courses for this certificate and interest to continue offering Child Studies courses within the Campbell Union High School District remains high. As the Office of Instruction looks into formulating a College and Career Access Pathways (CCAP) agreement with Los Gatos-Saratoga High School District, the need for a clear and streamlined educational pathway into our profession has become evident. In addition, the Child Studies department continues to offer courses at community Adult Education sites which further reinforce the need for this clear pathway.

The members of the Child Studies advisory board meeting, held in January 2019, expressed parallel opinions regarding the clarity of the pathway as it related to supporting the continuing education of the employed teaching staff of their community agencies and programs.

High unit programs (above 60 units) must be addressed by providing a rationale for the additional unit requirements (mandate, law, baccalaureate requirement).

• Indicate number of degrees or certificates awarded during the most recent two years.
• Justify the number of projected students or “annual completers.” Provide student headcount data from courses included in the degree or a survey of prospective students and offer completer projections information.
• Indicate projected completers

Enrollment Data

Degrees awarded 2017 and 2018 = 37

Projected Annual Completers = 25

State if any active programs need to be made inactive or changed in connection with the approval of the proposed program?

State if the program replaces any existing active program?

This certificate is one of two stackable certificates proposed to replace the current 48-unit Early Childhood Education Certificate of Achievement. Once both of the Early Childhood Teacher Level 1 and 2 certificates are state-approved, the 48-unit certificate will be deactivated.

State if there are other related programs offered by the college.

In addition to these programs, the department also offers students the Program Director Certificate of Achievement and the AA in Elementary Teacher Education for Transfer Degree.

State all similar programs offered by colleges within commuting distance of the college. Give a brief description of each program and describe similarities and differences. If the program is similar to others in our region, a convincing case needs to be made that the other colleges can’t meet the student demand.

The Early Childhood Teacher Level 1 Certificate meets the minimum educational requirements for those students who wish to work with young children and includes the option to acquire foundation knowledge of either infants-toddlers or school-age children. In comparing this certificate with similar programs in our service area, it is unique in that it includes a course with a specialized focus on children with special needs given the recent movement towards placing children with special needs into classrooms with their regularly developing peers.

Mission College’s Child Development department offers as their lowest unit certificate, a 21.5 unit Associate Teacher Certificate of Achievement which includes most of the required core courses for their AS degree. The focus of their certificate programs is on addressing each level of the California Department of Education Teacher Permit Matrix.

San Jose City College also offers an Associate Teacher Certificate of Achievement (12 units) which meets minimal basic requirements and does not include infant-toddler, special needs, or school-age coursework.

DeAnza College offers a certificate program of 26 and 40 units. Foothill College’s Child Development department offers a variety of child development coursework, but currently does not offer state-approved certificates.

Cabrillo College’s Early Childhood Education department offers certificate programs anywhere from 31 – 38 units.

West Valley College’s Child Studies department would be the first college in our service area to offer stackable certificates that lead to both employment opportunities as well as seamless degree and transfer opportunities.

Demonstrate that courses will count not only for transfer but specifically toward completion of a major after transfer.

The Associate in Science in Public Health Science is designed to provide lower division education to students planning to transfer and major in Health Science or Public Health in pursuit of a baccalaureate degree. The required core courses satisfy the lower division coursework requirements for the Health Science or Public Health baccalaureate major.

(These types of programs exclude Noncredit Certificates, ADTs, CTE programs, and Certificates of Achievements for CSU GE Breath and IGETC.)

• Articulation and transfer documentation if the program is designed to transfer. Please consult with the Articulation Officer.

• The Advisory Board meeting minutes. Includes date, time, place, advisory committee membership, and summary of recommendations (clearly detail and highlight the recommendation that refers to the specific program you are submitting) – see Advisory Board Template.
• Labor Market Information (LMI), report produced by the Center of Excellence. To obtain LMI reports, please complete the LMI Request Form. Producing the reports may take six weeks or longer. If interested please see LMI Guide to help parse out the information provided by the LMI report.
• The Bay Area Community College Consortium meeting minutes, endorsement/recommendation. To obtain this document, please contact the Curriculum Committee.

Most recent TMC (Transfer Model Curriculum template) and associated documents if required. Please contact our Articulation Officer, to ensure that:

• you are using the most up-to-date TMC
• C-IDs are approved or submitted
• the double-counted units are correct
• to obtain associated articulation agreements and the rest of the documents to
• comply with the TMC (i.e. AAM, BCT, GETCC) if required.

TMCs that have not been previously validated by the Articulation Officer must not be uploaded to Elumen.

Labor Market Data (LMI) for short-term vocational certificates with high employment potential. The LMI must be no older than a year old. The focus on the data is on growth as well as job openings and graduates. To obtain LMI reports, please complete the LMI Request Form. The report should be produced by the Center of Excellence and its production may take six weeks or longer. If interested please see LMI Guide to help parse out the information provided by the LMI report.

Provide program completions in the last five years by attaching a word document including such information to Elumen. You can find program completion data by visiting Datamart. Attach articulation agreements for to show transferability; contact Articulation Officer for assistance with this.

• Up-to-date Labor Market Data (LMI) must be no older than one year old. To obtain LMI reports, please complete the LMI Request Form. Producing the reports may take six weeks or longer. If interested please see LMI Guide to help parse out the information provided by the LMI report.
• The Advisory Board meeting minutes. Includes date, time, place, advisory committee membership, and summary of recommendations (clearly detail and highlight the recommendation that refers to the specific program you are submitting) -- see Advisory Board Template.
• Provide program completions in the last five years by attaching a word document including such information to Elumen. You can find program completion data by visiting Datamart

Revised TMC (Transfer Model Curriculum template) and associated documents if required. Please contact our Articulation Officer, to ensure that:

• you are using the most up-to-date TMC
• C-IDs are approved or submitted
• the double-counted units are correct
• to obtain associated articulation agreements and the rest of the documents to comply with the TMC (i.e. AAM, BCT, GETCC) if required

TMCs that have not been previously validated by the Articulation Officer must not be uploaded to Elumen.

Provide program completions in the last five years by attaching a word document including such information to Elumen. You can find program completion data by visiting Datamart. Attach articulation agreements for to show transferability; contact Articulation Officer for assistance with this.

• Copy of the CSU-GE Breadth or IGTC transfer requirements from current college catalog. This copy can be obtained by contacting our Articulation Officer.
• Provide program completions in the last five years by attaching a word document including such information to Elumen. You can find program completion data by visiting Datamart

• Labor Market Data (LMI) for short-term vocational certificates with high employment potential. LMI must be no older than one year old. To obtain LMI reports, please complete the LMI Request Form. Producing the reports may take six weeks or longer. If interested please see LMI Guide to help parse out the information provided by the LMI report.
• Provide program completions in the last five years by attaching a word document including such information to Elumen. You can find program completion data by visiting Datamart