What is the process for getting a math course approved?

First of all, some acronym definitions:

·         ICCB Illinois Community College Board

·         IMACC Illinois Math Association of Community Colleges

·         ISMAA Illinois Section of the Mathematical Association of America (includes 4 yr institutions)

·         AMATYC American Association of Two Year Colleges

When somebody at CCC has an idea for a Math course, they would generally get CCC approval first (Faculty Council) and then it has to be sent to ICCB, which sends it for a curriculum review by IMACC, ISMAA and AMATYC which makes a recommendation to ICCB, which at that point will rubber stamp it (or not) based on the recommendation.  

Dev Ed courses that have gone through this process and currently have ICCB approval are:  

Arithmetic      Pre-Alegebra      Basic Algebra      Geometry      Intermediate Algebra      Intermediate Algebra with Geometry      Combined Basic and Intermediate Algebra

Preparatory Mathematics for General Education (PMGE)

They have very specific SLOs which you can review in the Illinois Articulation Guide:  http://www.imacc.org/articulation/articulationguide.pdf

Although Dev Ed courses are not transferable they are still mentioned in the Illinois Articulation Guide as prerequisites so they have to adhere to the Articulation Guide Standards.

For example, Intermediate Algebra (CCC’s M99) and PMGE (CCC’s Math 90) are approved prerequisites for :

General Education Statistics (CCC’s M 125),

General Education Mathematics (CCC’s M 118)

Quantitative Literacy

Elementary Mathematical Modeling

Colleges pay attention to this stuff, anecdotally-when I first came to CCC in 2005, I taught Math 100 which was Math 98 minus the geometry. When ICCB began to require Geometry as a pre-req to Gen Ed Courses, CCC revamped Math 100-( Introductory Algebra) into Math 98- (Introductory Algebra with Geometry).

Math 112 (Intermediate Algebra) became Math 99 (Intermediate Algebra with Geometry) 

-Mary Pat Sheppard