| Brief History of the Flexible Calendar Program
The faculty development movement at the community college comes with the rapid expansion period during the 1960s and early 1970s. Due to the large influx of faculty new to teaching, development programs expanded. Numerous activities were developed to address the professional, personal, and organizational needs of these new community college instructors. The need for a comprehensive faculty development program meant, also, that instructors needed time for participation in those activities. During this time there was also concern with the traditional semester calendar. In California , the 175-day community college instructional calendar is 15 days longer than in many other states. The fall semester traditionally started after Labor Day in September and finished in late January. The spring semester started in February and ended in mid-June. The instructional value of having a holiday break in December before the completion of the fall semester in January was questioned. Also, the short break between the fall semester and start of spring semester was not sufficient to allow faculty time to prepare for spring courses and for student services personnel to counsel students, process grades, and complete other tasks. In 1972, Cabrillo College initiated a new calendar configuration called the "4-1-4." The "4-1-4" provided for a fall semester of 75 days ending before the December holidays, 20 days of intersession in January, and 80 days for the spring. This innovative configuration still met the 175-day requirement. During the intersession, three-fourths of the faculty taught short-term, special-interest courses. The remaining faculty were obligated to work on instructional improvement. Faculty rotated their instructional assignments for the intersession so that all members would eventually engage in instructional improvement. The flexible calendar program was initiated by six California community colleges in 1976 as a pilot project authorized by Assembly Bill 2232 (1975). The six pilot colleges were Cabrillo, Grossmont, Cosumnes, Saddleback, San Jose City , and Evergreen Valley . These six pilot colleges were allowed to reduce the number of required instructional days from 175 to a minimum of 160. The bill provisions allowed the colleges the opportunity to replace up to 15 days of regular instruction with alternative activities such as course and program development and revision, staff development activities, development of new instructional materials, and other instruction-related activities. Implementation of the flexible calendar program at the pilot colleges involved reforming the instructional calendar to accommodate instruction free days for faculty development activities. The use of flexible calendar days was accomplished through a shifting of the traditional calendar. With the success of the pilot programs, legislation (Assembly Bill 1149) was drafted in 1981 that allowed all colleges the option of adopting a flexible calendar program.
April 2007 Revision Overview Chancellor's Office staff reviewed the document to ensure that the information and regulatory references contained therein were still current. The following changes have been incorporated into this version of the document to reflect changes that have occurred in the 14 years since the original document was adopted and published:
• Regulatory citations have been updated to reflect the inclusion of Section 55729 that was codified on May 15, 1993, to replace Section 55188 that was repealed on the same date.
• All references to “Average Daily Attention (ADA)” have been deleted.
• Appendix D has been included to provide examples of the certification documents issued annually by the Chancellor's Office.
Legislation Regarding The Flexible Calendar Program
Assembly Bill 2232 (1975)
Initial legislation authorizing a flexible calendar pilot program.
Assembly Bill 1149 (1981)
Provided the flexible calendar option at all colleges beginning with the 1982-83 academic year.
Assembly Bill 1656 (1983)
Provided a no-loss/no-gain in funding and a conversion of days to hours. This bill also allowed flexible calendar activities to be performed any time during the fiscal year and added matriculation as an approved flexible calendar activity.
Assembly Bill 836 (1985)
Provided technical change to the formula to adjust ADA as a way to further assure a no-loss in funding.
Assembly Bill 1725 (1988)
Created the community colleges faculty and staff development fund.
Summary of Current Practices
According to data (2004-05) from the Chancellor's Office, there are 103 colleges utilizing flexible calendar programs ranging from one to fifteen flexible calendar days. Currently, the statewide average number of flexible calendar days is six. Many colleges have moved away from the single month, mandatory flex activity requirement. These colleges now have systems in place to accommodate the development needs of faculty on an individual basis and at various times of the academic year. |
