Teacher Information

Cascadia's Mission Statement

CiHS Programs are governed by local agreements between each school district and the college in compliance with RCW 28B.600.290 and Washington Administrative Code (WAC 392-725) rules adopted by the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI). Washington’s statute and regulations mirror those of the National Alliance of Concurrent Enrollment Partnerships (NACEP), a professional organization and accrediting body. NACEP standards ensure that CiHS courses taught by high school teachers are as rigorous as those offered on the main campus.

All Washington colleges must be NACEP accredited by the academic year 2027-2028 to be eligible to offer a CiHS program as required by RCW 28B.10.035

Benefits of Cascadia in the High School (CiHS) Program

The CiHS program is excited to be working in partnership with high school teachers to create this dual credit opportunity for students. Our goal is to ensure that you have the information and support necessary to succeed in this role. We also hope that you, individually, find the collaboration with our faculty to have a positive and impactful benefit to your work as an educator. Previous instructors have shared the following as benefits of their participation:

“Collaborating with (my) faculty liaison and understanding the skills college students need to have.”

“Providing me with the autonomy and respect/trust necessary for me to design a true college-level course based on my own strengths and collaboration with college faculty, rather than on a curriculum dictated by forces at the national or state level.”

“Making me more attentive to the rigor that I am providing to my students.”

“Working with my college colleagues and getting feedback on my own work.”

“Made me think more about my pedagogy.”

“More tools with which to reach students and challenge them.”

Interested High school instructors should email the CiHS program administrator, Erik Tingelstad - Dean for Student Learning (etingelstad@cascadia.edu) to initiate the process.

Teacher Qualifications

CiHS instructors are required to meet the same minimum qualifications established for associate faculty teaching sections on our main campus.

Teacher/Course Approval

• After notifying the college of their interest, high school instructors must provide the college with a current resume/curriculum vitae and a copy of their college transcripts.
• The CiHS program coordinator will forward the application materials to the appropriate Dean and request a faculty review.
• If the high school instructor meets minimum qualifications, the CiHS program coordinator may arrange for a meeting with the faculty to discuss the course in more detail (curriculum, assessment criteria, and prerequisites) and anything that may need to be addressed to ensure alignment.
• You may be asked to audit one of Cascadia’s course offerings as part of your approval.
• If the high school principal/administrator is not part of this meeting the college may require a letter of support on behalf of the course/teacher.
• Once approved, the CiHS program administrator will provide a written confirmation sent to the high school. The college will also then assign the teacher a Cascadia faculty liaison and schedule a program and discipline-specific orientation.
• If the course/instructor is not approved, the college will provide the instructor with a written explanation for why the course/instructor was denied.

Our goal is to have all courses and their instructors vetted and approved by the end of Spring quarter for the following academic year.

The success of our CiHS program depends largely on the involvement and efforts of our high school instructors. College staff and your liaison faculty are here to address any questions or concerns that may develop.

As mentioned earlier, this dual credit program is governed by an agreement with the school district that is renewed annually. Below is the list of expectations for CiHS instructors from the agreement.

• Complete employment paperwork (W9, etc.)
• Attend a new instructor orientation with the program administrator.
• Attend the annual CiHS Instructor meeting.
• Attend and/or participate in the discipline-specific professional development meeting or activity.
• Communicate CiHS program information to students, including the benefits of dual credit to students/parents.
• Communicate prerequisite/placement score requirements when applicable.
• Remind students of CiHS program deadlines.
• Assist students with registration using ctclink.
• Verify the class roster and notify the college of any discrepancies.
• Respond to emails/voice mails from college staff and faculty liaisons.
• Notify the college of any address changes.
• Post grades at the end of each course.
• Provide the college with the following:
• Cascadia syllabus.
• Textbook and supplementary teaching materials.
• Sample assessment criteria and tools (e.g. papers, portfolios, quizzes, exams, labs, etc.)
• Evidence that courses reflect the pedagogical, theoretical, and philosophical orientation of Cascadia disciplines.
• Grading criteria and standards – sample of graded assessments.
• Observation/site visit with faculty liaison (if needed).
• Support for the Course Instructor Evaluation (CIE) student survey at the end of the term.
• Participate in program review or accreditation committees upon request.

CiHS programs must demonstrate an equivalent level of rigor between CiHS courses and those being taught on the main campus. This expectation is met in the following ways:

• Each year, CiHS instructors will collaborate with their faculty liaison to identify and submit an assessment (assignment/rubric/exam) paired with an assessment from a course taught on Cascadia’s main campus. The paired assessments should provide evidence of equivalent rigor between sections.
• CiHS instructors are required to submit a Cascadia syllabus for their course containing the elements identified Cascadia Syllabus Checklist. This specifically includes items from the Course Outcome Guide.

Your Cascadia syllabus should include a statement about your class policy regarding plagiarism, and academic dishonesty and how you will respond should something occur. The Syllabus Learning Agreement (SLA) link that you embed in your syllabi provides a blanket prohibition on academic dishonesty from the college. CiHS instructors are expected to follow their stated classroom policy. If the situation warrants notifying the college, please consult with the CiHS program coordinator about how to submit an Academic Dishonesty Form.

Cascadia requires that any CiHS instructor teaching in the program follow an observation schedule that is consistent with our process on the main campus. The intent of the observations is to ensure that your CiHS course reflects the pedagogical, theoretical, and philosophical orientation of courses on campus as outlined in NACEP Standard C3. CiHS observations are conducted for the benefit of the program and are not shared with high school or school district staff.

Classroom observations are required the first year you teach in the program, and then follow a regular schedule every three years. Faculty liaisons may request an observation during off years if there has been a significant change to the curriculum. Likewise, CiHS instructors are able to request an observation anytime they want additional feedback. The CiHS Program Administrator (Dean for Student Learning) maintains a tracking spreadsheet that is updated annually to document when observations occur, by who, and when they are needed next.

Observations are scheduled in advance. Faculty liaisons are provided a list of CiHS teachers that are due for observations at the beginning of the school year. Your liaison should contact you during the fall to schedule a date and time. If you are due for an observation and it has not been scheduled by the beginning of December, please notify the CiHS Program Administrator for assistance.

Recalling the intent of the observation, try to identify a class session in which you will be teaching one of the Cascadia learning outcomes. Be prepared to share with your observer any teaching materials used for the day (handouts, presentation slides, lesson plans, assessments).

It is the faculty liaison's responsibility to complete the observation form and review it with you. A signature is required by both individuals (e-signatures are allowed). A single observation would not disqualify an instructor. If an observation were to identify a need for additional course alignment; ongoing collegial mentoring may be recommended as a path forward. Only a significant concern would result in a corrective action plan.

CiHS programs must provide annual discipline-specific professional development activities (at least annually) led by or approved by college faculty. The intent behind this requirement is to encourage ongoing collegial interaction, enhance an instructor’s breadth of knowledge in the discipline, and further align the HS and College course experience. It is also a recognized best practice in dual-credit programs. The activity must be documented by your liaison faculty and submitted to the CiHS Program Administrator by June 1st. The activity form also contains a list of suggested activities that might provide ideas or a more specific activity you could discuss with your liaison faculty.

CiHS courses are required to conduct an end-of-the-term Course Instructor Evaluation (CIE) at the end of the term. This is the same process used for all classes taught on-campus and satisfies NACEP Standard E1.

These surveys are completed online and sent directly to your enrolled students. You will be included in the delivery notification to your students. Please encourage students to complete them as online survey requests tend to have a low rate of return. After the term, the Institutional Research office will send you a summary report for review.

All CiHS Instructors are expected to attend the annual meeting. This meeting will be conducted via Zoom during the Fall Quarter. This meeting is an opportunity to review and discuss program changes, discuss the upcoming registration cycles, and problem-solve any challenges you may encounter. If you cannot attend the meeting, please contact the CiHS Program Administrator (etingelstad@cascadia.edu) to determine how you will be responsible for the information covered at the meeting.

NACEP and Washington State guidelines require all CiHS classes to maintain the same course prerequisites as courses taught on the main campus. Cascadia embraces multiple measures for student placement including High School transcripts and Smart Balanced Assessment scores. If transcripts or SBA scores cannot be used to place a student, then the alternative is Accuplacer, which carries an additional fee. Students can take the Accuplacer remotely but there is limited space on campus if a student needs to take it in person. In that case, students must schedule an appointment and be advised to visit campus when they can allow at least two hours for testing.

CiHS instructors are compensated for their work at the end of the term after grades have been submitted. For each unique course with 12 or more students, a teacher will be paid $650. If the class has fewer than 12 students, they will be paid $50 per student registered for credit. If they are teaching additional sections of the same course, the teacher will be paid $250 for each additional section with 10 or more enrolled students. If the additional section has less than ten registered students, the teacher will be paid $25 per student.

Important:NACEP standards require that both the course and instructor be approved by the college, “instructor of record” models are not allowed.

If a CiHS instructor goes on leave, planned or unplanned, for more than 10 days the high school is responsible for notifying the CiHS office. If a long-term substitute is required have been individually approved to teach CiHS courses by the Cascadia faculty and administration. A CiHS course taught by a student teacher is not eligible for college credit because student teachers have not been approved and are not eligible to teach CiHS courses.

Similarly, if a long-term substitute is required, the college should be notified immediately so we can work with the high school to identify a solution. If an appropriate solution isn’t identified the college would need to un-enroll the students.

Cascadia College has a policy (CP6.10.01) intended to prevent conflicts of interest with respect to a family member involved in institutional decisions directly affecting the interest of a family member. For CiHS, this would apply to a parent with a child in their class who is enrolled for college credit. If such a situation were to occur, contact the CiHS program administrator who will work with you to identify a solution within the framework of the policy.

NACEP/WA guidelines require all CiHS programs to have a corrective action plan in place to address the possibility of an instructor not meeting program expectations (see list above). While non-compliance is rare, continuation as a CiHS instructor is not guaranteed. Either the faculty liaison or CiHS Program Administrator/Dean can initiate a corrective action plan resulting in the following process:

1. The CiHS Program Administrator contacts the instructor regarding the nature of the issue.
2. A corrective action plan, including timeframe, will be established and if necessary, shared with the high school administrator at their campus.
3. At the end of the corrective action plan timeframe, the CiHS Program Administrator will follow up with those individuals identified in the plan to confirm that the issues have been resolved.

If the concerns identified in the corrective action plan have not been resolved by the agreed-upon time frame, the instructor will be suspended until the issue is addressed.

Cascadia uses a numerical grading system. Instructors may report grades from 4.0 to 1.0 in 0.1 increments. Grades in the range of 0.1 to 0.9 are not allowed. A 0.0 is assigned for failing work and no credit hours are earned. Credit is awarded for decimal grades of 1.0 or higher.

CiHS instructors must follow the grading scale found in the Cascadia Catalog. This may differ slightly from the grading at your high school resulting in a different grade on the Cascadia transcript from the one entered on the high school transcript. For full-year classes, the two semester grades should be averaged to calculate the one college grade unless you have noted otherwise on the syllabus.

If the course is part of a sequence or a prerequisite for another course, a 2.0 is typically required to move forward. The table below outlines the basic relationship between grades on a 4.0 scale and the letter grades used at Cascadia and other educational institutions.

Cascadia Grade Scale

All Washington Community Colleges use the same ctclink system for student record keeping. To enter grades at the end of the term, follow the steps below.

1. Log-in to ctcLink (You will need your ctcLink ID)
2. The My Schedule page displays.
3. Verify you are viewing the correct term and institution. If necessary, select Change Term to change between terms or institutions.
4. To view the Grade Roster for an individual class, select the Grade Roster icon next to the appropriate class.
5. The Grade Roster page displays the selected class.
6. Change between classes by selecting Change Class.
7. The My Schedule page will update to allow a different class to be selected.
8. To enter grades, select the appropriate grade from the drop-down box.

9. After entering all student grades, select Save. After all grades are entered and saved, review them for accuracy.

   Note: Changing Approval Status before grades are saved will cause all grades to be lost. You must save grades before approving them.

10. In the Grade Roster Action section, choose the appropriate Approval Status from the drop-down menu. (Select Approved)

    If grade changes need to be made after saving an Approved roster, change the status back to Not Reviewed. This will allow you to make the necessary grade changes. Once the grade changes are complete, change the Approval Status back to Approved before saving.

11. Select Save.

CiHS students are considered official Cascadia students and are able to access numerous campus resources. Some of the more common things you may be asked about as their instructor include:

• Advising
• The Bock Learning Center
• Online Tutoring and Writing Assistance
• Campus Library
• Transcripts

Students are welcome to schedule an appointment to meet with an advisor to consult about classes and degrees. They should visit Academic Advising for information on scheduling an appointment with an academic advisor or email advising@cascadia.edu with questions. Requires your Cascadia Student ID number.

To support student success, the Bock Learning Center, located in CC2-080, provides a range of academic support services related to technology and tutoring. Services are provided remotely as well as in person. Tutors work with students focusing on math concepts and writing assignments. Detailed information including hours and contact information can be found at Bock Learning Center. Requires your Cascadia Student ID number.

Cascadia provides online access to live tutors in a variety of subjects, provided by the Western e-Tutoring Consortium. Tutoring is offered through live, interactive sessions and through an Essay Center. Many subjects have convenient tutoring hours late into the evening and seven days a week, depending on tutor availability; schedules are available online. To get started, students should visit eTutoring. Requires your Cascadia Student ID number.

Cascadia College is collocated with the University of Washington – Bothell. As part of the shared campus, Cascadia utilizes the University of Washington Library Services. Any member of the public may access most physical resources on-site AND access most electronic resources via the Guest Research Stations in the Information Commons on the Library 1st Floor. There is free weekend parking on-campus in the South Surface Lot near the library.

Borrowing materials or accessing electronic resources off-campus requires a UW Net ID so if your faculty liaison has determined that specific library resources are needed for your course, please contact the CiHS program administrator as soon as possible so this can be arranged.

Students will frequently ask teachers about transcripts and how to request them. A common misconception by students is that Cascadia will automatically send transcripts to their college. Since we have no way of knowing where students are planning to go, it is up to them to contact the college and request them. That process is online, please direct them to the college website. Transcripts are typically available 48 hours after grades have been submitted. Information about how to request official and unofficial copies of transcripts can be found on the Cascadia website.

As an instructor in our CiHS program, we encourage you to ask questions early and often. Programmatic questions can be sent to the program administrator. Discipline or pedagogical questions should be directed to your faculty liaison.

Please refer students, parents, or general inquiries to CiHS@cascadia.edu, which is checked daily.

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