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Does the basic writing course(s) at your institution carry graduation credit? Why?

• Yes = 23.1%
• No = 76.9%
• Is not considered to be of sufficient rigor to merit baccalaureate credit. Supposedly “remedial.”
• Until recently, all of our developmental courses and pre-college level courses counted at least toward graduation. However, due to transfer constraints we changed this.
• Yes, as an elective.
• It’s only elective credit. Mainly, we’re a two-year campus that inherited the course and the credit. We’ve resisted changing it because students seem to take it more seriously since it does “count” toward graduation.
• This is under debate in the CSU system. Currently basic writing classes carry no graduation credit because the courses are not “college level.”
• The rationale, from the college’s point of view, is that students in these courses have not yet demonstrated “minimal competence” in writing.
• Yes, because it’s a college-level course.
• The state of Texas mandates that “pre-college” level courses can’t count toward graduation, though they do count toward financial aid requirements.
• The course is intended for students who need more support in making the transition to college-level writing—so we provide that support (in the form of smaller class size, our most experienced writing instructors, etc.) and we expect the students to make the transition. That means that we expect the students to be turning in college-level work by the end of the semester, and college-level work deserves college credit. The course meets the same number of hours as four-credit courses, so it carries four credits. Truthfully, I think that I would support offering college credit even if I was a bit more doubtful about whether the students could plausibly expected to produce “true” college-level writing by the end of the semester. To be sweepingly general, I think that a zero-credit course screams “remedial,” and “remedial” screams “low expectations,” and low expectations tend not to be exceeded—they’re self-fulfilling prophecies. (My grad school, Temple University, moved away from a zero-credit basic writing model while I was getting my Ph.D., and I thought it was a great move; I wasn’t teaching the course at the time, but, from what I was able to observe, student engagement went from night to day when the course became credit-bearing.)
• It’s considered “pre-college” level and thus not counted toward graduation. Another sore spot for students.
• It’s considered to be pre-college credit.
• Pre-100 level course. There are also pre-100 level reading and math courses. None carry graduation credit. They are perceived as “catch up” courses to prepare for college level reading and writing (and math).
• Our state governing board does not allow any developmental class to count as graduation credit. They only count as institutional credit and will not transfer from institution to institution. However, the completion of the classes does transfer; just not the credit or grade.
• Actually, the 098 course does not carry graduation credit since it [is] below 100 level, while the English 100 course does carry graduation credit.
• Not college-level work; not transferable.
• The course does not count toward a transfer degree, but it does count as either an elective or in some cases (certificates) it fulfills a basic English requirement.
• “Foundations of Learning” courses are only offered on a pass/fail basis and do not count toward graduation. I have no idea why.
• Students receive “institutional” credit, but it doesn’t satisfy any graduation requirement. I think the rationale about the courses’ credit status is that pre-college work should not count for college graduation.
• Histories vary, but we who have inherited the class from other eras hear the No Credit status supposedly reduced pressure on students so they could simply try to do their best. Others not officially connected with the class suggest the remedial nature of the course meant it deserved no college credit, yet the “remedial” math class carries credit while the “remedial” reading class does not. At our school, the first-year writing class is divided into three areas: (1) Technical Writing for engineering and technical majors, (2) Business Writing for business majors, (3) English for all other majors. Once all compositions had a “basic” writing class. For a decade or more all basic writing students have enrolled in the basic English class.
• It counts as an elective, but does not satisfy any of the core requirements.
• They are not college-level classes.
• Who knows? I think the Illinois Board of Higher Ed doesn’t give graduation credit for Eng. 100, feeling it’s not a college-level course. Students at both Harper College (where I’ve taught BW) and Roosevelt University (where I teach Eng. 102 mostly, and a grad psych course in psych-writing) get into BW through scores on placement exams that test sentence structure & reading comprehension. RU allows taking BW a second semester without extra charge if a student doesn’t meet competency exit requirements.
• State regulations.
• State Board ruling