Teacher Guide

New Teacher Approval

In order to teach dual credit, high school teachers must complete the vetting and evaluation process. Interested teachers should send copies of a resume and all transcripts to the Advanced Credit Program for review. Unofficial transcripts are acceptable. The ACP Director will forward the resume and transcripts to the appropriate academic department for approval. If approved, the Director will send a welcome letter to the instructor, containing the courses the instructor is eligible to teach, their assigned liaison, paperwork for HR, and information about the next New Teacher Orientation. If not approved, the Director will inform the instructor.

New Teacher Onboarding

After receiving their welcome email, new teachers should complete the following one-time steps:

Attend New Teacher Orientation: During orientation, the ACP will introduce teachers to the program and provide an overview of their key responsibilities.
Attend Discipline-Specific Orientation: After liaisons return to campus, they will reach out to new teachers with information about a discipline-specific orientation, during which they will go over expectations and standards for the specific subject area.
Complete PAF: In their welcome letter, new teachers will be prompted to complete a Personnel Action Form (PAF). This form will facilitate the creation and activation of an UMSL account, which will be necessary to access MyView, review class rosters, and enter grades at the conclusion of the course.
Await Account Activation: The dual credit instructor will be granted an appointment in UM HR. The instructor will be classified as an "Education Partner." Once a teacher's account has been created, the ACP Office will send an email with their username and ID number.
Complete FERPA Course: Along with teachers' username and ID number, the ACP Office will include instructions for completing the one-time FERPA training module in Canvas. This must be completed in order to be granted full faculty access to MyView.
Register in PaymentWorks: An invitation will be sent following the teacher's account creation. Registration in PaymentWorks is necessary in order for teachers to receive any stipend or honorarium from the Advanced Credit Program. An invitation will be sent following account creation.
Review Compliance Information: Once their appointment in UM HR is approved, the instructor will receive an email from UM System Learning & Organizational Development with information about a mandatory compliance agreement, which the instructor must review within 31 days of receipt.

Annual Responsibilities

Each year, dual credit teachers must complete the following:

Send a copy of their course syllabus, including all required sections, to their faculty liaison.
Send a copy of an assessment tool for each course to their faculty liaison. Blank copies are accepted. Examples of completed student work are appreciated. Assessments should demonstrate course content and rigor.
After registration closes, verify class rosters in MyView to ensure their accuracy.
Schedule and host the faculty liaison for a classroom observation (required every year for first two years, then subsequently every other year).
Attend at least one approved professional development seminar, workshop or conference per year.
Submit final letter grades at the conclusion of the course. Instructions will be sent every year near the conclusion of the course.

Non-compliance with any ACP adjunct expectations may result in the ACP instructor forfeiting their approval status. A first offense may require a meeting with the ACP Director, Faculty Liaison, and/or the high school dual credit coordinator to discuss the issue and provide necessary support to meet the required expectations. If non-compliance continues, the adjunct will lose their approved status.

Syllabus Requirements

For each dual credit course offered, teachers must submit a copy of their syllabus to their Faculty Liaison. All syllabi must comply with UMSL standards.

Required Items

A reference to UMSL or University of Missouri-St. Louis in the syllabus header
The equivalent UMSL Course Number and Course Title [e.g. English 1100: First Year Writing (MOTR ENGL 200)]
The official UMSL Course Description, which can be found in the ACP Course Catalog. This can be in addition to the description preferred by your high school
Dual credit enrollment information, including a link to the ACP website
The current academic year
Instructor contact information
An approved college-level text (if applicable)
Course objectives, goals, learning outcomes, and/or big ideas
Information about grading, including a grading scale and a description of how final UMSL grades will be calculated. UMSL does not have a uniform percentage-based grading scale. Teachers may follow their high school's standard grading scale. However, all letter grades submitted to UMSL will be weighted according to UMSL's GPA scale, which may be different from the high school. If the final UMSL grade is the average of two semester grades, it should be clearly stated. If you have separate lecture and lab sections, will those grades be mirrored or calculated separately? If your high school uses different letters than UMSL, how will those letters correlate to UMSL letter grades?
A schedule or outline of topics. These should be as detailed as possible. Colleges may request to see a syllabus when evaluating transfer credit. The syllabus must communicate exactly what content is covered in the course.
An attendance/missed work policy (see sample Attendance Policies from UMSL's Center for Teaching and Learning)
A plan for the unexpected (see sample Plans for the Unexpected from UMSL's Center for Teaching and Learning)
A timeline for communication and feedback on assignments (see Faculty Engagement Policy)