Lumen Structures: How to Submit Third-Party Test Credit Proposals

Instructions on how to fill out the proposals for Third-Party Test Credits.

Form instructions

The awarding of third-party test credits (AP/IB/A-Level/CLEP) is managed by the Credit Evaluation Services (CES) team in the Office of the Registrar. Credits are awarded for third-party tests based on the recommendations of subject matter experts in the departments and schools/colleges with final approval by the University Curriculum Committee. The review process occurs in TES, which includes detailed information about the third-party test, the UW-Madison course credit, and a workflow process. A Lumen Structures proposal is used to document the campus governance approval of the course credit awarded for these tests.

Process

  1. CES initiates review to Dept. with test/course materials. (TES)
  2. Dept. sends decision to School or College or if Dept. 'click' approve it goes to CES and they can reassign to School or College. (TES)
  3. The School or College submits a Lumen Structures proposal using the Request Type of Third-Party Test Credit and approves to the "APIR Approver" step of workflow. (Lumen)
  4. The School or College uploads any relevant documentation and approves the proposal in TES.
  5. DAPIR routes the proposal through governance (UCC Agenda). (Lumen)
  6. DAPIR adds the third-party test credit to Guide. (Lumen)
  7. DAPIR advances the proposal to the Registrar-Student Services workflow step. (Lumen)
  8. CES builds rule in SIS.

Effective dates

Exams changes related to changes of an existing UW-Madison course equivalent, the implementation of the exam should align with the effective date of that course change. If the change is due to a change in the exam, the implementation would align with when the exam is changed.

  • New exams can be built in SIS immediately (no delay on implementation).
  • A-Level changes can be immediate unless the change is made due to a change to the UW-Madison course. In this case, the change should coincide with the effective date of the change to the UW-Madison course.
  • International Baccalaureate (IB) exams occur Nov 1 and May 1. Changes to exam equivalencies should coincide with either of these dates. The effective date related to courses (if changing) may be impacted by exam considerations.
  • Advanced Placement (AP) exams occur annually. Changes exam equivalencies should use the same effective date "June 01, XXXX."
  • The effective date related to courses (if changing) may be impacted by exam considerations.

Proposals

Instructions for how to fill out the Lumen Structures form.
Field in the form Action
Request type Select "Third-Party Test Credit"
Home department Select the department who owns the subject with the course equivalency.
School/College This defaults to the School/College the department is housed in. This is not editable.
Title

Format: "[Establish/Change/Discontinue]: [Type of exam (AP/IB/CLEP/A-Level)] [colon] [Additional identifying information such as location and/or category]"

Example: Establish: A-Level Pearson's Edexcel: Politics

Request details

Include the following information:

  • Exam/Subject
  • Score
  • Course(s)
  • Credits
  • Additional information related to attributes/designations required: General Education, L&S Breadth, L&S Level.

If the proposal is a change or discontinue proposal, include when the change should take effect. 

  • This must be a future term.
  • It's preferred to have these be effective for a fall term.

Questions to help you:

  • If this is a change, is the change because the test changed or because you've decided it needs to change? When does the test change?
  • Why are you discontinuing? Did the exam stop being offered? Was it discontinued because it's not relevant anymore?
Upload form Upload a copy of the syllabus and/or page where the information was located to determined the equivalency. If there's a link to the syllabus/curriculum in the request details section, this can be a blank page.
Supporting documents Include any communication with outside units that may have overlap/interests in the equivalency.

Other proposal help

  • If the proposal is to change or discontinue, copying/pasting the content from Guide is recommended to ensure the accuracy of what is requested.
  • The proposal does not require a memo, so long as the above information is in the form.

Example

An example of the Lumen Structures Proposal detailing the request type, home department, school/college, title and request details including the above information.

Workflow

  1. Department owning the subject where the course equivalency is determined.
  2. School/College that owns the department in step 1.
  3. Data, Academic Planning & Institutional Research (APIR Admin)
  4. University Curriculum Committee (UCC Agenda)
  5. Registrar-Credit Evaluation Services


Keywords:
Advanced Placement, AP, International Baccalaureate, IB, College-Level Examination Program, College Level Exam Program, CLEP, A-Level, GCE Advanced Level, Third-party test credits, test credits, Assessment and Qualifications Alliance (AQA), Cambridge Assessment International Education (CAIE), Oxford, Cambridge and RSA Examinations (OCR), Pearson-Edexcel, Singapore-Cambridge 
Doc ID:
138465
Owned by:
Melissa S. in Lumen and Guide
Created:
2024-07-16
Updated:
2024-12-03
Sites:
Lumen and Guide