Course Level Characteristics (CLC's) can be defined in the Course, Course Offering, and Section entities. When a CLC is defined in a Course entity, it is assumed that all Course Offerings and Sections that reference that course also have the same CLC. In practice, this is not always the case. Particularly when Courses and Course Offerings or Sections are defined by different Education Organizations. The following is intended to clarify when and how CLC's should be defined within the Course → Course Offering → Section hierarchy given different use cases.
Define When Different
By default, all CLC's defined at the Course-level are assumed accurate at the Course Offering-level. If this is not the case, then the CLC's need to be re-defined at the Course Offering-level. The same logic applies between CLC's going another step down from Course Offering to Section. The main idea is to allow CLC's defined at a lower level to overwrite those defined at the upper levels.
Use Cases
This section is offered for dual credit (i.e. may be taken for dual credit, but doing so might require some additional work, etc.)
The Section will have a CLC = "Dual Credit" (or the referenced Course Offering or Course, if these are the same). Student achievement of the dual credit is reported in a Course Transcript record with Additional Earned Credits and an Additional Earned Credit Type = "Dual Credit".
This is an AP course (i.e. everyone in it is taking it with the plans to take the AP exam)
The Course will have a CLC = "AP". Course Offerings and Sections created from this Course will not have any CLC's defined. Student results for the AP exam are reported in Student Assessment records.
Student X is taking Section X as a means of satisfying a CTE concentration (i.e. but other students are not necessarily doing that)
Section X will have a CLC = "Career Technical Education" (or the referenced Course Offering or Course, if these are the same). The student will have an active Student CTE Program Association record and the CTE credits reported in a Course Transcript record with Additional Earned Credits and Additional Earned Credit Type = "Career and Technical Education".
This course is for gifted and talented students (only)
The Course will have a CLC = "Gifted and Talented". Course Offerings and Sections created from this Course will not have any CLC's defined.
This section is being offered as a remedial course (i.e. all students in it are there for remedial purposes)
The Section will have a CLC = "Remedial" (or the referenced Course Offering or Course, if these are the same).