What's the difference?

At the college where I teach, there are five levels of writing courses.

1. Eng 8 -- Reading and Writing Basics A credit course in building basic reading, writing, and study skills needed to succeed in college. Through continual practice and engagement in the reading and writing processes, students gain fluency and self- confidence in their ability to comprehend and create simple texts. Reading like a writer and writing like a reader, students expand their vocabulary, identify main points, and locate supporting details in what they read and write. They produce paragraphs and short essays based on personal experiences and assigned readings. Students study sentence structure and address common grammar and usage problems in the context of their own reading and writing. They use computers and word processing programs to produce their compositions.
2. English 19 -- Writing Essentials--Provides practice in improving essential college writing skills. Students engage in writing as a process and produce paragraphs and short essays based on personal experiences and the experiences of others. They pay attention to content, organization, and sentence structure as they complete their writing assignments. Students interact with a variety of sources to become familiar with a range of topics, purposes, and audiences. They use computers and word processing programs to produce their compositions. Students improve their language skills and learn writing strategies to help them succeed in college and the workplace. 
3. English 22 -- Introduction to Composition --Provides practice in writing clear, effective, well-developed compositions using various modes of development. Students follow a recursive writing process and consider topic, purpose, and audience as they write. They read from a variety of texts to generate ideas for essays and to learn effective methods of drafting, revising, editing, proofreading, and publishing their compositions. Students write essays that have clear ideas, adequate support, logical organization, and correct sentence structure. They learn the principles of expository writing and refine their language skills. Students become efficient readers, effective writers, and critical thinkers.
4. English 100 -- Composition 1 (aka Freshmen comp) -- Provides practice in producing substantial compositions at the college transfer level for courses across the curriculum. Engaging in research activities, students evaluate and integrate sources into their compositions. Following a recursive writing process, they analyze the rhetorical, conceptual, and stylistic demands of writing for various purposes and audiences. Students apply the principles of expository writing and produce compositions that have clear ideas, adequate support, logical organization, and correct sentence structure. Students become proficient language users, independent learners, and thoughtful members of an academic community. (FW)
5. English 200 -- Composition 2 (Advanced comp) -- Students learn how to plan, develop, organize, and edit various writing projects with clarity and precision. Students write various kinds of papers, including a research project, using general practices within specific areas of concentration.

In my 20 years at my college, I've taught Levels 1, 3, and 4.  On more than one occasion, I've commented to colleagues that I'd be hard-pressed to differentiate between Level 1 (which I've taught regularly for the past 7 to 8 years) and Level 2 (which I've never taught).  

Some of my colleagues are of the mind that Level 1 writing (Eng 8) should focus on sentence- and paragraph-level writing.  Many texts, which are geared toward Basic Writers, adhere to this sentence land paragraph level ilk.  

What's been happening is that in Level 1, I have students in my classes write essays.  Yes, we deal with sentence and paragraph issues, but we write essays--five of them, plus an in-class essay which they have 30 minutes to produce (this is a final exam and we practice a lot prior).  

What's also been happening is that some of my colleagues who teach Level 2 are assigning only paragraph-length assignments.  No essays to speak of.  There's something amiss with that.  Obviously, we'e got to get our "stuff" together in our department

I've had some of my former students tell me that Level 2 writing was "easier" and less-demanding than Level 1.  While that's not necessarily a discrepancy, it may point to some reconciliation needed.  We'll see.