President’s Report
To the
State Board of Community Colleges
August 18, 2006
Since you last met, we have had an opportunity to more closely review the short session of the legislature, to make allocations of the budget, and to receive the reactions of the presidents. I believe that almost everyone now believes that this was a very good short session and that the funding increases in existing programs and the new programs approved will benefit our colleges and the people of North Carolina.
It has been a busy month, with much of the time spent away from the office. Following your July meeting, I traveled to Charlotte to speak to the opening session of the Institutional Information Processing System Users Group Conference. Though everyone is not happy with the implementation of CIS, the atmosphere was much more positive than when I last spoke to this group. With all of our colleges having implemented at least part of our new system, there seems to be a confidence level that we can do it, which did not exist in the past. Dr. Saundra Williams and her staff were critical to the success of this conference.
While I was at that meeting, the NC Rural Center broke ground on a new building and had its regular meeting of the Board of Directors. Willa Dickens represented me at these events, but I was able to return in time to have dinner with the Board. Dr. Larry Keen and George Millsaps, our Small Business Center Director, also participated in this meeting.
The next day I traveled to the Dare Campus of The College of The Albemarle (COA) to participate in the retirement reception for Virginia Tillett, the person who was the first graduate of COA on that campus. She began to work there soon after graduation and has worked there ever since, even as she continued her academic work. In addition to her work at COA-Dare Campus, she has served on the Dare County School Board and now is a County Commissioner.
The next day I traveled on to New Bern for the annual Summer Conference of the NC Association of Community College Presidents. The highlight of this meeting was the appearance of President Erskine Bowles, who left his family on vacation to come speak to the presidents. Once again he pledged his support for our System and for seamless higher education. The presidents were impressed and appreciative. This was the first opportunity that our presidents had to get a detailed briefing on the legislative session. All in all, it was a very good meeting.
The following week, the Global TransPark Board of Directors met in Raleigh, followed by the meeting of the Board of NC Institute of Medicine. The focus of that meeting was on preparation for a flu pandemic.
Larry Keen and his division continue to be fully stretched out in pursuit of economic development and job creation. Perhaps the largest announcement made since I have been in this job was made in early August when Fidelity Investments made the announcement of greatly expanding its presence in North Carolina. Two thousand jobs which pay well above the state average will be a welcomed addition to our state’s economy. This announcement continues the trend of significant financial services’ economic development in North Carolina.
Governor Hunt and I met to discuss a number of issues, but most importantly, his service on the Higher Education Commission convened by the Secretary of Education. The national community college family was concerned that there was almost no reference in the report to our contributions to higher education or the challenges we face. With the hard work of commission member, President Charlene Nunley of Montgomery Community College in Maryland, and the embrace of Governor Hunt of some of our concerns, the final draft is much improved. I will give you more detail about the Commission’s work later in this report.
George Millsaps and I met with Trey Michael, the professional staff person at the Department of Public Instruction who focuses on entrepreneurial education. It is our hope that together we can create a seamless curriculum which will allow high school students to take the introductory high school entrepreneurial program and transition into college-level entrepreneurial studies through dual enrollment or Huskins classes.
The North Carolina Economic Development Board met, with everyone feeling really good about the fast pace of economic development now being experienced in many parts of the state.
Clyde Higgs, formerly of this staff, came by for his first visit as Vice President for Business Development at the Kannapolis Research Campus. He and we are excited about the opportunities this initiative affords the entire state, not just the region around Kannapolis.
I then traveled to Santa Fe, New Mexico, for the annual meeting of State Directors, my counterparts from around country. Of course, we were all very interested in the outcome of the Commission on Higher Education convened by US Department of Education Secretary Spelling. The only community college person on the Commission was President Charlene Nunley from Montgomery Community College in Maryland. As I stated earlier in this report, I met with Governor Hunt on concerns that I had with the second draft of the report. My concerns were shared by President Nunley, who after I met with Governor Hunt had further discussions with him in an effort to address those concerns. The earlier drafts of the report and much of the rhetoric of Chairman Miller focused on accountability instead of access. In the end, access became the focus.
It should be noted that 22 percent of all low-income qualified students do not attend postsecondary education, while only 4 percent of high-income qualified students do not. This is acknowledged in the report and there is significant language and recommendations on the access issue. Life-long learning and workforce development gained a more prominent position in the final draft. Needs-based financial aid gained significant acceptance over the growing Bush Administration emphasis on merit-based aid.
Governor Hunt worked hard with President Nunley to restore the purchasing power of Pell Grants to 70 percent of cost. Over the past several years, that purchasing power has been reduced to approximately 40 percent of cost. The final report recommends simplification of the entire federal financial aid process and the development of a much simpler FAFSA form. The report recognizes the need for consistency in high school standards as they relate to college admission criteria.
To address remediation, the report recommends early assessment of academic skills (perhaps as early as 10th grade), giving students and high school staff the opportunity to address deficiencies during the last year or year and a half of high school to reduce the need for remediation. This plan is already in effect at Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College and with the high schools in its service area. Other colleges in the state may have adopted this idea as well.
The report embraces the early college programs to address the 12th grade wasteland. The needs of low-income and diverse student populations receive appropriate attention. A consistent and easy transfer process between community colleges and all four-year programs in a state is encouraged to maximize the opportunities for transfer for a four-year degree. Instead of focusing on graduation, the accountability provisions provide for the assessment of learning and value-added assessment. Where the student begins and ends is more important than whether or not they graduate. The student unit record data concept is supported in the report and applies to all private and proprietary schools as well as public.
It is very difficult for community colleges to assess the success of their programs for transfer students unless they know where their student transfer to and the success they enjoy on those campuses. We have been working with Dr. Hope Williams to obtain this information from the private colleges and universities in North Carolina, but a single student unit record, which would follow students from pre-kindergarten through four-year college graduation, would not only be simpler for us to use, but would provide a measure of accountability by private colleges and universities for the federal and state financial assistance they receive.
Pat Callan, President of the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education (a Center chaired by Governor Hunt), spoke broadly about issues confronting higher education today. Fifty-nine percent of all undergraduate students attend more than one college either through transfer or simultaneous enrollment. In every state of the Union, an increase in the number of citizens with any form of postsecondary education correlates with decreased unemployment and public assistance and increased volunteerism, voting, and personal income.
The United States is more vulnerable than ever to losing its innovation edge in science and engineering. In 2000, 17 percent of bachelor degrees awarded in the United Science were in science and engineering; worldwide they were 27 percent and in China they were 52 percent. Ethnic disparity continues to plague higher education, with 55 percent of all American students who start college completing within 6 years, but only 41 percent of African American or Hispanic students doing so. Low-income and first-time college going students, regardless of ethnicity, are more likely to attend community colleges than four-year institutions.
Retaining students needs to be as high a priority as recruiting them. Online learning continues to grow rapidly in all areas, but even more rapidly in recent years in professional and continuing education. It is not sufficient to maintain the current system and do it better, but it is time to fundamentally change postsecondary education.
The demographics of more foreign-born workers and fewer native-born workers, all in a global economy, require different and larger roles for higher education. Proprietary schools are growing faster than public higher education institutions despite their cost because of shorter times to degree, the convenience of entering programs throughout the year instead of on a semester schedule, and a perceived ability to guarantee jobs after completion.
Increasingly, a certificate, diploma or degree is simply a ticket to get you in the queue for a job, but none of these credentials guarantees success in the workplace; only a quality education and motivation in the worker can accomplish that. In the past, two- and four-year postsecondary education ran on parallel tracks, often doing a good job on their own track, but rarely talking to each other about the ultimate success of the student. To be successful, higher education at the two- and four-year level must link up as a single train on the same track. Accountability should rate how together they reach the destination.
A focus of our meeting was the alignment of high schools with community colleges. Paul Houston, Executive Director of the American Association of School Administrators, spoke but did not address the alignment issue. He also was not apologetic for public schools not meeting public expectations. He asserted that high school students are better today than yesterday, but with current funding levels only incremental change is possible though the public demands exponential change.
Overall, children are very different from their parents. They are more serious and higher achieving, but the public misperception is that they are laggards and thugs. The public feels that if you pound on the public schools hard enough that they will improve, but coercive political strategies and one-size-fits-all solutions never work. Public school reform requires a much more personal approach. Unfortunately, amateur politicians are driving education reforms and they do not know anything about education, Houston asserted. He further said that politicians say the problem with public schools is low expectations, but Houston believes that having high expectations without providing the necessary resources is nothing short of bigotry.
International comparison between student achievement in different countries is specious. We still hold a significant edge in creativity and innovation which more than makes up for very slight differences in test score results. There is more to accountability than test scores. He believes that the public understands this far better than politicians. In a recent survey of the public, the importance of test scores came in fourth or fifth, while access, financial accountability, and other issues came out higher.
Achievement is not equal to test score results. Achievement should also focus on creativity, entrepreneurial attitudes, character, morality, etc. The general disrespect of the entire public sector, not just public education, and the veneration of private solutions, misses the important connectedness of us all. The role of the public sector in bringing us together in developing a common culture is far more important.
No Child Left Behind focuses on math and science at the expense of making students smarter and truly better educated. In an effort to look better in the eyes of politicians, Iowa has a policy to impute GEDs given by community colleges back to the high school where the student dropped out. This has the effect of falsely raising the graduation rates of those high schools that failed the students. There is no national consensus about what high school should be, so “reform” can be in the eye of the beholder. Engagement is far more important than test scores.
Dr. Houston suggested that a way to address the wasteland of the 12th grade and to have students more prepared to take college-level courses when they arrive on a college campus is to have high schools completely rearrange their academic schedule, putting all electives in the 9th and 10th grades and all of the mandatory math, science, and English courses in the 11th and 12th grades. This allows students to “explore” different academic disciplines when they are unfocused and to really focus on the courses that are important to college success closer to the times they will need those academic tools. Houston’s remarks were provocative, but sensible.
The state reports were focused on innovative financial aid and alignment between public schools and community colleges. Many of the state directors also reported on alignment with universities.
Arkansas reported that its legislature has mandated and it is in the process of working on the development of common course numbering and content for the general education core curriculum in the community colleges and state universities. In that state, they have a program similar to our Academic Excellence Awards, but funding has been made available by their legislature for one such recipient from each community college to complete their final two years at the state university of their choice at no cost to the student.
Kentucky now pays for all students in the entire state to take Compass or AccuPlacer placement exams in the 11th grade, which gives them the spring semester of their junior year and their entire senior year to address weaknesses. It is significantly reducing the need for remediation. This is the process I spoke of earlier that is used in Buncombe County.
One state has computed the savings to the state and parents by high school students taking dual credit courses at the community college for free. That state (I cannot remember which one) estimated that this was a savings of more than $65 million. We need to make a similar calculation.
In Virginia, the community college system has hired “career coaches” to work with high school students and high school counselors to assess student interests, aptitude, and academic abilities and then align their high school curriculum to head them towards the right pathway to work. This was in recognition of the dismal work that high school counselors do in this important area.
One state which charges tuition to high school students taking dual enrollment courses has a legislative-funded tuition assistance program that allows high school students to take math and science dual enrollment courses at no cost.
Another state has combined adult basic education/English as a second language programs with skills training This has resulted in a much better command of the English language, much higher skills development and a significant increase in enrollment in college-level classes at the end of the basic skills program.
A New York public relations firm did national surveys/polls that found that “remedial education” is a more positive and descriptive term than “developmental education.” This study also found that businesses are more likely to fund “remedial education” than “developmental education” programs.
All in all, it was a very good and productive meeting, but as always, I came back confirmed in my belief that we have the best system in the country and realizing that most other states envy what we have.
Since returning, I have met with Millie Ravenel of the Center for International Understanding. That program has previously operated under the University System, but President Bowles is not supportive of independent agencies operating under the University unless they are fully accountable to him and the Board of Governors. Millie is exploring whether another home for her program might be more appropriate. She has talked with the Department of Public Instruction, with us, and perhaps others. Having her as a part of our System might afford us opportunities to further emphasize global education on all of our campuses.
The Bond Oversight Committee met in the State Board Room on Monday of this week. Also meeting on Monday was the staff of the BioNetwork centers across the state.
A taskforce has been established at the direction of President Bowles to develop a collaborative program between all marine science programs on the coast of North Carolina to include universities, community colleges, and federal and state research institutes of various kinds. Fred Williams, Dr. Larry Keen, Dr. Edith Lang, Frank Scuiletti, Tracy McPherson, and Vice President Leslie Boney of the University, and I met on this important initiative and other economic development strategies.
On Tuesday, officials from the College Board met with the Department of Public Instruction and North Carolina Community College System leaders on the results of this year’s SAT.
Following that, I had lunch with Dean Kay Moore of the College of Education at North Carolina State University to discuss issues of mutual concern. I am encouraged by her renewed commitment to community colleges.
Polly Johnson and leaders of the Board of Nursing met with community college leaders to discuss the fiscal impact of changes in our nursing programs, such as requiring that all clinical faculty have master degrees as well as instructional faculty.
We have begun the process of reviewing our economic development programs as mandated by the General Assembly. Tom Newsome of the State Budget Office will be heading up this effort.
Erskine Bowles, June Atkinson, and I met with officials at SAS Institute on their development of a common data system that will link all of public education at all three levels into a single searchable data base.
Dr. Delores Parker and I met with officials from the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation, and UNC-General Administration and the Department of Public Instruction leadership on a project dealing with professional development in the public schools and our role in that.
As you know, at the suggestion of the State Auditor, the program audit function has been moved from the Administration Division to the President’s Office and the scope of its work has been expanded to address concerns of the State Auditor. We are pleased that Glynda Lawrence has come back from retirement to head up this expanded audit function.
The highlight of the Basic Skills and Family Literacy Conference held in Winston-Salem in early August was the appearance of Coach Harold Jones and James “Radio” Kennedy whose story was captured in the 2003 film, Radio, starring Cuba Gooding, Jr. and Ed Harris.
Through the generosity of the GlaxoSmithKline Foundation, our System has added six additional colleges (Davidson County, Durham Technical, Forsyth Technical, Pamlico, Pitt, and South Piedmont) to the national Breaking Through initiative, which focuses on bringing adults currently enrolled in basic skills into academic and occupational certification programs after their developmental work. This program will run through the calendar year 2008, with Vonna Viglione and Audrey Bailey serving as liaisons for the System Office.
Congress has given final approval to the reauthorization of the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Improvement Act. North Carolina receives $37.5 million through this program with our System receiving one-third of this amount. Most of the money is distributed to the college by formula, but some of the money is kept at the System Office for state leadership activities and support for Tech Prep. We were pleased that some of the major changes that would have threatened this program did not pass.
Dr. Peggy Teague continues to give excellent leadership to our Lateral Entry Certificate Program. Recently, over 70 representatives from 36 colleges met with Dr. Teague at Guilford Technical Community College to study ways to implement and improve this program. Shortcomings of the legislation are becoming evident as colleges attempt to educate more teachers through this method.
Annette Dishner and her team successfully closed the books on all 58 colleges by the last week of July and Associate Vice President Alice Smith did the same on the System Office books.
In spite of a tuition and fees shortfall of almost $15 million, Kennon Briggs and his division were able to carry forward funds totaling almost $30 million for important items such as equipment, books, New and Expanding Industry training, the 2+2 E-Learning Initiative, biotechnology, and perhaps most important of all, full funding for performance funds earning by superior colleges.
Kennon and his staff have worked feverishly to allocate the appropriations to colleges. He met with the presidents and their chief financial officers last week to roll out the allocations. For the first time in our history, our total state funding exceeds $1 billion, an increase of approximately 8 percent over last year’s appropriation.
You have heard a preliminary report from Chairman Herb Watkins on the Facilities Grant Process Committee, which is developing the guidelines and criteria for awarding the $15 million appropriated by the General Assembly for facilities and equipment. We hope that by your next meeting Dr. Delores Parker will have a similar process developed for distributing the $5 million for allied health programs.
Progress is being made by Dr. Williams, her staff, and Datatel on implementing the Release 18 migration of the College Information System which you approved in July. She and Kennon Briggs are working with State Budget and Information Technology Services to obtain their support and approval of this project.
Other implementation continues with Phase 2C colleges continuing their training and Central Piedmont celebrating its implementation of CIS with a college-wide celebration. We are sorry that Marcia Daniel will be retiring at the end of August, but we are appreciative of her hard work as the interface between the System Office and the colleges in the implementation of CIS.
Dr. Bill Randall has been leading our collaborative effort with the UNC System to develop a Learning Object Repository which can be used in developing and delivering distance education courses and programs. Dr. Williams, Dr. Randall and other staff participated in a six-hour workshop by HarvestRoad, a world renowned leader in Learning Object Repository technology.
Dr. Stephanie Deese and Cleveland Lewis attended the Workforce Innovations Conference in Anaheim, California, and brought back many suggestions for enhancing our economic development programs.
We are all sorry to see Susan Seymour retire on August 31 as our BioNetwork Director. She has spent untold hours in the office and away from her family in developing and implementing this innovative and world renowned program. Filling her shoes will be very difficult.
George Millsaps, our Small Business Center Director, recently was the keynote speaker at the Roanoke Valley Chamber Small Business Awards Luncheon.
Though our System will receive far less money than we anticipated or than we need, at long last we are beginning to get Homeland Security Grant funding for training. It appears that we will receive about one million dollars to provide Incident Management Systems training to persons in each county who will have roles in implementing emergency planning.
We are very pleased that Congressman Brad Miller is having fantastic success in creating the Congressional Caucus on Community Colleges. More than 100 Democrats and Republicans have joined the Caucus in less than four months. It has held its initial staff training program in late July, with more than 80 congressional staff attending. We believe that this Caucus will provide significant additional support for community colleges in Congress. We are especially proud that Brad and other North Carolina Congressmen have been at the forefront of the development of this Caucus.
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