TCCTA Blog

Dual Credit Assessed

In a joint hearing of the Senate Committees on Education and Higher Education, on May 24, the panel heard from a variety of invited witnesses on the subject of dual credit. Community college faculty members have a broad range of opinions regarding dual credit courses. Judging from the most recent testimony, however, a number of facts have emerged.

First, the programs are growing prodigiously. Commissioner of Higher Education Raymund Paredes told the panel that dual credit programs have surged from 30 thousand students to over 90 thousand students in recent years. 

Second, over 90 percent of dual credit courses are offered by community colleges.Typically universities offer courses if there is no two-year college in the area, or in specialized programs.

Third, dual credit courses are still less popular than Advanced Placement courses, which now enroll 194 thousand students. Some supporters of Advanced Placement are concerned about the growth of dual credit. High school faculty members, for instance, complain occasionally that the best students are choosing dual credit instead of their AP courses. The failure rate of AP examinations is high, however. Also, dual credit instructors must possess the same credentials as college faculty, whereas AP instructors are not required to have master's degrees.

Fourth, most students who complete dual credit classes go on to universities and perform as well or better than native students at these universities. This means, however, that they may not count as "successful" community college students, in the sense that they do not typically earn an associate's degree, or even complete the core curriculum at a two-year school. One might add that, since these "stronger" students transfer to universities more quickly, they do not remain at a community college to take a variety of other courses offered there. This could cost the state additional money, since universities receive more revenue per credit hour than two-year schools. 

Finally, problems remain. There is a great deal of inconsistency around the state regarding student financial aid, textbook costs, tuition, availability of courses, and qualified faculty. Representing the Texas Association of Community Colleges, Dr. Rey Garcia told the panel that, in some rural areas, the "system breaks down a little bit."

Board Approves Health Benefits Changes

As expected, the board of trustees of the Employers Retirement System of Texas has approved a number of changes intended to cope with a deficit of funds for the current biennium. The "design changes" (the subject of several previous posts) will entail increases in out-of-pocket costs for all participants in the Group Benefits Program for state and higher education employees and retirees.

Importantly, these adjustment are for short-term relief only. When the Regular Session convenes in January, lawmakers will likely make further adjustments that could be much more drastic. The cost of health care has risen dramatically and the Legislature faces a looming budget deficit of $10-18 billion. Many of the current hikes are designed to encourage low-cost options, such as seeing primary care physicians instead of specialists, and using generic drugs instead of name brands. The changes target the most costly areas of the plan: hospitalization, name brand drugs, and high-tech radiology.

Below is a summary, followed by a chart from ERS that offers more detailed information.

• No new deductibles.
• PCP office co-pays increase to $25.
• Specialist doctor office co-pays increase to $40.
• Annual coinsurance amounts (out-of-pocket expense) will increase to $2,000 from $1,000 for in-network, to $7,000 from $3,000 for out-of-network, and to $3,000 from $1,000 for out-of-area.
• Inpatient facility co-pays will increase to $150 per day (five day maximum) from $100 per day.
• No increase in outpatient facility co-pays.
• Emergency room co-pays will increase to $150 from $100.New urgent care facility copay will be half the cost of the current emergency room copay. A $50 copay will be added for use of urgent care clinics. Previously, the $100 emergency room copay was applied to urgent care clinic visits, making this a copay reduction.
• Prescription drug co-pays set at $15 for Tier I (which are primarily generic drugs), to $35 for Tier II (which are mainly preferred name brand drugs), and to $60 for Tier III (which are name brand drugs that often have cheaper alternatives).
• The deductible for all prescriptions will remain at $50.
• Chiropractic care coverage will be limited to 30 visits per year, with a maximum charge of $75.
• New $100 high-tech radiology co-pay (CTS scans, MRIs, and Nuclear Medicine). There will be no change to the 20 percent coinsurance for these services.

Here's the chart, in pdf format. Please note that, for Health Select coverage, the column on the left represents the cost to the state and the column on the right displays the cost to the participant. HMO coverage is also offered on the chart, for those who have that option on certain areas of the state.

Does "Familism" Influence Success?

If the Closing the Gaps initiative is to achieve its objectives (to bring Texas in line with the other large states in terms of a college-educated population), the state must find a way to be more successful with Hispanic students. Simply put, Closing the Gaps has made enormous strides in participation by all demographic categories, but has not kept pace with a surge in the general population of Hispanics, who tend to come disproportionately from families with little or no college experience.

Here are some numbers, according to a recent article in the Houston Chronicle by Lisa Falkenberg: Only 22 percent of Hispanics ages 18-24 enrolled in college in 2000, compared with 39 percent of whites and 31 percent of blacks, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. A 2003 study by the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development estimated that only 6 percent of Hispanic kindergartners would grow up to earn a bachelor's degree, compared with 49 percent of Asians, 30 percent of whites and 16 percent of blacks.

Some commentators have attributed "familism" as a possible explanation. But it's controversial.

Familism is a "social pattern whereby family takes priority over the individual," according to the article. In a classic scenario, a talented Hispanic high school graduate may be reluctant to leave home to attend a selective university. So, the individual attends a local college, but family responsibilities become too overwhelming, and this person never graduates. College faculty members often report that students drop out of school because "life gets in the way," rather than the difficulty of the curriculum.

One should read the entire article, but here's passage from the Chronicle piece to frame the discussion:

The typical answer from demographers, sociologists and other experts to the cultural question is “no.”

“It's the easy answer. It's the self-serving answer,” says Rice University sociologist Steven Klineberg. “The beauty and the danger of the cultural explanation is that it allows you, the middle-class Anglo, to get off the hook. If it really isn't culture, if they really do want an education, then we have to provide the resources.”

Mike Feinberg, co-founder of KIPP charter schools, said he's knocked on thousands of doors recruiting students in under-served minority communities, and he's found no difference in the “parents' desire to see their kids succeed.”

Sociologist Ruth Lopez Turley doesn't disagree. But her research suggests that culture may play a role in the achievement gap, specifically when it comes to the lag in applying for college.

“It's a valid question, and it's one worth asking,” says Turley, a Laredo native who will leave her post at the University of Wisconsin at Madison this summer to join Rice University's Institute for Urban Research. “It's a good idea to consider culture, but it's not a good idea to consider culture by itself.”

Turley's research suggests something called “familism,” particularly pronounced among Hispanics, is a “powerful predictor” of Hispanic students' college application rates. In the 2009 study, based on data from nearly 14,000 high school seniors attending 96 Texas public high schools in 2002, Turley and co-author Matthew Desmond found that young Hispanics have about 44 percent lower odds of applying to college than Anglo students.

Familism, roughly defined as a social pattern whereby family takes priority over the individual, is also prominent in Asian culture, but Asians as a broad group tend to have income and education advantages that help compensate.

While most research focuses on the positives of Hispanic family ties, some researchers have found they can place weighty demands on talented family members and that group conformity can stifle high-achiever motivation.

“They put so much importance on it that they do put their own individual goals aside, or postpone them at least, for the sake of taking care of their families' needs first,” Turley said.

Funding for "Momentum Points" Proposed

In testimony before a joint hearing of the House Committee on Higher Education and the Appropriations Subcommittee on Education, Commissioner of Higher Education Raymund Paredes spelled out his recommendations for community college performance funding. The hearing was held on May 20.

The proposed model is based on a program pioneered in Washington State, utilizing a variety of "Momentum Points" for which schools would be rewarded as students advance. The Momentum Points offered by Dr. Paredes include: successful completion of developmental education, completion of 15 and 30 semester hours, transfer to a university, and earning an associate's degree or professional certificate. Essentially the plan would reward progress in steps, beginning where students find themselves academically at initial enrollment.

Importantly, the commissioner and Coordinating Board propose that ten percent of formula revenue be set aside for this purpose, beginning in fiscal year 2013 (the second year of the next biennium).

Rey Garcia, president of the Texas Association of Community Colleges, and Greg Williams, president of Odessa College, told the panel that, while TACC supports the concept of Momentum Points, colleges need time to fully embrace the methodology and the resultant strategies needed to implement changes.

Dr. Garcia said TACC recommends that any performance funding plan be added to base appropriations, rather than included as a discrete component of the instructional formula. He told the panel further that ten percent is too high a figure to use initially. In fact, only one percent of funding was ultimately dedicated for this purpose in Washington State, which is experiencing a funding crisis along with all other states, he added.

Nevertheless, for the most part, Dr. Garcia testified, college leaders and the Coordinating Board are "really close" to agreement.

Under the plan, the amount of revenue each college gets would still depend mostly upon the total dollars included in the appropriations bill, reflecting enrollment and associated costs. However, schools that do not perform as well as others in advancing students through the Momentum Points would be penalized proportionately.

Rep. Scott Hochberg (D-Houston), co-chair of the panel, asked, since community college funding is pegged presently at 51 percent of the full formula rate, "How are you doing all that [the comprehensive mission] now?" Dr. Garcia responded that schools have been compelled to raise additional local revenue, through higher tuition and property taxes.

Dr. Williams pointed out that many community college students have no intention of achieving a set number of semester hours or of graduating with any particular credential. They may just take one course to satisfy a career objective and move on, without achieving a single Momentum Point.

A Reformer Reforms

As assistant secretary of education under President George H.W. Bush, Diane Ravitch became an outspoken supporter of educational testing, school choice, charter schools, and what later became, under George W. Bush, the No Child Left Behind law. Later, she championed those positions as a member of the board that oversees educational testing in the United States.

She has changed her mind, in a very public way.

Today, Dr. Ravitch refers to the reforms she once championed as "deforms." Her new book, The Death and Life of the Great American School System, documents her own reversal and the impact of current education policy on communities, schools, families, teachers, and students.

Her recent interview with Slate magazine makes an interesting read.

The Obama Administration has its own plans to reform public education, called Race to the Top.

State Leaders Order Budget Cuts

Governor Perry and the presiding officers of the House and Senate have ordered a much-anticipated round of budget cuts to keep the state afloat through the current biennium. In a written statement, the three leaders instructed agencies to cut spending by $1.2 billion. As reported earlier, policy makers have indicated the necessity for savings now to prepare for the coming Regular Session, when lawmakers must contend with a looming deficit of between $11 billion and $18 billion. The Legislature will meet in January to set funding levels for the 2012-13 biennium.

Here's Tuesday's official announcement, which includes links for an enumeration of targeted and exempted agencies. It is unclear at this point how the latest announcement will affect Texas community and technical colleges. In the past, when such instructions have been issued, each school determined its own way to contend with mandated reductions. To complicate matters, virtually all two-year colleges are presently experiencing a major surge in enrollment, and class schedules for summer and fall have already been published.

TCCTA members are urged to visit the blog frequently for updates.

Media reports indicate that financial aid for students will not be affected drastically, but developmental education programs may suffer, at least in one area. From the Dallas Morning News:

Also cut were plans to build several new community college campuses and 1,000 slots for adult education at two-year colleges. And at several community college systems, including Collin County’s, there will be fewer remedial classes offered.
However, college financial aid programs were almost entirely spared. A proposed $50 million cut was entirely eliminated. A Legislative Budget Board list of exemptions suggested a partial cut would be carried out, affecting students who graduate in the top 10 percent of their high school class in 2012-2013.

Who Needs College?

The majority of students who enroll in college will not have a diploma or credential of any kind in six years. This grim fact of life has led a small but influential group of scholars to conclude that many young people should skip college altogether. Instead, the scholars recommend more shunting of public education students into vocational programs that will lead to a job more quickly. They also favor more apprenticeship programs as training for skilled labor positions.

Of course this flies in the face of efforts to get all high school graduates into higher education institutions—not to mention the Closing the Gaps initiative here in Texas. Another fact of life is the high correlation between educational level and income. If kids don't go to college and get a job, say, driving trucks, what is their financial outlook? How quickly could they shift to another occupation if necessary? Are there civic consequences of surrendering on the effort to get virtually everyone into higher education? One would expect, for instance, a higher proportion of ethnic minorities in the track containing those who can't afford tuition. This phenomenon alone could have explosive implications.

Tracking of public school students into vocational programs is an old idea that never seems to catch on. One could argue that community colleges became the solution. In fact, since two-year schools are swamped with students these days, these individuals are apparently "voting with their feet." But it's a hard slog for students who come from families with no college experience. In the old days, these kids could get jobs in the factory or farm and, perhaps, earn a decent living. Not any more.

The Coordinating Board is about to launch an intensive media campaign to create a "College Going Culture," as Commissioner Raymund Paredes puts it. The commissioner argues frequently with those who say college isn't for everyone.

A recent article in the New York Times gets into the scholarly debate over skipping college.

"Less Annoyances and More Awesomeness"

Google Voice is offering a new service to all individuals whose e-mail address ends in .edu. The target audience is students, but apparently faculty and other college employees can use it as well.

According to the promotion, "We’ve heard college students in particular really appreciate getting their voice mail sent to their email, sending free text messages and reading voice mail transcriptions rather than listening to messages (especially handy while in class)." Er…not sure faculty members will appreciate that last part.

Subscribers get a new phone number to which all other phones can be forwarded, in order to receive all messages in one place. Interestingly, you can also receive transcribed voice mail online in your in-box and search through voice mails on your laptop or hand-held device.

Caveats: If we can barely understand many of the voice mails we get orally, how will these read online? Also, some commentators suspect the service is a ploy to sell new Google products.

Here's a YouTube promotional video, which promises that the new feature offers "less annoyances and more awesomeness, for free!"

Here's another link for more information.

Grade Inflation Prompts Discussion

This is grading and graduation season, spawning the inevitable discussions about grade inflation. Stuart Rojstaczer, a former Duke geophysics professor, has researched statistical trends in grading at universities over the last few decades and has found, among other things, that private colleges have experienced more grade inflation than public colleges. His research was the subject of a previous post.

Recently, in the Economix feature of the New York Times (registration), Dr. Rojstaczer responded to questions from readers. It makes for an interesting discussion.

Included in the dialogue are a number of issues that may be relevant to teachers in two-year colleges. Factors such as class size, program selectivity, and the ability of students increasingly to "game the system" are examined. Does it matter, for instance, if the student gets to know the professor?

Some educators have suggested that grades should be completely abandoned in favor of class ranking. Now, that would be interesting.

There is plenty of disagreement about what all the data mean, but virtually no one maintains that students generally are more motivated than they used to be. One could argue plausibly that students know more things today (especially in the technology fields), but when it comes to the core of general knowledge that faculty members like to see when students enter class, well, not so much. Of course, pleasing faculty is not the purpose of higher education, but still…

Dr. Rojstaczer's Web site is also of interest. The graph on the home page is an eye opener in itself. Here's the link.

ADA Requires Navigational Skills

The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 has been, by all accounts, an extremely popular law. All you have to do is look around campus to see its results, as students who never would have had the chance to attend and participate in classes just a few years ago now routinely do so in increasing numbers.

This is not to say that the ADA has been a breeze to implement. Students must come forward to identify their particular problem, and faculty members are not allowed to suggest the appropriate action based on their own observations. Here is the ADA Web site, which is very helpful. 

Dean Dad, in his "Confessions of a Community College Dean" blog in Inside Higher Ed., has some cogent observations on the matter—thoughts based on practical experience in dealing with real cases on a two-year college campus. Here's the link. He describes the bureaucratic maneuvering that is necessary (and understandably so) as a "dance."

Most schools now require syllabi to include instructions for students with disabilities on the proper channels to pursue in order to receive the accommodations they need. If your syllabus does not include such information, it probably should. This is particularly the case now, as all syllabi will be posted online soon (if they are not already), in compliance with the new state law, HB 2054. This new fact of life means that parents and caregivers will be increasingly interested and alert to the details.