TCCTA Blog

Professional Development At Its Best

The TCCTA annual convention offers outstanding professional development—at a fraction of the cost of what is offered by other organizations nationwide. The discipline-specific Section Programs often feature prize-winning scholars and noted experts in each field of instruction. 

This year's convention in Austin also features sessions on financial planning, an exhibit hall with the latest editions of textbooks and technology, and a rare opportunity to influence public policy on a personal level, with Community College Day at the Capitol.

Keep in mind that the overflow hotels offer transportation to the nearby convention headquarters, the Renaissance Austin Hotel.

There's something for everyone! This link will take you to the variety of choices available, including travel and hotel information. 

TCCTA "Tracked" Bills Online

Although the Regular Session of the Texas Legislature doesn't convene until Jan. 13, TCCTA has started "tracking" introduced bills that potentially affect community and technical college educators. On the list so far are measures that would alter the required curriculum, provide tax exemptions for textbook purchases, and freeze tuition. Other bills relate to college readiness and the Texas Teacher Retirement System. 

The list is updated daily by the TCCTA state office. When the session begins, it is an excellent way to follow the progress of bills as they move through the legislative process. 

Here's the tracking list. 

Financial Planning Seminars Needed Now More Than Ever

Whether you have chosen TRS or ORP as your retirement plan, you will want to attend the Financial Planning Seminars at this year’s convention in Austin. 

On Friday, February 20, at 8:00 a.m., a representative from the Social Security Administration will discuss recent congressional developments, as well as the Government Pension Offset and Windfall Elimination Provision.

Later that day, at 1:00 p.m., members will learn about “TRS, ORP, Social Security and 403-b (TSA)” with financial advisors Jay Allen Finn and Tim Webster. Mr. Finn is a Certified Public Accountant and former IRS agent. According to the speakers, they will explore “How to invest your ORP, Partial Lump Sum and 403(b) with current maximums to maximize your nest egg utilizing a proven approach for retirement planning, including the most important changes to 403(b) in 50 years.”

Details about programs offered at the convention, as well as registration and hotel information, are available here. 

Report Stresses Career Training

A new report indicates that many employers in Texas can't find skilled workers. This is, of course, doubly troublesome when combined with the rising unemployment rate.

State Comptroller Susan Combs issued the 147-page study, called "Texas Works: Training and Education for All Texans." The report attributes much of the shortage to state policies that focus on preparing students for four-year colleges and universities instead of alternative career paths in skilled and technical occupations. Funding for public two-year institutions has failed to keep pace with the need for vocational and technical training, the report says.

The comptroller was interviewed by veteran journalist and commentator Dave Montgomery, in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram (registration).

From the article by Mr. Montgomery:

"Such state policies are shortsighted, both from the perspective of individual students and from that of Texas as a whole, which needs a productive, skilled work force with a variety of technical skills to compete successfully," the report said.

The report recommends a $25 million "Jobs and Education for Texans" fund for the 2010-11 biennium to create programs to train students for in-demand jobs. The fund would also expand existing programs that help low-income students attend community and technical colleges.

And: 

Dwindling enrollment in vocational training has spawned a chain reaction in the workplace, the report said. Officials in the Gulf Coast petrochemical industry complain of a chronic shortage of welders. Unions and construction companies are also losing skilled workers through retirement and can’t recruit enough young people to replace them, the report said.

In 2007, Texas had 44,000 job openings for workers with post-secondary skilled or technical training, "but the state’s public institutions produced just 36,442 students with the skills needed for those jobs." By contrast, the report said, public universities produced an oversupply of bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral graduates, awarding 104,000 degrees while the state added only 85,000 jobs requiring a college education.

Although the majority of jobs in Texas do not require a college degree, many state policies "are geared largely toward pushing all students into university programs," the report said. "These policies may inadvertently send the signal that the four-year degree is the only path to success."

Students who entered the ninth grade in 2007 are required to take four years each of language arts, social studies, math and science. Combs called for a more flexible policy that would allow an optional, noncollege career path for technical and skilled jobs. Because those options aren’t available, the report said, discouraged students drop out.

"Not everybody is going to be an English major at a four-year school," Combs said. The goal, she said, should reflect the words on the cover of the report: "a complete range of paths and choices that ensures there’s every chance for every Texan."

"Full Time Friday" Schedule Disappoints

Colleges are experimenting with their schedules these days. Although gasoline prices are low right now, the recent scare prompted some schools to allow students to schedule their classes on fewer days per week. Many report great success with a four-day schedule, but taking it another major step could be problematic.

Volunteer State Community College in Tennessee offered its students the opportunity to maintain full-time status by attending four general education courses that met in lengthy Friday-only sections. It was called "Full Time Friday." Classes met from early in the morning until almost 10:00 p.m. As one administrator put it, the schedule is "Not for the faint of heart."

As reported in Inside Higher Ed., "Full Time Friday" was something of a bust. This may be worth noting for us, since some Texas legislators have admonished colleges and universities to insure that their facilities are in use at all times. Fridays are often slow, but the Tennessee school's experiment may not be the best remedy. 

From the piece:

As it turns out, most students taking advantage of this offering could not stomach 11-plus hours in the classroom. Of the 214 students enrolled in “Full Time Friday,” 102 enrolled in only one course. Only 11 students enrolled in the maximum of four courses. Though the college has not collected data to show the academic success of these students, it did report that 14 students dropped out of all their condensed courses, whether they were taking the minimum of one or the maximum of four. The lengthy courses were, apparently, more than some could handle.

“There was a misperception among some students that there was nothing special about these courses other than that they were being offered once a week,” said Bruce Scism, vice president of academic affairs at Volunteer State. “Some thought the classes would be easier because they met less often.”

NEH Summer Seminars Announced

Each summer the National Endowment for the Humanities' Division of Education Programs offers college and university educators opportunities to study humanities topics in a variety of Summer Seminars and Institutes. The dates and duration of each project are listed under each title at the link below. The application deadline is March 2, 2009 (postmark).

All teachers selected to participate in a seminar or institute will be awarded a fixed stipend based on the length of the seminar or institute to help cover travel costs, books and other research expenses, and living expenses: $2,000 (2 weeks), $2,600 (3 weeks), $3,200 (4 weeks), $3,800 (5 weeks), or $4,400 (6 weeks).

For detailed eligibility requirements, applicants should consult the written application materials. Selection committees for seminars and institutes are directed to give first consideration to applicants who have not participated in an NEH supported seminar or institute in the last three years.

Here's the link.

Study Recommends Emphasis Upon Developmental Education

The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching has published a report recommending that community colleges place more emphasis on developmental instruction. The focus of the report is based upon a study of several California schools, where data indicate very low levels of success in moving these students into completion of credit-bearing courses. Here in Texas Commissioner of Higher Education Raymund Paredes has recommended a "complete overhaul" of developmental education, based on similar statistics here.

There is nothing particularly shocking about the findings, but a couple of the recommendations are interesting. For one, the report says that colleges should offer incentives to faculty to teach developmental courses, observing that most teachers prefer to teach in their chosen discipline. 

Also, the group recommends common grading standards in developmental courses. This would go beyond a common "exit" exam, which is typical today, establishing uniformity in the process throughout the semester. 

Here's the full Carnegie report. 

Mentoring Program Launched

Practitioners from community colleges across the country will participate in an intensive, fast-track collaborative learning experience through a new college mentoring program announced on December 8. Community colleges will share knowledge and experiences and receive technical assistance and expert advice as they work to develop effective intervention strategies that improve student achievement.

 

The college mentoring program is a central component of Community Colleges CAN, www.communitycollegescan.org, an initiative funded through June 2009 by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Vocational and Adult Education. The initiative, which is administered by JBL Associates, is designed to strengthen the capacity of community colleges to meet students’ academic needs and support their success in college and the workforce.

 

“The college mentoring program will allow participants to benefit from expertise to which they might not otherwise have access,” said William Munn, program coordinator and research associate, JBL Associates. “In recent years, many community colleges have developed innovative interventions for improving student access to, preparation for, and persistence in postsecondary education. Mentoring can serve as an effective method to share knowledge and inspire development of successful implementation strategies.”

 

Eighteen community colleges were selected to participate in the college mentoring program. These schools include El Paso Community College and South Texas College. Six schools will serve as mentors, including El Paso, and 12 as mentees, including South Texas, in six unique mentoring communities, each around a program area.

Teams of faculty, staff, and administrators will work collaboratively in six mentoring communities — each with one mentor college, two mentee colleges, and a facilitator with extensive professional experience in the two-year college community. Mentee colleges were selected through a national competition and matched with a mentor college experienced in the implementation of an effective initiative similar to that which the mentee would like to develop.

 

Each mentoring community focuses on a program area that is important to all community colleges and centers on an initiative successfully implemented at a mentor college. The mentoring communities are: Academic and Student SupportCenters, Career Pathways, Developmental Education Learning Communities, Innovations in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math), P–20 Educational Partnerships, and Teaching and Learning Centers. For a full list of the mentoring communities and participating colleges as well as descriptions of the colleges’ initiatives, visitwww.communitycollegescan.org/about/factsheet.cfm.

 

Through the program’s fast-track, collaborative learning experience, the mentoring communities will develop practical strategies that mentee colleges can use to advance their own initiatives. They will focus on critical issues or challenges commonly faced by community colleges, such as program planning and design, building community partnerships, staff training and professional development, evaluation and assessment, data collection, and funding strategies.

 

Six issue briefs, each focusing on one of these critical challenges, will be developed in the first half of 2009 to support the learning of the mentoring communities and to share practical strategies broadly within the two-year college community.

 

“This is a unique learning opportunity for community college leaders who will work together to improve student success,” said Katherine Boswell, director, AED Center for Community College Policy, Academy for Educational Development, and facilitator of the P –20 Educational Partnerships mentoring community. “Faculty and staff from different colleges with similar goals will work in partnership with one another to share experiences, wrestle with common challenges, and take action that will make it possible for more students to achieve their academic goals.”

 

Community Colleges CAN is a two-year initiative aimed at strengthening the efforts of community colleges to improve student achievement and to help students address the challenges they face in entering and succeeding in college. The initiative, funded by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Vocational and Adult Education, encourages the exchange of ideas and knowledge among college practitioners through the support of collaborative mentoring communities; showcases practices that offer promise for improving academic preparation, participation, and success of students; and disseminates useful and timely information about community college programs and practices to the higher education community.

For more information on participation:

Jessica Schwartz Hahn
703-478-0658 (w)
571-239-3260 (c)
[email protected] 

 

A Message from TCCTA Lobbyist Beaman Floyd

The following is a special message from Beaman Floyd, TCCTA Lobbyist, concerning the upcoming Regular Session of the Legislature, which convenes January 13. 

I'VE GOT MY RIGHTS! LET'S USE THEM

With the 81st Legislative Session upon us, those who work in public affairs are gearing up for the long season of public hearings, office walking, elbow throwing in the lobby, and everything else that goes with democracy in our State Capitol. Even now, I’m buying comfortable shoes, shopping for a new phone battery, and preparing for five good hard months of working with policy makers on legislation. 

Several issues vital to community college faculty members are already under discussion, including base funding of community colleges, course transfer, employment benefits, instructional materials, and various incentive and efficiency proposals. Certainly, there will be ample need for those comfortable shoes.   

 

Even though the issues are many and serious, they are seldom the first thing I discuss with legislators and staff. Instead, when I walk into a legislative office on behalf of TCCTA, the first things I do is describe TCCTA and its members. I talk about more than sixty years of hard work to improve the community college faculty in our state. I talk about 6,000 voluntary members spread across every legislative district in the state. I talk about our activities, positions on legislation, and communications structure.

When describing TCCTA, I am describing an outstanding grass-roots structure with real experience and expertise in the challenges and opportunities being encountered by community colleges on a daily basis. By being a member of TCCTA, you are exercising both your freedom of speech and freedom of assembly in a very real way. I get to see the initial effect of your exercise of these rights when, as I describe the size and staying power of TCCTA, those I’m speaking with sit up and take notice.

But our visits to the Capitol on your behalf are only a small part of TCCTA’s potential. The real power comes when you represent the organization as its constituent members by discussion important issues with your legislators. My best visits start with me mentioning a subject, and a legislator replying that he or she has already learned of the issue from a constituent, allowing us to proceed straight to potential solutions.

One of the best values of TCCTA is in informing you of the issues in real time and helping you make positive contact with policy makers. Please pay attention to the Web site’s “News” and Blog entries, as well as any e-mail Legislative Updates that come your way. Read the Guide to Political Participation under the “Legislative Resources” portion of the site. 

And—this is very important—plan to attend the Community College Day event at the Capitol, on February 19. (More information will be published in the forthcoming December issue of the Messenger.) 

You, in turn, become TCCTA’s most valuable resource in affecting public policy at the Capitol by communication with your government and being part of the assembled voice of community colleges. When done well, we get to see democracy at its best, and can say with confidence that not only do we have our rights, we are using them.

Know Any Students Who Could Use Forty Bucks?

Researchers at The University of Texas at Austin are recruiting individuals who graduated from a Texas high school in 2004 but have not completed a four-year college degree. A variety of individual, social, and environmental influences on alcohol use and other risky behaviors will be examined for these individuals and a group of more traditional four-year college students from UT Austin. 

The UT students also graduated high school in 2004 and are participating in a 5-year study about alcohol use and other risky behaviors during the transition from high school through college. This project is funded by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism and is under the direction of Professor Kim Fromme (who will be presenting at this year’s annual TCCTA convention). 

Interested individuals can go to www.surveymonkey.com/2004_HS_Grads or call (512) 471-8993 to complete a confidential three-to-five minute screening process to determine their eligibility. If eligible, participants will receive $40 for completing an additional 45 minute online survey.

Please pass this information along to other resources that might recommend eligible participants for the research project.