TCCTA Blog

July 31 is Election Day

If you have not voted early in the Republican or Democratic primary, July 31 is your last chance. It's a run-off election, to determine the nominees of each party.

You are allowed to vote in the election even if you did not vote in May, but you are not allowed to vote in the run-off of one party after voting in the May primary of another.

The most publicized race is for the U.S. Senate, between Ted Cruz and Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, but there are other contests around the state as well, including a few for the Legislature.

If Mr. Cruz wins, Mr. Dewhurst will (absent any unforeseen circumstances) remain as Lt. Gov., a very important position in Texas regarding the Legislature. The Lt. Gov. presides over the Senate, making committee appointments and setting the agenda for legislation.

Many times the outcome of the primary determines who will take office, since districts are carefully drawn to maximize party strength and incumbency.

Here's a link to determine "Who Represents Me?" You can simply type in your address and zip code.

Here is a very helpful site from the Texas Secretary of State, which contains information for voters about ballot locations, registration, and the mechanics of voting in our state.

Group Launches Effort to Restore Benefits

As noted in the previous post, the Texas Association of Community Colleges has changed its strategy involving appropriations requests to the Texas Legislature.

A particular issue deserves attention. One of the devastating results of the last Regular Session involves the funding of health insurance.

Community and technical college educators were treated as full participants in the Group Benefits Program administered by the Employees Retirement System of Texas, until the 2011 Regular Session drastically reduced the state’s contribution.

By way of an interesting comparison, current funding covers 85 percent of employee premium costs for state university employees within the ERS system, and 83 percent for University of Texas and Texas A&M System employees. However, state funding now covers only 42 percent of insurance costs for community college employees.

TACC proposes that this should be rectified. However, due undoubtedly to the amount of revenue involved, the organization says the fix should come in two stages. The 2013 Regular Session is requested to restore funding to 60 percent of cost, and the 2015 Session should bring it up to 84 percent, according to TACC's new policy Web site (see page four). This would bring revenue up to rough parity with other higher education institutions.

Obviously the Legislature can choose to ignore these requests. However, two strong arguments that community college educators can make are: (1) the need to recruit and retain talented faculty members, who want to know if the state is committed to their health benefits, and (2) the simple fact that revenue taken from community college benefits must be replaced with dollars that should be devoted to the educational mission of the school.

 

"New Era" Announced by College Leaders

In invited testimony before the quarterly meeting of the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, the Texas Association of Community Colleges has unveiled a major shift in emphasis and funding strategy, in anticipation of the next Regular Session of the Texas Legislature, which convenes in January 2013. The meeting was held on July 26.

Testifying were TACC president Rey Garcia, Kilgore College president Bill Holda, and Lone Star College chancellor Richard Carpenter.

The panel presented a summary of a new initiative called Texas Success. The Web site contains important details of TACC's strategy, as well as abundant and useful background information. (Please view the various components of the "5-point campaign" on the right.)

Dr. Holda said the Web site and its evolving contents will become the centerpiece of future policy discussions, and is the outgrowth of considerable deliberation on the part of his organization.

Subsequent TCCTA blog posts will explore various aspects of the new initiative, including proposals to restore funding for community college health and retirement benefits, and to place Adult Basic Education under the jurisdiction of the Coordinating Board, rather than the Texas Education Agency.

For now, two fundamental shifts in TACC strategy should be noted in "Texas Success."

First, TACC will no longer emphasize the (admittedly quixotic) goal of "full formula funding" derived from contact hour enrollment. Contact hours will still constitute 90 percent of revenue in appropriations requests. However, henceforth, "success" will be the cardinal principle and focal point of discussion, according to testimony.

Second, TACC endorses the outcomes-based funding model of last Regular Session's HB 9, in particular the statute's stipulation on Momentum Points. For background on the 2011 law, please see this previous post.

While TACC's proposal calls for "Student Success Points" and includes different metrics from Momentum Points, the basics are very similar.

According to the TACC proposal, ten percent of college funding will be based on student progression along various thresholds, including completion of developmental education, successful transfer, passing grades in math and other credit courses, successful completion of 15 and 30 semester hours, and certificates and degrees awarded. Extra credit is also given for success in STEM fields. Therefore, the strategy mirrors most details of HB 9.

Some community college advocates had urged previously that any outcomes-based funding should be supplemental to formula revenue, but the TACC proposal includes it as part of the overall appropriation.

Please view a graphic display of the Student Success Points, on page three of TACC's "Five Point Campaign." These are the elements most likely to attract the attention of college instructors.

Any new mechanism must be passed by the House and Senate in 2013 in order for it to take effect in the next biennium (2014-15). The Legislature, not the Coordinating Board, determines appropriations.

Coordinating Board members greeted the proposals with great enthusiasm. Commissioner of Higher Education Raymund Paredes called it "a wonderful framework" and praised TACC for its efforts.

The Dog Ate My Grandma

"Grandma Never Dies During Finals" is the title of a 2010 study published in Marketing Education Review. It alludes to surveys indicating that students are less likely to miss final exams than tests given earlier in the semester. It may also have potential as a country song lyric, but never mind.

As all teachers know, grandmas (sometimes as many as three per individual) tend to drop like flies when assignments are due and tests are given. One clever student (with a footnote to Bart Simpson) reportedly said, "The dog ate my grandma!" That can't be good.

Not to complain, but what about Grandpa? Based on a highly unscientific survey, it's always Grandma who gets whacked. One almost expects, during non-final exams, to gaze absently out the window and see lonely old men wandering aimlessly, weeping for their lost spouses. This may be an issue that is Title IX-worthy.

Um… a bit more seriously, the findings of the study (with full citation), and a general discussion of makeup exams, were posted recently in Faculty Focus by Maryellen Weimer. It's an interesting read. If you've had ambivalent feelings about makeup exams, you are not alone.

Have a look at this brief passage:

The most often missed test was the fourth exam, and the least missed was the final. A bit tongue in cheek, the authors write, “Interestingly, we observed a situation where relatively large numbers of students were sick, grieving or taking job interviews at the time of the fourth exam. However, the following week, there were no makeup finals because the class was apparently filled with healthy students who postponed job interviews and were not grieving the loss of a loved one.” (p. 110)

Without examining the complete study, it's possible that the fourth exam is missed frequently in classes in which the professor allows the lowest grade to be dropped. Hence some students blow this one off, particularly if they are relatively happy with their average at that point. (Obviously such a theory would work only if the final is mandatory.) Unfortunately, dropping the lowest grade as a strategy to avoid makeups is not discussed in the piece.

The article asks for input from faculty. If there's a consensus on what works best, it might be useful to discover it.

The New Community College

As educators discuss techniques to improve student success, a number of interesting ideas have presented themselves. Here in Texas, for instance, several two-year schools are engaged in pilot programs designed to formulate statewide approaches to improve developmental education.

The City University of New York has launched the New Community College in Manhattan. Here's their Web site. Below is part of of the official announcement:

The New Community College will connect field experiences with classroom learning in a structured and supportive environment. All students will begin in the Summer Bridge Program and engage in a city-centered first-year experience before starting their major coursework in one of five degree programs. Teams of faculty, staff and peer mentors will create a rich classroom environment, and an integrated advisement program will help students stay on the path to graduation.

The curriculum represents a major change in the status quo, to be sure. Here's what they tell prospective students:

This will be your Fall I schedule:

• City Seminar I -- an interdisciplinary liberal arts and sciences course centered on New York City—10.5 hours weekly
• Ethnographies of Work I -- a course about the working world and your place in it—4.5 hours per week
• Statistics-- a course that covers fundamental concepts of statistics and computational techniques—6 hours per week

In Spring I, these will be your courses:

• City Seminar II —6 hours per week
• Ethnographies of Work II —4.5 hours per week
• Composition I —4.5 hours per week
• You will also take Composition II, part of our core curriculum, during your second year.

In addition to a novel curriculum, the New Community College requires students to attend full time, issues them a free Metro Card, and mandates sessions with assigned advisors. Here's more background information from the latest Lumina Foundation report, along with a description of new programs at two other institutions.

As the Lumina report points out, the curriculum changes in New York have not met with universal praise from faculty members. Here's one example:

Admittedly, many members of the CUNY faculty don’t share that eagerness. In fact, Sandi Cooper, chair of the University Faculty Senate, calls New College’s proposed curricula a “low-level junior high affair” and describes ASAP as “a joke” that values graduation rates over learning.

Please peruse the entire report for various points of view.

At first blush, it would seem important to determine the discrete effects of any changes. Let's assume that graduation rates go up at the New College. Is this because of the new curriculum? Or is it because of mandatory advisement and free transportation? (The report indicates that the latter two strategies have already been effective.) Also, if summer bridge programs are required, how are these students selected? Would they have succeeded anyway? This factor alone could make a big difference in the statistics.

Obviously there are transfer issues to be worked out as well, to put it mildly.

Still, this may be an experiment worth following.

 

Quiet, Please

For several years, college and university libraries have been customizing their physical space to fit perceived student preferences. In the modern library, conversations among students are not only allowed, but encouraged to facilitate collaborative learning—at least in certain designated areas. The sainted "stacks" of yore are often converted into lounges with Internet access for laptops and other devices. Headphones and ear buds are commonplace for young scholars, some of whom insist they can't focus without music in the background.

Not so fast, according to an article by Jennifer Howard, in the Chronicle of Higher Education (subscription may be required).

The article cites studies and anecdotes indicating that many students actually crave quiet, and want the library to provide a serene spot where they can concentrate without the clacking of keyboards, loud chatter, chirping cell phones, and pulsating percussion echoing from nearby ear canals.

Interesting idea, quietude. Think it will catch on?

Those wishing to quantify student preferences often run into a problem, as surveys tend to share a weakness as measurement tools. For one thing, librarians will tell you that students basically want everything if you ask. They want WiFi AND quiet space. They want discussion rooms AND discussion-free zones. They want Starbucks AND ping pong tables. Hence the best surveys ask for priorities, with an explicit admonishment about limited resources.

Methodology aside, one might guess that quiet, given our abundant distractions these days, ought to remain near the top of what we should offer students in a library. It's unfortunate that librarians must be the enforcers, however, as noise seems to be the norm everywhere.

Revenue Stream Improves for 2013

Comptroller of Public Accounts Susan Combs has issued a somewhat optimistic report on how much revenue will be available to the Texas Legislature for the Regular Session that begins in January 2013.

At least $5 billion in "unanticipated revenue will flow into Texas' state coffers during the current two-year budget," reports Kate Alexander in the Austin American-Statesman.

That money will help lawmakers fill some holes in the budget and "perhaps avoid an early fight over tapping the state's $8 billion rainy day fund next year."

Interestingly, the rainy day fund may reach its capacity under current law, according to the article. During the last Regular Session, Gov. Perry declared the rainy day fund mostly off-limits when some legislators wanted to use it to avoid cuts to education. Also, his recently unveiled "budget compact" also calls for a "strong" rainy day fund.

The article makes it clear that the new projection does not mean the Legislature is anywhere close to having enough dollars to overcome the budget cuts of 2011. Community and technical colleges will be among many worthy priorities, such as Medicaid and public education. Another important wild card is the myriad of law suits challenging the constitutionality of school finance.

TCCTA Events Scheduled

Please mark your calendars for two important events during the forthcoming school year.

First is the annual Fall Conference for Faculty Leaders, to be held October 5-6, 2012, at the Marriott Hotel South, in Austin.

This conference provides attendees with essential information on legal, legislative, and leadership issues for community college faculty. Designed especially for faculty organization leaders, this event is open to anyone interested in the leadership role faculty play in Texas two-year colleges. More information will be available on the TCCTA Web site soon.

Click here to see the 2011 Fall Conference.

Another major event is the 66th Annual Convention, February 21-23, 2013, at the Westin Galleria and Westin Oaks Hotels, in Houston. This conference features over 100 discipline-specific section meetings, workshops on technology and student success, a general session and professional development seminar featuring noted authorities, training on legislative involvement, and an exhibit hall with all the latest textbooks and educational products and services. And there's much more.

It's the best professional development opportunity for community and technical college educators in the country, at bargain prices—thanks to countless volunteers at every community and technical college in the state.

Here's a link for registration information and other details, to help in making plans and reserving budget resources.

Join us!

ERS Updates Enrollment Information

We have entered the annual enrollment period for making any needed changes to health coverage with the Employees Retirement System, the agency that administers such benefits for community and technical college educators and their dependents.

Annual Enrollment will be conducted in phases this year, lasting until July 26. Your enrollment period will be shown on your Personal Benefits Enrollment Statement that will be (or has been) mailed to you. Changes made during this period will be effective September 1, 2012.

The ERS says, "Please make any coverage changes during your two-week enrollment period listed on your Personal Benefits Enrollment Statement. If you don’t need to change your benefits, you don’t need to do anything."

Here's the link with a wealth of information about annual enrollment, the new rates, and enrollment fairs that are being held around the state.

Board Chair Responds to Criticism

The Sunset Advisory Commission, which examines state agencies to see if they are still necessary, recently found that the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board should retain its current role. However, the panel also reported on a perceived lack of communication and atmosphere of distrust between the board and institutions.

According to an official statement, the commission looks for potential duplication of other public services or programs, and considers new and innovative changes to improve each agency's operations and activities. In most cases, agencies under Sunset review are abolished unless legislation is enacted to continue them.

Abolition occurs, but not frequently. Most agencies survive the Sunset process.

In another important development, the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems was recently commissioned to study what kind of structure would be most effective for a statewide administration of community colleges—a responsibility performed historically by the Coordinating Board. The group found that "important constituents have lost faith in the agency's ability to play the role," according to the Texas Tribune.

For background please see this previous post. Here is another.

The chair of the Coordinating Board, Fred Heldenfels, called the assertions "misplaced," alleging that the report's authors had failed to interview enough policy leaders. He said the board's pointed response to the report was caused more out of disappointment than anger.

"I think the media sees more fire there than we do," he said, noting that the board did not take umbrage with the Sunset report but received it as constructive criticism.

Here is a recent interview with Mr. Heldenfels conducted by the Tribune.