TCCTA Blog

Full-Time Mandate for Students?

One of the reasons community college students often don't graduate relates to their part-time status. Most of our students are in this category—a fact college leaders stress to policy makers.

At least two factors are probably in play: With a longer stretch of time, it is more likely that part-time students' precarious economic and family situations will jump up and bite them. "Life gets in the way" is the way we often put it. Secondly, a part-time commitment is, by definition, more casual psychologically, even if they have no other option. This is tough to quantify, but part-time students often have less skin in the game, so to speak, than full-timers, especially those attending residential schools, whether the institution is selective or not.

You will note that these two factors may not be related to academic preparedness. Even strong students who attend part-time are more likely to drop out.

A new school in New York City, Guttman Community College, is attempting to bend the curve with some major structural changes, as reported by Seth Zweifler in the Chronicle of Higher Education.

You can peruse the article for the various components of their program, but one of the most interesting is their policy of compelling first-time students to enroll full-time. Also, students are not allowed to choose from the full menu of classes when they register.

Obviously there are financial implications here, but if you get better results with a higher up-front investment in student aid, work-study programs, and frequent mandatory advisement, such a strategy might be worth a pilot study in Texas. If initial enrollment (and hence funding) goes down under such a plan, that would be a problem, but still…

Here is a brief passage from the article:

The program caters to a predominantly low-income, first-generation student body; 77 percent of first-year students receive Pell Grant support, with 54 percent of that group receiving the maximum Pell amount, according to the college.

"After they complete a summer bridge program, they have a very programmed first year," says Scott E. Evenbeck, Guttman’s founding president and a prominent expert on education assessment. "If we know that choice shuts many students down, why do we so often give them a catalog with 10,000 courses and tell them to pick some?" During the bridge program, students are introduced to learning communities called "houses." Each house consists of several cohorts of students, who attend all of their classes together.

The college’s inaugural first-year class saw a retention rate of nearly 75 percent from the fall of 2012 to the fall of 2013, on target with the 75-percent goal. Nationally, community colleges located in large urban centers have averaged a one-year retention rate of 57 percent, according to CUNY data.

Summer Reading, Part II

The TCCTA-sponsored Great Teaching Round-Up, which concluded recently, produced an interesting list of books for summer enjoyment and edification. The collection makes a nice companion to a prior list compiled by TCCTA leaders at their retreat earlier this month. See this previous post.

Once again, the titles are striking in variety, reflecting the wide spectrum of tastes and interests of college teachers. Any reading list that includes Jesus Calling, Plato's Apology, Intermediate Algebra, and Fifty Shades of Grey—not to mention an entire series on Sensitive Teenage Vampires (aka pasty-faced neck-biters) in Love—begs examination by the discerning reader. You should take them all to the beach just to see the reactions.

One strains the imagination for topics left untouched. NASCAR? Cannibalism? Elvis?

Below is the Great Teaching Round-Up list. Happy reading!

• The Essential John Nash, by John Nash (Author), Harold William Kuhn (Editor), Sylvia Nasar (Editor)
• Harry Potter Series, by J. K. Rowling
• Twilight Series, by Stephenie Meyer
• Hunger Games Series, by Suzanne Collins
• Divergent Series, by Veronica Roth
• I Am Beautiful: Affirmations for Women, by Diane Mastromarino
• The Apology, by Plato
• Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World of People Who Can’t Stop Talking, by Susan Cain
• The Emperor of All Maladies, by Siddhartha Mukherjee
• The Death of Common Sense, by Philip Howard
• Fifty Shades of Grey, by E. L. James
• The Five Steps of Mastery, by Stuart and Hubert Dreyfus
• The Other Wes Moore, by Wes Moore
• Food Incorporated, film directed Robert Kenner
• The Illustrated Man, by Ray Bradbury
• Native Son, by Richard Wright
• The Old Man and the Sea, by Ernest Hemingway
• Where the Wild Things Were, by William Stolzenburg
• The Goal, by Eliyahu M. Goldratt and Jeff Cox
• Constructing Effective Criticism: How to Give, Receive, and See Productive and Constructive Criticism in our Lives, by Randy Garner
• The Lives of a Cell: Notes of a Biology Watcher, by Lewis Thomas
• The Lady in the Box, by Ann McGovern
• Three Legends: The Snow Goose ~ The Small Miracle ~ Lumila, by Paul Gallico
• The Last Lecture, by Randy Pausch
• Empire of the Summer Moon: Quanah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanches, the Most Powerful Indian Tribe in American History, by S. C. Gwynne
• In Pursuit of Elegance: Why the Best Ideas Have Something Missing, by Matthew E. May
• The Bar Beverage Book, by Costas Katsigris and Chris Thomas
• Neurocomic, by Dr. Matteo Farinella and Dr. Hana Ros
• Alternate Edition Calculus with Analytic Geometry, by Swokowski
• The Education of the Negro Prior to 1861: A History of the Education of the Colored People of the United States From the Beginning of Slavery to the Civil War, by C. G. Woodson
• Intermediate Algebra, by K. Elayn Martin-Gay
• Jesus Calling: Enjoying Peace in His Presence, by Sarah Young
• The Heart of Chinese Poetry: Fifty-Seven of the Best Traditional Chinese Poems in a Dual-Language Edition, by Greg Whincup

Run-Off Election Returns

By far the most immediate and comprehensive election returns from Tuesday's run-offs are from the Texas Tribune, in an article by Brandi Grissom. Here's the link.

Community and technical college educators should probably pay particular attention to the race for Lt. Gov., then scroll down to selected Legislative races in their districts.

The winners of the run-offs will face each other in November.

Adjunct Group Calls for Proposals

The American Association of Adjunct Education is hosting its 3rd annual conference on November 1, 2014, in The Woodlands. The organization is now seeking proposals from those who would like to present breakout sessions and/or round table discussions.

Additionally, the group is accepting nominations for its 2014 Adjunct of the Year award. This annual award is given to "recognize the contributions of a deserving adjunct/part-time faculty member," according to the official announcement.

Here is a link for more information.

Tuesday is Election Day

The primary run-off elections will conclude on May 27. Turnout is expected to be low, which is unfortunate, since a number of important positions are still up for grabs.

Voters will participate in one of the two political party elections. If a voter voted in the primary election, the voter must vote in the same political party runoff election. If a voter did not vote in the primary election, the voter may still vote in the runoff election and for the party of one's choice.

Here is a list of candidates for statewide races. Keep in in mind that the Lt. Gov. presides over the Texas Senate, with great influence over higher education policy and funding for community and technical colleges.

Here is another link with useful information. Note the menu of selections on the left to answer any questions.

TCCTA Leaders Offer Summer Reading

At the recent leadership retreat of TCCTA officers and committee chairs, the group informally assembled a brief list of recommended books for summer reading. As you know, summer is not necessarily a leisurely period for many two-year college educators. On the other hand, many folks take at least some time off, and teachers, to put it mildly, read books. 

Below is their list. You will note a great deal of variety—fiction and nonfiction, titles related directly to education, others perhaps not, some tragic, some comic, some both. 

An essay examination will be administered on Labor Day. 

Enjoy!

Bastard out of Carolina by Dorothy Allison

Beet by Roger Rosenblatt

Beyond the MOOC Hype: A Guide to Higher Education's High Tech Disruption by Jeffrey R Young

Bridges out of Poverty by Ruby Payne and Philip DeVol

Culturally Responsive Teaching: Theory, Research, and Practice by Geneva Gay

Discussion-Based Online Teaching to Enhance Student Learning by Tisha Bender

Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain by David Eagleman

Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich

Our Iceberg is Melting: Changing and Succeeding Under Any Conditions by John Kotter

Straight Man by Richard Russo

The Color Purple by Alice Walker

The Multilingual Mind by Tracy Tokuhama

The Rich Get Richer and the Poor Get Prison by Jeffrey Reiman

The Rise and Fall of Great Powers by Paul Kennedy

The Smartest Kids in the World and How They Got that Way by Amanda Ripley

 

2015 Aspen Finalists Announced

The Aspen Institute has named 150 community and technical colleges eligible for the Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence. Seventeen institutions are from Texas. 

They are listed in the official announcement, with information on the criteria included below.

In a comprehensive review of the publicly available data, these 150 two-year institutions—from 37 states—have demonstrated strong outcomes considering three areas of student success:

• student success in persistence, completion, and transfer;
• consistent improvement in outcomes over time; and
• equity in outcomes for students of all racial/ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds.

The Aspen Institute is an educational and policy studies organization based in Washington, DC. Its mission is to "foster leadership based on enduring values and to provide a nonpartisan venue for dealing with critical issues," according to its Web site. 

Ten finalists will be publicized in the fall 2014. The winner will be announced in early 2015. The 2011 winner, Valencia College, and the 2013 co-winners, Santa Barbara City College and Walla Walla Community College, will not be eligible in the coming year, but are included in the list above to recognize strong performance, according to the announcement. 

Sen. Duncan to Leave Legislature

It was rumored for a long time, but the announcement finally came: Sen. Robert Duncan (R-Lubbock) will leave his post to become the chancellor of the Texas Tech University System. 

This is not just another departure. Sen. Duncan is widely respected as a problem solver in a chamber that is becoming increasingly ideological and polarized. For a dark glimpse of things to come, have a look at the current campaign in the Republican run-off for Lt. Gov., between Sen. Dan Patrick (R-Houston) and the incumbent David Dewhurst. The Lt. Gov. presides over the Senate. 

For community and technical college educators, the greatest loss will be Sen. Duncan's diligence regarding health and retirement benefits. He served as chair of the Committee on State Affairs and as an influential member of the Finance Committee.

Some changes in which he participated have been painful, as in the 50/50 compromise in setting the state's share of funding for benefits, after many years of acrimony over "proportionality." The TRS system was compelled also to make unfortunate statutory adjustments, especially for employees hired recently. But the pension plan remains in far better shape than similar programs in other states. It could have turned out differently. 

Early Voting Begins

Voting has started and ends on May 23 for the primary runoff elections. 

For this election voters will vote in one of the two political party elections. If a voter participated in the primary election, the voter must vote in the same political party runoff election. If a voter did not vote in the primary election, the voter may still vote in the runoff election and for the party of their choice. During early voting, you may vote at any polling location in your county. 

Please check for Early Voting times and locations on your county voter registrar Web site.

Election Day is May 27. Here is a link with more information. 

Confessions of a Grade Inflator

It's rare for a professor to admit inflating grades, which makes this piece in Slate by Rebecca Schuman all the more interesting.

She teaches German at Ohio State, so is obviously in a much different environment than most community college teachers. However, you will recognize many of her comments, and especially the social network messages from students pleading their cases. 

Studies indicate that grade inflation is most prevalent at highly selective institutions. Many of these students intend to enroll in prestigious graduate schools and, by definition, are strong students anyway. In the old days, rich boys were perfectly happy with a "Gentleman's C."

As the author rightly points out, the only cure for grade inflation may be worse than the disease: standardized examinations or a real curve. 

During the last Regular Session of the Texas Legislature, a bill was introduced to include the class average in all student transcripts. The measure didn't pass.