Remarks by H. Martin Lancaster, President
North Carolina Community College System
February 27, 2001
Wake Technical Community College, Raleigh
Afternoon Panel: "Where Do We Go From Here to FIRST IN AMERICA?"
Last year at this time, we each set out specific agendas related to the goals of First in America. The North Carolina Community College System focused on making sure each child is ready to learn; on widening the pipeline for excellent teachers for all our schools, on increasing business and community involvement in schools; and on helping keep schools safe.
I'm pleased to report that we have moved ahead toward meeting those goals. All 58 of our degree-granting institutions are now authorized to provide the training required for certified childcare workers. We have expanded the Family Literacy Program, which helps parents shore up their skills so that they can be their children's first teachers. Our statewide Foundation has obtained one substantial grant and is seeking others to provide scholarships for adults who want to start their work toward teaching credentials on community colleges campuses. Our law enforcement training programs have been changed to include excellent new segments devoted to school violence…especially to the prevention of school violence. This last effort, by the way, is a direct result of a good idea proposed at last year's Joint Board meeting.
And we have, of course, all worked together for the passage of the historic higher education bonds and rejoiced in the success of many local school bonds to assure that our students will have places to study, once they get to school.
One year down, nine to go toward 2010. But what a year this has been in other ways.
At this time last year, did we think we would be facing a court decision ordering us to greatly expand pre-kindergarten programs?
Did we think that we would be staring down the barrel of the worst state budget crisis in a decade?
Do we think now that we need to slow down and set less ambitious goals? Well, I don't think so.
If anything, the events of the past year have convinced me that we in the community college system at least must move even faster on the priorities we set out as our share of First in America 2010.
Let's talk about the court case. If our state is going to do what the court says we have to do…then right away we need to make room for tens of thousands of four-year-olds in pre-kindergarten programs.
They need classrooms…and they need qualified, competent teachers. If these programs will use child development specialists that we already train, we are well on the way. If certified teachers are required, where are we going to find those teachers, in a hurry, when we're already facing critical shortages as veterans retire, rural teachers move to the city, and talented teachers leave the classroom for more lucrative opportunities in private industry?
Certainly, better pay for teachers helps. However, if the pay goes up in Raleigh and Charlotte as well as in Windsor and Robbinsville, then chances are that the big city will still be more attractive than the small town to people who have no community ties other than the job.
Last year, I talked to you about "home-grown teachers" for the almost three-quarters of North Carolina's 100 counties which include school systems classified as "low wealth." Low-wealth counties need to look close to home for teachers committed to working and rearing their own families in their communities.
They have potential teachers on the payroll already, as teacher aides, extended day childcare workers, secretaries and other staff. These individuals have local roots, experience with children and knowledge of school systems. They need education, training and licenses close to home, on convenient schedules, so they do not have to give up their homes, jobs and family time.
Fortunately, our state already has some programs in place to make that happen. The North Carolina Model Teacher Education Consortium is a terrific partnership of school systems, community colleges, and public AND private universities serving our eastern counties. The Consortium identifies talented school system employees and helps pay for the education they need to become certified teachers. Our degree completion programs pioneered at Coastal Carolina Community College by UNC-Wilmington and greatly expanded by the Appalachian Learning Alliance have great potential and there is much interest in the General Assembly in their expansion in other areas of the state. The Consortium and degree completion programs need to be available in every county that needs home-grown teachers. The urgent need for a strong cohort of early childhood teachers only reinforces my commitment to supporting and expanding the role of community colleges in putting good teachers in our classrooms and keeping them there.
It is important that we recognize the scale and quality of direct community college involvement with the students in our public schools as well. Many of you are aware of the excellent work community colleges do in partnership with middle schools and high schools in career education. Job shadowing, career fairs and tech prep programs are just a few examples of the cooperative programs that engage young people in the challenges and opportunities of the working world.
Just as important is the role assigned to us by the General Assembly to open the door to academic opportunity for young people whose high schools aren't able to offer a full range of challenging academic courses. With the Huskins Bill and dual enrollment programs the General Assembly has authorized…indeed, directed…community colleges to provide the opportunity for qualified high school students to enroll in a variety of courses for college credit.
The General Assembly's clear intent is to offer bright, ambitious students in low-wealth, mostly rural districts the kind of opportunity that their peers in more affluent areas have to prepare for success at the next educational level.
I think it is important that we recognize and support that intent. Our policies for admission and for transfer must not re-create the disadvantages of geography and economics that the cooperative programs have been designed to relieve. Barriers to these opportunities should be removed and appropriate credit should be given to encourage this vehicle for putting additional rigor in all of our schools.
Thanks in large part to technology, we now have incredible tools for eliminating so many of those disadvantages. Each of our systems is now engaged in distance learning, to the great benefit of our students and of our staff and faculty. The scale and pace of change in that area just in the community colleges is truly astonishing. Last academic year, we enrolled more than 40-thousand students in hundreds of courses taught over the Internet, through broadcast telecourses and two-way video.
And lastly, but very importantly, I want to return to the point made earlier today in Dr. Grissman's presentation. He told us about the importance of the educational and economic levels of the family in predicting school success for children. In community colleges, we provide the literacy and basic skills classes parents need to keep up with their children educationally, and we provide adults of every educational level with the high skills they need for good jobs. Our role as educators of adults is very important in the effort to be First America.
I consider it a privilege to share this challenge with each of my colleagues on the platform, and with all of you. I look forward to our partnership through 2010…and beyond. Thank you.
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