SBCTC NEWS LINKS | Articles about – and of interest to – Washington state community and technical colleges
SYSTEM NEWS | OPINIONS
Shoreline CC Prepares for More Budget-Cutting / Community colleges asked to prepare for cuts of 5 and 10 percent
“While not unexpected, this is disheartening news,” Shoreline Community College President Lee Lambert said. “With cuts we have sustained over the past several years, Shoreline now receives less than half of its total budget from the state. Unfortunately, it appears that this is no longer just a temporary dip, but a new reality not only for Shoreline, but all of higher education.” Shoreline, Lambert said, is working hard to move away from reliance on state funding and not just continue the state’s solution of shifting the burden to students by raising tuition. “Our strategic initiatives are in place to help Shoreline continue to meet the needs of students,” Lambert said. “Education and training are keys to help get the economy moving again, but the old funding model is broken. We’re working to build a new model.”
Shoreline-Lake Forest Park Patch, August 9, 2011
http://shoreline.patch.com/articles/shoreline-cc-prepares-for-more-budget-cutting
Editorial: EvCC gets a healthy boost
A nugget of good news that came out of this year's bad news legislative session(s) provides a much needed shot in the arm for Everett Community College and the city.
It's fitting that the closed and grossly unsanitary Royal Motor Inn located at 10th and Broadway, will be replaced by the college's new Nursing and Health Sciences building. Work is scheduled to start this month. The Legislature approved $31.9 million for the 70,000-square-foot building, $5.8 million less than requested. The school was one of just five community and technical colleges to get capital funding -- in a year when funding for all state capital projects was reduced by 15 percent. … It's great for our economy and community that EvCC is training many of the nurses and other workers needed to meet the demand at the ever-growing health-care facilities in our region.
The Herald, August 10, 2011
http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20110810/OPINION01/708109969/-1/OPINION
Sen. Murray in Richland to research job creation
A key component of Murray's plan is the creation of public-private partnerships in which the business community, colleges and government would work together to ensure students get the skills that businesses most desire. "Too often, I hear from students who feel that what they learn in school isn't relevant to the work they will do when they graduate -- and unfortunately, too often they're right," she said. The plan would help not only young students just coming out of school, but also workers who have been laid off and need retraining, or adults in the work force who need to update their skills.
Tri-City Herald, August 10, 2011
http://www.tri-cityherald.com/2011/08/10/1598494/sen-murray-visits-richland-to.html
Program Helps Students With Developmental Disabilities Become Independent
Shoreline Community College's High School Transition Program - Community Integration Program and Shoreline Public Schools make the perfect team
Shoreline-Lake Forest Park Patch, August 10, 2011
Vets sound off at session
U.S. Sen. Patty Murray was in town Monday … Led by facilitator Doug Bayne, director of the Walla Walla Community College Foundation, panelists took turns explaining to the senator the issues they see in the universe of veterans. Housing challenges, for example. Renee Rooker, of Walla Walla Housing Authority, told Murray there are nearly 150 homeless veterans in the area. While there are programs in place to help get those men and women into housing, actually getting that done is a problem. "There is a lack of funding for deposits, security and utility deposits, to get veterans into a permanent home."
Walla Walla Union-Bulletin, August 10, 2011
http://union-bulletin.com/stories/2011/08/10/vets-sound-off-at-session
TRENDS| HORIZONS | EDUCATION
Opinion: How to Close the Skills Gap / Small-business owners say that they have jobs but can't find qualified people.
Guest column by Mary Landrieu, Democratic senator from Louisiana, chairwoman of the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship; and Patty Murray, Democratic senator from Washington, chairwoman of the Employment and Workplace Safety Subcommittee of the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
… The sad fact is that we spend considerably less than other developed countries on labor-market policies, including work-force training and job-search programs. … We believe that the skills gap is a consequence of our failure to seriously invest in the education of America's work force. Without an educated pool of workers from which to hire, small businesses are bearing the financial burden of teaching these skills. … A critical first step: reauthorizing and reforming the Workforce Investment Act, our nation's foundational federal work-force development policy. We also need to expand innovative approaches that have produced results, such as career pathways programs that provide labor-market information to students and job seekers about in-demand jobs, and the skills and education necessary to get them. Other important elements of tackling this problem include integrating education and work-based learning, and supporting strategies that allow learners to work while receiving training (also known as "earn and learn" strategies).
Wall Street Journal, August 10, 2011
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904140604576496500404548450.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
Beyond Seat Time: Advancing Proficiency-Based Learning
Susan Patrick, president and CEO of iNACOL, the International Association for K-12 Online Learning … recently authored a report on competency-based learning, "Cracking the Code: Synchronizing Policy and Practice for Performance-based Learning." In it, she and co-author and MetisNet Principal Chris Sturgis proposed a framework and offered recommendations aimed at accelerating policy development around competency-based learning, policy that's aimed at "loosen[ing] the regulatory environment that is handcuffing administrators and educators who are ready to move toward student-centered, competency-based models of learning."
… The achievement gap in United States schools is largely a result of the seat time-based system that drives education policy and funding today--a factory-era time schedule means that students who have huge gaps on fundamentals in their knowledge continue to be socially promoted with Cs, Ds, or a complete failure to grasp concepts in their lessons. Over time, this results in major gaps in student learning progressions.
Transforming Education Through Technology, August 10, 2011
http://thejournal.com/articles/2011/08/10/beyond-seat-time-advancing-proficiency-based-learning.aspx
Nation of adults who will write like children?
Most states don't require children to learn cursive writing anymore. Some 46 states have adopted the Common Core Standards, a set of educational guidelines that do not require cursive writing as part of a school's curriculum. … "If you stop teaching handwriting in the second grade, you're going to have a generation of people who write like second graders," says Olsen, whose company teaches a clean and simple style of cursive that avoids the fancy curls and swirls of old-fashioned script.
CNN.com, August 10, 2011
http://www.cnn.com/2011/LIVING/08/10/handwriting.horror/index.html?eref=mrss_igoogle_cnn
3 Questions Presidents, Provosts and Search Committees Should Ask Existing or Potential CIO's
Question 1 - Quality: What is your plan to leverage technology to increase the quality of learning at our institution? Some answers to look for: Learning is the goal, technology is only a means to an end ...
Inside Higher Ed, August 10, 2011
6 ways the debt deal could hurt college students
Foster’s Daily Democrat (Maine), August 10, 2011
http://www.fosters.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20110810/GJLIFESTYLES/110809732/-1/FOSLIFESTYLES
POLITICS | LOCAL, STATE, NATIONAL
Rep. Jeannie Darneille to run for state Senate in 2012
State Rep. Jeannie Darneille says she will try to move from the House to the Senate in 2012. She hopes to replace Sen. Debbie Regala, who will retire next year. Even though the election is more than a year away, there are now two declared candidates for the Senate seat, Darneille and attorney Jack Connelly
The Olympian, August 10, 2011
Compiled by the Washington State Board for Community & Technical Colleges
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