News Links | June 30, 2015

SYSTEM NEWS | OPINIONS

Outgoing BTC president says college is ready for new leader If there’s one thing that hasn’t changed at Bellingham Technical College in the 31 years Patricia McKeown has worked there, it’s the college’s strong relationship with the community. The Bellingham Herald, June 29, 2015 What’s wrong with going to a community college? How two-year colleges can be better than four-year universities The United States is largely segregated along education lines. Those who went to college usually know mostly other people who went to college, so they tend to think their experience is universal. Yet only three in ten Americans age 25 and older have a bachelor’s degree. Too often and for too many Americans, the word “college” means a four-year degree. The two-year degree gets a bad rap, and so do the community colleges that offer them. ... Take repairing a John Deere tractor. When Andy Winnett started repairing tractors for a John Deere dealer in 1977, all he needed was a toolbox. “Today your toolbox is a computer,” says Winnett, who now directs the John Deere technology program at Walla Walla Community College in Washington state. The Washington Post, June 29, 2015 CPTC: A new start, a new career Naomi Hoff was in need of a new start after she was laid off at The Boeing Company for the second time in 10 years. An aptitude test and her mechanical background led her to enroll in the Non-Destructive Testing Program at Clover Park Technical College. The Suburban Times, June 29, 2015 National parks offer astronomy programs this summer If you did not get to see the aurora borealis Monday night, don’t fret. Volunteers at Mount Rainier and Olympic national parks will be holding astronomy sessions throughout the summer. ... Leading the programs will be volunteer astronomers: Pat Beatie: Friday through Tuesday nights. He is a Bellevue College astronomy professor and retired FBI agent. The Olympian, June 27, 2015 For globe-trotting opera singer, the Northwest feels like home This weekend, Angela Meade will take a break from her globe-trotting lifestyle to make her fourth appearance at the Astoria Music Festival. ... Meade did not take the most conventional path to opera stardom. After graduating from high school in Centralia, Wash., in 1995, she found her voice in music classes at Centralia College, a community college where she intended to pursue medicine. The Daily Astorian, June 26, 2015 WorkSource opens site at Clark College The Southwest Washington Workforce Development Council and Clark College have entered into an agreement to have a WorkSource employee on-site at the college. The Columbian, June 26, 2015 Summer jobs, even if hated, pay off for teens Now that school is out, teenagers are faced with a decision.  Should they take the summer off, or get a job? New research suggests, no matter the task, getting a job as a teen might be worth it. A recent job fair at Renton Technical College targeted teenagers and young adults. KOMO News, June 25, 2015 Opinion: College capstone program brings money to big ideas The campus of Centralia College is a bit quieter now as commencement has been held and many students are off to enjoy the summer away from academics. Last month, though, many students were making a lot of noise with innovative and inventive projects made possible from an investment by the Centralia College Foundation. Centralia Chronicle, June 25, 2015

TRENDS| HORIZONS | EDUCATION

First-generation students and academic preparation A new report from ACT and the Council for Opportunity in Education found that the vast majority of first-generation students who take ACT's college entrance exam plan to attend college, but about half of them are academically unprepared to succeed. The report found 52 percent of ACT-tested first-generation college students in the 2014 high school graduating class failed to meet the four college readiness benchmarks set by the nonprofit testing organization. Inside Higher Ed, June 26, 2015 Education adds likelihood of holding work credential A new report from the U.S. Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics shows that the proportion of adults with a work credential typically increases with educational attainment, excluding those adults with a doctoral degree. Inside Higher Ed, June 26, 2015 Watered-down gen ed for engineers? What have long set U.S.-trained engineers apart from their global peers — at least in the minds of lots of employers — are their softer skills. While universities in many other countries focus almost entirely on technical mastery, American engineering programs also stress the development of additional competencies, such as critical thinking, writing and the ability to work across disciplines and in diverse settings. Inside Higher Ed, June 26, 2015 Video: It’s on colleges to make a better pitch for their value, one president says As colleges and their budgets come under attack, higher education needs to do a better job of defending itself, says Timothy M. Wolfe, president of the University of Missouri system. When the public criticizes rising tuition and growing student debt, college leaders need to do more to emphasize the long-term earnings potential that comes with a college degree, he says. The Chronicle of Higher Education, June 26, 2015 Guidelines promote transparency, honesty in science Scholars affiliated with the Center for Open Science, a nonprofit, have published in Science a set of guidelines designed to encourage transparency, accuracy and honesty in journal publications. Inside Higher Ed, June 26, 2015 Americans view quality of 2-year, 4-year colleges similarly  Americans are about as likely to rate the quality of education that community colleges offer as "excellent" or "good" (66 percent) as they are to rate four-year colleges this positively (70 percent). Gallup, June 23, 2015

POLITICS | LOCAL, STATE, NATIONAL

Legislature OKs new budget with rare tuition cuts and pay raises for teachers The two-year state budget approved by the Legislature Monday night provides a rare tuition cut for college students, raises teacher pay and ends a handful of tax exemptions and preferential tax rates to add new revenue. The $38.2 billion spending plan was headed to the governor’s desk after passing the Senate and House. ... Under the compromise, there would be a 15 percent reduction in tuition at the University of Washington and Washington State University, a 20 percent reduction at Western, Central and Eastern Washington universities and The Evergreen State College, and a 5 percent reduction at community and technical colleges. The cuts would be phased in, with a 5 percent reduction in the first year of the biennium for all colleges and universities. The Seattle Times, June 29, 2015 Congress's plans for NIH, education Both congressional appropriations committees approved legislation last week that would set spending levels for the nation's health, education and workforce programs, setting up likely showdowns with the Obama administration over budgets for some programs and policy initiatives that congressional Republicans want to stop. Inside Higher Ed, June 29, 2015 Education Dept. selects official to develop debt relief process The U.S. Department of Education announced Joseph A. Smith has been appointed as special master to help the department and student borrowers through the debt relief process in the wake of the Corinthian Colleges shutdown. Smith's appointment is a part of the Obama administration's debt relief plan that is expected to help federal borrowers who can prove they were defrauded by their college. Inside Higher Ed, June 26, 2015