N.C. community colleges cited for guiding students to universities or careers

North Carolina's community colleges -- including Central Piedmont Community College in Charlotte -- were cited in a national report this week highlighting efforts to streamline pathways from their classrooms to a university or career.

Too often, the report's authors say, students enroll in community colleges but gain no ground toward getting a degree or finding a job. While more students are taking classes, only about half are graduating within six years, and the percentage is falling.

North Carolina's community college system gets a plug for coming up with structured pathways to guide students through the curriculum. Basically, the schools have worked with universities in the state to make sure community college classes will be fully transferable and progress toward a degree.
Schools have streamlined requirements in career and tech programs and eliminated redundant classes.

A group of schools have also come up with a program for high school juniors or seniors that allows them to get on a track toward college transfer or a technical degree. It lays out what exact classes they'll need to take to stay on course.

The state has also been developing ways to get students through remedial work more quickly. Instead of enrolling in semester-long courses to get caught up, students are able to take combined reading and writing courses and focus only on math concepts they need work on. CPCC has built a dedicated computer lab on its campus to let students work through math concepts at their own pace.

The report comes from the national nonprofit Jobs for the Future, which advocates for change in schools and career-training programs to better train people in job skills.

The authors describe North Carolina's initiatives as model programs.

Ohio also gets a mention for tying state funding for community colleges to the percentages of students completing degrees or certain numbers of credit hours. Every public high school is also required to have dual-enrollment programs with a community college. These are starting to become more widespread in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools with CPCC.

Florida has passed a state law that creates "meta-majors" in community colleges that allow students to take prerequisites in broad fields like health science or business without choosing a specific major right away.

A peek at menu for CMS, CPCC bonds

A November referendum on bonds for Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools and Central Piedmont Community College won't be locked in until August, but county commissioners' approval of a capital plan last week makes it a pretty sure thing.

CMS and CPCC leaders are talking about the best way to present their needs and plans, while the folks at the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce are kicking around strategies and names for a bond campaign. Publicly-funded bodies can't spend money to influence an election, so there's always a careful line between the public  "bond information" campaigns and the privately-funded "vote yes" push.

Mecklenburg County' five-year capital plan will provide $290 million for CMS and $210 million for CPCC, says county Finance Director Dena Diorio. Here's how projects break down under that plan:

In 2014-15, the county would provide money to finish the last of the CMS 2007 bond projects: A new school to relieve crowding at Highland Creek Elementary and renovations to Hawthorne High.  Other 2014-15 projects would be:

*Work at Alexander Middle in Huntersville, Myers Park High, Olympic High and Statesville Road Elementary (see details of CMS projects here).

*Reopening Oakhurst and Starmount as elementary schools.

* Construction of a new preK-8 school in west Charlotte, a new K-8 language immersion school in east Charlotte and a replacement for Nations Ford Elementary on the campus of Waddell Language Academy.

* Buying land for a new K-8 magnet in the Ballantyne area and an expansion of Northridge Middle School.

* For CPCC, doing work on the Giles Science Building and Cato Campus,  plus buying land for projects at the Levine,  Central and Merancas campuses.

In 2015-16,  CMS would get money for projects at East Mecklenburg and South Mecklenburg high schools and Northwest School of the Arts.  CPCC would launch projects at the Levine and Harper campuses.

In 2016-17,  CMS would launch work at Northridge, Selwyn Elementary and five preK-8 schools,  while CPCC would get money for a Central Campus project and Terrell renovation/expansion.

In 2017-18,  CMS would build the new Ballantyne-area K-8 magnet, convert Davidson Elementary to a K-8 school and do career-technology improvements at Garinger, Independence, West Mecklenburg and North Mecklenburg high schools.  CPCC would get money for a Hendrick Automotive expansion,  renovation/expansion to the Advanced Technology Center and the Merancas Campus project.

Reshuffled list of CMS bond projects

News that the county has re-ranked the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools list of bond projects had some of you asking,  understandably,  what the new list looks like.  As of Wednesday night,  the report presented Tuesday wasn't online;  keep checking this link and it should be posted soon under "Update on proposed capital improvement and operating budget,"  with the list on page 7 of that document.

The 10 CMS projects that would be included in a three-year bond package are,  in order of county priorities:

1.  Replacing Alexander Middle School  (no. 3 on the CMS ranking).

2.  Renovating Myers Park High (no. 8).

3.  Expanding/renovating Olympic High (no. 2).

4.  Building a new preK-8 school in west Charlotte to relieve Berryhill and Reid Park (no. 5).

5.  Reopening Oakhurst and Starmount as elementary schools (no. 1).

6.  Building a new K-8 neighborhood/magnet school in east Charlotte (no. 4).

7.  Replacing Nations Ford Elementary with a new school on the Waddell Language Academy campus (no. 9).

8.  Replacing Statesville Road Elementary  (no. 16).

9.  Expanding/renovating East Mecklenburg High  (no. 10).

10.  Renovating South Mecklenburg High (no. 12).

In addition,  the CMS report says the county is willing to renovate Northwest School of the Arts (no. 7 on the CMS list) using pay-as-you-go money,  though it wouldn't be part of the bonds on the November ballot.  (Read more about the CMS proposals here.)  And a plan to add a building on Central Piedmont Community College's Harper Campus for a middle college high school,  originally no. 6 on the CMS priority list,  has been moved to the CPCC package.

If the county decides to put four years worth of projects on the November ballot,  that would add renovations at Selwyn Elementary and six preK-8 schools to the CMS list,  with renovations at Northridge Middle added to the pay-as-you-go list.

The projects that appear to be losing out are career-tech renovations at four high schools,  conversion of Davidson Elementary to a K-8 school and construction of a new K-8 magnet in the Ballantyne area.

But nothing is locked in yet.  County commissioners haven't approved a 2013 bond,  and CMS board members are trying to rally pressure for them to override county staff and stick with the CMS priorities.