House Higher Education Permanent Subcommittee – June 23, 2009
Posted on June 23rd, 2009
Date & Time: Tuesday, June 23, 2009 at 10:30 AM
Location: Arkansas Hall, Henderson State University, Arkadelphia, Arkansas
Agenda: http://tr.im/py1w
Attachments: none
10:30 am – Retention, Remediation, and Graduation Rates will be the major topic of discussion for today’s meetings.
10:36 am – Henderson is currently providing a presentation concerning Arkansas College Preparatory Academy.
10:38 am – Dr. Charles Welch, President of Henderson State University, is discussing the typical Arkansas family, where many of those graduating Arkansas High Schools have never had a family member to attend college, few have fathers who have graduated high school.
10:41 am – Only two counties in Southwest Arkansas have Baccalaureate degree attainment rate that is higher than the state average. Those are Clark and Garland counties at 19.8% and 18.0%. Several counties (Lafayette, Little River, Montgomery, and Sevier) are in single digits. Only ten counties of 75 meet or exceed the state average.
10:43 am – Dr. Welch is shared that for colleges to seek to raise the state degree attainment rate, there are disincentives, primarily because the colleges will have to remediate the students.
10:45 am – Colleges need to start making contact with students at an earlier stage, first generation students and families need more contact time to understand the importance of higher education. There also needs to be more contact with two year institutions. The transferability of course credits from college to college in Arkansas is important for students that start in two year institutions who want to seek a four year degree as cost effectively as possible.
10:50 am – Dr. Welch made the point that our colleges and community colleges need to make sure that they do a better job of taking the services to the students. Making access to higher education more convenient and easy to work into normal daily life is a key to increasing degree attainment rates in Arkansas. He pointed out that an employee of the college found it easier to pay for courses from a college in Wisconsin that could have been taken for free from Henderson, simply because of the web based convenience met the employees schedule needs.
10:55 am – Dr. Welch says that we need to start looking at higher education as an investment. He cited the statistic that the average Baccalaureate Degree holder has an education debt load of about $19,000.00, then said that he was here to tell us that $19,000.00 is a better investment than that $30,000.00 pick-up truck that students wouldn’t even blink at. According to him, there is no reason to decry how expensive college is when buying decisions like that are being made.
10:59 am – Mr. Donnie Whitten, Superintendent of Arkadelphia School District, is discussing the creation of the Arkadelphia College Preparatory Academy recognizing the startup supporters and contributors.
11:08 am – Mr. Whitten is currently discussing the “Explore Data” and asking why Arkansas does not better utilize that information. The Explore Data is collected from ACT type tests that occur for self identified college bound students in the 8th grade. This test data can identify students who want to go to college but do not currently meet the benchmark score to be on track to succeed.
11:14 am – Local universities, public schools, Dawson Education Service Cooperative, business partners, community leaders, parents, and elected officials are collaborating to address college remediation, retention, and graduation rates beginning at the middle school level using date from EXPLORE, PLAN, and ACT. These partners are Henderson State University, Ouachita Baptist University, Ouachita Technical College, Arkadelphia Public Schools, Dawson Education Service Cooperative, South Arkansas Math and Science Center, HSU/OBU ROTC, Ross Foundation, Southern Bancorp, Clark County Strategic Plan Education Sub-Committee, Local State Representative, State ERZ, and the State Education Commissioner.
11:21 am – Ms. Paulette Blacknall, Director of the Southwest Arkansas Education Renewal Zone, stated that the Arkadelphia College Preparatory Academy (APCA) will become much more “competitive” as the program is expanded beyond the pilot program to outside of the Arkadelphia School District to other surrounding school districts.
11:23 am – Ms. Blacknall says that classes at the ACPA are co-taught with one public school teacher/licensed teacher and one university faculty. There are strong expectations of students with actual statements of commitment from the students and the parents. The handbook rules are rigid with expectations of attendance, tardiness, unacceptable behaviors, and identification. There are uniform requirements.
11:33 am – Mr. Donnie Whitten discussed the start-up of the ACPA.
11:47 am – Dr. Wesley Kluck, Vice President of Institutional Advancement for Ouachita Baptist University is discussing the Clark County Strategic Plan. He is covering the history, implementation, and areas of interests. Those areas of interest are Economic Development, Housing, Leadership, Education, Tourism, and Healthcare.
12:03 pm – Ms. Mary Elizabeth Eldridge, Director of Programs for the Ross Foundation discussing involvement and cooperation with Southern Bankcorp to start ACPA and other community programs.
12:58 pm – Steve Breedlove presented the initial discussion of Interim Study Proposal 2009-003 (formerly HB1251) – AN ACT TO CREATE A LOAN PROGRAM FOR OUT-OF-STATE PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION AND TO PROVIDE FOR FORGIVENESS OF LOANS FOR PROFESSIONALS WHO PRACTICE IN ARKANSAS FOR NO LESS THAN FIVE (5) YEARS.
1:01 pm – The purpose is to provide incentives for mostly medical professionals to return to Arkansas and practice in towns of 15,000 or less. Apparently Missouri and Kansas are actively recruiting for there medical and dental schools and giving incentives for them to stay and practice in those states.
1:10 pm – Dr. Calvin Johnson, Dean of the School of Education at the University of Pine Bluff discussing issues related to Education Renewal Zones. Dr. Johnson created the legislation that established the Education Renewal Zones (ERZ). Apparently, all Arkansas high schools are not served by Education Renewal Zones. The ERZs are affiliated with the 10 state universities.
1:26 pm – Senator Jimmy Jeffress asked why the ERZs are not associated with the Educational Cooperatives so that all schools would be associated with an ERZ. I was unable to determine a relevant response. Senator Jeffress brings up a good point that should probably have a follow up.
1:34 pm – Dr. Jim Purcell, Director of Arkansas Department of Higher Education, is making a presentation related to Concurrent Enrollment in Arkansas. 23% of concurrent enrollment is English, and 15% of concurrent enrollment is Mathematics. Other major areas are vocational technical and business courses.
1:55 pm – Concurrent credit creates a big opportunity to meet some of the goals of increasing the degree attainment rates. Dr. Purcell discussed audit and areas where Arkansas concurrent system is being improved. Apparently the teachers union is very opposed to concurrent enrollment. Their current claim is that concurrent enrollment lacks rigor compared to Advanced Placement courses. Dr Purcell stated that there a real need for quality concurrent enrollment courses in addition to AP.
2:01 pm – Due to working on emergency power and no air conditioner (all power off on the Henderson Campus), the remaining agenda is tabled. Meeting adjourned.
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One Response to “House Higher Education Permanent Subcommittee – June 23, 2009”
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The Statesman Says:
June 26th, 2009 at 12:47 pmNo air conditioning? Sounds like a good one to have missed. Still, when is the next one going down? You know why I ask…..
