Discussion took place in the following regional groups: Eastern, Central and Western. Due to the high number of participants this year, NACCTEP will consider how to better structure this event in future to encourage more intimate dialog. In addition, NACCTEP will rethink when the Regional Roundtable Session is offered based upon conferee comments.

The Eastern Regional table discussed budget cuts or flat budgets across the region, with tuition increases on the horizon. However, the Pennsylvania legislature passed a $6,000 “stipend for families” to offset the cost of post-secondary tuition.

Colleges in the Eastern Region reported combining departments and positions, redistributing work, decreasing support staff (not faculty), narrowing program focus, and cutting courses with low enrollment in order to maintain quality during times of budget uncertainty.

Overall, Eastern Region discussion focused on student access to services and experiences comparable to or better than those at four-year institutions. For example, students have more and earlier service learning opportunities, and greater access to dedicated and enthusiastic faculty members and technology. In addition, education courses are offered in a variety of formats, including on-site at K-12 schools and online.

Education program features that the Central Region felt resonated with students include a list of unique learning experiences. Not only are colleges offering associate degrees and education foundation courses, they are also tempting students with creative endeavors such as projects in which students interview practicing K-12 teachers and principals and assess positive and negative responses; a pen-pal program with elementary students; and encouraging concurrent and dual enrollment options, with funding and support.

In the Western Region, colleges offer supplemental services in the form of academic support, study strategies and student run workshops, and student access to jobs, resulting in high retention and transfer rates. Degree options in this region include those specific to elementary education, statewide transfer degrees, and 3+1 degree partnership programs. Furthermore, this region also emphasized the accessibility of faculty.

The discussion of recruitment strategies across the regions included a variety of unique as well as tried and true methods. Examples in the east include post-baccalaureate alternative certification programs; recruitment efforts at K-12 schools (particularly of para-professionals), career days, civic clubs, etc.; student opportunities to talk to and mentor K-12 students; and exploratory courses for one hour dual-enrollment credit, or as an elective for all community college students.

In the Central Region, college recruitment efforts include future teachers clubs and mentoring programs at the colleges and local high schools; presentations to veterans groups, para-professional groups at district meetings, training sessions, and classes in high schools; mailings to early childhood centers; a focus on males interested in coaching; Carl Perkins funding for teacher education students; and advertisement of programs through web content and articles in local newspapers.

The Western Regional discussion highlighted several innovative programs and strategies, such as a teachers-in-residence post-baccalaureate program in which students teach in public schools for two years while earning certification; high school teacher cadet programs; recruitment of education students from community college math and science classes, high schools, parents, and para-educators; utilizing teacher education students to recruit in high schools; and offering teacher credentialing test preparation for district professionals.

The Eastern Regional table discussed participation in state organizations, boards of education and teacher councils; articulation with four-year institutions; partnerships with other institutions and museums on STEM initiatives; opportunities to take dual enrollment courses or transfer community college courses that are not dual enrollment back to high school; and open campus for use by four-year institutions offering bachelor’s degrees.

A variety of issues facing teacher education programs were discussed at the Eastern and Western regional tables. Eastern Regional discussion centered on budget cuts, transfer credit for students, and new early childhood legislation resulting in workers needing bachelor’s degrees. Western Region issues included the development of articulation and transfer agreements and math and science education programs; the NCATE mandate that four-year institutions collaborate with community colleges; and the need for community colleges and NACCTEP to join forces to lobby for the role of community colleges in teacher preparation.

In economic downturns, community college enrollments go up, as those who lose jobs seek to add skills or training, and as some students look to save money by living at home while attending classes. As the economic downturn hit hard last year, this trend was immediately evident, with many community colleges reporting a flood of students. Further, community colleges are reporting increases in just about every major type of program they offer -- with notable increases online. At the same time, colleges are reporting that they face the kinds of budget cuts that make it difficult to cope with enrollment booms.

The federal “Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009” was signed into law in February 2009. This act contains $789 billion in new federal spending or tax cuts with up to $100 billion potentially going to public education programs. Because this historic increase in education spending, and the changes that it will bring with it, may be difficult for some policymakers and their staffs to “get their heads around,” ECS has prepared a preliminary summary to help explain how much new education funding states can expect to receive; how the funds will be distributed and how they can be spent; how policymakers can explain this new funding to their constituents; and issues to think about.

The $789.5 billion stimulus package provides a bounty for community colleges to help get the U.S. economy back on track through education and job training. According to the president of the American Association of Community Colleges, George Boggs, “The provisions of the bill represent the largest single federal investment in community colleges and our students in our lifetimes.” The law increases the maximum Pell Grant award, revamps the tax credit to benefit students, and provides billions of dollars for job training, a competitive grant program, and “state fiscal stabilization.

A recent study confirms many suppositions about the links between education and work force success. Being from a low-income background hurts students’ chances of educational progress. Those who struggle in high school tend to fare less well in college and beyond. The further one advances educationally, the better one fares economically. But the study, financed by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, also suggests that low-income students who struggle in high school get more of an earnings boost by earning a certificate than they do achieving an associate degree at a two-year college. While some researchers warn against a sweeping embrace of that conclusion, they also cite the report as evidence of the need for more states to create longitudinal data systems such as the one that produced data for this report.

Although articulation agreements help to ease the transfer between community colleges and four-year institutions, a new study finds that community college students are no less likely to transfer to a four-year institution in states without them. Other factors, such as the percentage of tenured faculty members and quality advising, were found to have a greater effect on the number of transfers to four-year institutions. The consensus that seemed to emerge at a recent Association of American Colleges and Universities meeting is that articulation agreements are “necessary but not sufficient” to encourage transfer.