Latest news with #NorthCarolinaCommunityCollegeSystem
Forbes
05-06-2025
- Business
- Forbes
An Underutilized Resource To Scale Work-Based Learning?
State and regional associations can help build colleges' capacity for work-based learning, including ... More internships, apprenticeships, and project-based capstones. Creating hands-on, work-based learning opportunities for community college students is hard. State and federal funding and policy carrots and sticks reward credit-bearing credentials and degrees, so most colleges are left to their own devices to ensure their students graduate with not just industry-aligned curriculum but practical experiences. While community colleges maintain a strong reputation as affordable, accessible, and employer-aligned education and training destinations for youth and working adults alike, not all colleges have the internal and external enabling conditions needed for success. A central area of focus for community colleges in workforce development has been creating, improving, and scaling work-based learning opportunities, from internships to apprenticeships to project-based learning. Colleges often undertake internal capacity-building initiatives as part of strategic planning processes or in partnership with third-party national organizations. However, state and regional intermediaries and membership associations also play an important and underutilized role in fostering peer learning, best practice exchange, and coordination among colleges locally. Take North Carolina, for example. Work-based learning is structured uniquely across each of North Carolina's 58 community colleges, depending on their size, enrollment, and the labor market they serve. The North Carolina Community College System provides colleges with general compliance standards to meet audit requirements, including providing a common definition, a baseline of the number of work hours needed to earn college credit per credential type, and details around student records management. But when it comes to capacity building – colleges are self organizing. Since 1974, the North Carolina Work-Based Learning Association (NCWBLA) has served as a regional professional organization led by a volunteer board comprised of over forty work-based learning leaders at community colleges across the state. The association helps college leaders with process improvement, quality assurance, and peer learning around work-based learning approaches. NCWBLA maintains a contact book of work-based learning professionals in the state, organizes regular lunch and learn sessions, facilitates resource and employer connections, and hosts an annual conference to foster professional development among experiential and work-based learning leaders across North Carolina. The association even offers awards to employers, college professionals, and students engaged with work-based learning to support career advancement in the field. Laura Brown is a coordinator for work-based learning at Forsyth Technical Community College, who serves as NCWBLA's vice president. According to Brown, the association helps foster a community of practice among her peers in the state. 'NCWBLA exemplifies the impact that state associations can have in advancing WBL,' she told me, 'Our efforts contribute to building robust pathways from education to employment, strengthening the workforce, and supporting economic growth.' As one illustration, through the association, Forsyth Tech learned about Central Piedmont Community College's experience digitizing its previously paper-based WBL operations, such as the way the college formalized internship descriptions, agreements, and placement forms. After learning about Central Piedmont's experiences, Forsyth Tech implemented the digital program management tool Simplicity to streamline its operation, freeing up staff to focus on student and employer-facing engagements. NCWBLA isn't alone. Across the country, a number of regional and state-level work-based learning associations support capacity building and professional development for workforce leaders. Launched in October 2022, the Illinois Work-Based Learning Innovation Network (I-WIN) serves a similar role, spanning K-12, postsecondary institutions, employers, and community-based organizations alike. Meanwhile, the Iowa Work Based Learning Coordinators group specializes in serving high school coordinators focused on youth apprenticeships or other forms of hands-on learning at the secondary level. Brown, who plans to step into the presidency of NCWBLA next year, said she would like to see the association expand programming beyond compliance and process improvement-oriented capacity building and more towards collaboration among institutions and with employers. For example, members could workshop strategies to pool resources to purchase data platforms to better track work-based learning participation across the state or foster more multi-institutional collaborations with employers located in multiple service areas. The association could also pursue collaborations with other state associations such as the North Carolina Community College Faculty Association, the North Carolina Association of Community College Presidents, and the North Carolina Association of Community College Trustees. Association-to-association collaborations could be especially beneficial in strategizing how work-based learning can support colleges' response to state policy changes. Just earlier this year, North Carolina Governor Stein signed an executive order at Forsyth Tech focused on expanding apprenticeships. Meanwhile, initiatives like Propel NC are shifting North Carolina's state funding formulas for community colleges away from funding per general enrollment and towards funding for credential attainment relating to strategic high-growth areas like advanced manufacturing and biotechnology. To be sure, national efforts around work-based learning capacity building are still needed to research and identify best practices, navigate federal policy dynamism, and examine replicable practices that can be modeled across states. While there is no one-size-fits-all solution to ensuring that all community colleges offer high-quality work-based learning experiences for students, grassroots approaches like state associations can help accelerate the promulgation of work-based learning capacity building across institutions.
Yahoo
30-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
NC community college enrollment climbs
CHARLOTTE, N.C. () – Student enrollment at community colleges is on the rise, and growth at North Carolina-based institutions outpaces the national average. New data from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center suggests undergraduate enrollment is up across the board, but community colleges saw the largest increase from Spring 2024 to Spring 2025 (5.4%). Overall post-secondary enrollment rose 3.2%, translating to 562,000 students. The report estimates the U.S. now has a total of 18.4 million students pursuing graduate or undergraduate degrees. Charlotte teen finishes in top 4 at Scripps National Spelling Bee Community college enrollment in North Carolina jumped 8.3% since Spring 2024. Governor Josh Stein advocated for increased investment in community college and targeted training programs through his proposed budget in April. 'My budget proposes providing free community college to students pursuing credentials in high-demand industries,' Stein said. 'I'm also proposing we expand apprenticeships in state government to recruit and retain talent to serve the public and establish a rural apprenticeship program to connect small businesses and farmers to apprentices.' The General Assembly allocated $1.5 billion for the North Carolina Community College System in 2023. The proposed House budget allocates $1.7 billion for the next two fiscal years, while the proposed Senate budget allocates $1.8 billion for NCCCS. The state's total enrollment across education sectors remains lower than pre-pandemic enrollment. 2025 data shows 2.3% fewer students than in 2020. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
05-02-2025
- General
- Yahoo
DDCC students nominated for state honors
THOMASVILLE — Several students at Davidson-Davie Community College were recently nominated for awards given by the North Carolina Community College System. • Tabitha Long, a native of Thomasville studying accounting and finance, was nominated for the Academic Excellence Award. The honor is awarded to one student from each of the 58 community colleges in North Carolina who have completed at least 12 semester hours and have a cumulative GPA of no less that 3.25. Long will receive a plaque and medallion. Long has a story not unlike many others: She had many educational goals, but life got in the way. 'After I graduated high school, I continued my education at a community college. I was eager and confident and quickly discovered I loved college,' she says. 'Life happened and college had to be placed on the back burner.' She enrolled in courses over the years, but nothing stuck, and she never earned her degree. Then, 23 years after beginning her academic studies, Long made a life-changing decision — to go back and complete her degree. Pam Vest, an instructor in business and accounting, nominated Long for the award. 'Tabitha has incredible work ethic and has always been excited to grow through her education,' she says. 'Our faculty and staff are always available to answer questions, work through issues and any complications a student might face. Tabitha is inquisitive and genuinely loves to learn — and that makes her a deserving recipient of this honor.' Long is currently working part time in the Davidson-Davie business office. After she graduates, she hopes to work in accounting. • Katrina Pricket, a native of Thomasville who is working toward an associate of science, was nominated for the Dr. Dallas Herring Award. The award is given annually to a current or former student who best embodies Herring's philosophy of 'taking people where they are and carrying them as far as they can go.' Herring, known as the 'father' of the state's community college system, was an advocate of establishing post-high school educational opportunities and created a system of industrial schools that eventually grew into the NC Community College System. Prickett's life is a prime example of Herring's belief of supporting students where they are — she faced a difficult childhood in a troubled foster home system, left high school prematurely, became a single mother and has faced numerous other life challenges. Despite these obstacles, Prickett enrolled at DDCC and joined the College and Career Readiness program. She successfully earned her adult high school diploma and even accepted the honor of speaking at the CCR graduation to share how she has overcome a lifetime of challenges. One of Prickett's greatest challenges has been homelessness. She lived in a local shelter for women with children for nearly a year. She now lives on her own with her son and is a work-study student in the Transition Center, where she serves as a role model for the students she serves. 'Katrina's campus involvement is an accurate reflection of her eagerness to actively pursue new adventures to grow by trying new things, meeting different people and pushing boundaries of her knowledge,' said Londa Pickett, director Transition Center, who nominated her for the honor. 'She has done everything possible to provide a better home for her and her son. Her story is indeed a powerful testimony of courage and determination highlighted by her remarkable positivity.' John Rosenberger, a Spanish instructor at the college, also nominated Prickett. Upon graduation, Prickett plans to transfer to a four-year university, where she will double major in sustainable agriculture with hopes of becoming a cosmetic chemist and farmer. • Magali Martinez-Cruz, a native of Winston-Salem working toward an associate of arts degree, was nominated for the Gov. Robert W. Scott Student Leadership Award. The award is given annually to recognize student leadership, highlighting outstanding curriculum, student leadership and service. She serves as the first Mexican American, first-generation Student Government Association president. Lynne Watts, director of Student Life and Leadership at Davidson-Davie, nominated Martinez-Cruz for the award. 'Magali has gone above and beyond as the SGA president. If there's one word I could use to describe her, it would be dependable,' Watts said. 'Magali stands out as someone who I could always rely on to be where she is expected and to complete her tasks assigned. She never says 'no' and is always willing to roll up her sleeves and assist in any capacity necessary to benefit the student body.' Martinez-Cruz also volunteers at the college's food pantry. Following graduation from the college, she plans to transfer to a four-year university to earn a bachelor's degree in psychology with hopes of becoming a mental health professional for children and adolescents.
