THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, May 21, 1995 TAG: 9505210054
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY PERRY PARKS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 72 lines
Students transferring from community colleges to four-year schools will have fewer headaches in the coming years when North Carolina's system switches to semester scheduling.
The State Board of Community Colleges, which oversees College of Albemarle and the 57 other community colleges in North Carolina, announced plans this month to convert to semester schedules in the fall of 1997.
The change will bring community colleges, now on the quarter system, in line with public schools and four-year colleges throughout the state. North Carolina has lagged behind most other community colleges in the United States in making the switch.
``We're the last large system in the country to be on the quarter system,'' said J. Parker Chesson, executive vice president of the North Carolina community college system and former president of COA.
The decision to switch was supported by virtually all the schools in the system and has been welcomed by COA officials.
``Our faculty are excited about it. And we've heard positive comments from our students, especially those who are transferring,'' said COA Dean of Students Sharon Sass. ``We think it's going to be very beneficial for our students.''
The semester-based schedules and credits will make transferring course credit far easier for students who move from COA to other community colleges or to four-year schools, Sass said. Community college officials say the number of students who move on to other schools is increasing.
Scheduling classes in a 15-or 16-week window also will provide more flexibility for courses' hours and lengths.
``You can do a variety of things,'' Sass said. ``And that's good, because we have a lot of students with a variety of needs.
``It gives our instructors a longer period of time in class. It's probably a much better learning situation for our students.''
Community college presidents have been clamoring to get off the quarter system for at least three years, said Chesson, who recommended the change to the state board as head of the Presidents Association in 1992.
Chesson said political flak over the community colleges' proper role had delayed a decision on the switch. Tight budgets in the last several years have also kept the board from seeking major changes, said board member Winnie Wood.
``It really was not a climate that we felt we could ask them to do additional work,'' said Wood, a local businesswoman who has been on the board for four years. ``Things are coming together.''
It's the system's current effort to make all its course offerings and credits uniform throughout the state that made the decision timely.
``It really forced the issue,'' Chesson said. ``The board, we felt, had to make a decision now and not later.''
If the colleges aligned all their programs, course titles and credits and then later decided to move to semesters, the system would have to be overhauled again, Chesson said. Now the colleges are killing two birds with one stone.
``I think it's a very positive thing,'' Wood said. ``It's almost like doing a giant spring cleaning.''
Between now and the fall of 1997, the schools will work to conform their courses to a semester schedule. Chesson said the change would cost about a half-million dollars statewide in software conversion and staff travel to hammer out plans.
The higher, uncalculated cost will be in the amount of work time used to organize the switch.
``We are simply setting this as a priority of the system,'' Chesson said. by CNB