Students attending courses at Texarkana College could soon have eight-week semesters in many of their courses, something school leaders say will increase graduation and retention rates.
Choosing to move some core classes to the shorter semesters was identified by TC's Board of Trustees on Monday as a top goal during the annual strategic planning session.
Dean Dr. Mary Ellen Young said she has taught some of the mini-courses and that they were successful.
In order for the change to be fully implemented, faculty would have to change lesson plans and schedules. Daily class times would also be extended.
"I think their concern is it truly going to be best," TC President James Henry Russell said of faculty members' questions. "None of us know. There's a lot more data out there today than two years ago saying it is better, and I think that's why the vast majority of us are willing to take a chance on this."
Odessa College has fully implemented the eight-week semesters, Russell said, with Amarillo College putting them in place for the 2018-19 school year.
"There is not a community college in Texas that has not looked at this," he told the board and leadership team. "Not many have fully adopted it, but I would say there's not a single one of them that's not exploring it heavily."
He said Odessa compared data from 2010, when it had a traditional schedule, to that of 2017, when the program was put in place.
"You see attendance better, you see persistence better and you see the graduation rate is solid due to the eight-week class schedule," he said.
Course changes would begin in core classes, which consists of 42 hours.
"A lot of work, research and team building will be involved," he said. "It's a big change and we're going to be all in for it."
Trustees also identified other strategic goals for the 2018-2020 time frame, including upgrading facilities and establishing a multimillion-dollar long-range capital plan for those upgrades. The Texarkana College Foundation reaching $10 million in assets to provide presidential scholarships is another goal, along with the college becoming actively involved in a regional economic development effort by June 20, 2020.
"Regional economic development is huge, a big, big part," Russell said. "What's the purpose of educating people if we don't have an economy for them to go and get a job? Community colleges all across the nation are drivers of the economy, so to get a regional focus is important."
Additional goals include:
-Expanding health science programs and including night and weekend offerings
-Evaluate and expanding degree offerings in response to community and high demand workforce needs
-Broadening and specializing tutoring services and develop a marketing plan to bring awareness to tutoring resources
-Allocating resources to ensure campus safety and security
-Increasing enrollment of economically disadvantaged dual credit students to 450 within Bowie County by 2020
-Piloting the Learning Frameworks class to economically disadvantaged dual credit students as catalyst for scaling to all dual credit students
-Taking leadership in the The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board's regional target initiative to help move the needle in the upper East Texas region to reach the regional target of 48 percent of residents ages 25-34 attaining a higher education certificate or degree by the year 2030
The strategic plan will be reviewed during the May meeting and adopted in June.
In other business, the board approved continuing a memorandum of understanding with Northeast Texas Community College for collaboration with the truck driving academy at TexAmericas Center, and heating and air system upgrades and restroom renovations in the CEC building.
The board also voted to change the May board meeting from May 28 to May 21 due to the Memorial Day holiday.