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Nov. 2, 2010
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| Dr. Robert King, president of the Council on Postsecondary Education (CPE), center, talks with Dr. Michael V. Carter, president of Campbellsville University, and Dan Flanagan of Campbellsville, a member of the CPE, at a meeting at Campbellsville University. (Campbellsville University Photo by Joan C. McKinney) |
By Joan C. McKinney, news and publications coordinator
CAMPBELLSVILLE, Ky. – “Our biggest challenge in Kentucky and the single most important thing is the quality of our teachers,” Dr. Robert King, president of the Council on Postsecondary Education (CPE), told several Campbellsville University leaders at a meeting recently in the Chowning Executive Dining Room.
King, who has served as president of CPE as its third president since January 2009, spoke at the Campbellsville/Taylor County Chamber of Commerce luncheon earlier in the day, and then spoke to the CU leaders.
King said the biggest challenge Kentucky faces is the quality of the teachers who are teachings students in grade K-12.
He said Kentucky’s Senate Bill 1 will help with education, but “at the end of the day, we still must have high quality core teachers.”
“The classroom teacher is the most influential piece of the puzzle” in the state of education in Kentucky King said.
He said compensation is part of the issue, but he said teachers need to teach communication skills, grammar — the basics.
He said there needs to be a higher level of professional development of teachers, and higher education should be the principal provider of the professional development.
He said another piece of the education puzzle is working with adult students who have completed some hours but who have not received a degree.
King said 800,000 of the 4.2 million people in Kentucky do not have a high school diploma and 500,000 of these are working age adults who started a program and never finished it.
The mission of Kentucky Adult Education is to raise the educational level of nearly 786,000 Kentucky adults, 26 percent of the population age 18 and older, who do not have a high school credential or GED® diploma. Approximately 536,000 adults, 21 percent of the working-age population, age 18 to 64, lack a high school credential or GED diploma.
King urged the leaders to bring together parents and stress to them that the future is their children.
Dr. Michael V. Carter, president of Campbellsville University, said CU is in the third year of a Title III grant, which is being used to attack retention. He said students are most at risk in their first two years and more attention is being given to retaining those students.
Carter said CU is being aggressive in the value of dual credit programs in which high school students take college courses for credit in their high schools.
He said statistics show one in four students will enroll at CU after taking the dual credit programs, which teach students to believe in themselves.
John Chowning, vice president for church and external relations and executive assistant to the president, also told King CU is leading the way in providing adult education with the Campbellsville University Technology Training Center with over 11,000 students having received an education from the courses taught at the center.
He also pointed out CU is implementing a 100 percent online program that will allow students to earn four associate degrees online
beginning in spring 2011.
King said a 17-year-old student said recently, “You need to expect more from us,” when the strength of academic programs was discussed.
King said Kentucky must expand opportunities for students in order to compete in the world.
Campbellsville University is a widely acclaimed Kentucky-based Christian university with over 3,000 students offering 63 undergraduate programs, 17 master’s degrees and five postgraduate areas. The website for complete information is campbellsville.edu.