Editorial

Seamless Education

The General Assembly’s frequent attempts to improve education in North Carolina often receive failing grades from educators, but one law it passed in 1995 is being hailed as a wonderful innovation. The law has made the dream of a college diploma finally attainable for thousands of young people, most of modest means who typically live in rural parts of the state, people like Sharon Wright-Watson, who figures prominently in this month’s Cover Story.

Ms. Wright-Watson was a single mother of five who worked at a fast-food restaurant in Caswell County. She dreamed of getting a job in the healthcare industry, maybe even becoming — dare she dream it? — a nurse. She had no hope of being admitted to a four-year college or university, but perhaps she could start by taking some courses at her local community college. She walked the mile and a half from home to the Caswell Campus of Piedmont Community College and applied.

 She did very well in her community college courses, enough to reignite her dream of obtaining a bachelor's degree in nursing.

Now, let’s go back to that 1995 law passed by the legislature. At that time it was difficult to transfer from a community college to one of our public universities or our many private colleges. Community colleges operated on the quarter system, four-year schools on the semester system. There was no standardization of courses, which meant that a community college student might lose as many as 30 credit hours upon transferring to a four-year school.

The 1995 law, known as the Comprehensive Articulation Agreement, required an unprecedented level of cooperation and standardization between the community colleges and the UNC System. It required a few years of effort to eliminate these academic roadblocks, but they slowly began falling. About 20 private colleges and universities in the state also signed the Comprehensive Articulation Agreement to welcome community college transfers.

In 1997-98, there were 50,287 community college students transferring to a UNC System campus for their junior and senior years. By 2001-02 the number had jumped to 64,766, according to the Department of Community Colleges. That’s an increase of more than 14,000 students who are now on track to receive a university diploma. That’s good news for a state that lags behind the national average in residents with a four-year degree.

One of those 14,000 is Ms. Wright-Watson, who is beginning her senior year at N.C. Central University. You can read more about her and the new cooperation between community colleges and the four-year schools in the Cover Story.

Steve Tuttle

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