Commentary: New thinking helps college and schools

Monday, March 25, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

SHATTERING past performance and defying conventional wisdom, the Community College of Southern Nevada is making some pretty big waves these days.

The once-sleepy junior college made the cover of The Chronicle Of Higher Education last month, a rare distinction for a two-year school.

The story, headlined "A Community College Goes on the Offensive," outlines CCSN's aggressive outreach efforts that have brought enrollment to record levels.

Among the success stories in the making: a program that offers high school and college classes under one roof, advanced placement and "tech prep" classes that are converted to college credit, and hundreds of new course sections that have given thousands of Southern Nevadans their first exposure to post-secondary education.

Numbers tell the story. CCSN's enrollment rose 21 percent from fall 1994 to fall 1995. That bucked a statewide trend where other institutions of higher learning have remained flat.

But that's just the beginning. Spring registration jumped an astounding 44 percent to 23,000 students.

CCSN President Richard Moore has led the charge for expansion. That's what effective leaders do.

Yet Moore is a driver with a difference. He doesn't see the numbers as a mere means to an end. He doesn't intend to parlay them into a gigantic building program, a personal edifice complex.

Moore, after all, is not here to pad his resume. After 20 years at the helm of Santa Monica (Calif.) College, this 62-year-old educator isn't using CCSN as a springboard to his next job.

His focus, refreshingly, is on students and their career opportunities.

"We've found that two-thirds of the people who have taken classes in their field have gotten pay increases at their jobs," says Moore.

"That shows you the power of education."

And that, he believes, will be the prime determinant of Southern Nevada's future.

On campus, Moore's full court press has created some turnovers. Virtually all top-level administrators have been reassigned or replaced. Some faculty members worry that rapid expansion is diluting the talent pool of adjunct instructors. And they assail a course rating system that asks students to grade their teachers.

Moore isn't in the apology business, however.

He notes that the $100 course fees are enough to pay the salaries and the bills. While acknowledging that change is difficult, he maintains that expansion is essential. And he's not about to take his foot off the accelerator.

But, clearly, the explosive enrollment gains pose problems. Classrooms already are at a premium.

So where does Moore go? To the chronically crowded Clark County School District, of course.

In a deal that will benefit both systems, CCSN has offered to build computer centers at 10 high schools around the valley.

Patterned after the college's technology complex on West Charleston Boulevard, the centers are accompanied by 12 classrooms and five labs. They will provide the latest in interactive learning and much-needed seating for high schools during the day while serving as neighborhood campuses for CCSN programs at night.

Best of all, the centers can be built for an economical $5 million apiece.

Moore, it should be noted, had approval to build four half-size community colleges for $320 million. The typical college administrator would have spent all that -- and then some. But he didn't like the math, and didn't see how it would help students in the Clark County schools.

By hooking up with Superintendent Brian Cram, Moore gets as many seats while saving $270 million in capital expenses. Cram gets 10 high-tech computer centers and 170 additional rooms. Everybody wins.

You have to like that kind of thinking.

As Clark County schools add 10,000 students each year, 1,000 teachers are hired each fall. Yet UNLV's College of Education is unable to provide more than 250.

Officials at the college point out, predictably, that they don't have enough money to hire more faculty. That's true ... to a point.

If more part-time or adjunct instructors were enlisted, new sections could be opened immediately.

Just one problem. The College of Education clings dearly to its national accreditation, a credential that prohibits it from hiring any more part-timers or adjuncts.

Such ivory tower elitism protects tenured faculty, but it fails miserably in meeting Clark County's demonstrated needs.

So here's an idea: Drop the accreditation.

The concept isn't as radical as it sounds. Harvard University, among others, has an unaccredited school of education. Far from tarnishing its reputation, the move has given the school more freedom to craft its curriculum and meet school district needs.

At some point, reality has to sink in on Maryland Parkway. Qualified Las Vegans are being blocked from their local school of education as out-of-state residents continue to land good-paying teaching jobs here.

Can private competition be far behind?

Senior UNLV administrators assure us that conversations are under way and that solutions are coming. Let's hope that the ideas go beyond a cry for more cash to pour into a bureaucratic maw.

True self-examination requires stepping outside this college's oh-so-little box.