As part of a direct response to the recent White House Summit on Community Colleges, the 16 community colleges of Maryland will convene today for what is being billed as an “unprecedented gathering.”

Clay Whitlow, executive director of the Maryland Association of Community Colleges, said the summit followed a call from President Barack Obama to do a better job of seeing to it that students complete their postsecondary education. “We here in Maryland will do our part,” Whitlow said.

Frederick Community College is sending a team of 12 faculty and staff members — led by college President Carol Eaton — to the conference at Anne Arundel Community College in Arnold. “Here in Maryland, we think of ourselves as a leader,” Eaton said. “We need to, as a state, embrace the completion agenda.”

At the White House summit, held Oct. 5, Obama called for community colleges to produce an additional 5 million graduates by 2020. The presidents of all 16 community colleges in the state will sign the Promise to Act, in which they pledge to increase the number of community college graduates.

Representatives from community colleges will discuss ideas and strategies to increase the number of graduates through panels and workshops at the conference.

“This is about coming together with each other and working together as a system of community colleges to achieve a national goal,” Whitlow said.

FCC will present a panel that discusses improving completion rates without sacrificing institutional quality. This is accomplished through the course scheduling, distance education, course redesign and faculty development.

Eaton, who also serves as chairwoman of the Maryland Council of Community College Presidents, said FCC will not lower its high academic standards just to increase the number of graduates.

“We’ll look for ways to remove learning barriers,” she said. “We’re not going to dilute our degrees.”

One of the biggest challenges for community colleges is that students attend the college with the intent of transferring to a four-year school without receiving their associate degree. When a student transfers but then doesn’t complete their bachelor’s degree, they are left with no degree.

Community colleges are working to ease the process of transferring credits back to the community college so students can then receive their associate degree.

In the spring of 2010, community colleges in Maryland awarded 11,200 degrees. The MACC is proposing to increase that number to 18,600 by 2025, a 66 percent increase. FCC awarded 818 degrees in the spring.

“(Friday) is the kickoff to move this agenda forward,” Whitlow said.

Martha Kanter, undersecretary of the U.S. Department of Education, is to attend the conference and deliver closing remarks. MACC plans to make this an annual event to track Maryland community colleges’ progress.

“This is an opportunity for our faculty and staff to get together at a statewide level and to listen and learn from other community colleges,” Eaton said.

Copyright 2010 The Frederick News-Post. All rights reserved.