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(10/20/09 3:23am)
High school students across the state are taking more challenging courses outside the comfort of their classrooms, potentially changing the college admissions field in North Carolina.N.C. Virtual Public School, an online program designed to help students learn course material that is not available at their high schools, is seeing a significant rise in enrollment. Students in rural counties are especially likely to take online courses. Often their schools lack the funding and resources to provide Advanced Placement classes and similar opportunities.Students enrolling in the virtual school are especially using the opportunity to take a more rigorous course load and be more competitive in the college admissions process, said Bryan Setser, executive director of the N.C. Virtual Public School.That trend could narrow the gap between students who come from rural school systems and students coming from urban school systems, said Barbara Polk, senior associate director of admissions at UNC.The virtual school offers 72 courses, including AP and foreign language classes. One of its most popular offerings is Latin. The extensive number of courses gives students a greater ability to control what and when they learn, boosting their scores as compared to students in classroom settings.“Nationally, online AP students are actually out-performing face-to-face AP students,” said David Edwards, the chief communications and professional learning officer of the N.C. Virtual Public School.“The online learning and blended learning environment is the way the twenty-first-century workforce learns and they are looking for students who have had that experience,” Edwards said.Out of 1,100 students in the two high schools in Montgomery County, 270 students are taking 367 total online classes.Many of those are being taken through the virtual school, said Beth Blake, the distance learning coordinator for Montgomery County Schools.Blake said the program has become popular because students are striving to achieve more college credit prior to applying to colleges. The two high schools in the county offer only three to five AP classes in a face-to-face setting.An increasing number of students are looking toward online options to bridge the gap between them and students at schools with more AP opportunities.“I think that the savings that they are going to have as they look at entering into college is a key factor,” Blake said. The classes are similar to college courses and prepare students for college-level academics because they require skills such as time management and the ability to study ahead, Blake said.“We do want all students in Montgomery schools to take an online course before they graduate” she said. Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.
(09/30/09 5:10am)
UNC-Pembroke is facing some of the lowest graduation and retention rates in the UNC system, and a system policy could be a major factor.The low rates might be a result of the formula for universities receiving state funding, which is currently based on the number of students admitted to the university, said UNC-P Provost Charles Harrington.According to UNC-system reports, the six-year graduation rate at UNC-P was 34 percent in 2001, far below the system’s average of 58.7 percent. The study, conducted in 2007, is the most recent data provided.The same report shows a freshman-to-sophomore retention rate of 71.5 percent as of 2006, the third lowest in the system, which averaged 81 percent.Hannah Gage, chairwoman of the UNC-system Board of Governors, stated in an e-mail that UNC-P might have admitted some students not ready for a four-year university.UNC-P draws from a highly disadvantaged region about 45 miles southwest of Fayetteville, which could contribute to the low graduation and retention rates, she said.“I don’t want to take away from their challenge because it is enormous. But at the end of the day, each campus needs to take students who are positioned for success or at least be willing to provide the tools for their success if they’re not quite ready,” she wrote in the e-mail.UNC-P Student Body President Arjay Quizon said 80 to 90 percent of the school’s students are dependent on financial aid and loans, making it harder for students trying to graduate on time.“Most students are working a full-time job, providing for their families, and they still go to school,” he said.Regional universities such as UNC-P attract students who might not have had the most outstanding high school performances, he said.“Many of our students come from high schools that are not inordinately well-funded. These schools really cannot provide the types and range of experiences that these students would get from a more affluent school,” he said.Gage said the low rates might be partially linked to a lack of focus on academic support.A few years ago, UNC-P asked the Board of Governors to raise students’ fees to start a football team. They thought a team would increase students’ interest in the school and retention and graduation rates. The board advised the university to use the money from the increased fees to improve academic support for their students. “Resource allocation is critical to student success, especially when a campus is dealing with a disadvantaged population,” Gage wrote in the e-mail. She said the board has come up with solutions to emphasize tutoring programs and more academic support for students and is in the second or third year of a five-year plan to raise admissions standards.“We know that students who have less than a 2.5 average in high school do not do well in the UNC system,” Gage said.Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.
(09/22/09 5:07am)
As H1N1 continues to sweep across college campuses, a study has found that preventative measures are not being consistently taken, even during times of heightened awareness.The study conducted at the University of Guelph in Canada by researches from three different universities, including N.C. State University, found that students over-report how often they practice hand sanitation, a key component of preventing the spread of infectious diseases.The study surveyed students suffering from norovirus, a pathogen known to cause outbreaks in college dormitories.Researchers believe that the results of the study can be related to the H1N1 outbreak as well. According to the study, of the 82 percent of students who reported that they always followed hand-hygiene guidelines, only 17 percent were observed actually taking advantage of a sanitizer dispenser located in the university’s cafeteria, said Ben Chapman, assistant professor at N.C. State University and co-author of the study. Chapman said the research findings will benefit students if university officials explain the consequences of not washing their hands through media that students frequently use. “People didn’t hear about the outbreak through traditional universal communications. It was spread through social media networking,” he said. “The biggest thing is that we need to talk to college students like they talk amongst themselves.” Jerry Barker, associate vice chancellor for student affairs at NCSU, said the university has encouraged students to be cautious during times of outbreaks by covering their coughs and continually washing their hands. They have also talked about using some of the suggestions from the study, such as targeting specific concentrations of students in the dining hall, he said. NCSU has had about 500 cases of suspected H1N1 since the beginning of the semester, Barker said.UNC-Chapel Hill has targeted students directly with Campus Alert e-mails, advising those with H1N1 to self-isolate for at least 24 hours after their fever resolves without fever-reducing medications. The Campus Health Services Web site also advises students to prepare for H1N1 before they even develop symptoms by practicing basic preventative measures such as hand washing.Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.