Grant will help bolster preparedness and success of California community-college students
USA Funds awards $103,000 grant to California Community Colleges
INDIANAPOLIS — USA Funds®, the nation’s leading education-loan guarantor, has announced the award of a $103,000 grant to help bolster student success and the academic preparedness of students attending California community colleges. USA Funds awarded the grant to the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office, which provides guidance for the 72 districts and 110 colleges that constitute the California Community Colleges system.
The grant will fund a review of literature and best practices, as well as three conferences to focus on critical issues confronting community colleges in California.
“We will use what we learn through our best-practice review to inform our faculty and staff on ways we can best meet the needs of our basic-skills students and help them not only succeed but excel in our college system,” said Carole Bogue-Feinour, vice chancellor of academic affairs for the California Community Colleges. “For our efforts to be successful, we will determine what programmatic features are essential to effective basic-skills programs, demonstrated by data and evidence of learning, and how improved performance can be fostered through across-the-curriculum efforts and other kinds of institution-wide support.”
Approximately 50 percent of all first-time freshmen in the California community-college system drop out within one year. Additionally, assessments across the state indicate that the majority of all new freshmen are underprepared for college-level math and English and have a low probability of successfully completing transfer-level math and English courses. Developing solutions to these problems is critical both to the academic success of community-college students and to the success of other community-college missions, including career training, transfers to bachelor’s-degree programs and lifelong learning.
The nationwide, in-depth review will examine how students learn and what teaching methodologies, strategies and support structures best promote learning in basic-skills courses. Once research is complete, the information and conclusions gleaned from the study will be shared, to help ensure adoption and implementation of programs deemed most effective.
Three conferences, planned for spring 2007, will include in-depth strategic-planning sessions focusing on an examination of the review of literature and best-practices results, operational implications, associated costs and development of an implementation strategy. “Consistent with our nonprofit mission of enhancing preparation for, access to and success in postsecondary education, we are pleased to award this grant,” said Henry L. Fernandez, USA Funds executive director of scholarships, outreach and philanthropy. “By supporting gains in student retention and success, this initiative also will contribute to lower student-loan-default rates, an important goal for USA Funds in its role as a student-loan guarantor.”