STCC, HCC receive funding to improve workforce development
Date: 10/1/2012
By G. Michael Dobbs
news@thereminder.comSPRINGFIELD — Two area community colleges received part of a $4 million pool of state grants to improve the skills of the state's workforce last week.
Springfield Technical Community College (STCC) received $291,058 for expanding "important student learning assessment activity," while Holyoke Community College (HCC) was given $167,883 to "support the college's Gateway to College Prep program, help increase graduation and student success rates, support ongoing work to develop student learning assessments and increase civic engagement among its students."
STCC Dean of Institutional Effectiveness Dr. Barb Chalfonte said, "One of the major goals of the state's Vision Project is for colleges to better understand what skills and competencies their students obtain during their time on campus. Faculty and staff need to know what their students learn in the classroom, in their program or major, and as a result of their overall college experience. To do this, faculty and staff need support in measuring and tracking the learning goals and outcomes of their students. On a campus like STCC's, which has about 7,000 students taking courses for credit this fall, and where faculty teach many classes each semester, this is no trivial task."
Chalfonte added, "The money provided by this grant will support STCC student learning efforts in several ways. We will be able to purchase software that will not only provide faculty and staff with information on student performance, it also will make it easier for students to access key support services.
"Additionally, we will be able to provide faculty and staff with workshops and grant money to create innovative learning initiatives for their students and track the efficacy of those efforts on students' ability to complete their degrees and/or transfer to four-year colleges. And we will be able to better support the work that many departments do to get their programs accredited by professional agencies (e.g., Nursing, Clinical Lab Sciences) so that graduating students are afforded better employment opportunities," she continued.
At HCC, the grant money will be used to add a needed component to the institution's Gateway to College program. That program brings both students who have dropped out of high school and those at risk of dropping out to the college to finish work on their high school requirements while at the same time earning college credits. Now in its fourth year, more than 90 students have completed the course.
Vivian Ostrowski, the program's director, explained that one of the requirements for a student entering the program is that he or she must read at an eighth grade level. The grant funds will help create a program to bring prospective Gateway to College students who read at a seventh grade level up to the eighth grade level.
She said only about 30 percent of the students who apply meet the eighth grade reading requirement and with this new component, she believes that with the next two school years, the program will double from its current enrollment of 41.
"We are delighted by the Commonwealth's investment in its community colleges and its recognition of their importance to the health of our state and local economies," HCC President Bill Messner said. "These funds will strengthen our ability to serve as a gateway to careers and continued education for our communities."
