Four New Gateway Partners Join the National Network   

In February 2011, Gateway to College National Network officially welcomed four new colleges into the network.  Each of these colleges brings a strong record of partnerships with local school districts, and their selections will build the capacity of the Gateway network.

Highline Community College (HCC) in Des Moines, WA serves a very diverse community between Seattle and Tacoma.  The college staff and leadership are very aware of and attentive to the needs of the community, so Gateway's wrap-around service model will be a perfect fit for their culture.  Highline already has excellent programs serving English language learners and first generation college students, and it is one of the largest operators of the statewide Running Start program (which allows academically qualified juniors and seniors to enroll in college classes as part of their high school coursework).  HCC is an "Achieving the Dream" college.

Two of our new partners are located in Texas.  Both El Paso Community College (EPCC) in El Paso and South Texas College (STC) in McAllen have considerable experience with early college and dual enrollment programs.  Though they are different in many ways, they also have a lot in common.  Both of these colleges have six early colleges already operating in partnership with multiple school districts, and they have excellent relationships with their school districts.  STC served over 10,000 students in dual enrollment last year and one of its early colleges was recently featured as part of a case study by Jobs for the Future to spread early colleges across the state.  EPCC has been recognized for its innovative approach to working with students in developmental education and brings expertise to the network in helping underprepared students qualify for transfer-level college courses.  Perhaps not surprisingly, both STC and EPCC are "Achieving the Dream" Leader colleges.

Camden County College (CCC) in Camden, NJ is the largest county college in New Jersey.  There is a substantial need for Gateway in the community as 60% of adults in Camden County have achieved a high school diploma or less.  The city of Camden is marked by high levels of poverty and students face considerable academic challenges.  However, the college and the school district are committed to improving outcomes for young people and they have created successful partnerships in the past, including an innovative program called "College Express," which uses placement tests with high school students, and then provides free developmental education courses to underprepared students on the high school campus to help ensure college readiness.  The college has a strong orientation toward student services and offers a small, free childcare facility on campus.

Keep an eye out, because 2011 is going to be an interesting year and we expect there will be additional Gateway partners joining the network before the end of Spring term.

Innovation Collaborative is Launched

The National Network has launched a new initiative for colleges interested in innovative approaches to increasing student success in developmental education.  The Innovation Collaborative will help participating colleges create and scale learning communities and engaging pedagogy within their developmental education departments.  Faculty will pair courses together using an integrated, project-based curriculum to create a learning community of students, while increasing support to faculty peers through the creation of their own professional learning community.  In addition to start-up grants of $25,000, Gateway to College National Network will also provide each college with a coach to support teams as they implement and refine their learning community designs.  The Innovation Collaborative is a derivative of Project DEgree.

The following six colleges have been selected for Fall 2011 implementation:

• Chattahoochee Technical College
  Marietta, GA   
• Community College of Philadelphia
  Philadelphia, PA  
• Hinds Community College
  Raymond, MS  
• Mesa Community College
  Mesa, AZ  
• Pima Community College
  Tucson, AZ  
• Scottsdale Community College
  Scottsdale, AZ

Six additional colleges will be selected in Spring 2011.

Gateway to College provides life-changing opportunities for thousands of students across the country.  Since 2004, over 700 students have graduated from the program with their high school diploma and significant college credit, and hundreds more are nearing graduation.   

The National Network team and our partner programs are committed to continuously improving the Gateway pedagogy and student support structures so that our students have the best possible chance of success.     

This year, the National Network is offering Gateway programs two types of supplemental grants focused on continuous improvement.  We are offering travel stipends for five Gateway teams to visit our demonstration sites.  We launched demonstration sites at Riverside City College and San Antonio College in 2009 so that faculty and staff from Gateway programs across the country, as well as policymakers, the media, and others interested in the Gateway to College model could observe best practices in teaching, curriculum design, student support, and program administration.  Since that time, seven Gateway programs have visited our demonstration sites.  

We are also offering Promising Practices Project grants of up to $112,500 each.  These grants are intended to help selected programs improve their performance in targeted areas such as persistence, Foundation term completion, course completion, and graduation rates, to name just a few.  Qualifying Gateway programs must submit applications by March 4, and selections will be announced in April.  Grantees will develop and implement a detailed continuous improvement plan, and will receive customized technical assistance from the National Network to support their efforts.  Contact Stephen Rice at srice@gatewaytocollege.org for more information.

We are excited about these continuous improvement efforts and look forward to learning alongside our partners.

2011 Peer Learning Conference to Focus on Student Persistence and Completion 

The 2011 Peer Learning Conference (PLC) will be held July 18-20 in Philadelphia.  This year's theme is "The Power of Persistence: Thinking BIG about new approaches for student success and completion."  Following are the main topics to be addressed during the conference:  

• Building Communities of Practice
• Maximizing contact time between students, staff, and the college community
• Deepening and broadening the solution focused culture
• Implementing learner-centered classroom strategies
• Using the cycle of inquiry to improve student outcomes

Since this is a peer learning event, we encourage National Network partner program faculty and staff to facilitate workshops during the conference.  The deadline for submitting workshop proposals is Friday, April 15.    

Our keynote speaker on Day 1 of the conference is Freeman A. Hrabowski, III, President, University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC).  Dr. Hrabowski's presentation will focus on Strategies for Expanding Access and Increasing Student Success.  He will discuss best practices and strategies for preparing students for college coursework by creating supportive environments that emphasize faculty commitment; strong relationships among students, faculty, and staff; and using technology to help students succeed.      

Dr. Hrabowski has served as President of UMBC since May, 1992.  His research and publications focus on science and math education, with special emphasis on minority participation and performance.  Dr. Hrabowski has authored numerous articles and co-authored two books, Beating the Odds and Overcoming the Odds (Oxford University Press), focusing on parenting and high-achieving African American males and females in science. 

During the second day plenary, Angela Oriano-Darnall will discuss the work of the Center for Community College Student Engagement (CCCSE).  Part of the Community College Leadership Program at the University of Texas at Austin, CCCSE works with community colleges across the country, using the most up-to-date research on best practices to improve the educational experiences for students, and thus strengthen learning, persistence, and completion.  Taking a data-driven decision-making approach, Dr. Oriano-Darnall will provide an overview of the most salient practices that we can focus on to help improve the outcomes of our students, interspersing her remarks with table discussions and student video clips.

Staffing Update From the National Network 

On January 31st, Sarah Lechner and Kris Barnum joined the National Network team as Managers of Training and Partner Support.   

Sarah Lechner joins us from Open Meadow Alternative Schools where she worked as the Career Services Training and Internship Coordinator.  She has extensive experience working with nonprofits in consultant and training roles, collaborating with community colleges on career pathway trainings, working with homeless youth, and community organizing.  Sarah received her master's degree in organizational development and leadership from Saybrook University in California, and her bachelor's degree in environmental studies with a concentration in social ecology from Denison University in Ohio.

Kris Barnum joins the National Network team from Clark College where she worked as the Associate Director of WorkFirst and Career Pathways.  She has 25 years of experience in postsecondary and K - 12 education, including several positions working with diverse populations in human development and workforce education, advising for adult high school diplomas, worker retraining, and leading development of career centers in the K - 12 system.  Kris received her master's degree in Vocational Technical Education and her bachelor's degree in Education from Washington State University. 

Kris and Sarah have been hired to provide partner support to our growing network of Gateway programs, and will also provide some instructional coaching as new partners join.   

Brown Bag Webinars

Brown Bag webinars are hour-long professional development workshops delivered by GtCNN practitioners and guest presenters via a web-based format.  Please contact Prentice Davis (pdavis@gatewaytocollege.org) if you would like to participate in a session.  These webinars are hosted at: http://gtc.webex.com.

March 11, 2011: The Solution Focused Approach "On the Ground" - Lois Orner, GtCNN

Details: This webinar will be in a seminar format.  It will provide an opportunity for people to talk about their successes and challenges using the Solution Focused Approach with students and receive support and guidance from colleagues regarding how to increase skill and comfort in using this approach successfully.

Target Audience: Program Directors, Instructional Staff, and Resource Specialists

Time: 9:00 am Pacific

April 21, 2011: Accessing Program Information via Your GtCNN Database - Paul Clayton, GtCNN

Details: Explore how to get the most out of the reporting tools in the Gateway to College database!  This webinar will take a detailed look at each report to increase familiarity with the program information that is available at your fingertips.  This session will serve as a refresher for those who haven't recently had an individual database training session.

Target Audience: Administrative Assistants and Program Directors

Time: 10:00 am Pacific