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Grant challenges HCC to help students succeed

LINDA CONNER LAMBECK lclambeck@ctpost.com
Connecticut Post

BRIDGEPORT — If there is a formula to helping college students succeed, Housatonic Community College is setting out to find it, armed with a $50,000 grant and prospects for a much larger one.

The grant, awarded by the Nellie Mae Education Foundation, will be used to help the college develop up to five strategies for increasing students' success — particularly among low-income and minority students.

If the strategies win the approval of a selection panel in the spring, Housatonic will get a $400,000 Nellie Mae grant to carry out those ideas over the next four years through a national initiative called Achieving the Dream: Community Colleges Count.

The initiative was started by the Lumina Foundation for Education, an Indianapolis-based nonprofit organization.

For purposes of the grant, success is defined as increasing the number of students who:

l pass courses, earning at least "C" grades;

l graduate from developmental courses to college-level courses;

l and register semester by semester until they earn a certificate or associate's degree.

Anita Gliniecki, dean of students at Housatonic, said the idea is to not only promote students' success, but, in a sense, to "bottle" it, so other colleges can do the same things.

"We're looking at things that can be duplicated in other places, that can be shared with other schools," said Gliniecki.

As such, the project is data-driven and focuses on measurable outcomes, especially closing achievement gaps.

"Obviously we will concentrate on things the college can do," Gliniecki added.

Many things that interfere with students' success are outside a college's control — for example, students who withdraw because their work hours change. The college can, however, make sure its developmental English and math courses are effective and offered at flexible times.

"We're looking at success of students in any which way we can. Age, where they come from geographically, ethnicity we're still gathering data," said Gliniecki. Her office plans to hold focus groups with students this month and conduct a community conversation with the public in December. By the end of December, the college must have identified its priorities; by March, it must have its preliminary strategies developed.

Already, however, Gliniecki believes the strategies will focus on teaching and support services.

"We're really excited about this. It gives us an opportunity to really step back, critically look at what were doing and not doing," said Gliniecki. "With this, if we change, add or delete something, we should be able to measure if it changed student success for the better."

The award comes on the heels of the college's winning the MetLife Foundation Best Practice College Award for exemplary performance in student retention. That award included a $10,000 grant and recognized approaches the college has put in place to help students achieve their educational goals.