WCC to Foster Faster AA Degrees with $1M Grant

Westchester Community College has received a pioneering $1 million grant from the Laura and John Arnold Foundation through its 2016 Moving the Needle Competition.

The Moving the Needle Competition provides funding for state and local governments and nonprofit organizations to implement and scale highly effective, evidence-based programs that “move the needle” on pressing social problems.

WCC plans to "move the needle" on graduation rates.

Nearly half of all U.S. undergraduates attend community colleges, but only 21.8 percent nationally graduate within three years, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.

Westchester Community College proposes to replicate aspects of the City University of New York’s celebrated Accelerated Study in Associate Programs. The ASAP program was designed to provide comprehensive financial, academic and student support services needed to increase the percentage of full-time community college students who complete the associates degree within three years.

Since its inception, ASAP achieved a graduation rate more than three times the national average for urban community colleges.

Westchester Community College President Belinda Miles praised the Foundation’s recognition of the college’s focus on student success and academic excellence.

“We are thrilled to have support from the Arnold Foundation to accelerate our momentum toward improving educational and career pathways for students,” she said. “This is an opportunity to extend these types of reform within different University systems. The Foundation’s significant investment in a model which promises to greatly increase completion rates at community colleges across the nation is truly visionary.”

ASAP’s “system of reforms” have the express goal of graduating at least 50 percent of students within three years, and will be fully implemented in Westchester’s program.

These supports include financial resources (tuition waivers for students in receipt of financial aid with a gap need, textbook assistance, and transportation assistance), structured academic pathways (full-time enrollment, block scheduled first- year courses, immediate and early completion of developmental courses, winter and summer enrollment), and comprehensive student support services (comprehensive and personalized advisement, tutoring, career development services and cohort-based programs to connect students to the college community).

WCC was chosen after multiple rounds of demanding reviews in a highly competitive grant process. The college was one of three institutions, selected out of 34 nationally-submitted proposals, to be invited to apply for support.

The selection puts the college at the national forefront of community college reform and recognizes the institution’s capacity for leading change.

A separate grant, also funded by the Laura and John Arnold Foundation, will support a rigorous evaluation of the new program at Westchester Community College to help inform others about how the program improves outcomes for students.

ASAP began in fall 2007 and has demonstrated exceptional outcomes. An independent evaluation involving a randomized control group conducted by Manpower Demonstration Research Corporation (MDRC) found that the students in the ASAP program had nearly double the graduation rate of students in the control group, and outperformed them in persistence, full-time enrollment, credit accumulation, three-year graduation, and transfer.

Similarly, CUNY’s own evaluation of ASAP students found improved educational outcomes on all key measures: 51.9 percent graduate (compared with 22.2 percent in the comparison group); 48 percent of students with developmental needs graduate (compared with 20 percent); 71.3 percent are retained in the fourth semester (compared with 54.8 percent); and many also attempt and earn more credits and have higher GPAs. MDRC found similar results at an earlier phase in CUNY’s implementation and Westchester Community College is anticipating similar results.

“We believe the ASAP model will extend our work with cohort management and further improve our student success initiatives,” said Miles.

Westchester Community College’s implementation, begun in January, will be done in partnership with CUNY’s ASAP Technical Team. The renowned Manpower Demonstration Research Corporation (MDRC) will measure the results of the program and publish their findings nationally.