Community college graduations pushed; ECC programs touted

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Welding students get a lesson on oxyacetylene welding at Elgin Community College during a I-CAPS welding program. Submitted Photo

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To read the full report, visit Lt. Gov. Sheila Simon’s website at illinois.gov/ltgov/Pages/LtGovernorSimontocollegesFocusonthefinish.aspx.

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Updated: February 23, 2012 8:13AM

ELGIN — Illinois Lt. Gov. Sheila Simon has released a report on the state of the state’s community colleges, and has proposed a number of reforms summing up her fact-finding tour of every community college in the state over the past year.

That report found that four out of five recent high school graduates who enter such colleges do not complete a certificate or degree within three years — making community colleges, in Simon’s words, “revolving doors.”

“We’re doing a good job of getting all types of students into the doors of community colleges,” she said in a written statement. “But now we need to do a better job of moving them across the stage at graduation with a certificate or degree that leads to a good-paying job here in Illinois.”

To do that, Simon’s report lays out four steps that community colleges can take to “focus on the finish.” She set a goal to increase the number or working-age adults in Illinois with certificates or college degrees from 41 percent to 60 percent by 2015.

And she singled out several programs at Elgin Community College, which she visited in late September, both in her report and in remarks she made Thursday morning at The City Club in Chicago.

“We have a lot of strong professionals at the college who have worked on this a long time, and finally they are being recognized,” Elgin Community College President David Sam said.

“It’s a step ahead of many places, and we are pleased with that.”

The lieutenant governor’s report puts ECC about in the middle of the 48 community colleges in Illinois for certificate and degree completion. ECC awarded certificates or associate’s degrees to 25 percent of students in three years or less between fall 2007 and fall 2010, Simon said.

That’s a percentage that has held steady over the past decade, even as enrollment at the school has grown, according to ECC spokesman Jeff Julian. The community college awarded 2,529 total certificates and degrees in 2011, compared to 1,793 in 2008, according to the college.

And, Julian noted, that puts the Elgin school at the top of the community colleges in the Chicago area.

’Focus on finish’

Simon, a former law school professor at Southern Illinois University, is Gov. Pat Quinn’s point person on education reform, according to a written statement from her office.

In her first year as lieutenant governor, she toured every community college in Illinois to learn how the state can work with schools to increase completion rates and connect students to the workforce. She chose those schools, according to her office, because they enroll more students than public universities in Illinois but produce fewer graduates.

“Our request of community colleges is deceptively simple: Help more of your students finish what they start. As a state, we must stay focused on the finish,” she said.

To do that, Simon has proposed four steps:

Start high school students off on the right path.

Anticipate the needs of modern college students.

Create clear pathways to success.

Report and reward progress and completion.

Her report also identifies two critical areas for education in Illinois: improved math instruction and transparency.

Not prepared

One reason students take longer to graduate or drop out is that they are not prepared for college-level work, according to the report. That’s also one reason the lieutenant governor has proposed that community colleges start with high school students.

Almost half of the recent high school graduates test into remedial courses — meaning those students must take certain remedial college courses because their pre-college test scores indicate they don’t yet have those skills — and most of those incoming freshmen struggle with math, the report said.

About 70 percent of the 1,300 students who came to ECC directly from high school this fall tested into at least one remedial course, according to Julie Schaid, the college’s assistant dean of college readiness and school partnerships.

About 63 percent of students tested into a remedial math course, compared to 40 percent in English and writing, and 26 percent in reading, Schaid said. That number is down from 71 percent of students who needed math help in 2006, when the community college started its Alliance for College Readiness program.

“It’s a slow and steady progress, but a lot of the metrics are headed in the right direction, and we’re very proud of that,” she said.

Building a bridge

Simon pointed to the Alliance for College Readiness — a partnership between Elgin Community College and the four school districts with high schools in Community College District 509 — in her report. She particularly lauded its Summer Bridge program. Schaid described the program as a “three-week refresher boot camp” for students who tested “almost college-ready.”

“The Summer Bridge program needs to be shouted about from the mountaintops,” Simon said when she visited the school in September.

In addition, Schaid said, the Alliance has “actually decided to be a little more proactive than that.” High school and community college faculty are developing a four-year math curriculum for high school students.

Illinois only requires three years of math in high school, the report noted. And Schaid said 54 percent of incoming students at Elgin Community College who tested into remedial math courses had not taken or had failed the subject in their senior year of high school.

I-CAPS

The lieutenant governor also praised the community college’s I-CAPS (Integrated Career and Academic Prep System) program during her first speech to the City Club, which Sam attended.

That program “has creatively and successfully matched students with jobs,” Simon said in that speech. It puts an English professor in a welding course alongside English as a Second Language students to build on the vocabulary of their work in English class.

“These school-to-job connections can and should play a vital role in our economy. But community colleges are often overlooked. We need to change that,” she said.

“We must help more students finish what they start. Let’s stay focused on the finish. Let’s build a state that draws in employers, that promotes entrepreneurs, and that has a base for a strong and flexible economy not just right now but for generations to come.”

That’s something that Sam said the state and the community college both are telling students: “You can’t compete if you can’t complete.”

And in order to get students to the finish, the Elgin Community College president said, it’s going to take focus from the students, the college, its board of trustees and its feeder school districts. It’s going to take the whole community.

“Our first name is community,” he said. “We want to be sure we are always true to our first name.”