Henderson Community College, Henderson, Kentucky, is a two-year, public community college, located in western Kentucky, serving a region in which the per capita income is 21% below the national average and only 13% of the residents have at least a bachelor’s degree. The College offers Associate Degree programs that prepare students for transfer to a 4-year university or immediate entry into a career field. The Fall 2003 headcount credit enrollment was 1,925.

Activity: Coaching for Student Success: Strengthening Academic Program and Support Services. Total Budget request: $1,809,903. The goal is to improve student achievement and persistence to degree completion by strengthening the college’s curriculum and instruction in Developmental Education and related gateway courses and transforming support services.

HCC students represent a broad range of talents, abilities, age groups, and backgrounds, but most share at least two overwhelming concerns: they are frustrated by inadequate basic skills and are deeply anxious about their ability to succeed in college. The proposed project addresses the needs of these students by capitalizing on advances in teaching/learning pedagogies and interactive technologies to improve their opportunities for success. The proposed project includes four solutions: (1) comprehensively reviewing and revising teaching practices through a coordinated professional development program, which will include opportunities to explore new technologies in a Learning Studio; (2) modifying the Developmental Education/Gateway curricula and teaching practices to reflect “best practices” in the field; (3) developing a “one stop” Student Success Center offering proactive, coordinated assistance in career/education planning and other interventions; and (4) modernizing the College’s weak infrastructure and integrating new tracking/reporting tools to enhance teaching, learning, and advising.

Accomplishment of the objectives, related to the College’s goals, will result in (1) a higher level of student achievement, with more Developmental Education students passing their coursework with a B or above, compared with student performances in baseline years; (2) higher persistence from fall to fall; and  (2) higher success in degree completions, compared with completion rates in the baseline years. In addition, faculty and staff will demonstrate higher use and satisfaction with access to technology resources that support the teaching/learning process and support services. Measurement of objective achievements will be based on a comprehensive Evaluation Plan, which includes the assistance of an Independent Evaluator who will work alongside the College in a thorough, objective evaluation process.

Personnel and fringe benefit costs represent approximately 60% of the Activity Budget, with equipment requests totaling approximately one-third of the budget. The Activity Budget: request over 5 years $1,223,243. Project Management request: $246,660. Endowment request: $340,000.