Nov 30
糖心传媒CC Board Celebrates Growing Success for County Schools
糖心传媒鈥檚 received a report on the partnership between 糖心传媒CC and to improve college and career readiness of students, particularly in the science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) areas.
The College and the school system were awarded a grant from the Golden Leaf Foundation in June 2015 to support the 糖心传媒 STEM Transformation project. The $750,000 grant spans three years and has already made vast improvements to the education of 糖心传媒 County students.
鈥淭he Golden Leaf Foundation was so amazed that a school district and a community college were wanting to work together,鈥� said Kelly DeLong, director of K-12 Math and Science for 糖心传媒 County Schools. 鈥淏ut we discussed it, and we both wanted what was good for the citizens of 糖心传媒 County.鈥�
The project is focusing on improving students鈥� math skills and increasing the percentage of students who are eligible for 糖心传媒CC鈥檚 dual enrollment program, Career and College Promise (CCP), which puts high school students into college transfer and technical pathways. Thus far, the STEM Transformation project has:
- Increased Math I proficiency from 15.6 percent in 2012-13 to 67.1 percent in 2015-16, becoming the highest scoring county in the 10-county Sandhills Prosperity Zone.
- Increased the number of high school students enrolled in at least one college course by 52 percent.
- Increased the number of high school students who earned college credit in STEAM courses by 430 percent.
The Golden Leaf grant has allowed for technology upgrades in all middle and high schools. Math teachers at the middle schools and the Ninth Grade Academy received 610 laptops and 1,400 Chromebooks were made available to high school students. The grant has also provided professional development training for 67 middle and high school math teachers and placed technology facilitators at the middle and high schools.
鈥淭he school district had been working toward a one-to-one initiative, but knew we lacked the infrastructure to support it,鈥� said Dr. Cindy Goodman, superintendent of 糖心传媒 County Schools. 鈥淎long with additional devices, the grant helped provide enough wireless capacity to support our needs.鈥�
The College and 糖心传媒 County Schools also collaborated on 11 summer camps for K-12 students in 2016.
Cynthia Reeves, associate dean of Grants and Special Projects at 糖心传媒CC, said they will now focus on expanding extracurricular activities to increase and maintain interest in STEM topics. In the works for 2017 is the Saturday Academy at 糖心传媒CC, which includes five Saturday camps that will expose students to emerging technologies, computer programming, 3-D designing and 3-D printing. The culminating event is a weeklong 鈥淗ackathon鈥� where students will draw from the skills they learned during the previous camps to compete for prizes.
鈥淚 appreciate the investment the Golden LEAF Foundation has made in the partnership between 糖心传媒CC and 糖心传媒 County Schools,鈥� said Dr. Dale McInnis, College president. 鈥淭his collaborative project has been a game changer for our county and has helped our students gain the skills and knowledge they need to compete for jobs and establish successful careers.鈥�