The Tennessee Board of Regents has awarded a grant to Pellissippi State Community College that will help math students gain additional support they need to earn college credit.
Three Tennessee community college grant recipients were selected for their proposals to foster innovation in corequisite learning support models to improve long-term student success. Pellissippi State’s project focuses on building math learning communities – called LEARN Labs – that are designed to help students succeed and be more responsible, capable and college-connected learners.
“We are grateful to receive the assistance and look forward to tackling the challenges ahead of us as we develop more diverse methods of support to address the diverse needs of our students,” Dean of Mathematics Merve Kester Thomas said.
“Lead instructors of five corequisite courses have already been spearheading efforts with faculty to consolidate syllabi and integrate the learning support concepts we’ve outlined in our grant proposal,” Kester Thomas said. “The ultimate goal has been to deliver more successful, engaging and interactive learning.”
Other schools that have received innovation grant assistance are:
- Chattanooga State Community College where 1-credit-hour learning support labs for college-level math courses will be developed in support of science, technology, engineering and math majors; and
- Nashville State Community College where tutoring support will be increased and embedded in all learning support subjects.
The Tennessee Board of Regents is funding the pilot projects through a $230,000 grant from the Education Commission of the States’ Strong Start to Finish project.
The new innovations will build on work that began a decade ago when Tennessee’s community colleges became the first statewide higher education system to implement the corequisite learning model – enabling students to earn college credit during their first terms while also receiving additional support.
In addition to the on-campus work at the three community colleges, TBR also plans to build a Learning Support Community of Practice among faculty and advisors from all 13 community colleges, as well as representatives from partnering college access organizations.
In addition to Kester Thomas, grant team members from Pellissippi State include advisor Leslie Cragwall and professors Terry O. Gibson, Jr., Angela Partelow, Chris Culliton and Suzanne Etheridge.