NEWS RELEASE

For Immediate Release
Date:  December 7, 2011                                                                                     
Contact:  Collin Callaway, Director of Programs
Office:  (501) 371-0404
Cell: (501) 554-2146
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Arkansas Association of Two-Year Colleges receives $650,000 to improve student success

LITTLE ROCK- The Arkansas Association of Two-Year Colleges (AATYC) received a $650,000 grant from the Kresge Foundation to support student success efforts. The AATYC Center for Student Success (the Center) will utilize the funds for developmental education faculty training, evaluation of pilot programs and improvement of data and research capacities at two-year colleges. All two-year colleges in the state are collaborative partners.

The Center was funded through a grant from the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation with the goals of identifying and promoting best practices and policies that help students continue their studies and complete a degree.  The Center, in partnership with NorthWest Arkansas Community College, recently received a $14.7 million grant from the U.S. Department of Labor to fund the Pathways to Accelerated Completion and Employment (PACE) program. The PACE grant supports the redesign of developmental education courses at every two-year college in order to accelerate student completion. The Kresge grant will allow the Center to provide additional professional development to faculty that are implementing these reforms, as well as expand and build upon other student success efforts underway at the Center.

“Developmental education continues to be a primary barrier to success for Arkansas two-year college students,” said Dr. Ed Franklin, executive director of AATYC. “Two-year colleges have a strong commitment to student success and have a proven track record of promoting initiatives that work. The Kresge funds will go a long way in furthering these efforts.”

AATYC is a private, non-profit higher education membership organization serving the educational needs of two-year college students and the business/industry needs of the state. AATYC represents all 22 public two-year colleges in Arkansas. The association facilitates the sharing of ideas, resources and opportunities among its members and advocates on behalf of members’ students.