Tag: Associates Degree

South Louisiana Community College Established Partnership with McNeese

South Louisiana Community College recently established a partnership with McNeese State University (MSU) that benefits students seeking to transfer their two-year business degrees. In light of this partnership, The Advocate has recently written a feature article that details just how SLCC has expanded over the past few years to become one of the largest community colleges in the state of Louisiana.

South Louisiana Community College (SLCC) was established in Lafayette back in 1997 with the aim of providing both academic and vocational training opportunities. Over the years, SLCC has grown significantly, and in 2012, it merged with the Acadiana Technical Colleges, expanding its reach to become a comprehensive community college with campuses in eight parishes. Today, SLCC stands as one of the largest community colleges in Louisiana, boasting an impressive student enrollment of over 7,000 individuals.

Situated on the main Lafayette campus off Bertrand Drive, SLCC encompasses three buildings that cater to various educational needs. The Devalcourt Building, a three-floor structure, primarily houses classrooms dedicated to general studies. On the other hand, the Ardoin Building, named in honor of Ted Ardoin, accommodates the welding department, as well as other technical training programs and the financial aid office.

In 2016, a state-of-the-art Health and Sciences building was added to the campus, comprising three stories of modern facilities. This building serves as the home for the esteemed Nursing Program and also houses administrative offices. Additionally, the Devalcourt Building is where the Early College Academy is located. As Lafayette Parish’s only school of its kind, the Early College Academy offers high school students a unique opportunity to earn both a high school diploma and a two-year associate degree in their chosen field.

The recently-announced agreement between SLCC and MSU provides a clear pathway for SLCC students to seamlessly transfer their credits to MSU and continue their education towards a four-year degree. The official signing ceremony for this transfer agreement took place at SLCC, attended by Chancellor Vincent June and MSU President Daryl Burckel. The Dean of McNeese’s College of Business, Sherry Bai, emphasized the immediate effectiveness of this agreement, highlighting the opportunities it presents to aspiring business professionals. Bai was quoted as saying, “our main goal today is to make the transfers seamless, effortless.”

It’s worth noting that McNeese State University’s business school offers a wide range of programs, including accounting, business administration, finance, management, and marketing. In addition to undergraduate degrees, McNeese also provides a master’s of business administration (MBA) degree and a specialized certificate program in the liquefied natural gas business. As for SLCC, it has established 2+2 transfer agreements with business programs at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Nicholls State University, and the University of Holy Cross in New Orleans. In fact, the agreement with Holy Cross was just signed the previous day, indicating SLCC’s commitment to expanding its partnerships and opportunities for students.

SLCC Chancellor Vincent June expressed his excitement about the recent 2+2 agreements signed with McNeese and other institutions. He revealed that these agreements mark the first significant partnerships forged by SLCC since the onset of the pandemic, and he anticipates the establishment of additional agreements with other colleges and universities in the near future, likely starting in the upcoming fall semester.

The collaboration between community colleges like SLCC and four-year institutions such as McNeese State University is an excellent example of how students can take advantage of seamless transfer pathways. By starting their educational journey at a community college, students can save on tuition costs, receive specialized training in their chosen fields, and smoothly transition to a four-year institution to complete their bachelor’s degrees. These partnerships ensure that students have the necessary support and resources to achieve their academic and career goals effectively.

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BESE and Board of Regents Announce New Fast Forward Pathways

Soon, students in Louisiana public schools will have 76 new opportunities to receive their high school diploma while also earning an associate degree or participating in a state registered apprenticeship or pre-apprenticeship, according to a news release from the Louisiana Department of Education.  The announcement of the 76 new Fast Forward pathways was made by members of the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) as well as the Board of Regents (Regents) at their biannual joint meeting in which they discuss education policy, share vital information, and vote on issues of mutual interest to both parties. These 76 newly-announced Fast Forward pathways are in addition to the dozens of pre-existing pathways that already exist for students at Louisiana high schools.

Dr. Cade Brumley, the State Superintendent of Education, commented on the 76 additional pathways by saying, “From cybersecurity to carpentry, these new pathways empower our students with opportunities to gain employable skills for the high-wage, high-demand jobs of today and tomorrow.”

Louisiana’s Fast Forward program is an opportunity for students to not only graduate high school but also get a head start on their post-secondary careers by finding out what career fields they enjoy and pair them with further education or state-registered pre-apprenticeship/apprenticeship opportunities. The program pairs traditional classroom learning with practical, technical, and career experience.

When enrolled in a Fast Forward program, students spend the majority of their 9th and 10th-grade years earning core graduation credits on their high school campus through traditional classroom teaching. Then, when students enter 11thand 12th-grade, enrolled students will be spending the majority of their time on either a postsecondary campus or at a satellite location while being dually enrolled in a course. The dual enrollment aspect of the program is designed to ensure that students will complete their high school graduation requirements while also earning an associate’s degreeor on-the-job experience in a state-registered pre-apprenticeship/apprenticeship.

Before announcing the new Fast Forward pathways or even approving them, they went through a rigorous review process. The pathways were reviewed by the Louisiana Department of Education, BESE, Regents, the Louisiana Workforce Commission, and Louisiana Economic Development. Additionally, Career and Technical Educationsupervisors from both larger and smaller-scale school systems throughout the state of Louisiana were a part of the review process, since these pathways would take place within their districts.

The joint meeting between BESE and Regents also were able to brief the state’s two education boards on the progress that has been made in expanding Louisiana’s Dual Enrollment programs. The expansion of Dual Enrollmentin the state is vital to meeting Regents and BESE’s joint goal of all students graduating high school with college credit,a post-secondary credential of value, or both. The joint goal is set to be achieved beginning with the class of 2029.

Alongside the announcement of the new Fast Forward pathways, the state’s education boards also announced the following information at the joint meeting. There was a 3% increase in high school students enrolling in college courses in the 2020-2021 school year as well as an increase in the number of students participating in dual enrollment programs and graduating with either a college credit or an industry credential. In fact, in the 2019-2020 school year, 52% of high school students had graduated with a college credit or an industry credential, which is an improvement from the 51% of students in 2018-2019.

Dr. Kim Hunter Reed, the Commissioner of Higher Education, said the following at the joint meeting, “today we acknowledged the significant work that has been accomplished in Louisiana over the last few years to expand college opportunities for high school students, giving them a clear pathway to prosperity. Our collective success rests on our ability to effectively align policies, resources, and accountability to accelerate access to academic and technical early college options for all high school students in our state. Equity in these opportunities is critical.”

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New Program Launched to Improve College and Career Readiness in Graduates

Soon, Louisiana high school students will be able to earn an associate’s degree or gain meaningful work experience for career readiness through a new high-demand apprenticeship program from the Louisiana Department of Education, as announced in a recent Louisiana Believes press release.

The program, Fast Forward, was developed to actively blur the lines dividing high school, higher education, and the workforce, thus completely redefining the high school experience in an accommodating and versatile way. Louisiana State Superintendent of Education Dr. Cade Brumley said of the program, “this bold initiative has the potential to impact the educational landscape in our state for years to come. We must be more deliberate about personalizing high school for our students and preparing them for their next step beyond high school graduation.”

Students entering the program would begin high school in a typical manner by completing grades 9 and 10 on their high school campus while earning their required diploma coursework in the core academic areas like English Language Arts, Mathematics, Natural Sciences, Social Studies, etc. Then, once students pass their sophomore year and are at high school’s halfway point, they will be given the option to spend grades 11 and 12 on a postsecondary campus, a high school post secondary satellite campus, or while fully immersed in a state-recognized pre-apprentice or apprentice program.

Aside from the traditional options offered to students in high school, the Fast Forward initiative would offer up to three pathways to students. The Jump Start 2.0 Associate’s Degree Pathway allows students planning to enter the workforce directly after high school to graduate with an associate’s degree. The TOPS University Associate’s Degree Pathway would allow for college-bound students to earn two years of collegiate credit while in high school. The High-Demand Apprenticeship Pathway would allow students to enter the workforce directly following high school graduation with certification in a high-demand field.

This program will be impactful as recent graduation cohort data showed that only 159 out of 42,650 2019 graduates warned both a high school diploma and an associate’s degree, marking this pathway an area in need of improvement.

All three options are clearly advantageous for any high schooler wishing to get the most out of their high school experience, and the pathways already build upon programs and similar diploma tracks that are currently offered in Louisiana schools. Each of the state’s eight regions will have planning grants with funds up to $50,000 awarded to a lead regional secondary school system and its higher education partner in that district. Additionally, the Louisiana Department of Education and the Board of Regents will split the cost of the grants.

Details of the promising Fast Forward initiative for college and career readiness were first shared during the December 2020 joint meeting of theLouisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) and Regents, with the initiative receiving support from both boards, and that support comes as little surprise. This is due to the fact that much national attention has been garnered for the effort put forward by the Board of Regents, BESE, the Dual Enrollment Task Force, andLouisiana legislature to enhance pathway opportunities to improve career and college readiness in the state.

The State Commissioner of Higher Education, Dr. Kim Hunter Reed said of the program, “this pilot puts into action the joint goal adopted by BESE and Regents in 2019—for all freshmen, beginning with the entering class of 2025, to graduate with some college credit or a market-relevant credential. We must attract more students to our campuses if we want our state’s attainment level to improve and one of the easiest ways to do that is to embed college experiences into high school.”

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Baton Rouge Students Earn Associate Degree & High School Diploma

Recently, an innovative new program has emerged in Baton Rouge Louisiana that involves local high schoolers earning an associate degree and a high school diploma at the same time, as reported by an article from The Advocate.

The program is similar to other early college programs that have emerged in Louisiana in recent years, though this particular Baton Rouge-based program, known as the East Baton Rouge Career and Technical Education Center’sEarly College Academy, is set to zero in on specific, high-demand, higher-paying job fields. The end result is to have students walk out of high school and right into a job, having gained the education and experience alongside their diploma requisites.

Earlier this year in March, a memorandum of understanding was signed for the new academy by officials from both the Baton Rouge Community College and the East Baton Rouge Parish School System. Though, the coronavirus outbreak and the surrounding closures of schools shut down the operations involved in opening the academy and getting students enrolled. However, officials from the two educational institutions recently reconvened to sign a proclamation that commemorates the partnership between the school system and the community college.

Though the program is beginning with a manageable, smaller size than intended, it’s allowing officials to observe what does and doesn’t work about the program from the onset, as four Baton Rouge teenagers from Broadmoor Senior High School are starting their associate’s degree alongside their diploma pathway this month.

These students started the year by taking both their high school and college-level classes strictly online, and they’re set to return to twice-a-week instruction in-person soon. The in-person instruction will have students taking their traditional classes at Broadmoor High and taking their field-specific college courses at the school system’s Career and Technical Education Center. These four students are the first ninth-graders to attend EBR CTEC, and they’re joining 155 juniors and seniors from other local high schools.

Chancellor of Baton Rouge Community College, Willie Smith told the Advocate just how graduates of the program can make an immediate impact upon exiting. He stated, “Could you imagine — we’ll have 18-year-olds now paying taxes — what that will do for our community?”

Similarly, Associate Superintendent Ben Necaise, who was filling in for Superintendent Leslie Brown addressed students at the ceremony directly by saying, “Congratulations for taking that plunge and being the first students to go through this amazing program. We can’t wait to see what you do.”

These four students from Broadmoor High entering the program are pursuing associate’s degrees in automotive as well as information technology with more degree pathways to be added in the future once the program opens up to more high schools.

So far this year, the students have been taking online IT courses as they await a return to in-person instruction that will allow them to gain experience that comes with full utilization of the hands-on lab equipment.

One student learned of the program just by viewing a promotional poster in the office while he was registering for school earlier this year. He viewed the program as a good opportunity to broaden his expertise, as he had already begun independently learning how to code.

The Executive Vice President of the Baton Rouge Area Foundation, John Spain, traced the genesis of the program all the way back to 2008 when he and other civic leaders were trying to decrease the amount of teenagers dropping from local area high schools.

This program, once expanded, wil serve as a great companion to a high schooler’s education as it’ll propel them directly into the workforce just as they receive their diploma, making the students an active investor in their education as early as Freshman year.

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