ECC, MCC receive grants to further adult education
Elgin Community College and McHenry County College are among eight institutions in the state that will receive funding for adult education initiatives through the Illinois Community College Board.
The community college board was one of four in the country awarded a $1.6 million grant to support efforts that provide adult learners with valuable credentials and prepare them for the workforce.
The three-year grants are part of the Accelerating Opportunity: A Breaking Through Initiative, which is supported by five of the nation’s leading philanthropies including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. Grant allocations have not been announced.
The initiative is a new idea in adult education, said Peggy Heinrich, dean of adult education at Elgin Community College.
“Instead of a person needing to move up the levels of adult literacy like to a GED or English As a Second Language, or take remedial courses, they receive the support they need while they are attending classes,” Heinrich said. “Students that spend all of their financial aid money on remedial math and reading courses tend not to stay long enough to earn a degree.”
Heinrich said the model is similar to one in the basic vocational welding program where a faculty member attends classes with students and leads a support course that reviews areas students found difficult, Heinrich said. Students are also assigned a case manager who provides additional supports in areas such as job searching.
“On the career technical side, like many community colleges, we have a lot of people with great hands-on experience teaching it,” Heinrich said. “But they might not be familiar with note-taking skills, how to use the white board and how to break things down into digestible pieces.”
The grant will be used to develop similar pathway courses for computer and numerical control operations and dental office aids.
“We will see this happening not only in adult education but also on the academic credit side to avoid developmental education and the cost of remediation,” Heinrich said.
Illinois was one of 11 states that received a $200,000 design grant in August to redesign adult basic education and postsecondary programs.