MCC receives two grants totaling $19,250 for in-house special populations tutoring services

McHenry County College recently received two grants to support tutoring services provided through MCC's Office of Access and Disability Services. A $10,000 grant from the Illinois Community College Board, followed by a $9,250 grant from the Grace Bersted Foundation, Bank of America, N.A., Trustee, will allow the college to expand on a pilot project initiated last year to assist students with disabilities in overcoming barriers that affect their capacity to be successful in college.

MCC will focus on improving the rate of credential, certificate or degree attainment for students with disabilities in Career and Technical Education programs through two evidence-based activities: first, providing executive functioning coaching to students with disabilities and second, offering professional development in classroom management and accessible curriculum design to CTE faculty.

Executive functions include tasks such as planning, prioritizing, staying attentive in class, interacting with others, keeping track of deadlines, course requirements and expectations, and other important functions that impact learning. Students with executive functioning challenges often have difficulty in college because of the unstructured environment, while the nature of their disabilities often requires structure, boundaries and self-regulation.

With grant funding, an Access and Disability Services tutor will provide both in-class and out-of-class support to participating students with content-area tutoring as well as increasing their capacity to successfully meet the expectations of their coursework. The academic tutor will monitor in-class student interactions with their instructors and peers and collaborate with the students and instructors on ways to structure the classroom experience for improved academic performance.

Professional development training for MCC faculty will provide instruction and guidance on classroom management techniques as well as information about curriculum development using Universal Design for Learning best practices. It offers a framework for teaching that accommodates individual learning differences. Universal Design for Learning helps all students - not just those with disabilities - to determine their own strengths as learners.

For more information about the program or other services provided by MCC's Office of Access and Disability Services, call Lili O'Connell, manager, at (815) 455-8676.