Owensboro-area ed group studying Madisonville campaign that helps Dawson Springs Ind., Hopkins Co., Muhlenberg Co. students with college scholarships

Messenger-Inquirer, Owensboro, Jan. 20, 2012

Council learns about Hopkins initiative
By Joy Campbell

The Regional Alliance for Education learned details Thursday of Madisonville Community College’s School Counts initiative that grew out of the Hopkins County community’s goal to give every student a chance to go to college.

Jay Parrent, MCC’s director of student affairs, presented the School Counts plan at the alliance’s meeting at Brescia University.

Several Owensboro groups have been discussing how to create a similar model for local students, and Madisonville’s initiative provides the alliance another example to study, members said.

The alliance, also called the p-16 council, is made up of preschool to postsecondary educators as well as representatives from other public sectors, business and industry. The alliance is part of a statewide network of p-16 councils.
 
“We’ll eventually be putting together a group of people and want to coordinate all of these efforts,” said alliance Executive Director Helen Mountjoy after the meeting. “We need all the help we can get, but it needs to be coordinated so that we don’t compete for the public’s support. We have a lot of ideas on the table.”

Daviess County Judge-Executive Al Mattingly announced earlier this month that he will lead the effort to start a new scholarship program aimed at boosting the number of local students attending local colleges. He expects to raise private funds for it.

The Citizens Committee on Education has been researching and discussing national models for about five years, said Madison Silvert, that group’s chairman and vice president for entrepreneurship and high tech development at the Greater Owensboro Economic Development Corp.

“We have been looking at a holistic approach so that it isn’t just about money,” he said. “But financing it also has been an issue.”

Silvert said he’s eager to learn more about the judge’s idea and figure out how to work together on the initiative.

“I’m encouraged by what I’ve heard today, and I hope the CCE can be a voice,” he said

Daviess County has a 32.1 percent rate of residents with at least an associate’s degree. That meets one of the requirements to become a Work Ready Certified Community — another alliance goal. But county leaders must have a plan to increase the rate to 39 percent, said Nick Brake, president and CEO of the Greater Owensboro Economic Development Corp.

Daviess County received a unanimous recommendation for certification from the state’s Work Ready Review Panel, and the Kentucky Workforce Investment Board will meet Feb. 16 to act on the review panel’s recommendations.

MCC’s School Counts program, implemented in 2009, is a partnership involving the college, public schools and local businesses and industries. School Counts is available in Hopkins and Muhlenberg county high schools. Hopkins Central, Madisonville-North, Dawson Springs and Muhlenberg County high schools participate.

Hopkins County — through collaboration with MCC, schools, civic groups, businesses and industries, raised $1.5 million to fund School Counts, and Muhlenberg County received an estate gift to pay for its program.

“Our program is a workforce development program, not just a scholarship program,” Parrent said. “It identifies skills to cultivate. And it’s about grades, behavior and encouraging them to do more than they have to do. The outcome or payday for students is a scholarship to MCC and workplace certificates.”

Students may earn up to $1,000 per semester for four semesters after financial aid, KEES and other scholarships.

Students start hearing about the program in the third grade and receive prompts about it again in the fifth grade and until they can enroll between grades eight and nine. Once they have enrolled, they continue to receive encouragement and earn annual work force certificates and an annual review of progress.

To be eligible for scholarships, students must earn a 2.5 or better grade point average each year and have at least a 95 percent attendance and punctuality record. They must finish high school in four years and take more than the minimum number of required credits to graduate.

“We reinforce rigor, attendance and going the extra mile,” Parrent said. “We also signed on a lot of businesses who said they would acknowledge the workplace certificates, so students are guaranteed an interview regardless of the pool of applicants.”

Parrent said the broad-based partnerships have paid off. Public schools allow MCC “tremendous access to students, and then they have extra voices in the building stressing the importance of college.”

The initiative requires a large number of ongoing committees, he said.

In the fall of 2011, 1,166 students were enrolled in School Counts in Hopkins County’s three high schools and 535 in Muhlenberg County High.

In the first graduating classes in Hopkins County (2009), six students earned an average $554 per semester; in 2010, 17 students received an average $993 award; in 2011, the average award for the 26 students was $887.

In Muhlenberg, one 2009 graduate earned $780; six students received an average of $718 per semester in 2010; six students earned $995 per semester in 2011.

“I think it’s made a tremendous difference in our schools,” Parrent said.

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