News
November 26, 2003
Contact: Lorna Sutton, Director of Communications, SBCTC, 360-704-4310
Two-year colleges exceed performance goals for 2001-03, to set new targets for 2003-05
OLYMPIA – Washington’s community and technical colleges exceeded their performance goals for 2001-03, according to a report to be reviewed by the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges when it meets Dec. 2-3 in Seattle.
The board is expected to adopt new performance targets for 2003-05 as the colleges continue efforts to increase the number of students prepared for work, the number prepared to transfer to universities, and the percentage achieving substantive gains in basic skills.
The 1999 Legislature established long-term goals in each area, and each biennium since then, the State Board and the colleges have developed targets to measure progress and build toward the long-term goals.
Results in 2001-03 for the state’s 34 community and technical colleges show:
- The number of students leaving college with job skills – including earning degrees or certificates, completing apprenticeship programs or otherwise demonstrating they have gained skills to advance in the workforce – reached 124 percent of target. More than 22,300 students were considered “prepared for work,” compared to a goal of 18,000.
- The number of students identified as “transfer-ready” during the biennium was more than 43,800. This is 106 percent of the target of 41,250.
- The colleges also achieved 106 percent of the target for students making basic skills gains. The percentage of students who made substantive gains during the biennium was 51 percent, compared to a target of 48 percent.
Other items on the board’s agenda include a background briefing on tuition waivers, as part of a year- long study being conducted on all mandatory and optional tuition waivers offered by the colleges, and a report on a study of apprenticeship being prepared for the Legislature.
The board will meet in a study session Tuesday from 1 to 5:15 p.m. The board will conduct regular business Wednesday from 8:15 to 11:30 a.m. This has been identified as a special meeting because the date was changed from the original annual schedule.
Both sessions will take place in the Room BE1110 of the Broadway Edison Building (main building) at Seattle Central Community College, 1701 Broadway. The board has also scheduled a dinner meeting Tuesday with leaders of the Seattle Community College District and the state community and technical college system. All meetings are open to the public.
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Note: This is a "special" meeting of the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges because it is being held on Dec. 2 and 3 instead of Dec. 3 and 4, as originally scheduled.
The meeting agenda and background materials are posted on the State Board Web site at: http://www.sbctc.ctc.edu/general/a_board/.
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