College Receives $2.5 Million for Innovation Award

Butte College is one of 14 colleges and universities in the state being recognized by the Department of Finance for its innovative practices through the receipt of an Innovation in Higher Education Award.

This program was designed to recognize colleges and universities that have shown innovation that has resulted in a greater degree attainment, transfer, and an increase in the number of Californians earning a bachelor's degree.

There was $50 million allocated for this program and Butte College will receive $2.5 million. In its award application the college committed to using this money to complete the implementation of its Student Progression and Completion Model and to continue making progress toward meeting its ambitious goals for course completion, persistence, degree and certificate completion and transfer.

There were several key factors Butte College was selected for this award, which include:

• An institution-wide focus on student access, success, progression, completion, and transfer along with a highly collaborative and positive culture that is able to make this focus a reality,
• Deep and meaningful collaboration with high schools and California State University (CSU), Chico,
• The implementation of effective practices that shorten student pathways and facilitate success, completion and transfer, including:
  • The implementation of 21 associates degrees for transfer that reduce the number of credits students must achieve to earn a bachelor' degree,
  • The establishment of a supplemental instruction program to provide students with additional help in difficult-to-pass courses,
  • The expansion of the existing First Year Experience Program to give students the skills they need to successfully navigate their educational journey and use the resources available to them,
  • The acceleration of developmental English and Math pathways to get students more rapidly into college-level work, and,
  • The expansion of data resources available at all levels of the organization to support more effective decision-making.

Through these efforts Butte College has increased the number of degrees it awards by over 30 percent over the past five years. Thanks largely to its collaboration with California State University, Chico the number of transfers to UC and CSU has also increased by 30 percent in the same period.

These results of these efforts were also evident on the 2014 Community College Survey of Student Engagement (CCSSE). This is a national survey that measures student perceptions about the things most likely to lead to student success and completion. On this survey Butte College was rated in the 80th or 90th percentile on each of the five benchmarks when compared with its cohort group. This means that Butte College's scored better than 80 percent or 90 percent of its cohort on each benchmark.

"Butte College is honored to receive one of the 14 Innovation in Higher Education Awards. This prestigious award appropriately recognizes the great work of our faculty, staff, and administrators in support of student access, success, progression, completion and transfer. Thanks to their efforts and the support of our K12 and university partners, Butte College has increased the number of degrees it has awarded and the number of students transferring to UC and CSU by over 30% in the past five years. I'm very pleased that the Department of Finance is recognizing these efforts and providing additional resources to accelerate them," said Dr. Kimberly Perry, Butte College President.