Austin Community College District Invests in Re-enrollment and Student Success

With student success nonprofit InsideTrack, the community college district will train student success coaches to boost re-enrollment, persistence, completion, and career readiness for stopped-out learners

AUSTIN, Texas, Jan. 17, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Austin Community College District (ACC), a nationally recognized two-year institution serving Central Texas and the sixth largest community college in the nation, today announced a new partnership with student success nonprofit InsideTrack to bring re-enrollment coaching to up to 6,800 former students who wish to complete their degrees. The partnership is focused on re-enrollment coaching and coaching development, which will support the college in building a sustainable re-enrollment program.

"It's critical to provide students with wraparound support they need to get back on track and finish what they started. This partnership will help us reach out to these students and get them across the finish line," said Dr. Guillermo "Willie" Martinez, associate vice chancellor of student engagement and academic success at ACC. "This is about actively connecting with and guiding these students, not only steering them towards their postsecondary goals but also providing assistance in navigating and realizing their broader career aspirations."

Today's announcement follows ACC's previous two-year partnership with InsideTrack, which began in 2017 and was funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, to develop an in-house student success coaching program and coaching methodologies that the institution has utilized since the program's inception. In January, the college received a grant of more than $770,000 from the U.S. Department of Education's Postsecondary Student Success Grant (PSSG) to launch the Austin Community College Ensuring Student Success (ACCESS) project, which provides outreach and re-enrollment coaching through InsideTrack. In 2022, the first year of the PSSG grant, the Department allotted $5 million toward the program, whereas it was able to distribute $45 million toward the program in 2023. This increased investment aligns with ACC's increased commitment to re-enrolling stopped-out students.

Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the number of adults with some college but no credential has continued to climb, with this population of learners increasing to 40.4 million in 2021. According to the Education Data Initiative, between Fall 2021 and Fall 2022, 28.9% of all first-time, full-time first-year students dropped out of college, and 24.4% of first-time, full-time college first-year students dropped out between 2022 and 2023 fall semesters. This signals an ongoing growth in this population of learners.

In addition to directly coaching students, InsideTrack will also provide Austin Community College District with coaching tools, processes, and strategies, all rooted in InsideTrack's evidence-based coaching methodology and re-enrollment practices. By building internal capacity to support re-enrollment efforts for stopped-out learners, the college will continue building a foundation for long-term success. InsideTrack will achieve this through Foundational Coach Training (FCT) for student success coaches at the college who have not yet been trained. This will help the coaches establish the fundamentals of coaching and learn how to effectively engage with learners at initial and ongoing meetings.

The program will also equip ACC student success coaches with the skills and credentials to support stopped-out students through InsideTrack's CLEAR framework. This approach is a coaching strategy that promotes understanding before problem-solving in a way that is empowering and shows empathy for students while navigating challenging conversations. In addition to a series of training sessions through this framework, participants will receive one-on-one coaching with an InsideTrack-certified quality specialist to reinforce skills learned in training and explore ways to put the framework into practice with stopped-out learners.

"It's inspiring to see institutions across the country that are working diligently to re-engage with students who have paused their postsecondary education to achieve their goals," said Mike Embry, associate vice president of partner success at InsideTrack. "Each returning learner reflects vast promise and potential, and by providing tailored support, we not only empower individuals to achieve their educational aspirations but enrich our communities with diverse perspectives and skills they need to thrive."

To learn more about Austin Community College District visit austincc.edu.

About Austin Community College: Austin Community College is a nationally recognized college serving Central Texas as the primary gateway to higher education and technical training opportunities. Our mission is to provide open-door access to an affordable college education for students who want to earn a degree, learn a marketable skill, or advance their careers. We pride ourselves on offering an extraordinary learning experience that puts every student on their path to success.

About InsideTrack: InsideTrack is a mission-driven nonprofit that fuels positive change by empowering and advancing all learners to achieve their educational and career goals through the transformative power of coaching. We help people get the education they need to enhance well-being, create opportunity and secure meaningful employment — ultimately facilitating economic and social mobility. Since 2001, we have served over 3.2 million learners, partnering with more than 350 institutions and organizations to directly improve enrollment, retention, completion, and career advancement – tailoring our coaching outcomes to fit the needs of our partners and the learners they support. Our coaching methodology is evidence-based and research-confirmed, supporting all types of learners at every stage of their journey — especially those who face systemic barriers to postsecondary success. We are a catalyst for transformational impact, ultimately empowering learners and the organizations who serve them. To learn more, visit www.insidetrack.org and follow us on Twitter @InsideTrack and LinkedIn @InsideTrack.

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SOURCE InsideTrack