Three Tennessee community colleges awarded innovation grants to improve student success through corequisite learning support

The Tennessee Board of Regents has awarded grants to three community colleges to foster innovation in corequisite learning support models to improve long-term student success. Corequisite learning support enables students to earn college credit while also receiving the additional support they need to be successful. 

Selected through a competitive request for proposals (RFP) process, the colleges and their projects are:

• Chattanooga State Community College – Launching Math Learning Labs. Math department leaders will create a 1-credit-hour learning support lab for college-level math courses required for STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) majors. When possible, the lab will be taught by the same instructor as the college-level course and will closely follow the same curriculum.
• Nashville State Community College – Navigating Tutoring in Learning Support.The college aims to increase tutoring availability for learning support students and embed tutoring in all learning support subjects through a new Tutor Navigator position and Targeted Tutoring.
• Pellissippi State Community College – Building Math Learning Communities,.Pellissippi State will launch math learning communities where students' experiences in college-level and learning support math courses are seamlessly integrated, with additional support from Learning Environment for Academic Resourcefulness (LEARN) Labs.

The colleges will use the funding to design, implement and test reforms to the delivery, timing and alignment of corequisite support. They will work closely with TBR staff to refine their innovations and develop robust evaluation plans to measure impact on student outcomes.

TBR is funding the pilot projects through a $230,000 grant the system was awarded by the Education Commission of the States’ Strong Start to Finish project.

The new innovations will build on work that began a decade ago when Tennessee’s community colleges became the first statewide higher education system to implement the corequisite learning model – enabling students to earn college credit during their first terms while also receiving the additional support they need to be successful.  Prior to 2015, entering students who tested below college level in math or writing were required to pass a non-credit learning support course before enrolling in for-credit college-level courses.

Course success rates doubled with the corequisite model, when students were allowed to enroll in college-level courses alongside a “corequisite” learning support course. Faculty continued to improve the model but some challenges persisted for students after completing their gateway, or entry-level, courses.

As a result, the Tennessee Board of Regents (TBR) system is launching its Coreq 2.0: Accelerating Student Success through Corequisite Innovation and Math Alignment initiative.

In addition to the on-campus work at the three community colleges, TBR also plans to build a Learning Support Community of Practice among faculty and advisors from all 13 community colleges, as well as representatives from partnering college access organizations, as a key component of the Coreq 2.0 initiative. The Learning Support Community of Practice will serve as leaders at their college in developing and sharing best practices in corequisite learning support. To support their work, members will engage in professional development by participating in an online learning community during the 2024-25 academic year.

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About Strong Start to Finish: SStF is national initiative hosted by Education Commission of the States and  supports student success by scaling reforms in developmental education across higher education systems and institution intermediaries. Funding for SStF is provided by the Ascendium Education Group, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and The Kresge Foundation. Visit strongstart.org for more information.