ECTC envisions a 3.0 version of community impact

April is Community College Month, a time to recognize the far-reaching impact of community colleges across the country. This month, at Elizabethtown Community and Technical College, we’ll celebrate student success, highlight employer partners and invite our friends and neighbors to get involved at ECTC.

This month also is the perfect time to reflect on ECTC’s mission — to add value to the lives of our students and return that value to our community. As our faculty, staff, board of directors and community partners work together to increase that value and elevate ECTC from a good college to a great college, we’re beginning to think about our success differently.

We want to become what has been coined a “3.0” community and technical college.

First, a little background. A 1.0 college is about access. Consider that ECTC has paths for all applicants regardless of their income levels, grade-point averages or test scores. Plus, we’re close to home with five locations across our 10-county service area.

A 2.0 college is about student success. ECTC students are making incredible gains in this area, and the college’s graduation rate climbed to 59.5% last year, up 21.5 points from 38% in 2018-2019, while the national average hovers around 34 to 35%.

We’ll never stop working to increase access and student success, but we also must broaden our focus to include post-completion outcomes. Are students using the credentials they earned at ECTC to secure good jobs with good wages? Are the students who completed the first two years of a bachelor's degree at ECTC completing that degree at a four-year college or university?

As a 3.0 college, ECTC will equip students to have an even greater impact on their communities. We will measure our success by what truly matters: how well our graduates are doing after they leave us. After all, students don’t come to us exclusively to complete academic programs. That’s a means to an end. They come to us inspired to live better lives.

The Robbins University Center is a great example of a 3.0 endeavor. As it strengthens our partnerships with four-year colleges and universities, it allows us to contribute to bachelor’s degree attainment in our region in more meaningful ways.

First, the center’s partners offer bachelor's degrees that lead to in-demand careers available right here in our region. Secondly, all partners offer in-person support services on our Elizabethtown campus. Plus, we’re able to connect those bachelor’s-degree-seeking students to Family Scholar House for wraparound support services when nonacademic barriers threaten their success.

The college is in the very early stages of this long-term work. It will take some time to develop strategies and even more time to collect data that reflects our impact. Still, at the start of our journey, I’m excited to share our vision with the communities we serve.

I assure you, we’re ready for this. I know ECTC can be one of the top 10 two-year colleges in the nation. Our faculty, staff and administration have built a positive culture of change and are as committed as ever to growth and aligning with the workforce and economic needs of our region.

With Community College Month upon us, I encourage you to look for ECTC’s impact on your own life and the lives of your family, friends and coworkers. I hope you’ll see evidence of our value throughout the community because we are, as always, your community college.