SACRAMENTO – The California Community Colleges Board of Governors, continuing its push to improve student success and expand access, today approved more than $31 million in funding for online tools that will streamline assessment for entering students, help them develop education plans and expand the range of on-line courses they can take.

“These technology investments complement policy changes that California community colleges are making to provide students with the services they need to help them reach their educational goals,” Board of Governors President Manuel Baca said. “Our board is focused on improving student success and expanding opportunities for students. These tools support those goals.”

At Tuesday's Board of Governors meeting, Foothill-De Anza Community College District was awarded up to $16.9 million to expand the California Virtual Campus, which is a catalog of online courses from accredited colleges in California.

The district will establish an online course exchange in the California Virtual Campus for all California Community College students.

The program is designed to increase the number of associate degrees awarded and transfers to four-year colleges by enabling students from any participating college to enroll in and complete a course from another participating college and easily apply that course toward completion of a degree.

It is also designed to improve the retention and success of students enrolled in online courses offered through the exchange. The online course exchange is part of Gov. Jerry Brown’s Online Education Initiative.

The project includes student support services to address retention and faculty support for course development and conversion. The goal is to increase access to open courses from across the state to provide students with opportunities to faster degree completion.

“This is a cutting-edge vision for California and I believe it will transform online learning for students in every corner of the state,” said Foothill-De Anza Community College District Chancellor Dr. Linda M. Thor. “It represents a unique moment and opportunity in California history to make good on the Master Plan’s promise of universal access to public higher education while also improving student success. I could not be more excited and honored to have our district play a role in helping California community colleges increase their transfer and graduation rates.”

Butte-Glenn Community College District was awarded two statewide grants. The district will receive up to $8 million annually to create and manage a common assessment system and up to $8 million annually to develop and manage an education planning system.

California’s Community Colleges face the challenge of accurately assessing and placing the growing numbers of students seeking entrance and the common assessment system will offer students test preparation tools, result in reduced test taking, provide more diagnostic guidance for course placement and enable students to apply the results of a placement test at multiple community colleges if they choose.

The education planning system will develop and use centralized and integrated technology to better guide students to define and achieve their educational goals, ultimately reducing the amount of unnecessary courses taken by students due to lack of planning. The project will provide more students with education planning and degree audit services while streamlining the process for students, faculty and staff.

“Our Butte College team is thrilled to learn that our plans to address system-wide solutions were selected for funding,” said Dr. Kimberly Perry, Butte-Glenn Community College District superintendent/president. “Both initiatives will help ensure success for California Community College students.”

The California Community Colleges is the largest system of higher education in the nation. It is composed of 72 districts and 112 colleges serving 2.3 million students per year. Community colleges supply workforce training, basic skills courses in English and math, and prepare students for transfer to four-year colleges and universities.