College of the Redwoods
Narrative for New Noncredit Certificate
Certificate or Diploma: Certificate of Competency
Program Title: Career and College Foundations
Item 1. Program Goals and Objectives
This certificate will prepare students for transition to college or a new career. It will provide a structured academic
pathway for those students those who may have graduated high school but do not fall into the traditional
academic paradigm. This sequence of courses will provide instruction in basic skills, work readiness and computer
literacy in order to help students meet academic and vocational goals.
Students will be assessed on their ability to:
1.
Demonstrate skills necessary for college or career readiness.
Item 2. Catalog Description
A noncredit Certificate of Competency to help students successfully transition to college or a new career. This
sequence of three courses allows students to explore their options and discover what they need to learn to be
successful in reaching their academic or vocational goals. Work and college readiness is developed through
instruction in reading and computer literacy to prepare students for further education or a new career.
Item 3. Program Requirements
Core Requirements
EDUC 220
EDUC 207
READ 260
Dept #/Name
Career and College Foundations
Getting Started with Computers
Developing Literacy
Hours
3-90
32
75
Total hours: 110-200
Sequence:
1. EDUC 220 (Career and College Foundations): students will be assessed for learning needs and may spend up to
90 hours working in an individualized lab-based setting to increase skills and content knowledge.
2. EDUC 207 (Getting Started with Computers) and READ 260 (Developing Literacy) may be taken concurrently and
in any order.
Item 4. Master Planning
The mission of the college is to be a place where lives are transformed. Within the service area, there is a need to
provide pathways to college for those students who do not fit into a traditional academic paradigm. This noncredit
certificate will provide one such pathway that will allow nontraditional students to document their progress and
further their academic and vocational goals. Best practices in basic skills research has shown that students who
have measurable goals are better able to persist in college. Furthermore, many of these students have low
confidence levels or high anxiety about their lack of study skills and content knowledge. This sequence of courses
is designed to allow them to build skills and habits of mind according to need at a slower pace than in creditbearing college classes. Currently, according to College of the Redwoods' Student Success Scorecard, only 30% of
students who needed remedial instruction in Math and 40% of students who were unprepared in English
successfully completed a college-level course in that subject over the 6 years they were tracked (2007-2013). This
sequence of courses will target those students who are least able to persist for a variety of reasons by giving them
a foundation in basic skills according to need. It will allow them to review and practice skills to take the English and
Math placement tests, increasing their chance of being placed more accurately in the sequence and successfully
reaching college-level classes. Students can also document their progress with this certificate in work readiness
skills for employment purposes without the expense of college course fees.
Narrative for New or Substantial Change to New Noncredit Certificate