Columbia State Community College and Maury County Public Schools entered into a partnership Tuesday, Jan. 12 that will create postsecondary pathways and opportunities for students of Maury County.
“This is a new day for education in our community,” said Dr. Janet F. Smith, Columbia State president. “There have been times when we have worked back and forth between the school system and the college for our students, but today, we’re taking it to a greater height.”
Smith and Dr. Chris Marczak, MCPS director, signed a partnership agreement that will allow for the development of programs that expand learning and provide opportunities for college and career readiness.
The partnership agreement included curriculum alignment, dual credit, dual enrollment, grant collaboration, and Seamless Alignment and Integrated Learning Support initiatives. Each initiative includes a work group that will explore potential partnership projects in the coming months and years.
In addition, Smith and Marczak signed six dual credit articulation agreements that will allow Maury County high school students to earn college credit while taking high school courses.
Dr. Dearl Lampley, Columbia State dean of science, technology and mathematics, said that dual credit students have the same learning outcomes but earn high school and college credit.
“We’ve had dual credit agreements in place with Maury County for some time, but they were outdated and needed to be revisited,” Lampley said. “I’m really happy about this, and I think this is only going to grow.”
Lori Brown, MCPS supervisor of career and technical education, said the agreements will help prepare students to be college and career ready.
“We look forward to the possibilities and opportunities that this new partnership will bring,” Brown said. “I look forward to working with Dr. Lampley. We’re going to try to go through all of our programs and present and promote as many opportunities for our students that we possibly can.”
Marczak said the agreement with Columbia State forges a new partnership with education within the MCPS. He spoke to his recently announced Keys to College and Career Readiness, commenting that Key 7 was the most important.
“By high school graduation, all students in Maury County Public Schools will have participated in either advanced placement, dual enrollment, industry certification, work-based learning or military preparation,” Marczak said. “This partnership makes a big run at that key by offering more opportunities to more kids during the course of the day.”
Marczak commented that he didn’t want to see kids walking across the stage at graduation and going home to sit on the sofa.
“We want them to either go to work or school,” Marczak said. “That’s what this partnership does today. I’m excited to see where this new partnership takes education in Maury County.”
Smith also noted that they are exploring opportunities for high school students to graduate high school and earn an associate degree at the same time.
“Our job is to go after students to make sure they have a pathway to graduation,” Smith said. “The biggest advantage is that comfort point that gets them used to the campus and allows them to be more successful when they come to college.”
