August, 2009 - January, 2011 - Community Partners: Cherokee County Schools, Appalachian State University, and the University of North Carolina at Asheville.
August, 2006 - July , 2009 - Community Partners: Cherokee County Schools, Graham County Schools, Appalachian State University, and the University of North Carolina at Asheville.
The purpose of the Western North Carolina Network for Access and Success (Network) is to function as a collaborative for college access programming, public schools and higher education in western North Carolina. The Network thus serves as a clearinghouse of information and data related to higher education access improvement activities in the state. The Network provides opportunities for high schools in western North Carolina to apply for mini-grants to establish a College Access and Career Exploration Program.
The Network is funded by the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) and is a replication of two successful college access networks in the Appalachian region: southern Ohio (OACHE) and West Virginia (WVACHE). The OACHE was formed as a result of a significant study called the Appalachian Access and Success Project. A copy of Research Update, an abridged version of the project, presents the outcomes, conclusions, and recommendations of the study and is available upon request. Since the publication of the study and the establishment of OACHE, high schools in southern Ohio that have created a College Access and Career Exploration Program have experienced significant increases in the college-going rate for high school graduates.
The current ARC Grant is housed in Teacher Recruitment at Western Carolina University and provides funding for Teacher Recruitment and the College of Education and Allied Professions to establish a higher education center for the Western Carolina University (WCU) Partnership Schools. This collaborative center serves area school systems with college access and teacher recruitment programming. Funding also provides resources to high schools through an RFP Process, so that high schools can provide resources and college visits for students. Additionally the western region middle and high schools receive programming funds to participate in the Teachers of Tomorrow Reaching to Teach Conference for Middle School Students and Teachers of Tomorrow Reaching to Teach Conference for High School and Community College Students.
The ARC Grant partnerships began as an eighteen month grant implementation and is now in its fourth year of existence. The partnership will be sustained beyond the life of the grant due to the nature of the programming and the collaboration with existing entities in the region.