St. Croix Valley Educational Collaborative Creating Pathways to Success for Students and Educators

June 12, 2014—In April 2011, leaders from five of West Central Wisconsin's largest educational institutions created a collaborative organization, the St. Croix Valley Educational Collaborative (SCVEC), that four years later is creating beneficial educational pathways for students.  

The SCVEC is a partnership between the Hudson School District, the School District of River Falls, Wisconsin Indianhead Technical College (WITC), Chippewa Valley Technical College (CVTC) and the University of Wisconsin-River Falls (UWRF). The group's purpose is to promote innovation and take action to provide more seamless opportunities for educational attainment and career preparation, as well as building educational bridges to the future for the students, citizens and the regional economy of the greater St. Croix Valley. 

The first collaboration to result from the SCVEC was the signing of transfer articulation agreements between UWRF and CVTC. The initial articulation agreement, signed the same day as the SCVEC agreement during a ceremony at the UWRF Hudson Center, established course-to-course transfers between the CVTC Business Management Associate Degree and several majors in the UWRF College of Business and Economics. Since that time additional articulation agreements have been signed covering degrees in social work, criminal justice, and sustainable management. 

"These transfer articulation agreements represent the type of collaborations the SCVEC is intended to develop," said UW-River Falls Chancellor Dean Van Galen. 

Both technical college SCVEC partners have established robust Transcripted Credit agreements with the Hudson and River Falls school districts. Hudson High School is currently offering 12 WITC Transcripted Credit courses with a total of 23 classes during the 2013-2014 school year. Agreements between CVTC and River Falls during the 2013-2014 academic year included courses in accounting, early childhood education, and foundations of early childhood. CVTC is investigating nine additional courses in communications, technical education, business, and mathematics. 

"Transcripted credit agreements have increased over the past few years, largely due to stronger partnerships between the SCVEC schools," said Roger Stanford, vice president of instruction at CVTC. "These academic pathways create a defined route to support a smooth transition from high school to college for our students." 

One of the most recent SCVEC collaborations will take place August 4-5 during the River Falls School District Educational Technology Summit. The summit, open to educators and administrators from K-12 and post-graduate institutions, will feature Sue Gorman, an Apple Distinguished Education and Google Certified Trainer. UWRF has partnered with the School District of River Falls to allow this summit to be offered for up to three hours of graduate credit for all attendees.  

The SCVEC partners continue to explore additional avenues for collaboration. Cross-institutional leadership teams from the five institutions are collaboratively focusing on several areas including career pathways and economic development. 

For more information on the SCVEC, contact WITC Dean of Business Leslie Bleskachek at Leslie.Bleskachek@witc.edu.

Photo: The signing ceremony establishing the St. Croix Valley Educational Collaborative was held Aprill 25, 2011 at the UW-River Falls Hudson Center.