The multiple missions of community colleges and how they’re funded make it difficult for them to focus on completion and to accurately track effectiveness. However, based on available evidence, the Postsecondary Success team believes there are at least three key ways to improve community colleges:
Collect and use data better: We need to know what students learn and how we can best support them in their educational pursuits. We need to know what jobs they get upon graduation and why students of some community colleges do better in the job market than others. The data needs to break down success rates by student characteristics to determine inequity in completion rates and target interventions. Until we begin measuring these results, there will be no pressure for improvement. Several are already leading in this area, including the American Association of Community Colleges, which is developing a new accountability model for its members.
Revamp "developmental" (remedial) courses: This is one of the first and biggest stumbling blocks students encounter after high school. The foundation’s Postsecondary Success Initiative is investing heavily in way to accelerate students through their required remedial work, such as the successful results we’ve seen in schools affiliated with Achieving the Dream. We’re also encouraging colleges to create interventions with clear pathways such as, the Academy for College Excellence at Cabrillo College. Finally, we’re also trying to improve teaching and learning through the redesign and effective use of technology, such as the work being conducted at MITE that is curating a growing library of high-quality online course content for students and faculty in higher education.
Fund colleges and provide aid for results, not enrollment: State funding and accountability systems have emphasized enrollment as the measure for success for both two- and four-year colleges. Thus colleges have been "rewarded" primarily for enrolling students, with no regard as to whether the student drops out or takes 10 years to earn a diploma. Some states, such as Washington and Tennessee, have begun to experiment in this area. For example, Washington state has implemented the Washington Student Achievement Initiative that provides incentive funds for colleges who do better in moving low-income students to completion. With the help of foundation grantee Complete College America, Tennessee recently overhauled its higher education system and will include performance-based funding in the future.