Community College Case Studies: 3 Lessons on Improving Learning

Last year, President Obama announced his ambitious plan to graduate five million more students from community colleges by 2020. According to a report at WhiteHouse.gov, the President believes this goal is necessary to ensure the United States can continue to be a leader in the global economy. However, boosting graduation rates at community colleges nationwide may be easier said than done. To facilitate the process, California has developed a list of recommendations to increase graduation rates in that state, which could serve as a model for other states.

Room for Improvement

According to a Southern California Public Radio report, there is plenty of room for improvement in California community colleges today. A study by California State University, Sacramento, found that seven of every ten students do not complete a two-year degree or transfer to a four-year institution. Long Beach City College President Eloy Ortiz Oakley told the radio station, "We need to improve the education of our workforce rapidly, and community colleges are the gateway to the majority of that workforce in California."

This video explains how one community college uses data to increase graduation rates.

Finding Solutions

To help achieve that end, the Community College League of California has issued recommendations for community colleges to follow. The "Commission on the Future's 2020 Vision for Student Success" report outlines 17 recommendations designed

Recently, a debate has been raging in higher education after for-profit colleges launched attacks on community colleges. In the wake of the first and much anticipated White House Summit on Community Colleges, criticism has been circulating about the "unsavory recruitment practices" of these institutions, according to a report on Inside Higher Ed. Community colleges have also been accused of providing less-than-stellar academic quality, course availability, and individual attention to students. Now, community colleges are fighting against accusations, with a new study designed to highlight the differences between these institutions and their for-profit counterparts.

This video looks at the pros and cons of attending a community college.

Just How Similar?

The American Association of Community Colleges recently released a brief titled "Just How Similar? Community Colleges and the For-Profit Sector." The study focuses on the fundamental differences between community and for-profit colleges that make it difficult to compare the two types of institutions according to the recently used criteria. According to a press release on PR Newswire, while the post-secondary institutions may offer several standard programs, that tends to be where the similarities end. These institutions serve a widely different population, resulting in different outcomes and success rates.

Some of the differences noted in this study include:

• A higher ratio of minority students at community colleges. More than half of all Hispanic students and 40% of Black, Native American, and Alaskan Native

The Catch-22 of Community College Graduation Rates

President Obama has shined a significant spotlight on America’s college graduation rates throughout his administration, and community colleges are feeling the pressure.

• According to the Hechinger Report, fewer than one out of five students at community colleges obtain their desired degree in three years or less.
• A recent study published by the American Institutes for Research (AIR) paints a similarly grim picture by indicating that high college dropout rates cost both state and federal governments billions of dollars yearly.
• However, do these numbers accurately depict what is happening in community colleges and four-year institutions nationwide?
• This article will explore the many reasons for high dropout rates, including flaws in how such data is collected.

What the Numbers Show

As shown in the graph above, National Center for Education Statistics data shows that only 13 percent of community college students graduate in two years.

• Within three years, approximately 22 percent of students graduate; within four years, the rate stands at 28 percent.
• Further data from AIR shows that only about 60% of college students graduate from four-year colleges and universities within six years.
• AIR vice president Mark Schneider claims that state and federal governments spend more than $9 billion annually on these students.
• Yet, all that funding fails to produce a college graduate who could bring those years of education to the country's workforce.
• While

During the recent economic slowdown, community colleges saw an exponential rise in enrollment as displaced workers sought out retraining to become employable once again. Unfortunately, many of those community college grads have no more luck finding a job than they had prior to their college experience. To compound the problem, many graduated with a significant amount of debt from tuition and other college-related expenses. President Obama is hoping to reverse that trend, with the launch of Skills for America's Future, a program designed to match potential workers and training with the industries that need them most.

What Is Skills for America's Future?

According to the Aspen Institute website, Skills for America's Future will serve as an umbrella under which businesses, labor unions and community colleges can work together to put workers back to work in this country. This organization will coordinate efforts between these entities to ensure workers are getting the necessary training to fill the employment positions that desperately need workers today.

The initiative was announced by the White House last month and will be housed within the Aspen Institute, a nonprofit research organization that fosters value-based leadership and provides a venue for discussing and acting on critical issues.

Skills for America's Future will primarily focus on identifying the most successful retraining partnerships around the country to use as a model for other colleges. Austan Goolsbee, chairman of the President's Council of Economic Advisors, told the New York