Learning Outcomes Resources

completion Completion > Learning Outcomes

American Association of Community Colleges (AACC). AACC developed the Voluntary Framework of Accountability (VFA), the first comprehensive national accountability system created by community colleges, for community colleges to gauge how well our institutions perform in serving a variety of students and purposes. AACC has made the VFA Metrics available to all colleges.

Association of Community College Trustees (ACCT). ACCT has brought urgency and focus to the role of trustees through its annual student success symposium and through the Governance Institutes for Student Success conducted in partnership with Student Success Initiatives at The University of Texas at Austin. ACCT also developed the Access to Success (A2S) Initiative—the nation’s only concerted effort to help public college and university systems boost both the enrollment and success of low-income students and underrepresented minority students. A2S works with 22 public higher education systems that have pledged to cut the college-going and graduation gaps for low-income and minority students in half by 2015.  Together, these institutions serve more than 3.5 million students. Successful institutions in the A2S movement aim to have long-term, visible leaders who articulate and communicate a clear set of goals and build guiding coalitions to achieve them.

Achieving the Dream. Through its work with nearly 200 community colleges throughout 34 states and the District of Columbia, Achieving the Dream helps 3.75 million community college students have a better chance of completing college or attaining a credential and realizing greater economic opportunity.

Center for Community College Student Engagement (CCCSE). CCCSE’s core work is providing actionable data to colleges helping institutions to target key areas for improvement. The center encourages statewide and system-wide participation that enable colleges to leverage resources and to systematically improve student outcomes regionally. CCCSE also facilitates workshops for college teams and multi-day institutes.

Phi Theta Kappa (PTK). PTK is expanding the high-impact, student-led Community College Completion Corps (C4) campaign and collaborates with CCCSE on getting messages to students about ways to strengthen their prospects for success.

Completion by Design. A 5-year initiative funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Completion by Design has a goal of significantly increasing completion and graduation rates for low-income students up to age 25.

Integrated Basic Education and Skills Training (I-BEST). Washington State’s I-BEST program is a nationally recognized model through which a student rapidly increases his or her basic academic skills and/or English language proficiency while concurrently gaining workplace skills. This approach accelerates students’ progress toward earning a credential and securing a living-wage job.

Complete College America. has joined with states to significantly increase the number of Americans with quality career certificates or college degrees and to close attainment gaps. This initiative provides a set of essential steps that explain how states can implement systemic reforms and innovative policies to significantly increase college completion, along with model policies that demonstrate how states can take action now.

Global Skills for College Completion (GSCC). Engaged in training faculty, currently in 19 states, GSCC has a goal of focusing on improving the historically low pass rates of developmental students. The faculty work to uncover themes and patterns which, when well-executed by faculty of any college, lead to measurably stronger student learning.

The National Coalition for College Completion (NCCC). A group of more than 20 national organizations, NCCC participants are working to mobilize a diverse, non-partisan voice in support of college completion that speaks for the collective interests of the American public by demanding a policy agenda that encourages higher education institutions to provide better support to underrepresented students. Goals are achieved through the guidance of five driving principles: affordability, career readiness, equity, transformation, and quality.

Community College Student Roadmap. Developed by the American Association of Colleges and Universities, the Community College Student Roadmap works to help community colleges create programs of academic support that engage students at entrance and teach them early on how to become active partners in attaining their own educational success. These support programs are tied to expected learning outcomes.

Complete to Compete. Enlisting the help of all governors, Complete to Compete initiative strives to make our nation a global leader in college completion by creating a national set of performance metrics to enhance accountability and shape funding strategies.

William Rainey Harper College (Illinois). At Harper College, leaders ask a simple question: “What’s your number?” For Harper, the number is 10,604 additional graduates by 2020, with specific targets set for each year.

SuccessNC. In North Carolina, the State Board of Community Colleges established SuccessNC with a specific goal of increasing the percentage of students who transfer, complete credentials, or remain continuously enrolled after six years. The baseline is 45% for the fall 2004 cohort, and the goal is a 6-year success rate of 59% for the fall 2014 cohort. Reaching this target will double the number of credential completers by 2020. This work was done in collaboration with leaders from the North Carolina Association of Community College Presidents and North Carolina Association of Community College Trustees.

City University of New York (CUNY). The Accelerated Study in Associate Programs at the CUNY community colleges have produced impressive results—doubling associate degree completion rates for participants initiative. Students are grouped in cohorts according to selected majors, and they have consolidated schedules in morning, afternoon, or evening time frames, along with intensive support.

Seminole State College of Florida. At the end of each term, Seminole State College conducts degree audits on students in career programs who have completed capstone courses. Students who have completed certificate or A.S. programs are then awarded the credential and notified of their success.

Related Articles