Charge

The Implementation Team on the Community College Completion Commitment will address Recommendation 1 from the report of the 21st Century Commission on the Future of Community Colleges:

• Increase completion rates of students earning community college credentials (certificates and associate degrees) by 50% by 2020, while preserving access, enhancing quality, and eradicating attainment gaps associated with income, race, ethnicity, and gender.
• Devise strategies to identify students who have earned 30 credit hours at community colleges and to assist them in earning credentials.

Primary tasks are:

• Develop specific strategies for the work of each represented organization in promoting the completion commitment over the period 2012-2014.
• Determine collaborative efforts to be undertaken by represented organizations over the period 2012-2014.
• Specify metrics to be used in reporting progress on Recommendation 1 to the community college field and other constituencies.
• Recommend functions and information resources to be incorporated in AACC’s 21st Century Center, with regard to the community college completion agenda.
• Develop model action plans for use at the state and local level to implement short-term strategies for increasing college completion—for example, to award associate degrees to students who have earned them; recruit back students who have earned at least 30 credit hours and support them in completing credentials; and award community college credentials through reverse transfer.
• Provide descriptive examples from colleges/states that have implemented effective strategies for increasing completion rates, with data on results.
• Create a communication/dissemination strategy for recommended action plans; provide a toolkit, including information resources, for inclusion in AACC’s online 21st Century Center.
• Set a national target and recommend state targets for increasing degree and certificate completion rates, and report to the Implementation Steering Committee on results.