In an era of diminishing resources, higher education institutions are increasingly being asked to do more with less. A recent study by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities found that “forty-eight states … are spending less per student than they did before the recession.” Another study from the Georgetown University Center on Education and […]
Opinion
Shock the System: True Reform Requires Diversification
Empowering Community Colleges to Build the Nation’s Future: An Implementation Guide provides targeted outcomes outlining the “Next Big Things” in the American Association of Community Colleges’ (AACC) 21st-Century Initiative. The guide implores the nation’s community college leaders to stop looking backward and instead move courageously forward. Many of our colleges have already started on this […]
Shock the System: True Reform Requires Diversification
Empowering Community Colleges to Build the Nation’s Future: An Implementation Guide provides targeted outcomes outlining the “Next Big Things” in the American Association of Community Colleges’ (AACC) 21st-Century Initiative. The guide implores the nation’s community college leaders to stop looking backward and instead move courageously forward. Many of our colleges have already started on this […]
College Readiness is an All-Hands Project
Addressing college readiness presents a challenging yet exciting opportunity for the nation’s community colleges. The task of getting students ready for college had been placed largely at the feet of our secondary school systems — and, to a lesser extent, adult-education centers. But that’s no longer the case. We must consider college readiness our business, […]
Time to Align Education With Labor Market Data
While a complex national debate occurs in academic and policy circles over whether there is a skills gap, community colleges face a different reality on the ground. That was the challenge faced by educators on the American Association of Community Colleges’ Implementation Team 5, a group of community college leaders who came together over the […]
Time to Get Serious About Redesigning Our Colleges
Everyone who works in a community college knows that the only authentic measure of a college’s success is the success of its students. And despite the truly significant contributions these institutions already are making to their communities and country, it is evident that we are falling short. College completion rates are unacceptably low. Achievement gaps […]