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This video is from 2–3 years ago, ahead of the very real timeliness of this issue. Sandy Shugart is president of Valencia College (formerly Valencia Community College, which name change he refers to in this presentation) and is the Sunday evening plenary speaker at SCUP–47 in Chicago, July 7–11, 2012; higher education's premier planning event. In this video he asks and addresses the question, “Can Our Institutions Accommodate to People Who Don't Believe In Them.” 

Shugart is an accomplished poet and musical artist, as well as the man who recently accepted on Valencia’s behalf, the designation of the Top Community College in the United States. If you just want the talk, skip ahead to about 30 minutes. But you’ll be missing a really good singing performance, with commentary. We very much hope that he brings his guitar to Chicago for SCUP–47.

Best Practices: Planning Effectively Designed Learning Spaces

A good review, in University Business magazine by Ann McClure, of a surprising number of initiatives underway to bolster the community college mission. Each of the following is described in a short summary:

• The White House Summit on Community Colleges
• Department of Veteran's Affairs
• The Brookings Institute
• Lumina's 'Adult Degree Completion Commitment'
• The American Association of Colleges and Universities' 'Roadmap Project'
• The Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence
• The Gates Foundation's 'Completion by Design' Program

As one example, regarding veterans:

Helping veterans accomplish education and employment goals was one breakout session topic community colleges are already tackling. The robust program at Coastline Community College (Calif.), which has served active military since the 1970s, earned Jocelyn Groot, dean of military and contract education, a summit invitation. “What I took from our session is veterans are a different community with different needs,” Groot says. “What emerged was the disconnect between the Department of Education, Department of Labor, and Veterans Affairs.” Having Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, in the session assured Groot the message would be heard. She says an exciting aspect of the summit was that it felt like a normal meeting until she realized there were people at the table who could actually make a difference.

A challenge she sees is in getting information about veterans’ support programs out to community college students and the public. For example, many people are unaware of the Student Veterans of America support clubs on many campuses.

According to this Innovation Showcase item from the League for Innovation, Project Lead the Way is one of the most successful secondary-level STEM programs:

Project Lead The Way (PLTW), is being supported by a growing number of community colleges as a robust and well-proven curriculum that integrates effectively with their own paths of study. Through increased cooperation with PLTW high schools and engineering universities, a number of community colleges have expanded their own STEM offerings to provide students the comprehensive education they need for technology-oriented careers ... .

Project Lead The Way was conceived in the early 1990s as a way to reverse the decline in students choosing engineering and technology-oriented careers. PLTW courses emphasize applied learning and help prepare students for life in the 21st century, whether or not they choose to work in technical fields. This hands-on approach gives students the opportunity to apply math and science concepts to a variety of real-world problems that are challenging and fun.

Jeff Wendt interviews Robert Tucker of InterEd, who says that - to him - it is seems that the Department of Education has decided that for-profits are an impediment. Tucker has some interesting ideas and perspectives.

[T]he flaws in the Department of Education's regulatory formulation are critical. ED's disclosures tell prospective students who are interested in certain applied degree programs that their degree, earned at a particular institution, is likely to land them the job they seek. However, they are told nothing about time and cost to degree. There is no mention of the opportunity costs of delays. There are no requirements for disclosure if the school is non-profit. Meanwhile, in addition to the possible outcome, does it matter what the buyer may want during the actual educational experience — facilities, amenities, fellowship and a host of other considerations? ...

A one-year delay to degree is typical among public colleges and universities. It can cost the student foregone earnings of say $40,000, plus extra tuition, plus possible additional downstream costs. Such transparent disclosures could eliminate the need for unintelligent regulation and expensive compliance. Since a consumer is likely to be shopping throughout the higher education marketplace for himself and family members, this disclosure, as well as all the others, should apply throughout the marketplace, regardless of the corporate charter of the education provider.

If community colleges were to find all the formerly enrolled students whose academic records qualify them for an associate degree and retroactively award them the credential, then the number of associate degrees awarded in the United States would increase by at least 12 percent.

That's what David Molz writes in Inside Higher Ed, reporting on the Lumina-funded Project Win-Win. Project Win-Win is seeking out the low-hanging fruit which can boost states' goals of increasing the graduation rates. The project is supporting 35 institutions in sorting out awarded credits, complicated student records, and identifying students who actually do have enough credits to graduate, but who for some reason have not been awarded a degree. They're also identifying students ho are very close to a degree, and contacting them about opportunities to finish it.

Note that Predictive Analytics: Building a Crystal Ball for Student Success is a SCUP September 29 webcast which will focus on many ways that better, real-time data analytics will play a role in the country's completion agenda. More details about that will be available on SCUP's website soon.

The 2010 issue of the Washington Monthly's "America's Best Community Colleges" resource has just been updated, the first time since its inception in 2007. It's likely to be the topic of some discussion, so here are some pertinent links for you.

In Florida, they definitely seem to be mostly going for that mile. And it's not primarily competition with 4-year colleges that worry many, it's a concern that community college 4-year programs might dilute the original community college mission. 

“There are a lot of different types of students who knock at the door of community colleges,” said Hagedorn, who before moving to Iowa State was a longtime educational policy researcher at the University of Florida. “I just worry that they’re not going to be able to serve all those different types if they’re bringing in more four-year program students. There will be less room for remediation and truly vocational programs. Some are not going to be as well-served as others. We have to remember the reason community colleges were established in the first place.”

Still, Hagedorn conceded that scholars do not know enough about these community college baccalaureate programs to say whether they have adversely affected existing two-year programs. As to why the furor in Florida over these degrees had died down, she said the answer was simple.

"The cry that ‘oh my god, the community colleges are going to be taking away our students’ didn’t happen,” Hagedorn said. “There’s no shortage of students going to the University of Florida or the University of Central Florida or to any of Florida’s other universities right now.”

Like the foundations, most states are also responding to the call, with many planning or already carrying out the completion agenda. So are many individual colleges. It is unlikely than any community college, or any educational institution, will be untouched by the completion agenda. There has never been a “movement” in the community college world so widely joined and supported by such deep pockets. The completion agenda is, indeed, a tectonic shift.

Don't miss out on joining nearly 1,500 of your colleagues and peers at higher education's premier planning event of 2010, SCUP–45. The Society for College and University Planning's 45th annual, international conference and idea marketplace is July 10–14 in Minneapolis!

Here's your SCUP Link on How to Get 75,000 More Seats in Colleges!

Wick Sloane has good students at Bunker Hill Community College who could get into elite colleges, if only the spots weren't all filled by graduates of elite private high schools. He suggests that, since those elite students get an equivalent of a Bachelor's degree in high school, why not let their elite private high schools issue them with BAs? Thus opening up 75,000 spots for community college grades, like his students.

The outrage is the total feasibility, not the outlandishness, of my bachelor’s proposal. Everyone reading here knows that for these AP high schools a bachelor’s degree reflects the academic achievement of the graduates far more than the high school diploma these students are about to receive. Is this situation just? No way. For the sake of a few thousand students in community colleges, could we at least admit the folly in sending the most fortunate cohort of students to college twice, while millions of others, just as able, may never finish college at all?