This week at its annual convention, the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) released its report, “
Reclaiming the American Dream: Community Colleges and the Nation’s Future.” The report outlines specific recommendations for reforming our country’s community college system. It was developed by the 21st-Century Commission on the Future of Community Colleges, a blue-ribbon commission brought together by AACC President and CEO Dr. Walter Bumphus to comprehensively examine the challenges and opportunities facing the fasting-growing sector of higher education. SUNY Chancellor Nancy Zimpher serves on the commission.
The report was a year in the making and was drawn -- in large part -- from the results of a listening tour Dr. Bumphus engaged in during his first year at AACC. The report reinforces how community colleges were born to serve those historically closed out of higher education and how we need to continue fighting for that mission. It also emphasizes the extreme importance of a college education, up to an associate degree for middle-skill jobs (e.g., technicians, allied health, applied STEM, etc.) and advanced higher education, often past a four-year degree, for knowledge economy and advanced STEM opportunities.
The core recommendations of the panel have been labeled the new “Three Rs of reform: Redesign, Reinvent and Reset.” MCC is well on the way to addressing each. Listed below are the three recommendations along with some examples of the related activities underway right now at MCC:
1) Redesign Students’ Educational Experiences
MCC examples: Our goal of increasing our graduation rate by 33% by 2015; K12 and educational-pipeline partnerships; increased investment in and focus on career and technical education; Community Center for Teaching Excellence; 100 Days to Innovation framework; and committees dedicated to advisement, retention, and student-success driven policies.
2) Reinvention of Institutional Roles
MCC examples: Collaborations and shared services both through SUNY and across the Rochester Area Colleges (RAC); dozens of joint degree programs and 2+2 dual admission agreements with transfer colleges and universities; discussions with some area colleges about offering even more options, including some upper division classes on site; our seat at the Finger Lakes Regional Economic Development Council table; and key roles with Greater Rochester Enterprise and Rochester Business Alliance.
3) Resetting of the System to Create Partnerships and Incentives for Student and Institutional Success
MCC examples: Our culture of inquiry, evidence, and accountability as reflected in practice and our strategic plan; learning outcomes assessment work; comprehensive data dashboard; budget resource committee; and close collaboration with the MCC Foundation with a focus on increasing scholarships.
I was also very heartened in reading the report by how well MCC’s recently adopted strategic plan, “Fulfilling the Promise,” aligns with the “Three Rs.” If you recall, our four strategic directions are as follows: Learning First; Workforce Education and Career Pathways; Partnerships; and Effectiveness, Efficiency, and Accountability. Each can be mapped easily to one of the Rs.
In addition, our many community-based programs, whether our involvement in the Democracy Commitment or in service-learning, speak directly to the call for community colleges to promote civic learning.
I welcome your comments on the report and the ways MCC is redesigning, reinventing and resetting itself in support of student success. Please post your comments on the
blog.