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MCC Daily Tribune Archive

President's Wednesday Message: Empowering Community Colleges to Build the Nation’s Future


In his All College Days address, American Association of Community Colleges CEO Dr. Walter Bumphus spoke about the AACC report “Empowering Community Colleges to Build the Nation’s Future.” In many ways, MCC is meeting and exceeding the recommendations in the report. Through October 15, members of the President’s cabinet are using the Wednesday Message to highlight and celebrate those MCC initiatives that align with the report’s seven recommendations.

The report's first recommendation is to “increase the 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.”  (“Empowering…Future,” p. 8).

A few data points to consider:

·       In 2009, the last year we had three-year graduation data, MCC reported that 28% of the entering Class of 2006 graduated; 35% had graduated or were still enrolled; and 57% had graduated, were still enrolled, or had transferred.

·       Upon review of the six-year cohort from 2007, 31% had graduated; 3% were enrolled; 27% transferred; and 30% left MCC with less than 30 credits.  Further breakdown showed that 46% of Black or African American and 39% of Hispanic students left with less than 30 credits.  Only 16% of African Americans in this cohort actually graduated.

These data points suggest we have much to do to increase our graduation rates by 2020.  However, within these and other data points lies a greater challenge:  to increase the graduation rates of all students across all demographic categories and all levels of academic preparedness.  As a College, we have embraced some significant programs that will fundamentally redesign our students’ educational experiences, both inside and outside of the classroom.

AACC outlines six implementation strategies that MCC has used and continues to use:

1.     Publicly commit to explicit goals for college completion.

2.     Create pathways.

3.     Expand prior-learning assessments.

4.     Devise completion strategies on both ends of the college experience.

5.     Establish guarantees for seamless transfer.

6.     Implement automatic graduation and reverse transfer programs.

As we at MCC consider this first recommendation, we recognize the need to not only assess our current practices to make data-driven decisions for the future, but also to utilize data that currently exists and make decisions for the present.  To this end, we are engaged in the following:

1.     Increasing Completion Rates - We recognize that completion rates for students of color are significantly different than for other groups.  Therefore, we have committed to developing programs and services which will impact these numbers.

2.     Implementing the Academies Model - The College community is engaged in a three-year effort to facilitate the implementation of the Academies model.  This model groups students by career/program/discipline interest and has the potential to impact our full breadth and depth of services for student success, from high school preparation to college readiness to freshman orientation and second-year retention.  Subcommittees are addressing advisement, high-impact practices, and student onboarding processes from admission to registration to engagement of students once enrolled.

3.     Forging Innovative Relationships - The College is reaching out to forge innovative relationships with the school districts to help students move through high school with purpose and to graduate prepared for college.  Not only are college-level courses being taught in the high schools, but working relationships between College and high school staff are increasingly being developed.

4.     Supporting Students - Using data from the Voluntary Framework of Accountability, MCC is focusing on renewed efforts to support students during their first 12 semester hours.  Innovative practices will address the success of students of color, veterans, dual enrollment students, and international students.

5.     Orientation and First-Year Experience - The Office of Student Life and Leadership Development has reinvented the student orientation program to respond to student interests and to provide students with greater support for their academic pursuits.  The First-Year Experience program is also working to support the retention of students.

These are only a few of the measures being taken by the College to impact graduation percentages.  There is, however, much more to be done.

We would encourage you to read “Empowering Community Colleges to Build the Nation’s Future.”  It can
found on the AACC web site or attached.

In the following weeks, look for additional articles addressing other recommendations within the AACC guide.

Jeffrey P. Bartkovich, Interim Provost and Vice President, and Lloyd A. Holmes, Vice President
Academic Services and Student Services
09/03/2014


Attachments:
icon ATTD6WUR.pdf