Ed Week looks at the challenges facing community colleges as part of its Diplomas Count 2011 special.
People wonder why community colleges with low graduation rates deserve support, says Sara Goldrick-Rab, an assistant professor of educational policy studies and sociology at the University of Wisconsin in Madison.
The public is asking community colleges to be all things to all people and the biggest challenge is serving this diverse set of students, many of whom have financial problems and were barely making it academically in high school, says Goldrick-Rab. Are community colleges up to the task that policymakers are asking of them? As far as capacity and resources to meet the need: “No,” Goldrick-Rab says. Yet they do have a deep commitment to the ideal of open access.
To improve success rates, many community colleges are working with high school students to ease the transition and offer dual-enrollment opportunities, Ed Week reports. Colleges also are “partnering with industry to consult on curriculum for skills needed in the workforce.”
Update: Sara Goldrick-Rab clarifies her quote:
I shared in the effort to craft and pass the American Graduation Initiative intended to support the efforts of community colleges to serve students from all walks of life. When the AGI failed to become law, it meant that community colleges had been drawn into the public eye but not given the financial resources they needed to improve their outcomes. Their current outcomes became highly visible, and left some with the false impression they were attributable to a lack of will on the part of the colleges, rather than a lack of resources.
Colleges have both the “will and the commitment” to succeed, Goldrick-Rab writes. “They have motivation — what they need now is money and technical assistance.”
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at 7:24 am
I feel my opinion wasn’t accurately represented in the Ed Week story and urge readers to consider my response here:
http://eduoptimists.blogspot.com/2011/06/community-colleges-and-press.html
at 9:44 am
I don’t think it is necessarily the lack of will but the lack of resources, money and complacency. Community colleges have been looked down on for years, therefore the staff , citizens and even the local government have lowered expectations of them. Let’s hope that the recession doesn’t wipe out the potential community colleges had. More of my thoughts on this topic: http://www.socialsciencemedley.com/2011/08/challenges-that-community-colleges-face.html