The new college try
COMMUNITY COLLEGES in Massachusetts have been struggling. Their graduation rates are low, and they're scrambling to do better in the face of tight funding.
But there's good news, too. Launched in 2004, a national initiative called Achieving The Dream: Community Colleges Count, has been handing out grants. Funded by the Lumina Foundation for Education in Indianapolis, the initiative has given funding to 82 colleges in 15 states -- and Massachusetts is one of the latest recipients.
The goal is to promote success, especially among minority and low-income students. The strategy is to get colleges to develop new programs based on an analysis of data about how students are doing.
"We found that our policy and procedures were fine, but we didn't always follow them," says Joannis Flatley , the director of Educational Support Services at St. Philip's College, a historically black and Hispanic community college in San Antonio, Texas, that received a $400,000 dream grant in 2005.
Taking a statistical look at itself, St. Philip's found that most of its students had little or no college experience, so they hadn't mastered the basics. In response, officials required more students to take a college success course that covers fundamentals such as how to buy books, pick majors, and study. The writing center was expanded. And St. Philip's is offering new math classes that more clearly fit the needs of students in particular majors. This was done because many students were avoiding taking algebra, a choice that shuts the door on later choices such as transferring to a four-year institution.
In 2010, MDRC, a nonprofit research organization in New York and Oakland, will issue a final report on the initiative. Two key questions: Did graduation rates rise? Did a data-driven culture take root on campus? Data isn't a magic wand. As Thomas Brock of MDRC says, schools also need the skills to analyze data, experiment with solutions, and, if these fail, devise new approaches.
The firm also plans to see if dream programs convince faculty members that more students can achieve, and if brighter faculty attitudes, in turn, boost student performance.
The initiative is supported by eight national partners, including Jobs for the Future, a local nonprofit organization that is helping the colleges influence policy debates.
In Massachusetts, four organizations will distribute the dream grants: the Balfour, Boston, and Davis foundations, and the Education Resources Institute, a nonprofit corporation that promotes educational access. Once the local colleges are chosen, they should look at other dream schools' experiences. Based on early findings, Brock says that successful campuses tend to have widespread buy-in from administrators and faculty.
Massachusetts needs to nurture, not squander, its renewable human resource.
