Massachusetts community colleges grew at an impressive rate for decades by offering students access to college at a low cost compared with other options. But that’s no longer enough. More of today’s community college students need to earn certificates and degrees — not just take courses — so they are equipped to fill important regional labor needs or continue on to pursue four-year degrees.
Although the state is a national leader in K-12 student performance, our community colleges sit in the middle of the pack. Over the past five years, the percentage of first-time community college students who complete a degree or certificate, transfer to a four-year institution, or are still enrolled with a year or more of credit, has remained flat, at under 50 percent. We’re lagging behind the best-performing schools and states nationally.
Changing that is one of the biggest challenges facing Carlos Santiago, who began his new job as state commissioner of higher education this month. Santiago succeeded his old boss, Richard Freeland. His responsibilities include setting the overall direction of Massachusetts public higher education, particularly its community colleges and state universities.
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There are signs that Santiago may be taking over at the right time. Recent progress in changing the way community colleges are funded and governed — and the extent to which they collaborate with each other — makes bold action more feasible. Economic recovery is increasing the urgency for better results as employers demand more skilled workers and some colleges adjust to shrinking enrollments. The schools and the state are more focused on how to organize college for low-income and underprepared students, so they understand their options better, make wiser academic decisions, and receive support and guidance that improve their odds of success.
For years, public higher education in Massachusetts was overshadowed by its private colleges and universities. Legislators and civic leaders were more likely to have attended Harvard or Boston College, not UMass or Salem State. As a result, public institutions — especially low-profile community colleges — received little attention from Beacon Hill.
Today, Massachusetts needs its public colleges and universities to be high performers. According to Department of Higher Education data, more than half of all Massachusetts undergraduates attend public colleges and universities.
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The state’s 15 community colleges make up the largest segment of public higher education, with an annual student population of about 190,000. Of those students, more than 40 percent are minorities. Community college students tend to stay put after they leave school — 75 percent of Massachusetts residents with associates degrees earned them from a local community college.
These graduates fill important middle-skill technical jobs in health care, manufacturing, and IT and other fields critical to the state’s knowledge-intensive economy. But too many students never graduate.
The lack of significant progress is not because of a lack of effort. Under Richard Freeland, the state launched and joined ambitious initiatives to tackle serious educational obstacles, including high attrition from remedial math and problems with transferring credits to four-year schools. Legislative changes promoted in 2012 by civic, business, and philanthropic leaders and by Governor Deval Patrick changed how community colleges are funded and governed, rewarding schools for raising graduation rates, encouraging greater attention to workforce preparation and systemic collaboration, and increasing state-level support for improvement. The state’s community colleges won two $20 million US Department of Labor grants to modernize curricula in high demand workforce fields.
Few would argue that community colleges are well-funded. But more money without a dramatic redesign of the community college experience is unlikely to move the needle on student success.
In a new book, “Redesigning America’s Community Colleges,” three scholars from the Community College Research Center in New York make the case for systemic change. Authors Tom Bailey, Shanna Jaggers, and Davis Jenkins argue that big gains in graduation rates will not come without rejection of the “cafeteria style, self service” approach that has been the community college business model for a long time, nationally and in Massachusetts. This model — which offers students a bewildering choice of programs and courses, but little information, guidance, or tools to make thoughtful decisions — is particularly bad for low-income students, many of whom are first-generation college-goers. When those students make costly mistakes about their academic choices, it often leads to them dropping out.
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“Redesigning America’s Community Colleges” proposes a research-based alternative — “guided pathways” – that is beginning to show results nationally.
Drawing lessons from behavioral economics, the guided pathways system recognizes that students need more structure, support, and guidance. The focus is shifted from what courses to take to what program of study can yield the economic or educational results a student seeks. Guided pathways offers proactive advice about a narrower range of program options, along with practical feedback designed to keep students moving forward, thus reducing the odds of self-defeating choices.
If Santiago embraces guided pathways for community colleges, he won’t be starting from scratch. The state Department of Higher Education is in the process of completing the mapping of transfer pathways in six high-enrollment academic majors, including psychology and biology. Ten more will be negotiated next year. Program maps for redesigned occupational credentials have been developed in six industries, including health care and advanced manufacturing. All 15 institutions have joined a learning network of states experimenting with guided pathways, led by the national nonprofit Complete College America. In addition, efficient pathways to and through college are expanding through programs that enable high school students to take college courses.
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Coordinating, promoting, and aligning these efforts into a coherent strategy that can deliver for Massachusetts students, employers, and communities should be high on Santiago’s to-do list. He has the opportunity to help catapult Massachusetts into a national leadership role on community college reform.
Based in Boston, Richard Kazis writes frequently on community colleges and higher education policy.
Related:
• Paul Reville: The next steps in education reform
• Michael Crow and William Dabars: Public universities must operate at a higher level
• Tara Holm: The real reason why the US is falling behind in math