Washington
With a $1-million grant, eight community colleges across the country are beginning a two-year effort to study how they can produce more graduates at a lower cost per student.
The project will begin by identifying a set of common data that community colleges need to collect to determine their effectiveness.
"The first step will be to get everyone speaking the same language," Jamie P. Merisotis, chief executive officer of the Lumina Foundation for Education, said in a news release issued on Tuesday to announce the pilot program. The Lumina Foundation, a private organization dedicated to improving college-completion rates, especially among low-income and minority students, is paying part of the cost of the grant and is providing technical assistance.
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is also providing money for the grant, which will be used at Cuyahoga Community College, in Ohio; the Dallas Community College District, in Texas; Greenville Technical College, in South Carolina; Ivy Tech Community College, in Indiana; Laney College, in California; the Louisiana Community and Technical College System; Oklahoma City Community College; and the Pima Community College District, in Arizona.
The project's goal is to have a voluntary accountability system in 20 community colleges by 2011.
President Obama has focused increased attention on community colleges as institutions that will help the nation become a world leader in postsecondary-degree attainment. The president has proposed spending $12-billion over the next decade to improve programs, courses, and facilities at two-year institutions so that they can graduate five million more people.
Comments
1. 22213708 - October 06, 2009 at 04:02 pm
The Gates Foundation has done wonders for public libraries. Now they are working on large community colleges. I can't wait until they funnel some funding to small, rural, poor community college libraries...
2. jwgilley - October 07, 2009 at 05:42 pm
This is great!
3. mssmiley - October 08, 2009 at 01:17 pm
This is a significant step in the right direction! Student learning challenges should be addressed and rectified at the community college level, so that they can have the best opportunity for success at four-year colleges. I hope this program includes college rediness at the high school level where the problems generally originate.
4. glennbrandonburke - October 13, 2009 at 12:33 pm
Hello:
1. Improving graduation rates is one of the smartest things to do.
2. The people/groups making the donations are amazing!
3. This specific project, however, is a bunch of crap and a WASTE of money!
4. Education is the Foundation for a Successful Future, and we MUST improve enrollment and graduation rates.
5. However, they are going about this in the wrong way. Here are the links to two articles you may want to read... http://newsblaze.com/story/20090809075011nnnn.nb/topstory.html
http://glennbrandonburke.com/blog/2009/03/19/student-retention-equity-success/
Respectfully,
Glenn Brandon Burke, M. Ed.
5. tipfallon - October 22, 2009 at 03:37 pm
Glenn? Besides a clever plug, what are you saying? What's your solution in your article towards increasing retention? Raise awarness of "student equity?" Please elaborate.