The 2015 for Community College Excellence THE ASPEN I INSTITUTE A MESSAGE FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR ommunity colleges have received remarkable attention this past year. Proposals for free community college tuition have come from Republicans and Democrats at the local. state. and federal levels. Whatever their chances of enactment, these proposals demonstrate just how central community colleges are to strategies for growing the economy and expanding individual opportunity. This recognition should come as no surprise. State budgets are constrained and family earnings ?at, making the low tuition offered by community colleges increasingly attractive. Employers are clamoring for more skilled workers, and community colleges have along history of responding to emerging workforce demands. And our country is seeing rapidly growing numbers oflower?income and minority students, who disproportionately attend two-year colleges. But it would be a mistake for any community college to allow this recognition to beget complacency. Community college students are often the ?rst in their families to attend college, those who most rely on a college education to avoid poverty and low-wage work. Whether or not tuition is elimi? nated, much more work is needed to help them succeed. Most students start community college aspiring to a bachelor?s degree, but fewer than one in ?ve ever earn one. Trends in community college graduation rates reveal very slow improvement, certainly not fast enough to meet accel? erating demands for a college?educated workforce, And while some community college students graduate into wel ~paying jobs, others ?ounder, having failed to receive the education needed for success in the job market. This year?s Aspen Prize honorees show just how much these outcomes can be improved. - Prize winner Santa Fe College, in Florida, shows how a community college can help students transfer to a four-year school and receive a bachelor?s degree at a rate more than double the national average. - Finalist?with?distinction Lake Area Technical Institute, in South Dakota. achieves strong employ? ment outcomes for its students, 73 percent of whom graduate or transfer, a rate higher than a vast majority offour-year colleges. - Finalist?with?distinction West Kentucky Community and Technical College shows that it?s possible to attain high graduation and transfer rates without an achievement gap for minority students. - Rising Star Kennedy-King College shows how rapid reinvention can triple a community college?s graduation rate in just a few years. Too often, conversations about community colleges present a stark choice: Either support their mission of broad access or criticize them for low levels of student success. The fact is that community colleges enroll nearly half of all U.S. undergraduates; supporting these institutions is not optional if our nation is to fuel economic growth and enable social mobility. It is also true that community colleges must?and Aspen Prize winners show they can?achieve dramatically better student outcomes. Congratulations to all of this year's ?nalists. By serving students exceptionally well, you stand for what is best and show what is possible for this vital sector of American higher education. Thank y0u for leadingthe way. Joshua Wyner Executive Director. College Excellence Program, The Aspen Institute 2 THE 2015 ASPEN PRIZE THE HONOREES With the Aspen Prize, the Aspen Institute and its partners aim to further the national understanding of how community colleges can increase student success, no matter the challenges they face. The winning colleges pro?led here have shown that what colleges do matters deeply to student achievement. WHAT IS COMMUNITY COLLEGE Excellent community colleges provide students with a high?quality education that metivates them to excel and equips them with the skills and knowledge they will need to succeed in work and life.They continuouslyimproveand demonstrate strength across four domains: COMPLETION High levels of student completion of workforce certi?cates. two-year degrees, and transfer to four-year colleges that results in bachelor?s degree attainment, as well as institutional practices and policies that promote completion. LAB 0R MARKET High rates of employment and earnings for graduates. as well as institu- tional practices and policies aligned with labor market needs and student labor market success. LEARNING Evidence that students learn at high levels. as well as institutional practices and poiicies that resuit in strong and improving levels of student learning in courses. within programs. and college?wide. EQUITY High Ievets of access and success for students who are often underserved. including those from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups and from low-income backgrounds. as well as an institutional commitment to closing achievement gaps. 2015 ASPEN PRIZE KENNEDY-KING OUTCOMES In a ?ve?year period, Kennedy?King increased the number of students who graduate ortransfer by 50%. RETENTION 385? 375? 445 485 GRADUATION UR TRANSFER In 2013, people who graduated from Kennedy?King ?ve years earlier earned an average of $36,036; In an impoverlShed community, these wages demonstrate - that the college is advancing opportunity. LEARNING Kennedy-King recently aligned its faculty tenure system with the goal of improving teaching and learning and is implementing a general education assessment plan for all academic programs. 4% Kennedy?King ?rst?time, full?time students who graduate or transfer within three years US. ?rst~time. full?time students who graduate ortransfer within three years EQUITY These outcomes are particularly impressive given the fact that 94% of full?time students enrolled in college for the ?rst?time are minority, and nearly three in ?ve students receive Pell Grants. Kennedy?King underrepresented minority students who graduate or transfer within three years US. underrepresented minority students who graduate or transfer within three years. Number ofStudenls Students Receiving Pell Grants KENNEDY- KING COLLEGE ChmagolL RISING STAR Location Underrepresented Minority Students Vocational/Technical Awards {out of all awards conferred) ome people wouldn?t expect dramatic improvement from a community college in one of the poorest neighborhoods of Chicago. But Kennedy-King College, a college where nearly every student begins with remedial needs, has tripled its graduation rate in recent years, proving that what happens outside a college need not stand in the way of student success. Completion was not always the highest priority at Kennedy? King. one of the six City Colleges of Chicago. But the college's priorities. and its outcomes, have changed, thanks in large part to a citywide reform effort to point all students down a solid path to well-payingiobs. The college narrowed its range of programs and created highly structured pathways for each. with a map laying out which courses to take each term. Students walk out of their first advising session with an education plan that at the very least centers on one often focus areas?"undecided" is a thing of the past. it used to be that for the vast majority of students. "we did not know what their career intent was, and they didn?t either," says Vernese Edghill-Walden, City Colleges' chief academic of?cer. "Now we start with the end in mind.? And the path to that end is now more closely monitored. Kennedy-King has gone from four advisers to seventeen. and to a system where every advisoris assigned students and tracks whether each of them, each term. remains on track with their THE 201-5 ASPEN PRIZE plans. Advisors monitor their students closely. but the college also targets outreach based on speci?c goals?for example. making automated phone calls to all students at 12 credits to see ifthey?ll register for a mini-semester or to all students with low midterm grades to encourage them to seek tutoring. Advisors are held responsible for how many students they see and whether they are progressing. That's indicative of a new sense ofaccountability that reaches all the wayto the president. who meets twice with the system chancellor to analyze quantitative progress toward student success goals. The college has a ways to go: its graduation rate has not yet risen to the level ofAspen Prize winners. There is a consensus in Chicago. however. that Kennedy-King is not just granting more degrees than ever. it is providing proof that dramatic improvements in student attainment can be achieved even in the most challenging of environments. 0 Students walk out of their ?rst advising session with an education plan?"undecided" is a thing ofthe past. 251* THE 2o15 ASPEN PRIZE D: D: An 5 1