In his Spring 2007 article, Michael Jonas reports on the controversy surrounding Boston Mayor Tom Menino's announcement that the state’s public community colleges are not getting the job done. CCRC Director Thomas Bailey and CCRC Senior Research Associate Davis Jenkins discuss graduation rates and creating a culture of evidence at community colleges.

…There is much more that can be done to build on strengths and target weaknesses at community colleges. “Well-run businesses can pinpoint where their successes and failures are,” says Thomas Bailey, director of Columbia University’s community college research center. “We can’t do that in higher education.” Or we don’t yet do it nearly enough, he might say.

Bailey’s is one of several research centers serving as consulting partners in a major initiative to improve student success at community colleges. The “Achieving the Dream” project, an effort of the Indiana–based Lumina Foundation for Education, has invested $50 million over the past four years to increase graduation rates by getting colleges to honestly examine shortcomings and focus on key markers of student success.

--The full-length version of this article is available online at http://www.massinc.org/index.php?id=625&pub_id=2097&bypass=1&bypass=1

--Learn more about CCRC's involvement in Achieving the Dream: Community Colleges Count