CCRC Associate Director Jim Jacobs discusses the rising importance of student outcomes at community colleges in the Associated Press article titled, "Community Colleges Want More to Graduate." The article appeared online in Diverse Issues in Higher Education on January 31, 2008.

According to Justin Pope, AP Education Writer:

James Jacobs, of the Community College Research Center at Teachers College, Columbia University, says better student outcomes have risen to the top of the agenda for a broad range of community colleges. A major philanthropic project called "Achieving the Dream" is helping community colleges study their students' performance and develop ways to improve it. At least one state, Washington, is changing how it funds community colleges to reward student progress instead of just enrollment, Jacobs said.

"The days when community colleges sold themselves as low-cost community institutions, that model and that branding are almost over," said Jacobs, who was not involved with the College Board report. "Increasingly, you have to be a gatekeeper of opportunity and you have to be able to move people to that opportunity."

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