By Serena C. Klempin, Hana Lahr, and Davis Jenkins
One of the most vexing problems confronting efforts to improve community college student success is how to scale and sustain systemic reforms across multiple institutions. In the last chapter of CCRC’s forthcoming book, More Essential than Ever: Community College Pathways to Education and Career Success, which describes five next frontiers for guided pathways whole-college reforms, we raise the question: What can be done to help more colleges put these next-frontier innovations into practice?
In evaluating statewide guided pathways adoptions, we have learned that state higher education agencies and community college associations can play an instrumental role in promoting the scaling of reforms across institutions. Around the country, states and systems are driving innovation by (1) adopting shared frameworks and supports for colleges to guide the work and (2) providing financial incentives to support the work. These strategies offer valuable insights not only for states with strong systems or statewide associations but also for colleges in less centralized states that are looking for systematic ways to approach reforms.
Read all the posts in our blog series on More Essential Than Ever: Community College Pathways to Educational and Career Success. Preorder the book from Harvard Education Press and use sales code HCPR25 to save 20%.
Providing a Framework and Support for Scaling Systemic Reforms
State student success centers, which are typically housed within a community college association or system office, can carry out a number of functions that support the widespread implementation of reforms. These include adopting a shared framework for reform, serving as a centralized resource hub, building a network to foster collaboration, offering professional development, and collecting and analyzing data.
In several states, including Ohio, Texas, and Michigan, the success centers bring all these functions together through regular statewide meetings. In Ohio, these are called the Student Success Leadership Institutes. They bring together teams of 8–12 faculty, staff, and administrators from all 22 community colleges twice a year for two days of professional development, data analysis, and collaboration.
Providing Funding and Incentives for Systemic Reforms
Equally important as the coordinating role that states and systems play in supporting institutional reforms is the financial support they can provide. As we document in More Essential Than Ever, implementing the five next frontiers of guided pathways reforms requires additional investments beyond the status quo, though these reforms promise to generate better outcomes for students and communities and higher downstream revenues for colleges. Building stronger transfer and workforce program pathways, for example, requires dedicated staff that work with universities and employers. Redesigning onboarding and moving to a case management model of advising in which advisors are assigned by field involves the training of staff and may require the hiring of additional advisors and student services staff. Taking a more strategic approach to dual enrollment focused on motivating and preparing underserved students to pursue career-connected postsecondary education requires resources for advising and academic support, particularly when many colleges offer dual enrollment at a discount to make it more accessible to lower-income students.
Many colleges lack sustainable strategies for funding these types of investments. Colleges frequently rely on a combination of grants to fund the initial costs of reforms, but it is difficult to turn grants into a dependable source of funding over the long term. Additionally, obtaining grants requires having the capacity to apply for and manage grants from multiple federal, state, and foundation sources. Eventually, most colleges need to incorporate funding for reforms into operating budgets supported by state subsidies and tuition.
For community colleges in many states, this can be a challenge. For colleges that lack local tax-based funding and for small rural colleges that lack the staff and resources to pursue grants, the challenges are especially daunting. One way in which states and systems are addressing funding challenges is by designating funding for professional development. While only two states (California and Washington) have specifically funded guided pathways reforms, dedicated funding is not always necessary. A little technical assistance and professional development can have a big impact. CCRC conducted a study of how three small, rural colleges in Ohio funded guided pathways reforms and found that the colleges were successfully leveraging mini-grants from the Success Center for Ohio Community Colleges to support broader reform efforts. For example, North Central State College used funds to hire a consultant who helped the college identify an educational planning system (a vital part of onboarding and advising reforms) suited to its technological needs. North Central State and Zane State College used funds to cover the cost of Association of College and University Educators courses to certify faculty in effective teaching methods, promoting student engagement and learning.
However, it is clear that more than grants are needed to scale change. Toward that end, states are making bold moves to incentivize innovative student success reforms. A new policy in Texas, authorized by House Bill 8 in 2023, bases state funding for colleges in part on students’ success after completing, including the number of credentials awarded that fill labor market needs and offer opportunities for well-paid careers and the number of students who successfully transfer to public four-year universities. North Carolina community college leaders are advocating a new state funding model that would provide strong incentives to offer programs that enable students to secure high-wage, high-demand jobs—along with more resources to provide such programs.
Strategies for Starting or Restarting Statewide Reforms
While the COVID-19 pandemic put a damper on many statewide reform efforts, many of them are beginning again. For states and organizations that are considering how to support statewide systemic reforms, our book makes several recommendations. We highlight three here: (1) Adopt a framework for organizing the work that can help ensure colleges across a system are working toward the same goals and facilitate cross-college collaboration. (2) Codevelop an applied research agenda with colleges to help evaluate colleges’ progress and answer pressing statewide questions about implementation, adoption, and effects of the reforms. (3) Align the work with state policy priorities and initiatives. State and federal funding in support of student success, while helpful, can also result in disparate and unconnected efforts that end once the funding ends. If state agencies use an organizing framework, this can help colleges see how initiatives can be integrated to support college-wide reforms.
Funding for this book was provided by Ascendium Education Group.
