"Completion" has become the rallying cry at community colleges. As the 21st century unfolds, the earlier emphasis on guaranteeing greater access to a postsecondary education has evolved into a sharp focus on student success. Whether that means earning a workforcerelated certificate or an associate degree transferable to a four-year…

The skills gap--the disparity between job openings and job seekers in an employment category--is wider in some sectors and parts of the country than others. The disconnect between community colleges and employers perpetuates the skills gap. Despite the current push among educators, politicians, and employers to increase completion rates, that…

Last year, amid the tumult of the Middle East's Arab Spring--a series of uprisings that have toppled governments and tested the United States' foreign policies throughout the region--administrators at Kirkwood Community College (KCC) in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, received an intriguing request. The school was among a group of institutions contacted by…

"Reclaiming the American Dream" is the cornerstone of American Association of Community Colleges's (AACC) 21st-Century Initiative, launched in 2011 with the goal of outfitting an additional 5 million students with degrees, certificates, or other credentials by 2020. In Phase 1 of the initiative, featured was a nationwide "listening…

When the 10 members of the American Association of Community College's (AACC's) 21st-Century Implementation Team 7 (nine of whom are community college presidents) sat down in 2013 to talk about reforming institutional roles and functions at the nation's two-year career and technical colleges, everyone in the room knew the work before them would be…

The nation's community colleges have an impressive to-do list: (1) Increase college completion by 50 percent by 2020; (2) Dramatically improve college readiness; (3) Close the American skills gap; (4) Refocus the community college mission; (5) Invest in new support structures; (6) Target public and private investments; and (7) Promote rigor and…

In this article, Bob Woods reports that "Big data" is all the rage on college campuses, and it makes sense that administrators would use what they know to boost student outcomes. Woods points out that community colleges around the country are using the data: (1) to guide the systematic expansion of its curriculum, providing targeted…

A growing number of community colleges are investing in new facilities and programs to train health care workers in a variety of professions, including nursing, radiology, health information technology, physical therapy, dentistry, and surgical technology. Community colleges have historically offered job training programs in health care, but with…