With enrollment down, competition increasing from company training and university associate degree programs, and people's perceptions of community colleges still lagging the robust reality of what they have to offer. Community colleges need to tell their own stories so that others do not do for them. Community colleges are often a misunderstood,…

Ohio's decision to let community colleges award four-year degrees is part of a growing national trend. When this article went to press, more than 90 community colleges across 19 states offered active four-year degree programs. Counting New York's Fashion Institute of Technology, which technically is a community college, but offers degrees as high…

Teachers dedicate their lives to working with students, but also in learning from each other. In programs around the Spokane, Washington area of the U.S., teachers have been meeting with the intention of strengthen connections and smooth transitions between K-12 schools and institutions of higher education in alignment with expectations for the…

In 2009, President Barack Obama announced the 2020 College Completion initiative. The goal: By 2020, the United States will have the greatest proportion of citizens who are college graduates, compared with the rest of the world. On a national level, however, the average six-year completion rate hasn't changed much in the more than five years since…

Funding from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), is not typically associated with community colleges. Inequities in access to health care and a high incidence of cardiovascular diseases (CVD) have created an opportunity for a partnership…

Reviews the implementation of the Tech Prep Associate Degree Program in Ohio. Discusses six components of the state's approach to establishing Tech Prep, the program's current status, and linkages with other state and national education reform efforts. Suggests that strong state leadership and the active participation of postsecondary institutions…