Policy News & Updates
National News
Achieving the Dream Policy Accomplishments 2008
This matrix, prepared by Jobs for the future, summarizes the various policy efforts and successes of Achieving the Dream states. Download report 
State Policy Priorities, Accomplishments, and Plans, 2007-08 Program Year
These materials were distributed at the February 2008 Achieving the Dream state policy meeting in Atlanta. They summarize the work of the 15 state policy teams as they try to advance policy agendas in their states that are supportive of community college student success. The documents are:
A National Unit Record Data System: State Experience Can Strengthen this Proposal: Pat Windham of the Florida Community Colleges and Workforce Education, Chad Wick of KnowledgeWorks Foundation (OH), and Keith Brown of the North Carolina Community College System submitted testimony to the Secretary's Commision on the Future of Higher Education on August 6, 2006. In their testimony, they said, "We believe that a well-designed and implemented national system can generate more complete and useful data on outcomes for more postsecondary students than the current IPED Achieving the Dream: Trends in State Policy system or the existing patchwork of fragmented, incomplete, and incompatible state-by-state unit record systems-and that this can be done while protecting individual student's confidentiality." Read the Statement to The Secretary's Commission on the Future of Higher Education.
Testimony on Using Student Outcome Data to Improve Retention: Richard Kazis, Senior Vice President of Jobs for the Future, presented testified at the April 7 meeting of the Commission of the Future of Higher Education. Speaking on “Articulation, Alignment and The Challenge of College-Readiness,” he presented four policy recommendations from the Achieving the Dream experience: (1) strengthen longitudinal student data systems; (2) encourage additional indicators of student progress, particularly for underprepared students; (3) remove obstacles Read Kazis' testimony.
State Updates
Arkansas
In February, Arkansas Governor Mike Beebe signed the Roger Phillips Transfer Policy Act, which guarantees an Associate’s degree from one of Arkansas’ community colleges will be fully transferable to any public institution in Arkansas for students who complete their courses with at least a C grade. Students who transfer with their degree will be guaranteed junior status and considered to have satisfied all of the general education requirements of the accepting institution.
Additionally, a proposed bill that would restrict the use of merit-based financial aid in public colleges and universities has received unanimous approval from both the Arkansas Senate and House of Representatives, and is headed to the Governor for approval. Senate Bill 316 would reduce the percent of tuition and unrestricted funds that public postsecondary institutions can use for merit-based aid from 30 to 25, thereby providing an incentive for the use of need-based financial aid.
Connecticut
As part of the state’s ongoing efforts to improve student outcomes in developmental education, Connecticut is currently conducting a series of evaluative studies to phase in common statewide placement standards for developmental education courses. The Connecticut State Legislature required that a statewide standard be developed during its 2007 session, and the implementation of this reform has been a critical component of the state’s Achieving the Dream work. Since then, state and institutional representatives have worked to align developmental education course curricula in order to pave the way for this reform. Once the standard is in place, the Connecticut will be able to track placement results in order to highlight high-impact interventions for students in developmental education.
Florida
The Florida Department of Education recently released the latest issue of its Zoom Newsletter: “Statewide Articulation Agreement—Effective and Comprehensive.” The report documents the benefits of Florida’s statewide articulation agreement, which guarantees that students who earn an associate’s degree at one of the state’s community colleges will be admitted to its public university system. The Department found that students transferring with their associate’s degree were 19 percent more likely to be admitted to the school of their choice than students who chose to apply directly. Additionally, they found that after enrolling these transfer students had grade point averages, course loads, and graduation rates that were comparable to those of students who started in the state’s four-year universities. Download Newsletter
Hawaii
The community colleges of the University of Hawaii System recently completed its UHCC Strategic Plan: 2008-2015. The plan includes specific and measurable annual student progress and attainment outcomes for each of the system’s seven community colleges:
- The percentage of underprepared students who complete developmental classes and continue on to complete certificate or degree programs; and
- The percentage of Native Hawaiian students who complete certificate or degree programs or who transfer to a baccalaureate-granting institution.
The inclusion of these outcomes measures in the system’s strategic plan was a major goal related to the system’s involvement in Achieving the Dream. The system will now focus on assisting campuses in updating and completing individual strategic plans linking these outcomes to specific strategies and methods.
Massachusetts
The Massachusetts Board of Higher Education enacted a new comprehensive success measure for community colleges. The measure, which is much broader than the federal standard, counts students who have earned a degree, transferred, or remain enrolled and have earned a minimum of 18 credits. Additionally, the board requested and received dual enrollment funding for the Commonwealth’s public higher education institutions for the 2009 fiscal year. This reinstated state-funded dual enrollment, which had previously been offered from 1994 through 2001. As a result, the number of students participating in dual enrollment is estimated to have doubled in fall 2008, and it is expected to triple during the spring 2009 semester.
Michigan
The Michigan Community College Association is working with the office of Governor Jennifer Granholm and various state organizations to create a statewide, longitudinal, community college student database. Currently, each of Michigan’s community colleges maintains it own student data. Gov. Granholm has appropriated funds for establishing the functional specifications of the database, including linking the community college system to the state’s K-12 database, which is also in development. The association is also working with the state’s Center for Education Performance and Information to create policy on the state use of student educational data.
New Mexico
New Mexico recently took several steps to support improved outcomes for students in developmental education. The New Mexico Higher Education Department is working with external vendors to establish common statewide placement cut scores; the goal is to ensure that students are properly placed in developmental or college- level coursework. Also, a statewide Developmental Education Task Force has been organized to research the status of developmental education in New Mexico’s colleges and identify best practices at the organizational, administrative, and instructional levels, including the alignment of developmental education competencies with related gateway course curricula.
North Carolina
The North Carolina Community College System regularly publishes Data Trends, a series of system-wide analyses of student success measures and institutional comparison data. The latest installment focuses on multiyear student retention rates across all 58 of the state’s community colleges. The system is also continuing to improve its data capacity. The fall 2008 semester marked the first time that college placement test data were collected statewide. These data will allow the system to monitor correlations among individual student course taking, completions, and success rates, and to use them to develop more responsive policies. View reports
Ohio
Ohio Governor Ted Strickland and Board of Regents Chancellor Eric Fingerhut have given their support to a proposal to implement a new performance funding system for Ohio’s colleges and universities. The new system, informed by the state’s participation in Achieving the Dream, will include rewards for both intermediate and final measures of student success as outlined in the Board’s Strategic Plan. The new models, which are being debated in the Ohio General Assembly, would be phased-in starting in July 2009 for all two- and four-year institutions.
Oklahoma
The Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education influence by Achieving the Dream have established a goal to revise the state’s mandatory assessment policy. The Regents are seeking to amend the policy to include standardized placement in developmental education and college-level coursework among public institutions. The state’s academic vice presidents will review a proposal for a revised assessment policy at their spring 2009 meeting.
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania community colleges are working to make sure that individuals affected by the economic downturn have an opportunity to further their education. Ten of the state’s 14 community colleges now provide tuition waivers for workers laid off since September 2008. Students enrolled through these programs can register for any courses with empty seats the day before the first class. The programs, which have served 1,100 dislocated workers statewide to date, represent a unique model for providing postsecondary training for unemployed workers while improving the economic efficiency of the colleges by putting open seats to use.
South Carolina
The South Carolina Technical College System is playing a key role in that state’s efforts to improve alignment between the K-12 and postsecondary sectors, as well as course transfer among the state’s 33 public colleges and universities. The Commission on Higher Education, Department of Education, and Technical College System are initiating the South Carolina Course Articulation Project, a series of activities and programs designed to improve alignment between secondary and postsecondary institutions.
Additionally, the Commission on Higher Education recently began working with AcademyOne, Inc. to develop a statewide Web portal for course transfer. The decision to establish a statewide system was motivated in part by increasing student mobility and the need to maximize the cost-efficiency of students’ postsecondary education. AcademyOne recently worked with Pennsylvania, another Achieving the Dream state, to develop its statewide PA TRAC web portal for course transfer.
Texas
The Texas Association of Community Colleges (TACC) has made student success a major part of its priorities for the 81st Texas Legislature, now in session. TACC’s appropriations request emphasizes community college’s commitment to outcomes, including innovation, accountability, and improvements in student success. The request includes an incentive-funding component informed by Achieving the Dream. TACC cites the need for innovation funds, which can help support community colleges seeking to test new methods of improving outcomes for traditionally underrepresented students. It also seeks incentive funds based on measures of student success that hold colleges accountable for improving outcomes and reward those that demonstrate improvement.
Virginia
The Virginia Community College System has made great strides in promoting state-level conversations about student success in developmental education. The Council has established a statewide developmental education task force, chaired by a college provost, with membership that includes administrators, faculty, and K-12 representatives. This task force is examining current policies and practices related to developmental education in the system, and expects to make recommendations for improvement in September 2009.
The Academic and Student Affairs Council also unanimously approved a set of recommendations made by a statewide placement task force charged with examining policies and practices around placement during the 2007-08 academic year. The Council has charged its student services subcommittee with developing an implementation plan based on these recommendations this year.
Washington
The Community College Research Center (CCRC) has issued its formal evaluation of the learning year for Washington’s Student Achievement Initiative. The initiative focuses on systematically rewarding institutions for getting students to intermediate success measures that correlate with increased outcomes. The 2007-08 academic year was designated as a learning year in order to familiarize institutions with the new reward structure.
CCRC conducted a detailed set of interviews to assess the impact of this learning year on institutions. The evaluation found evidence of institutional efforts to collect new data and early evidence of efforts to implement new programs and innovations, particularly in basic skills and developmental education. While the colleges largely supported the initiative’s principles and goals, the evaluation cites the need to increase awareness of it among legislators, as well as a concern among institutions that without oversight there may be unintended consequences in terms of institutional practices. View document
Washington State Policy Audit Report
The Washington State Policy Audit examines current state policies in Achieving the Dream goal areas, highlights key policy issues related to improving success for low income students and students of color, and identifies possible future directions and policy opportunities. It is based on a series of interviews with representatives from state agencies, the legislature, community and technical colleges, policy research and advocacy organizations, and outside experts in postsecondary education, training, and workforce and economic development; a comprehensive review of state research and policy reports and strategic plans; and a review of national research on related topics. The four goal areas on which the policy audit focuses are data and accountability, student success, alignment and articulation, and financial aid.
Washington State Policy Audit Brief
College Spark funds programs in Washington state that help low-income students become college ready and complete their degrees. To advance the work of six community colleges participating in the Achieving the Dream initiative, the foundation commissioned a state policy audit that identifies issues to address and recommendations for action. This publication offers a brief overview of that report.
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