Giving Compass' Take:

• Josh Wyner, writing for The Aspen Institute, discusses how the best community colleges can enact reforms effectively to help foster social mobility and develop talent. 

• How can donors play a role in advancing opportunities for community colleges? 

• Read about how community colleges are working to create clear pathways of success for students. 

It is an exciting time for community college reform. The 10 finalists for the 2019 Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence—a $1 million award given every other year to the country’s best community colleges—are working at the leading edge of a movement aimed at improving student outcomes in the key areas at the center of the Aspen Institute’s definition of success: learning, degree and credential completion (at community college and after four-year transfer), and the labor market, achieved equitably for different student groups.

We’re seeing smart, institution-wide reforms in a range of internal systems, from clarifying program maps to focusing advising to improving faculty professional development. Colleges are strengthening relationships with K-12 systems, universities, employers, and community-based organizations.

While reform efforts involve common strategies, the design of those strategies varies substantially among finalist colleges. Leaders at each institution work to understand their communities and craft reforms that respond directly to why change is essential there. Too few young adults receive a college education. Too few unemployed (and underemployed) adults receive the formal learning needed to improve their station in life. Too many good jobs remain unfilled due to inadequate numbers of trained workers. Too much talent is left undeveloped—disproportionately among communities of color and those with the fewest resources.

At excellent community colleges, a deep-rooted sense of place and purpose drives reforms. Their leaders, faculty, and staff start with the where. They are unusually effective with the what (strong reform models) and the how (effective delivery). But perhaps what distinguishes them most is their consistent effort to keep everyone at their colleges focused on the why: They are dedicated day in and day out to finding the best ways to foster social mobility for their students and develop talent for their communities.

Read the full article about best community colleges by Josh Wyner at The Aspen Institute