Despite billions of dollars and countless hours spent on pilot programs, tech solutions, and targeted sub-population interventions, the six-year graduation rate at community colleges remains stuck below 30% nationally. Community college leaders recognize that they need to make changes to meet ambitious completion goals, and that faculty can and should play a large role in student success efforts. By challenging the status quo, leaders can better engage and recruit faculty.
This study focuses on three critical aspects of faculty engagement: making strategic goals meaningful for frontline faculty, increasing faculty participation in mitigating student risk, and elevating committee and task force performance.
The key challenge: Engaging the academic core to achieve next-level student success gainsSince the launch of the completion agenda in the late 2000s, community colleges have implemented countless pilots and initiatives aimed at improving student engagement, retention, and graduation. This first phase of institutional change focused almost exclusively on student services reform, reaching a meaningful but modest percentage of the student body. Next-level student outcomes gains require reimagining the academic curriculum, programs of study, and teaching and learning. These activities require participation and support from faculty members—both as individual faculty instructors and the faculty as a whole.
The goal: Direct faculty energy to specific activities and responsibilities that will improve student successTo achieve this goal, community college leaders must first translate their strategic student success goals to specific actions and responsibilities for frontline faculty who interact with students daily. Second, individual faculty must proactively flag signs of student risk when…