What Excellent Community Colleges Do: Preparing All Students for Success

by Joshua S Wyner, Anthony P. Carnevale (Foreword)

Description from Harvard Educational Press Website:
In What Excellent Community Colleges Do, Joshua S. Wyner draws on the insights and evidence gained in administering the inaugural Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence.

This book identifies four domains of excellence—degree completion, equity, student learning, and labor market success—and describes in rich detail the policies and practices that have allowed some community colleges to succeed in these domains.

By starting with a holistic definition of excellence, measuring success against that definition, and then identifying practices and policies that align with high levels of student success, the author seeks to contribute to the growing body of knowledge about improving student success in community colleges.

Genres: Education, Nonfiction

158 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 2014

Reviews

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was no fun to read, but it was great professional development. It plugged me in to the broad concerns in the field currently, and offered practical solutions that have proven successful at various colleges. A lot of this stuff is above my pay-grade, however, and calls for implementation of programs and strategies that I have little influence over in my current faculty position. Nonetheless, I appreciate that framing of community college's as essential to the American Dream in that they are a gateway to prosperity for America's disadvantage peoples. In that sense, such institutions offer an unparalleled educational opportunity, but we--perhaps at all levels of the college--must concern ourselves not just with increasing access but also with increasing success, and being deliberate about how we measure both.

[sleeps9hours · Rating 2 out of 5]

After first reading Confessions of a Community College Administrator by Matthew Reed, I was not nearly as excited by Wyner's book.

Wyner offers a piecemeal selection of practices that some award winning community colleges have implemented and found successful, which is valuable to report and inspiring, but he doesn't offer the depth of understanding about the community college system that Reed delivers.

Useful, yet not very engaging.

[Keri · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great resource for those who work in academic settings or with students. Excellent reminder of the role of community colleges and the commitment necessary to guide students toward academic success.

[William Visher · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this as a book club selection at the community college where I work. We read and discussed in a five-week session. The group overall enjoyed it and found the suggestions useful and mostly doable. Looking forward to hearing from the author at our upcoming staff convocation.

[Ben · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really great look at the successful strategies of communit colleges by drawing on experience from running the Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence. The chapter on completion in particular is a must-read for anyone who cares about the subject.

[ACRL]

Read by ACRL Member of the Week Tanner Wray. Learn more about Tanner on the ACRL Insider blog .