Redesigning America’s Community Colleges: A Clearer Path to Student Success

by Thomas R. Bailey, Shanna Smith Jaggars, Davis Jenkins

In the United States, 1,200 community colleges enroll over ten million students each year―nearly half of the nation’s undergraduates. Yet fewer than 40 percent of entrants complete an undergraduate degree within six years. This fact has put pressure on community colleges to improve academic outcomes for their students. Redesigning America’s Community Colleges is a concise, evidence-based guide for educational leaders whose institutions typically receive short shrift in academic and policy discussions. It makes a compelling case that two-year colleges can substantially increase their rates of student success, if they are willing to rethink the ways in which they organize programs of study, support services, and instruction.

Community colleges were originally designed to expand college enrollments at low cost, not to maximize completion of high-quality programs of study. The result was a cafeteria-style model in which students pick courses from a bewildering array of choices, with little guidance. The authors urge administrators and faculty to reject this traditional model in favor of “guided pathways”―clearer, more educationally coherent programs of study that simplify students’ choices without limiting their options and that enable them to complete credentials and advance to further education and the labor market more quickly and at less cost.

Distilling a wealth of data amassed from the Community College Research Center (Teachers College, Columbia University), Redesigning America’s Community Colleges offers a fundamental redesign of the way two-year colleges operate, stressing the integration of services and instruction into more clearly structured programs of study that support every student’s goals.

Genres: Education, Nonfiction, Teaching

304 pages, Hardcover

First published April 9, 2015

Reviews

[J.L. Sutton]

Bailey etc. emphasize the importance of completion at the nation’s community colleges (with their estimated 10 million students per year). By stressing outcomes, the authors argue against the ‘cafeteria-style model’ of course delivery available at many community colleges. The answer to improving completion is on guided student pathways; however, organizational changes need to take place in order to maximize the impact of this practice. Supplemental to this are such practices as peer collaboration, student success courses and faculty-student support services partnerships.

[Glen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Guided Pathways is the great hope in many higher ed circles today (primarily among community college administrators) for dealing with the high percentage of students who enter college ill-prepared, do not make regular progress toward a degree or certificate and, owing largely to those two factors, either complete a program of study only after 3oo or 400% of the time normally allotted for it, or fail to complete at all. This book tries to make a sustained and reasoned case for why this approach should be widely adopted as a best practice among America's community and technical colleges and not dismissed as a mere fad. The argument they present trades largely on a contrast with what the authors present as the status quo, which they dub the "cafeteria college", wherein students are confronted with a plethora of choices but a minimal amount of guidance as to how to make informed decisions. At times the cafeteria model started to sound a bit like a straw man, since many colleges have already adopted at least some of the elements of the guided pathways model, and many career and technical programs already have prescribed course sequences and close collaboration with community and business partners, but there is no gainsaying the fact that there is substantial room for improvement.

I appreciate the authors' call for more investment in education that emphasizes output over input (i.e., completions over enrollments), for better training of instructors and more incentives for collaboration among faculty and between faculty and other educational professionals in student services, career services, instructional design technology, etc., and for a greater emphasis on concepts and context over content. I also applaud the call for greater collaboration between K-12 and community colleges when it comes to career planning and assessment of student interests and aptitude, and the general call for helping students be better informed about themselves and the choices available to them prior to embarking on a course of study. There is a lot to like about this book.

On the downside, and by the authors' own admission since this integrated approach is new, there is very little in the way of data to convince skeptics and those simply weary of academic fads and the "initiative du jour" that this one is really different, that this time we are really on to something that will move the proverbial needle on student retention and completion. Some of the causes of student attrition are socio-economic, rooted in structures that discriminate and discourage based on race, class, gender, and a host of other factors. Higher education as an institution can help expose and offer alternatives to these structures (when it is not perpetuating them), but it cannot overcome them by itself. On the policy front, I thought more could and should have been said about the role played by federal financial aid policies in guiding student choices, especially in the light of the fact that a major and much heralded aspect of the guided pathways approach (in some circles it is virtually synonymous with it), the development of so-called "meta-majors" or interest clusters of programs that share a sort of family resemblance, is at loggerheads with policies that require students requesting aid to choose a very specific program that will lead to a degree or certificate, which is something meta-majors don't do. Until and unless this loophole is fixed and a meta-major or interest cluster is acknowledged as a program of study, at least for a student's first term or so, then this much vaunted aspect of guided pathways will be mere window dressing for what remains, in the end, a cafeteria.

[George Woodbury · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an interesting look at how to increase success at community colleges. Philosophically I am generally not in favor of limiting student options in any fashion, but so many of our students arrive with no long term goals (or poorly defined goals) that it inhibits their chances of making it all the way to graduation. The idea of pathways gives students the focus needed to make progress towards graduation and transfer.

I really like the idea that faculty, staff, and administration need to work together to make this a reality.

Chapters 3 (Instruction) and 4 (Developmental Education) are sure to generate discussion among faculty.

I support the authors' call for a shift from the knowledge transmission model to the learning facilitation model. How many of us are prepared to focus on conceptual understanding over procedures only, help students develop meta cognitive skills, adopt learner centered instruction?

I have some issues with tying dev ed courses and college level courses (like dev math and statistics) into one course, but we definitely need to take a new look at our developmental sequences. Are there too many courses? Do they cover too many topics? Are there ways to incorporate other important (life and student) skills into these courses?

I'm looking forward to a campus wide discussion of these ideas.

[Eduardo García · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. A good summary of the challenges facing the U.S.'s community colleges, balanced with potential solutions. Thoroughly researched, although I would also say it is very theoretical, too. Yes, it draws on examples, but many of the proposed solutions are still being implemented or have not been documented. Overall, an interesting read.

[Molly · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is not a book for everyone. However as someone who works at a community college and cares about student success, I found many of the ideas intriguing (if not a little bit frightening when thinking about implementing them). I enjoyed the case studies and am looking forward to discussions about guided pathways with my colleagues.

[Laura Haske · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an interesting look at how we can improve the structure of community colleges in America to better serve our students. The main principle is the simplification of programs of study into guided pathways. Getting all interested parties on board with the change would take a lot of coordination and motivation.

[Shari · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very academic read suggesting community colleges completing revamp their whole way of thinking by putting their students on a guided pathway for college completion and success.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a former community college educator, I found this book to be very helpful to explain a lot of the changes going on in community colleges right now. I wish I had read it while I was still working at a college, although I may again so it will be helpful then. I attended a four-year public university, which had very clearly defined majors and class requirements, and I didn't realize that most community colleges didn't operate that way, with many colleges following a "cafeteria model," as in, pick and choose what classes you'd like to take. That is very appealing for the freedom of education, but it is less and less useful for students looking to transfer to a university as well as for completing their CC education in a timely manner. This book reviews the merits of the "guided pathways" model for community colleges and considerations for colleges in transitioning. It is definitely in the academic/research writing style but worthwhile for those in the field.

[Levi Hernandez · Rating 2 out of 5]

I understand what this book is trying to accomplish, however, endless repetition of the same content left me feeling rather tired. The book is either a thesis or a dissertation that was written to earn a degree. The heartbreaking part of this book is that as much as it looks good on paper, things cannot change unless people are willing to change. If we want to see the results of the book, there has to be constant participation from faculty and staff members. The school also has to allow every department to be involved.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book mostly because the authors seem to clearly speak about today's community college population. However, many of the guidelines for revising today's community college education will be challenging in a time when budgets for education are being slashed. Furthermore, the authors presented solutions and used big community colleges as examples. I would love to see someone tackle the plights of small community colleges!

[Catherine Rodriguez · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 / 5

Strong and engaging for the first four chapters; dried up a bit in the last two. The things reported on and brought up as concerns in this piece are definitely accurate as, in my job, I see so many of these topics reflected day-to-day. Even for being a handful of years old, it's still very timely. I'd love to see this research revisited/expanded upon in light of the pandemic.

[Karla Frizler · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting food for thought and discussion about the mission and success of the community college system. The book certainly has flaws, but it is serving as a good springboard for conversation at our institution.

[Kenley Neufeld · Rating 4 out of 5]

Comprehensive and strategic approach to improving community colleges and student learning. Based in research, and concrete examples, this can be a guidebook for colleges to reflect on the instructional programs and student support services. M

[Byung Kyu Park · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book makes a good argument for necessary, giant reform in America's open-access two-year colleges. Their case is marred by one thing: the authors are too easily dismissive of potential of distance education to make possible paths of student success that were previously unachievable.

[Mark Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great presentation of the issues and initiatives that community colleges are grappling with.

[Tambra Riggs-Gutiérrez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent. Wrote a book review for this title as part of an Internship requirement for a graduate course. Highly recommend to anyone working in the community college field.

[Jessie]

Read for work. Concepts, pretty good. Writing, pretty repetitive.

[Andy Harrison · Rating 3 out of 5]

⭐⭐⭐ 1/2

[Lance Eaton · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to really like this book. There are some points to it that are valuable and think can help improve outcomes at community colleges. In particular, the way it considers choice design and providing clearer pathways for students I think is incredibly useful to consider. However, it flails when it talks about classroom design or even when it tries to accurately discuss the student populations. It says that including the part-time faculty is important and yet makes mention of them on less than eight pages in the entire book; the rest of the time, the authors focus on full-time faculty in their remarks. Most problematic is that it is simply too vague and simple. It defines success as graduation but never provides what is a meaningful completion rate to acquire, which is useful to consider when even the authors note that more than half the students are likely to stop because of financial limitations and at least three out of five students are responsible for someone (a child, an ailing parent, etc). I do think it's a relevant read for those who work in the realm of community college, but it has it is not necessarily a great book by any means.

If you enjoyed this review, feel free to check out my other reviews and writings at By Any Other Nerd /

[Jonna Higgins-Freese · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having followed CCRC's research and agenda in recent years, I was already familiar with much of the material, but it was fascinating to see it pulled together into the overarching "guided pathways" model for improving community college/credential completion rates. I'm still unconvinced regarding some of their underlying assumptions -- that lack of skills, versus inequitable wage structures, accounts for income and wealth disparities in the United States, for example (see http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/a...). However, for a number of pedagogical and philosophical reasons, the guided pathways approach seems to me to be a positive step forward regardless of whether it actually provides the mechanism for reducing income inequality.

[Kyle · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the first book I've ever read that's made me want to be a part of a book club. Every chapter came with new ideas, well organized and researched, that together made a persuasive argument to change from a college with "cafeteria" style course offerings to one offering guided pathways to credentials. At the end, I had several pages of notes that I'd love to discuss with my coworkers, even about seemingly unrelated things like budgeting. Highly recommended to anyone working in a community college.

[Jimmy In]

There a lot of interesting and depressing statistics in this book, which my department gifted me to read involving college cost per student, completion rates, etc. The Guided Pathways approach sounds interesting and may be effective, but I believe it would be very difficult for several reasons to convert most community college over to.

[heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

Talks about how community colleges can increase their completion rates through guided pathways and advising. Many of the ideas seem like common sense, but at times their examples are ignore the gray area in between (ex. Student A will be defeated and drop out or Student A will feel supported and thrive going on to a 4 yr university)

[Scout · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely illuminating and fantastic. A must-read for anyone interested or involved in higher education.

[Margaret Swanson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Filled with thoughts to ponder and explore as community college leaders work on ways to improve student success.

[Jess Clark · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was even better now that I have seen more possiblities.

[Stan Skrabut · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love when coincidences happen. I've had the book Redesigning America’s Community Colleges: A Clearer Path to Student Success sitting on my shelf for over a year. Because I work in a community college, I thought it was important to learn more about what the struggles of the colleges were and see if I could help our college succeed. I planned to start reading this book towards the end of October. During our Faculty Development Days, we had a speaker come in and talk about Guided Pathways. As I started to read Redesigning America’s Community Colleges, I realize it was following the presentation very closely. Read more