Chicago Mayor Richard Daley and leaders of the
City Colleges of Chicago (CCC) this week launched a “reinvention” of the community college system to better ensure students have the skills they need to compete in a global economy.
“The bottom line is that we need to get the highest possible return on our investment in City Colleges to ensure Chicago's economic future,” Daley said during a news briefing on Thursday.
The revamping is the city's effort to help reach national goals of increasing the number of community college students who attain a degree or credential by 2020.
CCC Chancellor Cheryl Hyman and board chair Martin Cabrera, Jr., who were appointed by Daley earlier this year, outlined the strategy to remake the system, which included exploring eight key areas. They are:
- Program portfolio review. Increase the economic value of credentials and the number of transfers to higher education.
- Remediation. Improve outcomes for students needing remediation, including moving students into credit programs more quickly and creating partnerships with Chicago public schools and other stakeholders.
- Adult education. Improve programs so students complete their program and successfully transfer to college credit courses.
- Student support and pathways. Improve advising, tutoring, job placement and transfer and other “wraparound” supports.
- Faculty and staff development. Create development programs that better support faculty and staff in their service to students, establish performance goals and evaluation methods.
- Operational excellence and optimization. Improve the return on non-instructional-related investments and build an investment strategy that supports student success.
- Technology. Drive significant improvement in both instructional and non-instructional technology and data integrity to ensure students, faculty and staff have the tools needed for success.
- Strategic capital planning and investments. Upgrade facilities and ensure colleges have the resources and technologies to prepare students for success in their careers.
Hyman said just 16 percent of students transfer to a four-year institution, and only 4-5 percent earn a bachelor’s degree. CCC loses more than half of its degree-seeking students before they complete their first 15 credit hours, she added.
“If students are not getting the credentials they come here for, then the burden is on us to figure out what programs, operations and services need to change to make sure they will succeed,” Cabrera said.
A task force of faculty, students and staff will work on each of the eight areas. They will seek input from external advisory councils comprising leaders from academia, business, civic and foundations, community and capital planning experts.
The task forces’ work will be tracked publicly online and success will be measured by reaching four student-centered goals:
- Increasing the number of students earning college credentials of economic value.
- Boosting the rate of transfer to bachelor’s degree programs following CCC graduation.
- Improving outcomes for students requiring remediation.
- Increasing the number and share of students taking adult basic education, GED and English as a second language courses to advance and succeed in college-level courses.
The college system has already started a number of projects to get the initiative off the ground. For ecample, CCC is reaching out to 15,000 students identified as being at risk of failing one or more classes and working with them to develop plans to help them successfully pass their courses.
CCC is also now systematically identifying students who may soon be eligible to graduate and proactively offering transfer and job placement assistance. In addition, the system has started a demonstration project with the Chicago public schools system to identify incoming students who will need remediation in their senior year of high school and then support those students prior to them enrolling at CCC.