Increasing graduation rates means creating a “culture of evidence” by conducting institutional research, but it also means creating a “culture of possibility” to let students know they can be successful, said Eduardo Padrón, president of Miami Dade College (Florida), who last month was appointed chair of the President’s Advisory Council for the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanics.

 

“We cannot become revolving doors,” he said.

 

One of the challenges that community colleges may face is the paradigm shift from focusing on access to focusing on success, said John “Ski” Sygielski, president of Mount Hood Community College (Oregon) and board chair of the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC).

 

The summit was a great way to start a dialogue, but it was just a start, Sygielski noted. The second phase is to continue those discussions on campuses and in communities, he said.

 

“We’re in our infancy in this,” Sygielski said.

 

Next week, college success will be the focus of a joint AACC meeting of its commissions and board of directors. During general session panel discussions, community college leaders and other stakeholders—including Obama administration officials and foundation representatives—will address topics such as developing and attaining commitment to the college success goal, accountability for outcomes and measuring success.

 

In addition, representatives from six community college organizations representing community college presidents, faculty, trustees, researchers and students—which in April signed a call to action for college completion and accountability—will outline their efforts to date. For example, Phi Theta Kappa, an international organization representing community college honor students, will present its student tool kit, which includes promotional posters, stickers, program guide and a Student Call to Action proclamation. All 1,250 Phi Theta Kappa chapters will receive the kits next week.

 

 

Although much of the focus of college success has focused on data, participants of the White House summit were reminded that low-tech efforts continue to be critical to the strategy.

 

Jerry Sue Thornton, president of Ohio’s Cuyahoga Community College (CCC), recalled that during a breakout session on technology at the summit, a student told session participants that the greatest technology cannot replace person-to-person interface. That struck Thornton.

 

When she returned to her college, Thorton began work on a student ambassador program. New students at CCC will now be paired with more experienced students, who will help the newer students navigate the institution and stay on track to completion.

“Having someone to talk with is critical to their success,” Thornton said.

 

The summit has also prompted community colleges in Maryland to host their own state summit on Dec. 3 to discuss what the state and each institution can do to help reach Obama’s goal to increase the number of community college graduates by 5 million by the end of the decade.

 

“We will discuss how do we move the agenda forward,” said Charlene Dukes, president of Prince George’s Community College (Maryland), who attended the White House summit.

 

At her college, officials are working to develop “stretch goals” for the next 15 years to help more students attain associate degrees, she said. That will likely include designing ways for students to attain a degree in a shorter time, reconstructing developmental education and working more closely with the University of Maryland to ensure associate degrees transfer toward four-year degree credits.

 

The White House summit also helped community colleges garner state and local attention in Connecticut, noted Marc Herzog, chancellor of the Connecticut Community College System. After the state’s two-year college system was noted at the summit for its innovative approach to student aid—Melinda Gates of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation called it “fantastic”—the Hartford (Conn.) Courant newspaper wrote an editorial offering kudos to the state’s Web-based financial aid system and called for more state funding for the colleges.

 

“This kind of innovation is essential to the colleges, which now have more than 58,000 full- and part-time students, more than half of all public undergraduates,” the article said. “But funding has not kept up. State general-fund support is below 2008 levels, though the schools have added more than 7,000 students since 2008.”

 

 

Given the shape of the U.S. economy and depleted state coffers, community college leaders realize their institutions won’t likely see increases in state funding for some time.

 

“The will is there to help meet the president’s goals, but the resources are extremely stressed,” said Linda Thor, chancellor of the Foothill-De Anza Community College District in California.

 

But interest among several large foundations and a call at the summit for more public-private partnerships to help push the college success agenda offers promise for community colleges to adapt and expand promising practices. Thor said she was especially pleased with the announcement of new grant opportunities at the summit. She said her district will partner with other community colleges in California to apply for the Gates Foundation’s new $35 million Completion by Design grant initiative, which will target the implementation of best practices focused on low-income young adults.

 

The White House plans to follow up on the summit next year with a virtual summit.