Community Colleges

Expand opportunities for students attending community colleges, especially those from underserved groups, by identifying barriers they face.

About this Project

Community colleges play an indispensable but often overlooked role in American education. Although nearly half of all undergraduates are enrolled in a community college, these institutions have not always been at the center of national education debates. Community colleges must play a central role in the development and implementation of national education solutions.

Visit the Community Colleges website

Our Progress

What We've Accomplished

Assembled the National Commission on Community Colleges to document the critical role that community colleges play in American education and make recommendations for expanding their influence

Issued Winning the Skills Race and Strengthening America's Middle Class: An Action Agenda for Community Colleges with specific strategies for strengthening two-year institutions

Shared Winning the Skills Race with all presidential candidates during the 2008 election

Commissioned the Community College Research Center at Teachers College, Columbia University, to conduct two studies on community college accountability systems

With support from the Gates Foundation, convened leaders in education to assist in the development of a national transfer strategy

The Financial Aid Challenge, developed in collaboration with AACC, identifies policy and practices that increase the number of community college students who apply for and receive student aid

What We're Working On

A policy paper to guide the development of more effective and predictable pathways from two-year to four-year colleges and help improve articulation in ways that increase college completion rates

A survey and inventory of retention policies, practices and actions that will assist colleges and universities in conducting detailed evaluation of their efforts to improve graduation rates