Dive Brief:
- A comprehensive look at graduation rates for students from South King County in Washington State by the Community Center for Education Results examined seven community and technical colleges, revealing strategies for better performance.
- According to eCampus News, the report's authors are proposing that businesses offer more predictable schedules to their working students so they can better balance their jobs with their classes, as well as more funding for the State Need Grant, the College Bound Scholarship program, and community and technical colleges more generally.
- Noting the racial and ethnic differences in graduation rates, the report's authors also suggest post-secondary institutions offer culturally-responsive programs, like Highline College’s Umoja Black Scholars program, which allows students to get an education placed into a cultural context, in this case an African-American lens.
Dive Insight:
The Community Center for Education Results report found that full-time students were more than twice as likely as part-time students to graduate or transfer to a four-year college within three years of starting their degree programs. Black students have the lowest student outcomes across three indicators: They have the smallest college-ready portion in math, the lowest retention rates from the first to the second year of college, and they have the lowest three-year graduation rate.
J. Luke Wood’s research deals specifically with improving success rates for men of color at community colleges. Their outcomes are significantly lower than averages and all other groups. He offers six steps for administrators who want to take concrete steps to improve these numbers, and provide better educational opportunity for all students.