Community College Journal - April/May 2012

students say they never participated in supplemental instruction and 76 percent say they never participated in tutoring. At the same time, 87 percent of participating colleges report that they offer supplemental instruction, but only 14 percent make it mandatory for developmental education students.

Does academic planning set students up for success? Forty-two percent of part-time students and 19 percent of full-time students work more than 30 hours per week. More than half of all students care for dependents. But only 26 percent of entering students say a college staff member talked with them about their commitments outside of class to help them figure out how many courses to take.

These initial findings should prove

useful to colleges as they evaluate their own promising practices. Discovering patterns of incongruence—or “data disconnects”— is a potentially powerful way to prompt college-wide discussions about what student outcomes are important and what policies and practices are mostly likely to result in those outcomes. One objective is to strengthen the alignment between what students need and what colleges provide.

In the next phase of the initiative,
we will advance beyond describing the
state of current practice in community
colleges to identify which promising
practices (or combinations of practices)
are most closely linked to higher levels
of student engagement as well
as to other key indi-
cators of student
learning, progress, and attainment.
All colleges are invited to take part
in the High-Impact Practices Initia-
tive. As the center continues to learn
about what matters most in promoting
student success, those findings will be
shared with the field.

KAY MCCLENNEY is director and ANGELA ORIANO is associate director of college relations for the Center for Community College Student Engagement, part of the Community College Leadership Program at the University of Texas, Austin.

With the emphasis shifting at the nation’s community colleges from access to success, some of the industry’s leading voices are creating a set of actionable steps for the completion agenda. To find out more, visit: www.aacc.nche.edu/21stCentury.

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