February 27, 2020

by California Competes

Community Colleges Degree Attainment Sub-Baccalaureate Degrees Adults

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From Practice to Policy: How Institutions Accelerate Adult Completion and Fuel Prosperity

Completing college presents steep challenges for many working adults, who need to manage costs while also balancing their home and work lives. Adult students’ lagging college persistence and completion rates led Shasta College to launch its Accelerated College Education (ACE) program. ACE offers a promising approach to reducing common barriers that often prevent adults from achieving their postsecondary goals. From Practice to Policy: How Institutions Accelerate Adult Completion and Fuel Prosperity is the second publication in California Competes’ policy brief series focused on institutional innovation.

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Key Findings

1

Accelerated pathways shift the paradigm from a focus on improving students’ college readiness to improving colleges’ student readiness

2

Increasing enrollment on-ramps, predictability, flexibility, and compressed term formats may increase the likelihood of completion for working students

3

Employers and students alike could benefit from maximizing investments in college-based workforce training

4

Incentivizing reciprocity of credit between colleges could increase completion for millions of swirling students

Read our first publication in the series, From Practice to Policy: How Institutions Leverage Data to Improve Outcomes.

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Brief

From Practice to Policy: How Institutions Leverage Data to Improve Outcomes

California Competes | June 12, 2019

Drawing from interviews and publicly available documents, the brief describes how leaders can leverage data to modernize institutional practices and inform continuous improvement. It is the first in a series of briefs that will highlight promising institutional strategies that can improve student outcomes across California’s diverse higher education system.

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Policy & Analysis

Governor’s January Budget Proposal Reinvests in California’s Higher Education System

Gail Yen | January 11, 2021

The Governor’s 2021-22 Budget Proposal contains no cuts to California’s three public higher education systems and instead offers funding increases to address equity gaps, promote completion rates, and support students’ upward economic mobility.

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Policy & Analysis

Strategies to Increase Diversity in STEM Fields

Su Jin Gatlin Jez | December 17, 2020

When California Competes facilitated a focus group with the California Business Roundtable and some of the organization’s members, it became clear that despite an increased focus on recruiting a more diverse talent pool into science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields, there’s still a great need for policy reforms—both in higher education and the workforce.

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California Competes is a project of Community Partners.