Building good relationships with local community colleges to align career pathways and to articulate career courses is essential to student success. After nearly a year of studying ways to improve graduation and transfer rates, with dwindling resources, the 21-member Student Success Task Force on community colleges issued a report entitled Refocusing California Community Colleges Toward Student Success that includes 23 draft recommendations.

At the top of the list is a recommendation that community colleges collaborate with K-12 to “jointly develop common core standards for college and career readiness.”

The fiscal crisis, over-crowding on community college campuses and the high costs of low retention and completion rates is calling for reform. For example, the standard practice of using state funds to subsidize all students, including those with no apparent career goals and those dabbling in art, music, and other non-degree courses, is poised to take its place in history class.

 “You’re no longer a continuing student if you signed up for 100 credits and only completed 30,” said Jack Scott, Chancellor of the California Community College system. “In this day and age, when the money is scarce, we’re really rationing our seats, so we’ve got to recognize those who are serious. We’re not against lifelong learning but those students are not our priorities.”

It is more important than ever for high schools to take steps to ensure students will succeed when they go to college and that they have a clear focus on their individual academic and career goals. Students not on the academic or career track would also be sent to the back of the registration line.

While community colleges are a critical linchpin in America’s efforts to educate our way to greater prosperity and equality, too many students pay tuition, borrow money and change their lives in pursuit of a degree they will never earn. About one fifth of full-time students who began their studies at a community college did not return for a second year. The huge cost associated with low retention and completion rates is the subject of a report released this month entitled: The Hidden Costs of Community Colleges. This report found the combined cost of attrition in California was $480 million dollars over the five-year period from 2004-05 through 2008-09.

Possible causes for this low rate of success include:

• Community colleges enroll students who are not college-ready.
• Bureaucratic structures are too complicated.
• Faculty is not engaged fully in developing policies and practices to increase student success.
• Course curricula, outcomes and assessments are poorly aligned.
• Low standards.
• Poor collection and use of data to inform continuous improvement.