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Focus Areas

Student Success Task Force

In January 2011, the California Community Colleges Board of Governors established the Student Success Task Force. This task force of 20 members examined best practices and models for accomplishing student success and present recommendations.

The overarching goals of the initiative are to:

  • improve educational outcomes and workforce preparedness and close achievement gaps for historically underrepresented students
  • decrease time it takes students to earn a degree, certificate and/or transfer
  • save students and taxpayers money through efficiencies

Student Success Initiative Recommendations

The task force created a comprehensive plan to improve the System’s capacity to serve students. It is divided into eight focus areas that:

  • rebalance priorities within the community college system to better focus on the core missions of workforce preparation and transfer, while protecting access
  • make community college more responsive to the needs of student and the economy
  • increase student success rates for certificate and degree completion and transfer to four-year institutions

SB 1456

The Student Success Act of 2012, Senate Bill 1456 was signed into law in September 2012. It targets funding to core services of orientation, assessment, counseling/advising to assist students with development of educational plans and focuses on helping new students define goals and get on track to achievement.

Key Provisions of SB1456:

  • mandates assessment, orientation and educational planning
  • requires students to declare a course of study
  • targets student support services funding model
  • sets minimum academic standards for state financial aid
  • establishes Student Success Scorecard at all colleges

Incentives to Support Goal Completion:

  • Statewide enrollment priorities that reward students for use of services and academic progress
  • more creative approach to service delivery to improve effectiveness and efficiency
  • integrating institutional student success and student equity planning to address achievement gaps

Student Success Scorecard

  • went live the second week of April 2013
  • Builds on previous accountability system and continues to measure “high-order” outcomes: Degree, Certificate, Transfer
  • also measures “momentum points”
  • focuses on institutional progress, rather than comparison with other colleges
  • expands populations measured
  • data broken down by race ethnicity, gender, age group,and level of college preparation