California Community Colleges’ Collaborative Spirit Supports Minority Student Success

California Community Colleges (CCC), the nation’s largest system of higher education, seems to be leading the national effort to make college more accessible for minority students. This month, CCC leaders and partners announced two programs that will support a number of innovative policies and White House initiatives such as the Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities and President Obama’s 2020 Goal aimed at providing equal and affordable access to higher education for all students.

State-wide Open Education Collaboration

On March 9, California’s three primary systems of higher education — California Community Colleges, the University of California system, and the California State University system — announced a partnership that will provide free and open access online to the University of California-Irvine (UCI) chemistry curriculum and educational resources. This massive collaboration will allow students, teachers, and self-learners to access four years worth of undergraduate (and select graduate) video lectures and assignments featured via UCI’s Open Chemistry (OpenChem) which uses UCI’s university-level curriculum.

Due to a national lack of college and career readiness standards that connect K-12 learning outcomes to postsecondary success, open education curriculums are emerging as effective resources to supplement the instruction of underserved students. “The flexibility of OpenChem is that it permits adoption at many different levels: remediation for students prior to entering general chemistry studies, supplemental studies for advanced high school and undergraduate students, and concurrent support for chemistry majors throughout their undergraduate years,” explained Larry Cooperman, UC Irvine’s associate dean for open education and president of the 300-member global Open Education Association.

To be clear, OpenChem does not guarantee course credit to students who successfully complete all 17 video lecture courses. Instead,  instructors at other institutions may integrate parts or all of the OpenChem curriculum into their own credit-bearing courses without asking for permission, which is granted in advance through the program’s openly licensed format.

Although UCI is a member of Coursera, a popular Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) platform, OpenChem administrators concluded that “[Coursera] may not be the optimal platform for transfer of educational resources by other universities or community colleges.” Given the strategic nature in which online education must be implemented to effectively meet the needs of minority students, OpenChem appropriately encourages instructors and self-learners to use  and tailor this curriculum to supplement (rather than replace) face-to-face learning.

Considering the demographics of CCCs — of which over 40 percent are Latino, Native American, and Black students — one underlying value of this open education partnership lies in its commitment to provide minority students with full access to the high quality chemistry curriculum and resources also found at California’s top-tier research institutions. Typically, minority students are disproportionately represented at these research institutions where only 19 percent are Latino, Native American or Black.

An ACT national report on the conditions of STEM education claims, “the academic achievement gap that exists in general for ethnically diverse students is even more pronounced among those interested in the STEM fields.” By providing free and open access to the OpenChem curriculum and resources, California’s tri-system partnership may help to shrink this reported STEM achievement gap by introducing minority students to a university-level STEM curriculum prior to enrolling in college or transferring from community colleges to four year institutions.

CCC – HBCU Collaboration

Just a week after announcing it’s role in the massive tri-system open education partnership, CCCs continue their collaborative spirit by joining forces with nine Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) to forge transfer pathways for students.

Beginning Fall 2015, CCC students who earn an associate degree with a GPA of 2.5 or higher and satisfy requirements of one of California’s four-year general education transfer curriculums (found here and here), will be guaranteed admission with junior status to any of the nine participating HBCUs. The HBCU Transfer Admission Guarantee program also guarantees admission for CCC students who maintain a GPA of 2.5 or higher and earn 30 or more transferable CSU or UC credits.

The nine HBCUs participating in the agreement are:

• Bennett College, Greensboro, NC
• Dillard University, New Orleans, LA
• Fisk University, Nashville, TN
• Lincoln University of Missouri, Jefferson City, MO
• Philander Smith College, Little Rock, AR
• Stillman College, Tuscaloosa, AL
• Talladega College, Talladega, AL
• Tuskegee University, Tuskegee, AL
• Wiley College, Marshall, TX

CCC transfer students are also eligible to receive guaranteed acceptance of classes, priority consideration for housing, consideration for transfer scholarships, pre-admission advising, and — arguably the most valuable incentive of this partnership —  transfer students will gain access to institutions where minority student success is a top-priority. While representing only 3 percent of the the nations post-secondary institutions and enrolling only 17 percent of black undergraduates, HBCUs graduate over 28 percent of all black students who receive bachelor’s degrees.

Jovon Duke, a 22 year old student who transferred from El Camino College (a community college located in Torrance, CA) to Fisk University in 2013, said that he decided to transfer because of the small class sizes and supportive atmosphere at the HBCU. “Fisk is such a tight-knitted [sic] community and Nashville is great. I’ve had a lot of opportunities to take on leadership positions and have made many friends and close relationships with my professors. I love it here,” said Jovon in an interview. He has proactively made plans to pursue a master’s degree in social work after graduating from Fisk University.

Even though there are no HBCUs within state borders, 500 CCC students transferred to HBCUs in 2011.

By entering into forward-thinking partnerships with UC, CSU, and nine HBCUs within the span of two weeks, California’s community college system is focusing on ensuring student success through flexible and innovative pathways. With only five years left until the deadline to President Obama’s goal to reestablish America’s rank as the leading nation for the proportion of college graduates by 2020, its time for more institutions to adopt CCCs spirit of collaboration, innovation, and urgency in creating more promising pathways to credit-accumulation and degree-attainment for minority students.”