In the November 29 Sacramento Bee, Peter Schrag opines that California's community colleges have failed in the category of "completion": "That's the percentage of beginning students who actually get a degree, transfer to a four-year college, or complete the vocational program they began." What if that is not the goal? What if the goal is to retake English 1A over the summer before returning to Chico or Davis for one's four-year program? What if, after years of work in some other field, a retiree wants to study something unrelated to his or her career? Can't those people be said to have "completed" their goal? Schrag himself acknowledges that "the community colleges are -- and have to be -- all things to all people," so the rather short list of criteria doesn't truly apply. We cannot judge community colleges the way we judge universities or tech colleges because the mission is so varied.
Stay tuned for my dissection of the state policy analyst's report.
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