Monday, 20 May 2019
To: Mayor-Elect Lori Lightfoot
Re: Prioritizing Equity in Postsecondary Education for Chicago’s Students
Who We Are
The Partnership for College Completion (PCC) is a non-profit organization aimed at eliminating state and institutional achievement gaps in college degree completion for low-income and first generation students and students of color in the seven-county region in and surrounding Chicago by 2025.
Policy Recommendations to Help Close College Achievement Gaps
Governance and Finance
- Establish a community college equity council and taskforce on funding and partnerships
- Maintain a diverse and equity-minded Board for City Colleges of Chicago (CCC)
- Advocate for state-level funding formula change
Expand CPS institutional framework for addressing inequity to CCC
Similar to the equity council and ensuing policy statement that the Mayor-elect’s campaign outlined for CPS, a community college equity council could provide crucial guidance for the direction of City Colleges of Chicago (CCC). Further, to secure additional resources and partnerships needed for our students, the Mayor’s Office should regularly convene a funding and partnerships taskforce of community college representatives, students, non-profit advocacy organizations, and members of Chicago’s business and philanthropic communities.
Diverse and equity-minded CCC Board of Trustees
CCC serves all of the City and much of the State’s public 2-year students, many of whom are low-income and more than 70% of whom are Black or Latino, and the current board is relatively representative of its student population. New members must continue to reflect the diversity of CCC’s campuses and have a strong understanding of how to best serve a diverse student body.
Advocate for state-level funding formula change
The current funding formula for community colleges does not adequately factor in equity and requires an additional $13 million in funding irrespective of formula just to achieve its baseline level. For CCC to succeed, it needs for Illinois to have a more equitable, sustainable, and evidence-driven community college funding formula. The Mayor’s Office, perhaps through the aforementioned taskforce, should make recommendations to the General Assembly and Governor’s Office about funding formula changes that bring equitable funding to CCC.
Human Capital
Retain CCC Chancellor Juan Salgado and CPS CEO Dr. Janice Jackson
In their short time leading Chicago’s education systems, both CPS CEO Dr. Janice Jackson and CCC Chancellor Juan Salgado have championed initiatives aimed at improving equity and transparency and have been laser-focused on improving student outcomes at every stage of the education pipeline. Retaining and supporting Chicago’s equity-minded leaders, and their initiatives, is a critical first step to maintaining momentum towards closing Chicago’s equity gaps in high school and college completion.
Student Supports
- Make scaling co-requisite remediation a top priority for CCC
- Reevaluate Star Scholarship program criteria
- Scale transitional math implementation
Make scaling co-requisite remediation an immediate, top priority for CCC
Developmental education, or remediation, is one of the greatest college completion barriers and equity issues facing Chicago. Developmental education classes costs students time and money and do not count toward degree completion. Black and Latino students are disproportionately represented in developmental courses, and of those who enroll in developmental coursework, only 9% of Black students and 16% of Latino students will graduate, compared to 25% of their White peers. About 12,000 City Colleges students were placed into developmental education in FY17, and fewer advanced to take a college-level class (33%) than decided not to come back the next year (51%). Co-requisite remediation is a method of development education that doubles or triples rates of students passing college-level courses by enabling them to take credit-bearing courses as soon as they get to college, while providing them with in-time support. City Colleges can implement at scale, and in doing so help thousands more students persist, and ultimately transfer or graduate from CCC, but to do so, reform must be a clear, high priority.
Reevaluate STAR Scholarship criteria for equity
The Star Scholarship is a driving force behind the improved outcomes and enrollment stability at CCC. More importantly, it offers college access and opportunity to our most under-served and under-resourced student groups. This opportunity should not be limited to students who have achieved a 3.0 and a certain threshold on standardized tests. Expanding Star scholarships will increase enrollment at CCC and ultimately improve the pipeline that runs from CPS graduation to economic opportunity in Chicago.
Scale transitional math implementation
Every year, nearly 46% of Illinois high school graduates and 61% of CPS students who enroll in community college in the state are placed into developmental education. In 2016, Governor Rauner signed the Postsecondary Workforce and Readiness (PWR) Act, designed to bridge K-12 and postsecondary institutions, including four strategies aimed at helping students become college and career ready. One such strategy is transitional math instruction, which empowers high schools and community colleges to enter into a partnership to help high school students with math readiness needs. If successfully implemented, transitional math will decrease the number of Illinois’ high school graduates who are placed in remediation and improve college-level course pass rates. So far about a dozen schools are already implementing transitional math, and more are looking into expanding this initiative. For the City to position itself as a leader in college readiness, scaling transitional math and English within CPS and at charter schools must be a priority that the new administration drives.