Community colleges serve many purposes — vocational certificates, remediation, training for nurses and computer technicians, recreational courses and providing the first two years toward a baccalaureate degree. With so many missions, how should they be held accountable for results?
That was the topic of a discussion at the annual national meeting of community college leaders, reported on by Scott Jaschik of InsideHigherEd. The leaders of two-year colleges were leery. But one of those currently working on a prospective national accountability system — who also happens to be an emeritus president of a Connecticut community college — said it was important and had to make sense to those “who are on our backs.”
