This article offers highlights from the United Negro College Fund's town hall meeting held in Atlanta in early November 2011, at which several HBCU presidents convened and discussed a variety of ideas about tackling problems at their colleges. From the article:

"The forum was part of the November 9-11 UNCF Institute for Capacity Building conference, which brought together representatives and supporters of “special-mission institutions” to explore ways to sustain, grow and even thrive in a rough economy."

The Kentucky Community and Technical College System (KCTCS) has announced a new initiative to work with Blackboard to redesign its process for delivering services and support to students.

Daley College in Chicago has a new program that administrators say has doubled pass rates in developmental education classes. This article from Inside Higher Ed explains how “Comprehensive Academic Support and Help to Return on Investment” (CASH-to-ROI) allows students to learn in groups and integrates all three major subject areas into its exercises.

Vernon Smith, Vice President, Academic Affairs, Rio Salado College, AZ, in conversation with Amee Godwin, of ISKME, for CompletionMatters.org, Conversations on College Completion.

Rio Salado College is the largest public non-profit 2-year college in the US. Vernon Smith describes how the institution, as an early adopter of best practices for adult online learning, has been able to continue to innovate and scale up its model for teaching and learning that supports postsecondary student success.

How can postsecondary education leaders, specifically those at community colleges working in the area of developmental education, share and build on what they know to scale and sustain change that impacts student success?

ISKME's Action Collab session, part of the CompletionMatters.org project, took place at the Development Education Initiative (DEI) Program Directors Summer Institute in Durham, NC in June 2011. Aimed at supporting innovation and collaboration, the Action Collab was a 3-hour design and prototyping challenge.

Steven Johnson, President, Sinclair Community College, Dayton, OH, discusses issues related to approaches to developmental education and student supports at Sinclair and nationally, based on continuous learning about what works to increase student success. Ultimately, Johnson posits, the number of positive relationships and a bundled portfolio of supports may be more important to students and to student success than the mastery of curricula.

Shela Hidalgo, student, in conversation with Amee Godwin, of ISKME, for CompletionMatters.org, Conversations on College Completion

Shelly Allen, Asst. Economic Development Director, City of Mesa, AZ, in conversation with Amee Godwin, of ISKME, for CompletionMatters.org, Conversations on College Completion

Shelly Allen describes the partnership between the City of Mesa, AZ, Mesa Community College and the Mesa School District to help low income youth be more aware and more successful in completing a postsecondary credential. The project is part of the Communities Learning in Partnership (CLIP)-funded project.