"With support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the National Center for Academic Transformation (NCAT) is conducting a major program, Changing the Equation, to engage the nation’s community colleges in a successful redesign of their remedial/developmental math sequences (i.e., all mathematics courses offered at the institution prior to the first college-level math course.) The goal of this new redesign program is to improve student learning outcomes in remedial/developmental math while reducing costs for both students and institutions using NCAT’s proven redesign methodology. Thirty-eight institutions have been selected to participate in the program through a competitive application process. Those institutions will pilot their redesign plans in spring 2011 and fully implement their plans in fall 2011."

"They are familiar stories. A woman studying to be a nurse gets sidetracked to take care of her ill mother. A foreign-born doctor must start over on a degree because his credentials are not recognized here. A mother works to support her family but needs more flexible hours at her job to be with her children."

"These are the types of situations that partnerships between community colleges and Goodwill International Industries (GII) are targeting to ensure that these people don’t lose out on getting an education. Of the 158 Goodwill organizations around the country, more than half have some sort of partnership with a community college, according to Brad Turner-Little, director of workforce development at GII."

"The dismal completion rates at community colleges—less than one-third of all students get a degree within six years—has experts searching for answers to improve student success. Now, new evidence is in from a solid experiment at six sites over eight years testing various models of services and intervention."

"Social media are quickly changing what students expect from their colleges and how colleges are adapting, a personal technology columnist for the New York Times told community college public relations and marketing officials."

"The new generation of teenagers going to college right out of high school is accustomed to creating its own material using social media such as Facebook, Craigslist and Twitter, Pogue said. Students want real-time communication and they don't care about privacy, he said."

California community colleges continue to struggle to adjust to significant budget reductions. Students face challenges such as being unable to enroll in required courses becuase they have been cut or are already full. Increasingly, students are looking outside of the state for options to pursue higher education.

"The scale and adapability of community colleges, like the one pictured here in New Jersey, make them a strong choice as a driver of postsecondary education. When partnered with businesses, community colleges can play a unique role in providing the academic and applied learning that seeks to satisfy the demand for skilled employees and the need for a knowledgeable and engaged citizenry."

“Innovation Fund America will offer community colleges across the country access to this resource to grow high-tech entrepreneurs in their own communities, while inspiring students to become the next generation of innovators,” LCCC President Roy Chruch said in a statement. “America was built on the persistence and ingenuity of entrepreneurs. To remain globally competitive, we must rekindle this spirit through innovative public-private partnerships.”