State-Led Professional Development Opportunities
As each state’s network of alumni grows, the state leads are engaging these individuals in additional professional development opportunities. For example, Ohio has piloted Coalitions of Practice, peer-learning networks that spend a year exploring shared problems of practice. Over the past two years, Ohio’s Coalitions of Practice have explored student success issues related to teaching and learning, data-driven decision-making, holistic student supports, and workforce development. Two of these groups have produced toolkits that are now available to college practitioners:
- Data in Action: A Guidebook for Leveraging Data to Inform Decision-Making and Institutional Effectiveness at Ohio’s Community Colleges
- Distance Education Done Well: A Toolkit for Effective Online Education at Ohio’s Community and Technical Colleges
As part of the next phase of national work, NCII will partner with the Student Success Centers in Ohio and Michigan to explore strategies to more deeply engage alumni. This work will build on Ohio’s Coalitions of Practice, and the lessons learned will be shared with other states.
NCII-Led Professional Development Opportunities
NCII is sponsoring a series of professional development workshops for Leadership Academy alumni and participants from the states involved in the project. NCII is holding these workshops once a semester from spring 2026 through spring 2028.
The workshops will build on the Leadership Academy curriculum and focus on the fundamentals of student success as well as building individual and institutional capacities to implement reforms. Early topics for these workshops include:
- Spring 2026 – More Essential Than Ever: Community College Pathways to Educational and Career Success (Community College Research Center)
- Fall 2026 – A Labor Market Data Framework for College Improvement (National Center for Inquiry & Improvement)
- Spring 2027 – Strategies to Strengthen the Value of Community College Credentials (Aspen Institute’s College Excellence Program)
Ongoing Evaluation
In 2025, NCII conducted the first cross-state survey of Leadership Academy alumni to learn how the program is changing the careers of alumni. NCII will continue to conduct this survey, as well evaluations of each Leadership Academy.
In addition to evaluating how the program improves participants knowledge and skills, future evaluations will explore how colleges are leveraging the new expertise and confidence that participants gain through the program.