More than ever, community colleges must focus on strategies to maximize student success and sustain excellence over time. Creating and maintaining a culture of improvement at these complex organizations requires an integrated approach, one in which many people throughout the college — not just senior leaders — actively participate in assessing and strengthening the full system.
While mid-level faculty and staff play critical roles in their particular parts of a college’s work, they often have only a vague understanding of the full institution and how its many separate elements work together.
The Leadership Academy shows participants how to be part of whole-college improvement and gives them the confidence to do so. The curriculum dives deeply into the fundamentals of student success, leadership, and continuous improvement. It also explains change management and gives an overview of effective improvement strategies.
Participants learn, for example:
- Why a sustained focus on excellence matters and what it would look like at their college.
- How to access and use data to improve student success.
- How to build an effective team to drive change.
- How the college can strengthen post-college workforce outcomes.
- Why colleges provide wraparound supports for students.
- How to manage projects for continuous improvement.
- How to make the case for changes in institutional practices to senior leadership.
- How to use limited college resources strategically.
- How state-level policy affects their college and influences reform efforts.
- Why colleges foster community and employer partnerships.
The year-long experience prepares participants to more effectively lead from their current roles and ultimately advance to more senior-level positions in their institutions.
Equally important, the Leadership Academy helps colleges sustain the momentum of reform efforts and manage succession plans. Planning, implementing, and institutionalizing major reforms typically takes at least five years. Too often, the work stalls when one or more key people leave the college and no one is prepared to continue leading the effort. Colleges focused on continuous improvement build a strong base of talent on their campuses and involve a wide range of individuals in reform efforts.
Finally, participants develop a network of peers at other colleges. These connections, which mid-level practitioners typically lack, often grow into professional relationships that continue as the alumni advance in their careers.