In response to President Obama's education agenda and challenge for community colleges to educate an additional 5 million students with degrees, certificates, or other credentials by 2020, the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) is leading advancement of the next era of community college evolution through its two-phase 21st-Century Initiative.
Phase 1
The 21st-Century Initiative Listening Tour gathered information from a diverse group of stakeholders from across the country in the following areas:
(1) student success
(2) Voluntary Framework of Accountability
(3) strategies for dealing with budget constraints
(4) big ideas for the future of community colleges
(5) what AACC can do for members
In a series of meetings, stakeholder groups comprising college faculty and staff, senior administrators, trustees, college presidents, and state policymakers provided regional perspectives on challenges and opportunities that community colleges confront.
Other goals included:
- increasing focus and building momentum for the community college completion agenda and identifying AACC’s role in that effort;
- promoting the contributions and challenges of community colleges among the public, policymakers, and business leaders;
- building support for accuracy and accountability in monitoring community college performance.
Phase 2
The 21st-Century Commission presented a final report at the 2012 AACC Annual Convention in Orlando, Florida, that was broadly disseminated to the nation’s more than 1,200 community, junior, and technical colleges; policymakers; business leaders; and others.