Policy Trends Impacting Community Colleges: An ECS Perspective

Editors’ notes

“…Some research points to performance‐based funding policies endangering the open‐door mission as colleges adjust operational strategy to meet performance metrics leaving less advantaged students underserved (McKinney & Hagedorn, 2017; Natale & Jones, 2018; Ortagus et al., 2020), while other research concludes community colleges may not change their strategy in the context of performance‐based funding (Kelchen, 2019). The state performance‐focused momentum is not likely to dissipate, though the state expectations for improved performance are often underfunded or unfunded (Dowd & Taing Shieh, 2014; Sponsler et al., 2015). Community college leaders face pressure to manage state budget shortfalls, an unpredictable cycle of enrollments, and the increased pressure to improve performance of credential completion (Jacobs & Worth, 2019; Juszkiewicz, 2020).…”

Idea implementation from an inter-organizational network

“…President Obama's recent Pay for Performance initiative marks the first time the federal government adopted performance-based funding philosophies within the field of higher education (Nisar, 2015). Additionally, performance-based funding initiatives at the state level are spreading across the nation with anticipated increases in funding allocations tied to performance (Nisar, 2015) specifically for community colleges (Sponsler, Pingel & Anderson, 2015).…”