Achieving the Dream in Connecticut: State Policies Affecting Access to, and Success in, Community Colleges for Students of Color and Low-Income Students.

Abstract

This report provides an audit of state policies in Connecticut affecting access to, and success in, community colleges for students of color and low-income students. It was commissioned by Lumina Foundation for Education as part of a series of policy audits of the states involved in Achieving the Dream. Lumina Foundation is the primary funder of the initiative (Dougherty, Reid, & Nienhusser, 2006; Dougherty, Marshall, & Soonachan, 2006). Connecticut is one of two states in the second round of the Achieving the Dream initiative. In joining the initiative along with Ohio, it brings in a northern state that is quite different from the five southern and southwestern states that comprised the first round of the Achieving the Dream initiative. Connecticut has an economy that is historically centered in manufacturing, a diverse white ethnic community, and a political culture that in Elazar’s (1984) terms is individualistic rather than traditionalist. This report is the product of intensive interviews that we conducted in Connecticut and an analysis of documents produced both by state agencies and external organizations, such as the Education Commission of the States. We interviewed officials of the Connecticut Community Colleges system and the Department of Higher Education, state legislators and staff, local community college officials, and heads of organizations representing African Americans and Latinos. We first set the stage by explaining why we focused on certain policies and what methods we used to investigate them. We then move to analyzing the state context: the size and composition of the state’s population; the nature of its economy; and the structure, governance, and finance of the community college system. We then describe the state’s policies (whether legislative statutes or decisions by the Board of Governors for Higher Education or the Board of Trustees for Community Colleges) that affect access to and success in the community college for students of color and low-income students. The Achieving the Dream initiative is focused on student success, but access remains an issue in Connecticut and therefore it is covered as well. This report also addresses the state’s provisions for performance accountability. It has clear relevance to the aim of the Achieving the Dream initiative to use the analysis of data as the main lever to improve both community college efforts and state policies to improve student access and success. As we go along, we note any evaluations that our interviewees made of those state policies and any policy proposals they themselves offered. In the summary and conclusions, we describe policy directions the state may wish to consider in its quest for greater equality of access and success in community colleges.