The primary pressure may be to perform at a higher level than ever before. Developmental education programs need to rise to the level of an institutional priority. Community colleges simply need to decide to do the job and do it exceedingly well. The best faculty and staff should be deployed and second-class status must be avoided for all concerned. In fact, people in all areas of college life should be pulling for those involved since the pipeline needs to supply competent students for all of the other programs.
College leaders should be ready to respond to critics who say we should not need to pay twice to move students to the point where they can profit from college instruction. What is the alternative? We can pay the costs of welfare, costs of prison construction and money required to maintain the prison population, or we can invest in the lives of people we need for a healthy society.
Along with the commitment to do this work must come the recognition that community colleges are going to be held accountable in the public arena. That may even mean that results will be compared. Leaders should not run from that possibility, but rather use the opportunity to document progress and request the necessary resources to do the full job.
If students need more than a quick brush up, then community colleges are the institutions with the best chance to produce successful students. We cannot afford to lose the people who need this opportunity. Their options are severely limited if we fail, and our country will lose its competitive advantage.
© Copyright 2005 by DiverseEducation.com
