Description
In 2009, the American Graduation Initiative was announced charging postsecondary institutions with graduating a higher proportion of college students by 2020. This initiative, which has become known as the completion agenda, has emerged as the single most important goal for community colleges. In 2011, California Community Colleges' Board of Governors enacted a process of reform by appointing the Student Success Task Force. The task force issued twenty-two formal recommendations. In 2011, several of the recommendations were enacted under California legislation, SB 1456, which mandated that student education plans be part of a trio of services identified as the Student Success and Support Program. Given the challenge of increased enrollments, fiscal constraints, and limited human and technological resources, colleges have been seeking practices to bring to scale student education planning services. The purpose of this study was to explore counselors' and academic advisors' perceptions of effective student education planning practices, with the goal of identifying effective practices currently in place statewide. The methodology included a survey designed in consultation with the California Community Colleges Chancellor's Office. The survey was distributed to counseling department chairs or their designees at the state's 112 community colleges. The findings revealed that there were no significant differences between effectiveness ratings of comprehensive and abbreviated education plans delivered face-to-face or online and no significant differences between effectiveness ratings of comprehensive and abbreviated education plans delivered by counselors and those delivered by other personnel.
