What can a community college do to ensure that its students complete their degrees and move forward into productive and fulfilling careers? Across the nation, policymakers, educators, students and their families are concerned about the low percentage of enrolled community college students who persevere to complete either a two-year or a four-year college degree. Because community colleges have open access (i.e., all students are eligible to attend regardless of their academic achievement), developmental education is a large component of community college education nationwide. This study uses focus groups, interviews and supplementary data to explore the extent to which selected colleges in Florida exhibit characteristics of developmental education success and how statewide policies may contribute to strong developmental education performance in relation to these characteristics. The first part of this report is a brief on Florida’s developmental education policies, as seen from the perspective of state administrators, college leaders and college staff. The second part is a set of case studies describing the practices of three community colleges in Florida that were particularly successful in serving students who needed developmental math, compared to other colleges in the state.
Archive for the ‘publications’ Category
High Flyers: Policies and strategies that boost developmental education success in Florida’s community colleges
Monday, August 22nd, 2011The Pathway to Leadership: Lessons from Clinic Leadership Institute
Friday, May 20th, 2011The Blue Shield of California Foundation is partnering with the Center for the Health Professions at the University of California, San Francisco to design and implement Clinic Leadership Institute (CLI). CLI is an 18-month leadership program designed to prepare the next generation of community clinic leaders for executive leadership positions in order to sustain a strong and vibrant community clinic system in California.
BTW informing change is conducting an ongoing evaluation of CLI. “The Pathway to Leadership: Lessons from Clinic Leadership Institute” highlights evaluation findings based on the experiences of the first two cohorts and offers key ways in which those in the community clinics field can support CLI participants and other emerging clinic leaders.
Building Capacity to Promote Community Health: The Experience to Date of the Community Clinics Initiative’s Networking for Community Health Program
Tuesday, May 3rd, 2011In 2008, The Community Clinics Initiative (CCI) launched their Networking for Community Health (NCH) grantmaking program. The program was designed to support California community clinics in strengthening their working relationships with both traditional and non-traditional partners. Over the past three years, CCI has supported clinics’ projects that work on a wide variety of issues, including improving access to nutritious food, engaging youth and coordinating health services, among others.
This report examines the ways in which the NCH program has enhanced the capacity of clinics and their partners to improve community health. It describes the conceptual framework of the NCH program, presents evaluation findings to date and offers practical suggestions for other funders and communities interested in pursuing a similar approach to improve community health.
Advancing the Next Generation of LGBT Leaders: An Evaluation of the 21st Century Fellows Program’s Inaugural Cohort
Monday, March 7th, 2011In 2009, the Pipeline Project, the Evelyn & Walter Haas, Jr. Fund’s Flexible Leadership Investments created the 21st Century Fellows Program to retain and advance managers of color working at LGBT human rights and advocacy organizations. The year-long leadership program aims to build fellows’ leadership skills through a Rockwood Leadership Institute curriculum, create lasting peer networks, facilitate fellows’ advancement into executive positions and support their work to build stronger organizations. The program is supported by the Evelyn & Walter Haas, Jr. Fund, the Arcus Foundation and the Gill Foundation.
BTW collaborated with program staff to review, synthesize and analyze information collected during the Program’s inaugural year. This report describes the leadership program’s model, identifies initial key findings and provides recommendations to inform the program’s evolution in the future.
The Bay Area Workforce Funding Collaborative Evaluation Findings from 2004-2009
Monday, March 7th, 2011The Bay Area Workforce Funding Collaborative (BAWFC) supports innovative sectoral employment strategies and programs throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. These programs prepare low-income and disadvantaged adults for jobs in high-wage, high-demand economic sectors, specifically in health care and biotechnology.
In October 2010, BTW completed its multi-year evaluation of BAWFC’s first two grant cycles, from 2004 through 2009. In this report, we examine the BAWFC model and its investments, highlighting key accomplishments, common themes and learnings. Our study includes promising practices that have emerged from BAWFC’s work and implications for both workforce grantees and funding collaboratives pursuing broader systems change agendas.
The Worth of What They Do
Tuesday, December 14th, 2010As part of its efforts in building the field of Jewish service-learning, Repair the World commissioned BTW to conduct an exploratory study on the impact of short-term immersive Jewish service-learning (IJSL) on the organizations and communities that host these groups.
The study included interviews with representatives of host community CBO/NGOs involved in IJSL projects in the US, Israel, Nicaragua, Ghana and Ukraine as well as an in-depth review of recent relevant research and writing about best practices in secular and faith-based service learning. BTW found that when short-term IJSL projects are well planned and executed, negative impacts are anticipated, and potential problems are addressed proactively, then positive impacts for host communities predominate.
A Snapshot of the Community Clinic Voice
Wednesday, October 13th, 2010Social Web sites have rapidly grown into large, sophisticated networks that can span the globe.This brief provides a snapshot of one nonprofit online community—the Community Clinic Voice. The Community Clinics Initiative (CCI) supports the Voice to aid health care safety net professionals in building stronger, healthier communities.
The brief explores the Voice model, including its structure, evolution, members and the benefits that they gain from utilizing the Voice. It also summarizes CCI’s approach to online community management and considerations for those who are interested or involved in developing or maintaining online communities as a tool to support the work of the nonprofit sector.
Strengthening the Leadership Pipeline
Thursday, October 7th, 2010In 2008, The Blue Shield of California Foundation partnered with the Center for the Health Professions at the University of California, San Francisco to address leadership needs in the community clinics field. They launched the Clinic Leadership Institute (CLI), an 18-month leadership program designed to prepare next generation leaders to move into executive leadership positions. Over the past two years, BTW has conducted an ongoing evaluation of CLI and recently completed this brief describing the CLI program as well as key findings from the inaugural cohort of the program. This brief also provides considerations for individuals and organizations that support next generation leaders.
Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce: Youth Employment Survey
Thursday, October 7th, 2010HIRE LA’s Youth, a division of the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce, supports youth employment by preparing applicants between the ages of 16–24 years to earn and retain entry-level employment. The multi-step preparation Work Readiness Certification (WRC) process includes resumé development, customer service skills training, workplace etiquette, application procedures and a mock interview with employer volunteers.
In May, BTW conducted a survey of 1,970 WRC recipients and non-recipients to assess the impact that a WRC certificate has on youth’s employment status, job retention and wages.
Coaching and Philanthropy: An Action Guide for Nonprofits
Sunday, September 5th, 2010What is coaching? How can coaching contribute to my development as a nonprofit leader? What kind of coaching is right for me and my organization? How much is coaching? These are just a few of the questions that Coaching and Philanthropy: An Action Guide for Nonprofits addresses in this guide that highlights the findings from the Coaching and Philanthropy Project’s unprecedented deep dive into learning about the use of coaching in the nonprofit sector. The project was formed by Grantmakers for Effective Organizations, CompassPoint Nonprofit Services, Leadership that Works, and BTW informing change to assess and advance coaching as a strategy for building effective nonprofit organizations.
