Completion by Design
<Link to the Initiative>
Initiative Description
Completion by Design is an initiative of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s Postsecondary Success Strategy, a five-year community college reform effort focused on increasing the number of low-income young adults’ progressing to postsecondary credential and degree completion. The Completion by Design initiative will specifically work with community colleges in order to significantly increase completion and graduation rates for low-income students under 26. Selected community colleges in states across the country will implement proven and effective practices that support every student from start to completion of their degree or credential.
The Completion by Design Assistance Team (CDAT) will provide managing partners and the planning and implementation team with the expertise required to address the full range of postsecondary educational matters: educational practice, data analysis and utilization, leadership, finance, systems change, and policy. Utilizing the tools and consultants made available through CDAT, each planning and implementation team will conduct a Systems/Pathway Analysis to understand where in the process students are struggling or dropping out. CDAT will also assist with a review of the effectiveness of current practices. The goal is to work together to design and implement a model pathway to completion using proven and promising practices.
Partners
Implementers
Florida - Miami Dade College
North Carolina - Guilford Community Technical College
Ohio - Sinclair Community College
Texas - Lone Star College System
Transition Tools
Tools designed to support technical assistance and facilitate shared learning will be available through the CDAT Web site once it launches. Tools will include: -A Practice Guide that brings together the best thinking on community college completion practices and strategies. -A searchable Virtual Reader that catalogs foundational and emerging research and planning documents to support decision-making. -Templates for conducting a Pathway Analysis to pinpoint the dynamics of student momentum and dropout.
For more information about the initiative, please contact:
Email info@completionbydesign.org with questions about the initiative or visit www.completionbydesign.org