Our Strategy
With support from our generous funders and partners, the Success Center offers a robust set of services and expertise to help Ohio’s community colleges strategically scale and sustain guided pathways and other student success reforms. These services align with state Campus Completion Plans and the national Completion by Design Loss/Momentum framework.
Our strategy uses critical milestones in a student’s pathway – from initial connection, entry, and progress in college through completion and successful entry to the workforce or transition to a 4-year institution – as key priority areas to connect Success Center resources to larger college reform efforts.
Our Priority Areas
- Connection
- Entry
- Progress
- Completion
- Workforce & Transition
These strategic priorities, resources and supports are categorized as:
Statewide Strategies for Student Success
Providing leadership and guidance at the state level by engaging and investing in community college faculty, staff, administrators and students
Student Success Leadership Institute (SSLI)
SSLI was created to help colleges with implementation of structured guided pathways reforms and to support cross-institution information sharing of best practices and data sets to help drive strategic decision making. At the SSLI, college teams have the opportunity to hear from national and state experts, as well as share model practices from the campus level. Ultimately, college teams work together to plan and reflect on progress with scaling student success reforms. The Success Center hosts two-day institutes in February and September each year.
Funders: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation & Ascendium Education Group
Success Center Priority Area: Connection, Entry, Progress, Completion, Workforce + Transition
Scope: State level for cross-functional college teams
College Participation: 100% of Ohio community colleges participate in SSLI with average college team size of 8
Leadership Academy for Student Success
The Leadership Academy for Student Success is a leadership development cohort program for mid-level faculty, staff, and administrators (below the vice president level) with clear leadership potential and interest in advancing within the college and the field. Each Ohio community college can nominate two individuals for a Leadership Academy cohort. Curriculum has been developed by Baldwin Consulting and OACC leadership, drawing on the Aspen Institute College Excellence Program curriculum and current Ohio policies and practices.
Funders: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation & Ascendium Education Group
Success Center Priority Area: Connection, Entry, Progress, Completion, Workforce + Transition
Scope: State level for mid-level college leaders
College Participation: 100% of Ohio community colleges have fellows currently in the 2019-2020 leadership academy
All-Ohio Academic Team
The All-Ohio Academic Team program provides statewide recognition and cash scholarships to outstanding two-year college students. The awards luncheon is a collaboration between the OACC, Phi Theta Kappa, and the event’s sponsor, Honda of America Manufacturing, Inc. Scholarships are awarded by student pathway: entry to the workforce or transfer to a 4-year institution.
Funder: Honda of America Manufacturing, Inc.
Success Center Priority Area: Completion, Workforce + Transition
Scope: State level for students
College Participation: 22 of 23 Ohio community colleges have students that have received awards since 2012
On-Campus Supports
Offering comprehensive professional development and coaching services that meet the individual needs of each unique college
Technical Assistance
Technical assistance gives colleges the opportunity to bring content experts and trainers onto campus to help with stakeholder engagement, implementation challenges, and professional development.
Funder: Ascendium Education Group
Success Center Priority Area: Connection, Entry, Progress, Completion, Workforce + Transition
Scope: Campus level
College Participation: 100% of Ohio community colleges have taken advantage of technical assistance opportunities
Ohio Pathways Coaching Program
The OACC Success Center is defines a coach as someone with change management knowledge and/or subject matter expertise who works as a thought partner, facilitator, and guide to college teams. The purpose of coaching is to assist colleges with organizational change aimed at improving student success outcomes. To support Ohio’s community colleges in their efforts to scale guided pathways, the OACC’s Success Center has engaged coaches to offer support in the following practice areas: holistic student supports, student success data, and faculty engagement & developmental education redesign.
Funders: Ascendium Education Group and Jobs for the Future
Success Center Priority Area: Connection, Entry, Progress, Completion, Workforce + Transition
Scope: Campus level
College Participation: 19 of 23 Ohio community colleges have had personalized coaching
Targeted Grant Projects & Partnerships
Equipping colleges with supports that build and sustain strong practices to help with specific focus areas of reform efforts
Dual Enrollment Pathways Project
The OACC Success Center has received support from the Joyce Foundation to strengthen implementation of Ohio’s College Credit Plus (CCP) dual enrollment program by community colleges and high schools throughout the state. The project will build on groundwork that has been laid through other ongoing efforts by project partners, with the overriding goal to increase college access, completion, and affordability for students, particularly for those from disadvantaged backgrounds, and thus maximizing the return on investment in the program by the state.
Funder: The Joyce Foundation
Success Center Priority Area: Connection
Focus Area: College Credit Plus faculty and staff
College Participation: 17 of 23 Ohio community colleges
Encouraging Additional Summer Enrollment (EASE) Project
Led by MDRC, EASE aims to improve student persistence by applying insights from behavioral science to design targeted messaging and financial incentives that encourage students to enroll in courses during the summer term.
Funder: Ascendium Education Group
Success Center Priority Area: Progress
Focus Area: Enrollment management, financial aid
College Participation: 10 of 23 Ohio community colleges
Ohio Open Ed Collaborative (OOEC)
The OOEC is funded by a $1.3 million Innovation Grant from the Ohio Department of Higher Education. Work is led by North Central State College in partnership with Ohio State University, Ohio Dominican University, OhioLINK, and the Ohio Association of Community Colleges representing an additional 15 Ohio community colleges. The project aims to reduce the cost of current textbooks by at least 70% in high enrollment courses, saving students at least 4 times the investment by the state within the first three years of implementation. To do this, panels of faculty and librarians have been creating, curating and reviewing 23 OER courses: 20 high enrollment courses mapped to statewide transfer guides and 3 upper-level math courses.
Funder: Ohio Department of Higher Education
Success Center Priority Area: Entry, Progress
Focus Area: Faculty
College Participation: 16 of 23 Ohio community colleges
Ohio Strong Start to Finish
A collaboration between the OACC, Ohio Department of Higher Education, the Inter-University Council, 18 Ohio community colleges and 12 Ohio universities. The goal is to significantly increase the number of students completing gateway mathematics and English courses as part of a guided pathway within their first academic year. The four priority action areas on campus include:
- Ensuring that clearly structured programs of study exist for all majors;
- Aligning redesigned gateway mathematics and English courses to all programs of study;
- Implementing co-requisite remediation at scale in mathematics and English;
- Building advising structures to ensure all students register for coursework in sequences to meet the goal.
Funder: Strong Start to Finish
Success Center Priority Area: Entry
Focus Area: Academic affairs, student affairs, institutional research
College Participation: 18 of 23 Ohio community colleges
Scale of Adoption Assessment (SOAA)
Led and created by the Community College Research Center (CCRC), the SOAA is a tool designed to help colleges assess how far along they are toward adopting essential guided pathways practices at scale.
Funder: Ascendium Education Group
Success Center Priority Area: Connection, Entry, Progress, Completion, Workforce + Transition
Focus Area: Cross-functional college teams
College Participation: 100% of Ohio community colleges
Each Success Center support is made available to all 23 Ohio community colleges.