Silo 2: College Readiness: Since community colleges have open admissions policies, the caliber of students who come through their doors varies to a much greater extent than at four-year institutions that have admission requirements. It’s no surprise that community colleges receive a high percentage of students who are not ready for college-level work. In addition, the practice of testing students to find out exactly where they might be lacking in their college readiness poses serious questions and challenges. There is also a consensus that says that educators have yet to figure out what really constitutes college readiness. Overall, there is a big need for sound solutions when it comes to preparing students for college as well as for analyzing their college readiness before they actually enroll in a bona-fide course.

Silo 3: Remedial Education: Also referred to as developmental education - and tied directly to the college readiness issue - community colleges have always been providers of remedial education as part of their responsibility to many of their incoming students. This, too, is a great challenge for community colleges. Students who need to take remedial courses do not earn credit for such courses and are often anxious to earn a credential in order to boost their employability prospects. Add on that these students are typically not actively engaged in remedial education for reasons that can be attributed to both the way such courses are designed and provided as well as an inability for many students to take on the responsibility of learning and studying, and you have a kind of double whammy that cries for innovative solutions.

Silo 4: College Completion and Retention: To put it mildly, there are big problems related to keeping community college students engaged, as well as responsible enough, to complete both short-term certification programs as well as associate’s degrees. Drop-out rates at community colleges are extremely high. However, students do not always drop out because of laziness, poor grades or lack of interest. Keeping students actively engaged, having relatively large populations of adjunct faculty enter into a more advisory capacity with their students, dealing with financial issues, offering flexible course schedules, and much more all play a role in the prospect of increasing community college retention and completion rates.

Silo 5: Workforce Development: The paradox of workforce development is that many employers are complaining that there are not enough qualified candidates for them to hire, even though there is a high unemployment rate. Community college students and graduates, in particular, are often not the first choice for many employers, preferring baccalaureate or graduate-level graduates. Plus, business and community college curriculum development strategies often don’t match up with each other, or they are not effective with communicating and collaborating at the right levels of engagement. At the same time, there are many pockets of innovation where students are gaining in modern STEM-related skills as well as badly needed critical thinking and communication skills.

Silo 6: Technology Adoption: The uses of technology in education include a wide array of software and services that are difficult to keep up with. Institutions are challenged to make wise decisions concerning the adoption of innovative educational technologies that their students want. The adoption of Web 2.0 technologies, such as social media and new multi-media tools and resources; cloud computing; and new analytics and intervention software that help institutions get a clearer picture of student progress and/or lack thereof; are all on the table. There is also an exciting OER movement happening at the community college level. Plus, decisions about choosing the appropriate learning management system must be dealt with by IT governance and faculty.

Silo 7: Data Analysis and Assessment: The generation of data from a variety of sources, such as college readiness assessments, admission processes, financial aid processes and various other qualitative and quantitative measures has become an important barometer and aid to decision-making at the individual, course, program and institutional levels. There are a good number of initiatives being funded by non-profit organizations that rely on data collection and analysis and reveal great potential for improving student assessment, remediation and graduation rates.

Silo 8: Funding, Economics & Financial Aid: In addition to a student-loan/debt crisis on a national scale, community colleges are facing their own unprecedented financial challenges. At some institutions, the financial challenges are bringing a reduction in student services, course offerings, physical plant expenditures, along with the prospect of staff reductions and tuition increases. In short, fiscal difficulties affect community colleges on every level. The new $2 billion TAACCCT grant from the Department of Labor is certainly a badly needed shot in the arm to our nation’s community colleges. Additionally, help comes from the generosity of philanthropic organizations, such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Lumina Foundation, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and others, along with corporate sponsorships and partnerships building up between institutions and work-related non-profit organizations from across the country.