Tom Bailey Discusses New Book With WNYC`s Leonard Lopate
Professor Bailey discussed his new book, Redesigning America's Community Colleges: A Clearer Path to Student Success, with WNYC's Leonard Lopate.
To listen to the interview, go to How to Make Community Colleges Work For Students
The book advocates a shift from today's “cafeteria” or “self-service” model, which gives students "tons of choices with very little guidance," Bailey said, to a "guided pathways" model that provides more individual direction and support for students and gives them a "coherent, easy to understand pathway" to completion.
In the United States, 1,200 community colleges enroll over ten million students each year―nearly half of the nation’s undergraduates. Yet fewer than 40 percent of entrants complete an undergraduate degree within six years. The book is a guide for educational leaders whose institutions typically receive short shrift in academic and policy discussions, and makes a case that two-year colleges can substantially increase rates of student success.
Published Tuesday, Jul. 14, 2015