New Guide Offers Policymakers a Blueprint for Equity-Driven Higher Education Policy

Complete College America releases a new playbook with recommendations to put equity and student outcomes at the center of higher education policymaking

INDIANAPOLIS, Oct. 5, 2022 /PRNewswire/ --  Complete College America (CCA), a national non-profit organization working to raise postsecondary attainment in the United States, released a new guide for policymakers that provides recommendations for creating and implementing policies to eliminate disparities in student outcomes based on race, ethnicity and income.

"Equity in higher education outcomes is a civic, economic and workforce development imperative," said Dr. Yolanda Watson Spiva, president of Complete College America. "This publication will help colleges identify the structural factors that contribute to equity in student outcomes—and then implement the necessary changes in policies, perspectives and practices to ensure that equity is indeed the reality."

Entitled "Beyond Good Intentions", the report provides a guide to help policymakers understand the equity challenges and how they can design, implement and fund equity-driven policies to meet the needs of students and communities. The report builds on earlier findings in a companion report by the USC Race and Equity Center called "Race-Conscious Implementation of a Developmental Education Reform in California Community Colleges".

"Policymakers can play a critical role in ensuring equitable student outcomes by helping to remove barriers to student success that are holding back students from historically minoritized backgrounds," said Brandon Protas, strategy director at Complete College America and one of the authors of the report. "This publication is designed to provide policymakers with recommendations to eliminate disparities in student outcomes and improve equitable student outcomes."

The release of the new report builds on a series of ambitious reform initiatives launched by Complete College America focused on improving equity in higher education outcomes for students from under-resourced and historically excluded backgrounds. In June, the organization released its ground-breaking "No Middle Ground Report", which outlines reform strategies that colleges can use to advance equity in higher education and improve outcomes for historically excluded students on campus.

For more on Complete College America's work and to read the entire "Beyond Good Intentions" report, visit completecollege.org/resource/beyondgoodintentions.

About Complete College America: Complete College America (CCA) builds movements for scaled change and transforms institutions through data-driven policies, student-centered perspectives, and equity-driven practices. Since its founding in 2009, CCA connects a national network of forward-thinking state and higher education leaders and introduces bold initiatives to help states and institutions confront inequities, close institutional performance gaps, and increase college completion rates, especially for marginalized and historically excluded students. For more information, visit http://www.completecollege.org.

SOURCE Complete College America