Harper College joins national network advancing high-value credentials
Harper College has joined the Aspen Institute College Excellence Program’s expanded Unlocking Opportunity network, an initiative designed to help community colleges reform programs in ways that improve student outcomes, ensuring more students earn degrees that lead to good-paying jobs.
Alongside 54 other colleges, Harper is joining 10 pilot institutions in a growing national effort to align their programs and student advising with the two most important goals of community college students: leaving college with a credential and a good job or transferring and completing a bachelor’s degree.
Through three years of focused reforms, Harper and its network partners will work with Aspen to assess current programs, set goals and implement research-based reforms to increase student success.
“At Harper College, we are driven to empower every student to reach their goals, realize their full potential and, ultimately, transform their lives for generational impact,” said Dr. Avis Proctor, Harper’s president. “Joining the Aspen Institute’s Unlocking Opportunity network allows us to deepen our commitment to ensuring that all learners leave Harper not only with a credential, but with the skills, confidence and connections to thrive in sustainable careers. This work is about more than post-Harper success, it is about building futures, strengthening our communities and unlocking opportunities that will endure for generations.”
The multiyear initiative will engage college leaders and teams through a series of virtual and in-person sessions focused on scaling reforms that align their community college programs with available good jobs and bachelor’s degree pathways in their regions.
Guided by lessons from successful reforms implemented by the 10 Unlocking Opportunity pilot institutions, Harper and the other new members will set goals to increase student enrollment in and completion of high-value workforce and transfer programs, while reducing lower-opportunity pathways.
“Every year, millions of students rely on community colleges for a low-cost pathway to what they assume will be a high-value credential,” said Josh Wyner, executive director of the Aspen Institute College Excellence Program. “They rightly assume that the degree and certificate programs their colleges offer will deliver a good job and fulfilling career either directly after community college or after transferring and earning a bachelor’s degree. The leaders at each of the 55 colleges that have signed up for Unlocking Opportunity have made clear that they will spend the next three years working toward the kinds of reforms needed to make that assumption a reality for thousands more students.”
The 10 Unlocking Opportunity pilot institutions are on track to collectively move more than 20,000 students into high-value programs of study that lead to good jobs. With this expansion, Aspen will (for at least the next three years) track and support progress for 65 participating colleges, including those 55 just selected.
Aspen will use insights from this work to inform the broader field through fellowship programs, publications and state partnerships to provide professional development to college leaders and teams.
The full list of colleges joining the expanded network is available at highered.aspeninstitute.org/programs/unlocking-opportunity.
Unlocking Opportunity, developed in partnership with the Community College Research Center, is supported by Arnold Ventures, Ascendium Education Group, Bank of America, ECMC Foundation and JPMorganChase. The expansion of the Unlocking Opportunity network is made possible by the support of JPMorganChase.
To learn more about the network, visit highered.aspeninstitute.org/programs/unlocking-opportunity.