Clark State Community College will host the Ohio Association of Community College’s Student Success Leadership Institute (SSLI) on Thursday, April 27 at the Hollenbeck Bayley Creative Arts and Conference Center in downtown Springfield. Approximately 200 attendees are expected, representing 23 community colleges in Ohio.
“The SSLI represents the most important work we do around student success because the focus is on the data around how students perform and achieve – and we must continue to improve,” said Dr. Jo Alice Blondin, president of Clark State.
The OACC’s Student Success Leadership Institute is a cohort based network of community college leaders engaged in structured pathways reforms aligned with the Completion by Design (CbD) framework and a performance based funding environment. Attendees will learn from state and national student success leaders and be prepared to tackle the transformational change needed to further the success of their colleges.
Amy Sues, associate dean of academic affairs for Clark State, said the goals of this particular meeting include the focus on community college persistence and completion including guided pathways.
“The Student Success Leadership Institute continues to be an incredibly dynamic and collaborative experience of using data and best practices to make informed decisions on campuses across the state,” said Sues. “The individual and collective work of the SSLI teams is transforming the culture of higher education towards our goal of improving student success and completion.”
The SSLI is a project funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Great Lakes Higher Education Guaranty Corporation that brings together teams of eight to ten members from all 23 participating community colleges.
The OACC and the colleges are assisted in these efforts by a large team of state and national partners, including the Community College Research Center, Jobs for the Future, Public Agenda, the National Center for Inquiry & Improvement, the Ohio Department of Higher Education and the Ohio Completion by Design (CbD) cadre.
SSLI meetings and support first began in 2016, and three meetings are planned for 2017.