SACRAMENTO – California Community Colleges Chancellor Brice W. Harris on Tuesday released Student Success Scorecards that detail student outcomes at all 112 colleges using a variety of metrics that are presented in a clear and concise way and make the nation’s largest system of higher education also the most accountable.

The scorecards give college-by-college views of student performance and were a major recommendation of the Student Success Task Force.

The scorecard, which can be found at http://scorecard.cccco.edu and on local college Web sites, enables users to easily track a college’s certificate and degree attainment and transfer rates, persistence rates and “momentum points,” such as the completion of 30 units, which is typically considered to be the halfway mark to transferring to a four-year institution as a junior or completing an associate degree.

“This new set of performance metrics makes the California Community Colleges the most transparent and accountable system of public higher education in the nation and is designed to help more students achieve their educational goals,” Harris said. “The scorecard results make it clear how important preparation for college is to student success. If students come to college well prepared they complete certificates and degrees or transfer at rates exceeding 70 percent. And for the first time, colleges will have clear data regarding student success by race, ethnicity, gender and age to help them focus on closing performance gaps.”

Development of the scorecard is one of a series of steps taken by the California Community Colleges Board of Governors to increase the number of students who earn certificates and degrees or transfer to four-year institutions.

“With President Obama’s call to have 5 million more associate degree holders by 2020, the scorecard will help us see what is working in California and what needs improvement,” said Manuel Baca, president of the California Community Colleges Board of Governors. “This will lead to increased student success and ultimately it will help the nation reach its ambitious, yet certainly attainable, goal.”

Students, parents, community leaders and policy makers can use the scorecard to track the rate of students transferring to four-year institutions and completing certificates and degrees. The scorecard also measures how effectively colleges move students through remedial and career technical instruction.

“We have been talking about student success at Diablo Valley College for many years now, but we don’t always share a common understanding of what student success means,” said Diablo Valley College President Peter Garcia. “The scorecard will give us a common language and a common measure, so when we initiate new projects to support student success we will be able to look for a change in the scorecard and know for certain if we are focusing our energy and resources on the things that will make a meaningful difference. I anticipate that the scorecard will become an important part of our ongoing dialogue.”

Each college will be compared against its own past performance rather than statewide averages or artificially created peer groups. The scorecard will be built on the existing Accountability Reporting for Community Colleges (ARCC), the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office statewide data collection and reporting system.

“Pierce College has a long and rich tradition of supporting student success,” said Los Angeles Pierce College Vice President of Academic Affairs Anna Davies. “We're proud our scorecard data reflects students are reaching educational goals and believe making this information available to students and our community will continue to facilitate student progress and completion.”

The Student Success Scorecard is part of the California Community Colleges Student Success Initiative, which is vital to state’s economy. Studies show jobs requiring at least an associate degree are projected to grow twice as fast as those requiring no college experience and, graduating from a community college doubles an individual’s chance of finding a job compared to those who failed to complete high school.

“Two-thirds of all jobs in California by 2018 will require some level of college education, and our local and regional businesses depend on an educated workforce to be successful in the global economy,” said Contra Costa Council CEO Linda Best. “We count on community colleges to prepare our future workforce in so many areas, and this new student scorecard can help us focus on common language and metrics to achieve that goal.”

The California Community Colleges is the largest system of higher education in the nation. It is composed of 72 districts and 112 colleges serving 2.4 million students per year.