Increasing Opportunities for Immigrant Students: Community College Strategies for Success

The Community College Consortium for Immigrant Education (CCCIE) is network of 23 community colleges and other organizations that increase educational and workforce opportunities for immigrant students. This report, written by CCCIE Director Jill Casner-Lotto, seeks to identify the key elements of a comprehensive and systemic approach to the challenge of educating immigrant students.

A growing demographic for community colleges, immigrant students are often older, nontraditional students juggling jobs and family responsibilities. The report proposes a "framework" of "11 key factors" predictive of success in this area: executive-level commitment, proactive outreach, community-wide needs analysis, ESL program redesign, comprehensive assessment, holistic support services, more sophisticated data collection efforts, faculty professional development,  student leadership development, multi-sector partnerships and peer-learning efforts. The report describes "promising practices" in each of these areas. The report concludes with a series of recommendations for action and investment by federal, state and private funders. (Summary by Prof. Nick Montalto.)

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