Award Criteria

The MetLife Foundation Community College Excellence Award recognizes community colleges that have adopted an institution-wide approach to educational and economic advancement for underserved youth and adults. Successful applicants will show how they combine strong leadership, effective programming, and attention to outcomes to create and institutionalize improvement, throughout the college, that meets the varied learning needs of harder-to-serve students.

The MetLife Foundation award rewards colleges that demonstrate effective strategies and promising outcomes in one or more of the following categories:

• High-quality and flexible instructional programs that address obstacles to the successful completion of courses and programs;
• Academic, social, and financial supports that help at-risk populations persist and succeed in postsecondary programs;
• Effective strategies to create smooth transitions from secondary education for at- risk high school students, high school graduates, and out-of-school youth; and
• More seamless transitions into and through college-level courses (e.g., from developmental education and ESL to credit programs; from noncredit programs to credit programs; transfer to four-year institutions).

The selection committee will assess the applicant’s presentation and use of data to demonstrate:

• Innovative strategies and practices that benefit harder-to-serve students;
• Implementation of these practices on a large scale across the institution; and
• Improved academic and economic outcomes for students.

Successful applicants will present clear and convincing data on student outcomes to support their claims of improvement and success. Such data might include evidence of improvements in the number and percent of students who:

• Successfully complete developmental courses and progress to credit-bearing courses;
• Enroll in and successfully complete gatekeeper courses—high enrollment/high failure-rate courses, often at the introductory credit level (e.g., college algebra, freshman composition, anatomy and physiology, introduction to accounting);
• Complete the courses they take, earning a grade of C or higher;
• Reenroll from one semester to the next;
• Earn certificates and/or degrees; and
• Improve their employment and earnings.

Some Examples of Strategies that Meet the Award Criteria

Past MetLife Foundation award winners have demonstrated innovation and success in four categories of institutional practice and policy:

• Examples of High-Quality and Flexible Instructional Programs that Meet Student Needs
• Learning activities that engage students with peers and faculty in and out of the classrooms
• Practices that improve the quality of instruction in high-enrollment and high-attrition courses that are important to student persistence
• Flexible scheduling of course times and locations
• The effective use of technology, including distrance learning
• Modular curricula and credentialing
  
  
• Examples of Academic, Social, and Financial Supports that Increase Persistence and Success
• Learning communities
• Innovative advisory and student support services
• Peer tutoring
• Partnerships with employers tying educational programs to jobs
• Partnerships with community-based organizations or public agencies to provide accessible child care, health care, housing, and transportation
• Emergency loans
• Financial aid for part-time working students
  
  
• Examples of Smooth Transitions from Secondary Schools and Programs
• Dual enrollment
• TechPrep consortia
• Early and middle college high schools
• Alternative high school programs for out-of-school youth
  
  
• Examples of More Seamless Transitions into and Through College-Level Learning
• Innovative developmental and ESL programs that improve completion rates or accelerate student progress to college courses
• Structured bridges to credit-level academic and occupational programs for underserved students
• Effective preparation and support for transfer students