The Success Center for California Community Colleges provides strategic thought partnership to the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office. Through professional development, policy development, and special projects, the Success Center assists the Chancellor’s Office in its effort to implement large-scale, systemwide student success reforms. The Policy and Research unit of the Success Center provides rigorous, actionable, and timely policy development, research, and data analysis support to the Chancellor’s Office, as it relates to student success through the implementation of the Guided Pathways framework and the goals set forth in the Vision for Success.

Our policy development, research, and data analysis is guided by a set of principles drafted with the understanding that policy development and actionable research promote more equitable practices.

Policy Development and Research Guiding Principles

Maintain a Student-Centered Focus

To honor the lived experience of students, we maintain a student-centered approach in our research and policy development by integrating the lived experience of students, holistically addressing student needs, and designing with the student in mind.

California community college students come to our system with a myriad of experiences both within the classroom and beyond. To honor the lived experience of students we maintain a focus on the whole student and design with the student in mind.

Promote Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

The California Community Colleges serve millions of students across the state of California. Our students are as diverse as the state and we strive to promote an understanding of the experiences of minoritized students. We are committed to advancing diversity, equity and inclusion through the application of anti-racist frameworks in the development of policies with a keen focus on eliminating opportunity gaps.

Enable Partnership and Collaboration

Systemic change requires a community of change makers who are willing to work together to reimagine and redesign antiquated policies and practices. As part of our policy development work, we actively collaborate with community college leaders, students, and partners to foster collaboration.

Support Statewide Sustainable Practices

With the understanding that people, not policies, drive systemic change it is our goal to ensure policy development and recommendations are sustainable, long-standing, and have statewide impact.