CCBC Strategic Plan – FY 2024 to FY 2026
Mission
The Community College of Baltimore County transforms lives by providing an accessible, affordable, and high-quality education that prepares students for transfer and career success, strengthens the regional workforce, and enriches our community.
Vision
We will be the college of choice for students, where together we make teaching purposeful, learning powerful, completion primary, and community paramount.
Values
Collaboration: We foster collaboration within the college and support dynamic cooperative partnerships with the community.
Inclusion: We honor the dignity of all persons by creating an environment where everyone belongs, has equal access to resources and opportunities, and can participate fully in the mission of the college.
Innovation: We encourage students, faculty, and staff to explore new ideas, examine new ways of knowing and doing, and develop creative approaches to the issues facing our community and the broader world.
Integrity: We inspire public trust by maintaining ethical and collaborative relationships with our faculty, students, staff, alumni and communities. We share our achievements and challenges honestly and openly. We insist upon fairness, mutual respect, collegiality and civility at all times.
We Believe
- Students’ goals are our goals.
- CCBC should be attentive and responsive to the evolving needs of our students, faculty, staff and our community.
- Students, faculty and staff are partners in the educational journey.
- Quality academic programs and innovative instruction enhance student engagement, performance and success.
- CCBC should address academic and non-academic barriers to success.
- CCBC plays a pivotal role in improving the economic and social well-being of our students, their families and our community.
- Fiscal integrity, transparency, and accountability are essential to maintain the trust of our public and private stakeholders.
- Cooperative relationships with our community partners guide how we meet their educational, cultural, recreational and workforce needs.
- The diversity each person brings to CCBC should be embraced and celebrated through recognition, empowerment and support.
- We support diversity by fostering a climate of belonging, focusing on success for every individual, and promoting equitable outcomes.
The Student Experience at CCBC
Our goal as a college is for every student to receive the best experience we can provide. Students come to us with a wide variety of goals, experiences and life circumstances, which requires CCBC to provide tailored, personalized support to ensure their success. Our adoption of the holistic student support model, a national standard for proactive, team-based support at community colleges, will ensure the best of CCBC reaches all of our students across our broad academic curriculum. This holistic approach relies on three phases.
Entry Phase
The Entry phase is devoted to preparing the student for entry to CCBC.
- Students will be guided through the enrollment process by their success team.
- Students will define or reaffirm their career and educational goals through career exploration.
- Students will be individually assessed on their educational skills and experience.
- Students will work with their success team to complete an educational plan as early as possible.
- The Degrees to Succeed infrastructure will support students intending to transfer to a partner institution, streamlining entry into a four-year college. Effective support systems will be available for all transfer students.
- Students will work with their success team to resolve academic and non-academic challenges to completion, including guidance on financing their studies.
Pathway Phase
In the Pathways phase, students explore their interests and create a connection and sense of belonging at CCBC and in their program.
- Students will further develop their educational and career goals.
- Students will be assigned a success team, which will provide guidance, support and connection.
- Students will work with their assigned faculty to track progress on their personal educational plan through completion.
- Students will meet with their success team regularly to assess progress and plan out next steps in their educational and career journey.
Program Phase
In the Program phase, students prepare for entry into their chosen career or transfer to a four-year college.
- Students will have an opportunity to engage in workplace experiences through their program of study.
- Students intending to transfer will confirm transfer plans with their success team.
- Students preparing to enter the workplace can utilize our career services to develop their resume, interview skills, and make connections with area employers
Strategic Priority I - Enrollment Growth
CCBC will increase our enrollment by focusing on intensive recruitment of key populations and renewed efforts to retain current students as lifelong CCBC learners. By providing each student with a positive experience we will increase retention, attract new students, and promote CCBC as a destination for an accessible, affordable and high-quality education.
Recruitment
- Reach out to students who may not have considered college and invite them to explore all the educational and career opportunities available at CCBC.
- Revise our application process to make it simple to navigate, focused on the students’ goals and use terminology applicants can easily understand.
- Provide high school students attending CCBC concurrently customized support and encouragement as they explore the opportunities we have to offer.
- Utilize the Baltimore County and Maryland Community College Promise programs, as well as other resources, to offer as many students as possible a tuition-free education.
- Promote educational opportunities for members of our community who desire additional education to stay up to date in their current occupation.
- Deploy our recruitment and marketing messaging to inform our community of the specific opportunities available for career development and personal enrichment.
- Promote our innovative programming such as the Degrees to Succeed transfer partnerships, the Honors College, and our fully online certificate and degree programs.
- Develop a more collaborative approach with our local K-12 schools to inform students and their parents of the resources and wide variety of programs available at CCBC. The Maryland Blueprint for Education offers expanded opportunities for students to begin their college career before completing high school.
Retention
- Develop a better understanding of our students’ lives in and out of the classroom. When we understand our students, we are better prepared to support them.
- Transform our current student advising process to a case management model with a dedicated team of advisors, faculty, and staff helping every student meet their educational and career goals.
- Focus our orientation process on the student’s needs and goals. Orientation will be required for all new to CCBC students.
- Provide a student-centered course schedule which promotes student success, momentum toward completion, and accommodates their lives outside of college.
- Expand our Degrees to Succeed initiative for our students planning to pursue a bachelor’s degree, which combines completion of a CCBC degree with a seamless transfer to a four-year college.
- Make career exploration and career services a central component of the student experience and a recognized advantage of attending CCBC.
Strategic Priority II - Economic Prosperity
CCCB will increase our investment in our people, technology, and infrastructure to fulfill our mission providing students with an accessible, affordable and high-quality education. We will be responsible stewards of the financial resources entrusted to us by the public.
Investing in our People
- Provide our faculty and staff with compensation and employee benefits that meet their needs and reward their performance.
- Take a holistic approach to scheduling that optimizes the use of space, leverages software, minimizes waste and reduces unnecessary resource allocation.
- Support a culture of care for our students by establishing standards of service, training employees to meet those standards, and rewarding faculty and staff who place the student first.
- Implement an active recruitment and hiring process with a goal of finding the best candidate for employment at CCBC. Develop better training and support mechanisms for new employees in their first year of employment.
- Create a professional development process that helps each employee develop their career at CCBC.
- Review and update current training to ensure it is relevant to how CCBC functions and positively impacts the student experience.
- Focus faculty training and promotion on performance in the classroom and providing support to students.
Investing in Technology and Infrastructure
- Provide cutting-edge technology, equipment, and facilities to support the best instructional experience we can provide our students.
- Provide technology support services that ensure students have the support they need to be successful.
- Employ our Customer Relationship Management technology to support team-based case management advising for all students, a streamlined student communication process and a more guided goal-oriented student experience.
- Provide training and support to develop subject matter experts in all areas of the college to ensure our technology is used to its full potential.
- Create more spaces for socializing and student-centered activities.
- Devote resources to upgrading and maintaining the appearance of our campuses
Partnerships
- Create an engagement initiative to fully develop opportunities to provide training and other educational resources to our current partners and recruit new partners in the community.
- Collaborate with local employers to expand opportunities for students to get work experiences via internships, apprenticeships, work-based learning and similar experiences.
Strategic Priority III - Credit and Continuing Education Integration
The goal of Credit and Continuing Education integration is to present students with equitable access to all the educational opportunities available at CCBC and provide a consistent and seamless experience for all students.
Student Experience
- Align and promote Credit and Continuing Education programs as seamless pathways for students to reach their educational and career goals.
- Assist students in making the decision to change programs and minimize the loss of credits and/or instructional hours when students change programs.
- Adopt a proactive student-first mindset to ensure all students receive full support when pursuing their educational goals.
- Identify sources of financial support for every program and assist students in obtaining that support.
- Increase opportunities for students to earn stackable credentials, occupation required continuing education courses and other skills-based instruction.
Administrative Integration
- Unify and consolidate administrative systems, resources, and processes to support a consistent and high-quality student experience.
- Provide opportunities for Credit and Continuing Education instructors to teach across the college.
- Develop events that bring Credit and Continuing Education instructors and staff together to share knowledge and experiences.
- Collaborate with the Maryland Higher Education Commission and the Maryland Legislature to revise state policies that inhibit the integration of Credit and Continuing Education programs.
- Fully integrate the marketing of our Credit and Continuing Education programs as equal opportunities for students to pursue their educational and career goals.
Strategic Priority IV - Transformational Academics
CCBC will provide the highest quality instruction and student services to improve student learning, support an environment of equity and belonging and reduce the barriers that interfere with student success. We will offer innovative, career-focused programs and curricula that prepare students for employment, transfer and mastering skills for lifelong learning.
Meet students where they are and help them achieve their goals
- Offer high-quality holistic student support that provides guidance, fosters belonging and removes barriers to success.
- Increase the number of students who complete a degree, certificate or workplace certification.
- Provide instruction in a variety of formats, times and places to make education easily accessible to a wide range of students.
- Encourage students through first-year experiences that promote belonging and academic success.
- Provide high school students who enter CCBC through the Maryland Blueprint for Education and other dual enrollment initiatives with the support they need to succeed.
Monitor student progress and proactively intervene to keep students on their path to success
- Communicate proactively with students about their achievements and their progress toward their goals.
- Evaluate first-year momentum and milestone attainment for all students, monitor outcome equity and address disparities.
- Evaluate courses on success rates, alignment with current research in the discipline and applicability to the workplace. We are committed to equitable outcoes and providing additional support to students in need.
- Facilitate student achievement of core competencies, general education requirements and successful program outcomes, attending to equity for all students.
- Monitor student progress as they transition to transfer institutions or the workforce and implement necessary changes to improve student success.
Provide faculty and students with innovative resources and instructional techniques to foster student engagement, acheivement, and career or transfer readiness
- Recognize and reward teaching excellence, excellence in supporting students, and progress in closing equity and opportunity gaps.
- Use modern and effective tools and technologies to support student-centered instruction and interactive learning that are aligned with practices students will find in the workplace.
- Provide faculty with robust and regular professional development to develop and maintain proficiency in the use of evidence-based instructional practices.
- Encourage instructional approaches and curricula that promote student engagement and belonging and reflect our commitment to diversity and inclusion.
How We Serve Our Communities
Community has been at the heart of CCBC’s mission for over 60 years, serving as a beacon of hope and opportunity for hundreds of thousands of students. We are proud to be a place where a diverse community of students achieve extraordinary things and remarkable personal transformations that benefit themselves, their families and their communities.
At CCCBC, we are dedicated to serving our communities in countless ways. We take pride in offering affordable and accessible educational pathways that meet the needs of our students and the local workforce. We will continue our legacy of community service with the following activities:
- Offering nearly 300 associate degrees and certificate programs to meet a multitude of career aspirations.
- Offering a broad variety of industry-recognized certifications to support students entering a new career or advancing in their current occupation.
- Providing affordable and accessible pathways to a bachelor’s degree through transfer agreements and specialized programs with a wide range of four-year institutions.
- Expanding the Early College Access program, which allows students currently in high school an opportunity to earn college credits and industry-recognized credentials. In our P-Tech program, students can earn an associate degree and a high school diploma simultaneously at little or no cost.
- Offering life enrichment courses and specialized programs to individuals, families and groups, including youth and senior citizens.
- Supporting local businesses by providing customized training and encouraging entrepreneurial spirit through the Center for Business Innovation and the School of Continuing Education.
- Encouraging participation in the workforce by offering adult basic education and literacy courses, support services, financial support, and employment placement assistance for individuals experiencing barriers to employment.
- Delivering rapid response initiatives during community crises, such as the closure of a major employer, local college or training school.
- Informing our community on local, state, and national issues through our faculty and staff’s expertise in a wide variety of fields.
- Supporting community engagement through our cultural and athletic programs, including Visual and Performing Arts programs that enhance cultural awareness and appreciation, and supporting nationally recognized intercollegiate teams for our women and men student-athletes.
At CCBC, we believe that serving our communities is not just a responsibility but a privilege. Our strategic plan is a reflection of our commitment to making a meaningful and lasting impact on the lives of the individuals, organizations and communities we serve.
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