ACCJC Launches Student Achievement Dashboards and ROI Metric to Highlight the Value of Higher Education

Sacramento, CA – Building on the recent release of Building a Future-Ready Workforce, which highlighted how two-year colleges are responding to workforce needs through innovative partnerships, the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC) continues to elevate the value of higher education.

Today, ACCJC announces the launch of its Student Achievement Dashboards and Return on Investment (ROI) Metric, key tools that reflect the Commission’s ongoing commitment to transparency and institutional improvement. These public-facing dashboards enable students, policymakers, and institutional leaders to explore historical trends in student outcomes across all ACCJC member institutions—providing a clearer picture of educational value and impact.

The dashboards draw on three data sources: institutionally-reported annual data, federally reported IPEDS data, and an innovative ROI metric developed in partnership with the College Futures Foundation. This new metric uses a Price-to-Earnings Premium (PEP) model to assess how long it takes students to recoup their educational investment by examining the relationship between net costs and earnings premiums.

The launch follows the release of Navigating the Value Landscape for Accreditation, ACCJC’s exploration of current federal, state, and private efforts to define and measure the value of higher education.

Accreditation scholar Dr. Paul Gaston, III, author of Higher Education Accreditation: How It’s Changing, Why It Must, describes the report as “thorough and objective documentation” that reinforces “the recognition that community colleges are both the United States’ historic contribution to higher education and its singular asset in a challenging economy.” He adds, “Through providing leadership in quality assurance and institutional improvement, ACCJC has become a bellwether in accreditation and a critical ally of its member institutions.”

Dr. Kathleen Burke, Chair of the ACCJC Commission, emphasized the importance of the work in policy discussions: “A key takeaway from the development of the white paper and dashboards launched today is that there is a significant demand from federal policy leaders to demonstrate the value of higher education. These efforts by ACCJC help policy makers and the public understand the incredible value proposition offered by ACCJC member institutions.”

Dr. Tia McNair, Partner at Sova, added, “ACCJC’s efforts to expand and enhance resources and tools that promote continuous improvement, capacity-building, and transparency around the value of higher education demonstrate a deep commitment to centering equity and excellence as institutions educate the most diverse learners in our nation’s history.”

Together, the dashboards and white paper signal a bold and necessary step in defining and demonstrating the real value of higher education—grounded in data, informed by practice, and centered on student success.

ACCJC would also like to congratulate College Futures Foundation, in partnership with Michael Itzkowitz of the HEA Group, on their release of Golden Returns: A Regional Look at the Return on Investment (ROI) of California’s Community and Career Colleges. “College Futures Foundation and Michael Itzkowitz have been key partners in the development of ACCJC’s ROI Metric,” said ACCJC President Mac Powell. “Their latest analysis of 327 community or certificate-granting colleges, including most of ACCJC’s member institutions, offers an unprecedented view of the value of these institutions and their impact on the region’s students and community.”

College Futures Foundation is highlighting this publication in a featured webinar with Inside Higher Ed today.

We invite you to explore the new dashboards and read Navigating the Value Landscape for Accreditation to learn more about ACCJC’s role in shaping the future of quality and value in higher education.

For more information about ACCJC and its current initiatives, visit www.accjc.org.

Register here to attend the Inside Higher Ed webinar on August 7th at 11:00 a.m. PT.

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The Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC) is a federally recognized accrediting commission whose institutional accreditation is accepted as a reliable assurance of quality, allowing institutions of higher education access to federal financial aid. ACCJC is unique in its concentration on public and private two-year degree granting institutions, its geographic range, and its membership. Its current 138 public, non-profit, and for-profit member institutions span Arizona, California, Hawai'i, New York, and the western Pacific and include the largest public higher education system in the US, serving 2 million students, and one of the nation’s smallest colleges, with 28 students.

ACCJC supports its member institutions to advance educational quality and student learning and achievement. This collaboration fosters institutional excellence and continuous improvement through innovation, self-analysis, peer review, and application of standards.

College Futures Foundation envisions a California where postsecondary education advances racial, social, and economic equity, unlocking upward mobility now and for generations to come. Our mission is to increase postsecondary completion for learners who are underserved. We center learners and their aspirations and needs on the path to achieving their educational goals.

Established in 2005, College Futures Foundation uses a wide variety of human and financial resources and tools—including its average endowment of over $500 million and approximately $20 million in grants annually—to accomplish its mission.

College Futures Foundation: More graduates for a thriving California.

For more information about College Futures Foundation, visit www.collegefutures.org.