College of the Canyons in Santa Clarita has been chosen to join 21 other community colleges across the nation in the Association of American Colleges & Universities’ “Developing a Community College Student Roadmap” project.

COC is one of 10 community colleges selected for phase two of the project, which creates support programs for colleges and students to become active partners in creating a successful educational experience. The Roadmap Project, made possible by a grant from the MetLife Foundation, seeks to help students “connect the dots” between the various support programs available to them at community college campuses nationwide. Additonally, the program will create a set of “expected learning outcomes” that will help students succeed in their academic careers and beyond.

“The newly selected Roadmap campuses will join a distinguished group of 12 institutions that are leaders in improving community college student success,” said Tia Brown McNair, AAC&U Senior Director for Student Success. “One of the greatest benefits of this project has been the knowledge-sharing among a community of educators not only dedicated to asking the difficult questions,” added Brown, “but also to implementing change as a result of inquiry and reflection.”

Mt. San Antonio College is the other California institution selected to join phase two of the project, which adds ten schools to the twelve that participated in phase one.

“It’s an honor to have been selected by AAC&U to participate in the Roadmap Project,” said Audrey Green, COC Associate Vice President of Academic Affairs. “Our participation in this project provides us with a national network of community colleges that have also developed proven programs designed to improve student success.”

COC already has several programs in place to help students navigate their college careers, including “The COC First Year Experience,” “COC Supplemental Learning,” and the “COC Career Coach” program, which uses career assessment and exploration exercises to help both high school and college students define their career aspirations and goals.

“Through collaboration with these institutions we can learn from both their triumphs and mistakes, while working to improve existing programs and develop additional student support opportunities,” said Green.