Investigating the Aspen prize and how we were chosen top 10

Lizzie Babashova

Staff Writer

If you’ve been on campus lately, then I’m sure you’ve been hearing a lot about the Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence. Most likely you’ve also heard that Anoka-Ramsey has been named one of the ten finalists for the 2017 Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence. Pretty neat, huh?

The Aspen Institute will be reviewing the 10 finalists and visiting each campus this fall in order to choose a winner and up to four finalists with distinction. The winner of the 2017 Aspen Prize and the finalists will be announced in March 2017 in Washington DC.

What is the Aspen Institute and what is the Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence?

According to its website, “The Aspen Institute is an educational and policy studies organization based in Washington, D.C. Its mission is to foster leadership based on enduring values and to provide a nonpartisan venue for dealing with critical issues.”

Since 2010, the Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence has honored institutions that strive for and achieve exceptional levels of success for all students, while they are in college and after they graduate. This prize has been awarded every two years, with the winner receiving $1 million.

What is the Aspen Institute’s criteria for “excellence”?

The Aspen Institute created a Finalist Selection Committee which is made up of former community college presidents, respected researchers, and policy experts. This committee is responsible for selecting the ten finalists and have developed the standards for “excellence” that the Aspen Institute searches for in community colleges.

They review extensive data on performance and improvements in learning, graduation, workforce outcomes, and equitable outcomes for all students, focusing on those in traditionally undeserved racial/ethnic groups – African-American, Hispanic/Latino, and Native Americans – and those from low-income backgrounds. There are 150 institutions that are named eligible in January, and from those schools over one hundred applied to compete for the prize.

How did Anoka-Ramsey become considered?

The Aspen Institute considerers over 1,000 community colleges in the country. In order to do this, it gathers a group of community college experts to narrow it down to 150 colleges that they have decided are eligible. Their formula is based on national data on performance and improvement in student completion, as well as completion for underrepresented racial and ethnic groups.

Once the 150 eligible colleges have been decided, The Aspen Institute invites each of them to submit an application. From the colleges that submit an application, 10 finalists are chosen by a selection committee of higher education experts. The finalists are chosen based on completion outcomes, labor market outcomes, learning outcomes, and equitable outcomes, as well as conducting interviews with the leadership teams of about half of the institutions that submit applications.