More Than a Number: An Ideal-Theoretical List of Community College Capabilities

• In Event: Innovative Approaches for Developing and Assessing Student Learning Outcomes in Higher Education

Abstract

This paper draws on the capabilities approach, a normative welfare economics framework with in disciplinary roots, to reframe community college student success around students’ abilities to pursue a life that they value. Guided by this more expansive understanding of student well-being, the methodological process used to generate an ideal-theoretical list of community college capabilities is presented. The resulting list was informed by Robeyns’ (2003) methodology and suggested criteria for the development of capabilities list, which includes an extensive review of the community college and capabilities approach literatures. This list serves as one attempt to re-humanize the community college educational experience by promoting a more expansive conceptualization of student well-being beyond graduation and transfer rates.

Author

• Amelia Marcetti Topper