Chocolate City: The Best African American Blog

By: Charles S. Mombo, MSMIS, MBA

In his book, The 8^th Habit: From Effectiveness to Greatness, Stephen Covey stated, “If you want to make minor, incremental changes and improvement, work on practices, behavior or attitude. But if you want to make significant, quantum improvement, work on paradigms.” City Colleges of Chicago (CCC) has established itself as an outstanding institution in providing the workforce that moves Chicago.  Now it is the time that CCC rethinks it paradigm from good to great.

In the wake of Chicago Mayor Daley’s recent announcement in which he wants to close the “open-door” admissions policy at Chicago City Colleges, he argued that remedial classes for students who can’t cut it carry a $30 million price tag that the system cannot afford.

Daley said, “When young people enroll in a college, what background do they have? What reading levels do they have? If they have to put them all in remediation, they’re really not in a college system. That’s what they have to figure out. How can you take someone who has an 8th-grade reading level into a college? … There’s a huge remedial program of $30 million they’re running now. That’s what they have to really evaluate … if you want to make it a quality City College [system]. You need quality. That’s the key,” he added.

I fully agree with Daley that something needs to done to rectify the mess and financial waste of money on remedial courses. As an adjunct professor at a couple of CCC campuses, I have experienced this frustrating problem first hand. It is most frustrating when a young male that can not read or write uses the school’s basketball team practice or game as escapism to avoid sitting in class.      

As much as I applaud Daley for wanting to change a failed and ramshackle system, he needs to be reminded that he is a culprit to this mess. The problem starts from the Chicago Public School (CPS). The differences between the top schools (or so-called good school) and the CPS schools are not difficult to discern. Good schools are fully resourced, with talented, caring teachers, well-trained and numerous support staff, with protective and supportive administrators – and CPS schools are not. Good schools have challenging curricula, high expectations for all students, with an expectation of success – and CPS schools do not.  Good schools have libraries, an adequate supply of textbooks and computers, art and music programs, and science labs – and CPS schools do not. Good schools have athlete development programs – and CPS has taken most athlete programs away.

So, before Daley starts to victimize the victims of CCC, he needs to rethink his plan. My suggestion is that he need at least a 5 – 10 years well thought out plan/program with specific countermeasures and measurable goal for moving CPS from a less than Third World school system. The improvement in CPS will be reflective in CCC students.  

In addition, my hope is that the following SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analysis may be useful in offering a college-level perspective to Daley and his CCC administration. Where appropriate, a catalyst in developing new initiatives and paradigm that further CCC’s mission and goal towards training Chicago’s workforce. 

CCC SWOT Analysis

The City Colleges of Chicago is a highly lucrative producer of trained and qualified employees. I see CCC’s ongoing strengths as the ability to respond quickly to what the market dictates and to provide quality education in a growing market. In addition, through aggressive marketing and quality management they will become a well-respected and known entity in their respective industry. Their key personnel have a wide and thorough knowledge of the local market and expertise such as medical sciences which will go towards penetrating that market. However, they need to acknowledge their weaknesses as an educational institution and the threat of new competition taking aim at their niche. Below are the summarized strengths, weaknesses and opportunities of, and, threats to CCC.

 

CCC Strengths

·    Brand name.

·    Provides standard academic education.

·    Community support.

·    CCC Board approving rigorous requirements for pharmacy technician and medical billing.

·    Fostering partnership with local hospitals, CVS and Walgreens. 

·    Quality instructors.

·    Small class room size.

·    One on one contact with professors.

·    Professors are easily accessible.

·    Great for nontraditional students.

·    A good transition from high school.

·    Innumerable areas of specialization.

·    Reasonable rate per credit hour. 

CCC Weaknesses

·   Low graduation rates. Out of approximately 121,000 students, only 20 percent completes their program. 

· Perception that students are not ready for college

· Some courses are wrongly classified and, thus, contributive to first semester of F’s and D’s. As an example, CIS 120 is not an introduction to computers.

·  Most students are poorly prepared for college

·  At times – transferring credits can be a nightmare.

·  Employers concerned about graduates job readiness.

·  Institutional red-tapes.

·  Perceived as a disjointed organization.

·  Tenure process is perceived as inconsistent across campuses

·  Employees Complacency

·  Declining Black male enrollment

·  Lack of clear-cut channels of distribution.

·  CCC does a poor job in identifying and promoting their strengths.

·  Not utilizing the strengths and accomplishments of an accomplished alumni base.

·  Cuts in state appropriations may negatively effect faculty members at public colleges

·  Lack of ownership or accountability by employees

·  Lack of cross training due to an apparent job security

·  Innovations can be perceived as a threat

.  Red-tapism, Red-tapism, Red-tapism

.  An apparent abuse of financial aid disbursement checks. Class sizes literally reduce to about two-third of the original size after the checks are issued, hence resulting in grade of "F".

 

CCC Opportunities

 

 

· The addition of a new chancellor from the private sector with an outsider's perspective is expected to bring an infusion of new ideas to the CCC team.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

·  The diverse communities that CCC serves enhance opportunities for graduates.

·  Expanded programs at satellite campuses provide an opportunity to better serve CCC students.

· The rapidly changing workplace, especially among the Chicago land area businesses and communities, will increase the opportunity to serve lifelong learning.

·  The growth of Internet and web-based technology provides opportunities for CCC to serve its students better.

 

CCC Threats

 

· The misconception that state-supported schools don’t need private contribution impedes fundraising efforts.

·  The adverse perceptions of Chicago’s congestion, high convention cost, overcrowding, and its high cost of living threaten the ability to attract employees.

·  Existing competition.

o   Competition with other colleges.

o   Competition with virtual and distance learning institutions.

o   Competition for students among regional campuses has increased.

 

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