Plus 50: Comprehensive Implementation Results

The Plus 50 Initiative is a three-year initiative of the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC), launched in June 2008 and funded by The Atlantic Philanthropies. It was created to support a pilot group of two-year institutions to develop or expand campus programs that engage plus 50 learners. The overarching goal of the Plus 50 Initiative is to support community colleges' ability to substantively and continuously engage in helping plus 50 learners lead purposeful lives through education, work, and service. To reach this goal, the initiative focuses on developing and expanding the program offerings of the pilot colleges, striving to reach more plus 50 students by expanding plus 50 offerings to additional community colleges, and putting the interests of plus 50 students at community colleges on the public agenda. Another aspect of the initiative's goal to support the expansion of plus 50 programs is growing the number of community colleges offering this programming beyond the initial grantee cohort. A long-term goal of the initiative is that 300 community colleges will implement and sustain plus 50 programs. This evaluation seeks to quantify the extent to which pilot colleges have expanded their offerings for the plus 50 student. Description of Evaluation Methods is appended. (Contains 64 exhibits and 7 footnotes.) [This paper was prepared by the Learning for Action Group.]