Transformative Change Initiative

The Transformative Change Initiative (TCI) is dedicated to assisting community colleges to scale up innovation in the form of guided pathways, programs of study, and evidence-based strategies to improve student outcomes and program, organization, and system performance. The impetus for TCI is the Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College and Career Training (TAACCCT) grant program. Beginning in 2011, the United States Department of Labor (DOL) began awarding a total of nearly $500 million per year to single institutions or consortia of colleges throughout the United States that implement guided pathways, programs of study, and evidence-based strategies that are intended to improve postsecondary education and workforce performance. The pathways and programs of study are linked to careers in a wide range of occupations that are experiencing growth in the US economy, including STEM, health care, information technology, business, and other fields. The TCI Framework presents the rationale and guiding principles for scaling innovation in the community college context. It is important to link scaling to guiding principles because principles provide direction rather than prescription. The following themes--which are reflected in the guiding principles of the TCI Framework--are discussed in this report: (1) Leadership, Organization, and Support; (2) Adoption and Adaptation; (3) Networks and Professional Development; (4) Policy-Focused and Publicly Financed Reform; (5) Technology Support and Technical Assistance; (6) Targeted Sharing and Dissemination; and (7) Evaluation Utilization to Grow Impact. [This document is based on the paper, "Transformative Change Initiative: Capitalizing on TAACCCT to Scale Innovations in the Community College Context" (Bragg et al., 2014).]