2 X 2

According to Jeff Bradach, 2 x 2 actually equals 100. A recent article from Bradach in the Stanford Social Innovation Review investigates strategies that expand the impact of organizations well beyond what you’d expect from their size. Rather than just duplicating a program’s structure, high-impact organizations use approaches that allow them to realize their objectives in less conventional ways. Bradach identifies eight concepts that organizations can employ to increase impact without greatly increasing organization size. Here are a few examples of Bradach’s suggested approaches as they play out in DEI colleges:

• Build Networks. Valencia Community College is engaging students and faculty in new ways through learning communities and supplemental instruction. And DEI’s learning network of 15 colleges creates opportunities for idea and resource sharing, which can enhance our effectiveness.
• Develop talent. Patrick Henry Community College is providing faculty professional development focused on cooperative learning. With 95 percent of developmental faculty, both full-time and adjunct, receiving this professional development, PHCC is pollinating the college with active learning strategies. They’ve also opened the Southern Center for Active Learning Excellence to offer similar training to faculty from other institutions.
• Change the Perception of What is Possible. That’s what DEI is all about. We are proving that investing in students that need dev ed is important, and that students can successfully move on to college-level work and a degree. As more decision makers, community leaders, citizens, and potential students see the progress that DEI institutions are making, we’re hopeful that more resources and support will flow to colleges and communities, generating developmental education innovations at non-DEI schools.
• Strengthen the Sector. Remember, the 15 DEI institutions also are part of Achieving the Dream: Community Colleges Count. For the last five years and more, these colleges have been working at the institutional and state level to eliminate policy barriers, improve institutional research capacity, and engage leaders at every level of the college and community. Achieving the Dream’s model of continuous institutional improvement creates an environment that encourages the scaling of evidence-based strategies focused on student success.

One aim of the Developmental Education Initiative is to bring more effective programs to more students that need a jumpstart or a refresh as they tackle college. But like Bradach’s new math, we’re also interested in multiplying student success across the campus and community. The focus of scaling at the community college is to have a sustainable impact on students, faculty, and systems. We’ll be using this blog to share our continued thinking with you on what scaling means and what resources you can use to realize it.


Abby Parcell is MDC's Program Manager for the Developmental Education Initiative.