CCA’s Strategic Plan

The strategic plan maps out the five-year goals and outcomes at the Community College of Aurora. These outcomes are embedded into all academic programs.

BRAVE 2030: Advancing Institutional Excellence Together

In the spirit of transformation and collective vision, the Community College of Aurora embarked on a bold strategic planning journey throughout 2024 and 2025. This initiative was not just about setting goals—it was about reaffirming our mission, engaging our community, and building a future where every student succeeds.

We began with data exploration, grounding our efforts in evidence and insight. From there, we opened the doors to inclusive engagement, bringing together over 900 duplicated participants—students, faculty, staff, and community partners—to shape the direction of our college.

These voices helped us revisit and refine our vision, mission, core values, and institutional learning outcomes, ensuring they reflected both our aspirations and our realities. Through collaborative design, we built a strategic infrastructure centered around five pillars of excellence.

The Five Pillars of Excellence

Each pillar is supported by commitments and key performance indicators, creating a roadmap for measurable impact. We align our efforts with partners across the Colorado Community College System, the CCA Foundation, the Colorado Department of Higher Education, and the Higher Learning Commission, ensuring our plan resonates beyond our campus.

Foster a supportive and connected environment to boost student persistence, retention, success, and sense of belonging.

Commitments
- Increase student enrollment and engagement
- Advance equity through expanded access and basic needs supports
- Strengthen cross-departmental collaboration for seamless student support.
Ensure dynamic, real-world-relevant programs that prepare students for academic and workforce success.

Commitments
- Increase professional skills development and access to experiential learning.
- Develop programs of study that map to labor market demand.
- Align placement, curriculum, and tracking with support systems to guide students to success.
Build an inclusive, equitable community that celebrates diversity and fosters a sense of belonging for all.

Commitments
- Provide opportunities and skills to co-create a rich environment of different cultures, identities, beliefs, and lived experiences for students and employees.
- Collectively identify and remove barriers to design systems of support that will encourage student and employee success.
- Implement college systems, processes and practices that nurture an intentional environment where contributions of student and employee experiences, opinions, abilities, and identities are respected, valued, and incorporated.
Promote teamwork and innovative solutions to streamline processes and improve efficiency across the College.

Commitments
- Improve transparency through clear processes and communication.
- Enhance operational understanding through internal collaboration.
- Streamline processes to boost efficiency.
Advance industry and community partnerships for civic engagement, economic growth, and regional development.

Commitments
- Foster strategic collaborations by establishing and strengthening partnerships.
- Support community development, workforce readiness, and civic engagement.
- Drive sustainable regional impact by supporting initiatives.

Institutional Learning Outcomes

The Community College of Aurora has identified the following institutional outcomes that are the foundation of your course of study at CCA: Career and Transfer Readiness, Communication, Critical Thinking, and Civic Engagement. These outcomes are embedded within academic programs and co-curricular programs. For more information, visit the CCA Assessment webpage.

Career and transfer readiness is the ability to adapt, commit to lifelong learning, and demonstrate knowledge and skills applicable in a global economy for successful transition into the workplace or continued coursework.

Students will be able to:
- Use digital tools to locate, access, and apply information to solve problems.
- Demonstrate the knowledge and skills necessary to succeed in their chosen pathway.
- Articulate their experiences, strengths, and areas for growth in relation to a chosen career.
- Exhibit skills necessary to contribute to safe, equitable, and productive spaces at work or school.
Communication is the ability to express, impart, or exchange feelings, thoughts, opinions, and information.

Students will be able to:
- Speak or write clearly and effectively in a variety of contexts and formats.
- Present and advance evidence in support of a position.
- Collaborate to develop and complete projects.
- Create a final product meeting the needs of a specific purpose and an intended audience.
Critical thinking is the ability to analyze and evaluate information, evidence, arguments, and theories from multiple perspectives for use in the development of an opinion or conclusion.

Students will be able to:
- Identify and evaluate key questions or issues.
- Collect, analyze, and critically evaluate data and evidence.
- Evaluate the effectiveness of possible solutions from multiple perspectives.
- Synthesize and use evidence and context to present a position.
Civic engagement is the ability to participate in the political, social, cultural, and community life of society with the goal of improving conditions for others and contributing to the public good.

Students will be able to:
- Identify opportunities for civic participation in political, social, cultural, or community contexts.
- Analyze how civic engagement contributes to the public good and addresses societal challenges.
- Apply civic knowledge in a real-world setting and reflect on its impact on the community and personal growth.
- Communicate effectively with diverse groups to promote civic awareness and collaboration.
- Participate in the political process through activities such as voting, campaigning, voter registration drives, etc.

Sticking To The Plan

To operationalize the plan, CCA established a reporting structure involving pillar leads, division leads, and program KPI leads. A cycle of reporting was designed to ensure accountability and continuous improvement, with bi-semester check-ins, annual scorecards, and transparent communication through multiple channels—from email and social media to open sessions and strategic summits.

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