With 73 percent of all undergraduates in California's public institutions of higher education attending a community college, the impact of community colleges upon the California population and economy is enormous. Community colleges should receive greater attention, both laudatory and critical, so that the public is aware of their impact. Like similar reports, however, "Rules of the Game" is a mixed bag of helpful analysis and misleading data coupled with prudent recommendations for policy change and naive suggestions.

The report correctly asserts that state policies are responsible for many of the problems that community colleges face, as well as the cause of students' failures in academic completion. The report criticizes a number of the state's fiscal policies that restrict the ability of community colleges to provide sufficient support services.

Many community college leaders applaud the report's call for changes in financial formulas, such as the 50 percent law, which discourages funding counseling and other forms of necessary student support. The report also calls for more resources and greater local flexibility in determining expenditures. Local community colleges should be permitted to retain revenue from student enrollment fees to strengthen programs that promote student success.

The report misses the mark by misunderstanding California's community college student population. It notes that full-time students have higher completion rates within a six-year period than part-time students and recommends simplistic policies and incentives to increase the number of full-time students.

Most community college students are not wealthy. Many are working adults - over 66 percent of San Diego Community College District students work - who have families to support. Many are affected by poverty, need child care, and have other obstacles to full-time attendance.

City, Mesa and Miramar colleges are successful precisely because they take this reality into consideration. Strategies to support the education of working adults would be more realistic than recommendations to transform them into full-time students or, worse, to supplant them with students whose financial advantages permit them to attend on a full-time basis.

The report confuses the completion of an associate degree program with successful transfer. These are two very different measures. While we strongly encourage students to complete work toward their degrees, they are also able to transfer to universities without a degree, as long as they have completed the required pre-baccalaureate degree course work. The San Diego Community College District has guaranteed student transfer agreements with many public and private colleges and universities including San Diego State University, the University of California San Diego, UC Davis, UCLA and CSU San Marcos. Each year, over two thirds of CSU graduates are community college transfer students. That should be a measure of success by anyone's standards.

The report's biggest criticism is its assertion that "less than one-fourth of CCC students fulfill their goal of completing a community college program." Not so! The reality is that statewide, 51 percent of students complete their programs. In the San Diego Community College District, 59 percent of our students do so.

The report also faults community colleges for not assessing students to the extent necessary to ensure their proper placement in classes. In fact, assessment programs in reading and math in the community colleges are often linked to class prerequisites. At City, Mesa and Miramar colleges, 76 percent of all courses are CSU/UC transferable and most have prerequisites that a student must take before entering a higher level class. It is because of rigorous standards such as these that community college transfer students do as well or even better than students who begin their studies as freshmen at the universities to which they transfer.

Many community college leaders are concerned by the report's discussion of open student enrollment as somehow less important than, or even contrary to, issues of degree completion. Given the nature of community colleges as institutions that provide remediation, first opportunities for education, and second chances for many, open access is of critical importance and should continue to share an equal role with completion. This open access at Santa Monica's community college is what launched Arnold Schwarzenegger, an immigrant from Austria, on his way to becoming California's governor.

"Rules of the Game" is a significant report that can help frame the public discussion on how to strengthen our community colleges. That discussion should also be grounded in the reality of the educational needs of the people within our changing state.