In the higher education landscape, community colleges have served to help many under-resourced populations gain access to post-secondary education and a chance to pursue their dreams (Bailey, Jaggers, & Jenkins, 2015; Schudde & Goldrick-Rab, 2015). As with many under-resourced populations of students, the stakes are high for incarcerated…

Higher education students in the U.S. have been transferring at record levels. More than two-thirds who earn bachelor's degrees from four-year institutions today have changed colleges at least once according to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center. However, the U.S. Department of Education reported in 2015 that on average, students…

Rising employer demand for skilled workers has driven efforts to better align occupational training programs to industry needs. Yet, even as the demand for skilled workers increases, less than half of students who enter occupational training programs receive a credential within six years. Community colleges are working to find faster and more…

Rising employer demand for skilled workers has driven efforts to better align occupational training programs to industry needs. Yet, even as the demand for skilled workers increases, less than half of students who enter occupational training programs receive a credential within six years. Community colleges are working to find faster and more…

Rising employer demand for skilled workers has driven efforts to better align occupational training programs to industry needs. Yet, even as the demand for skilled workers increases, less than half of students who enter occupational training programs receive a credential within six years. Community colleges are working to find faster and more…

In late 2020, Connecticut community colleges participated in a national study of community college workforce education. Connecticut was one of 14 states where education authorities volunteered to encourage colleges to respond early enough in 2020 to receive preliminary statewide results in January 2021. This brief compares Connecticut to the 14…

The STEM Early College Expansion Project is an effort to integrate STEM strategies with the early college model and implement this in comprehensive high schools. This report summarizes findings from two separate quasi-experimental impact studies of the model in Michigan and Connecticut. Results from Michigan showed statistically significant…

This study reports on learning outcomes of one-credit writing-intensive (W) courses in the disciplines at a large public university where three-credit W courses are the norm. An evaluation of 210 final papers from four departments--Allied Health, Animal Science, Economics, and Nutritional Sciences--revealed that writing outcomes, as defined and…

Community college students start college with goals including transferring to earn a bachelor's degree and gaining the skills and credentials that have immediate labor market value. These goals are not mutually exclusive. Students deserve access to clear pathways, whether they enroll in short-term education and training programs or in college…

"Dual enrollment" refers to programs in which students take postsecondary courses while simultaneously enrolled in high school. While programs differ among and within states, all programs share the goal of supporting students to complete their postsecondary education more quickly and cheaply while also fulfilling high school graduation…

This report examines the structural divide between for-credit and noncredit postsecondary education and the problems it presents for people seeking better jobs with higher pay. It highlights innovative ways that some community colleges are trying to bridge the gap nationally--creating more seamless pathways between credit and noncredit…

The Distance Education Accrediting Commission (DEAC) and The Presidents' Forum have released a new study authored and researched by the Online Learning Consortium's Dr. Jill Buban, which sheds light on how adult learning institutions address students who possess alternative credentials and seek to apply these experiences to a degree. This…

Objective: Statway is a community college pathways initiative developed by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching designed to accelerate students' progress through their developmental math sequence to acquiring college math credit in statistics. Statway is a multifaceted change initiative designed to address the complex problems…