In 2021, approximately five million young people in the United States were not in school or working. This group of young people transitioning to adulthood, roughly ages 16 to 24, are often referred to as "opportunity youth" and sometimes "disconnected youth." Young people from low-income families and from communities of…

More than half of community college students nationwide intend to pursue a four-year degree; however, in Texas only one in four community college students transfer to four-year institutions successfully. Among students who do transfer to a Texas four-year institution, roughly 60 percent go on to graduate with a bachelor's degree. The result is…

Community colleges in the United States, which serve a disproportionate number of students from low-income backgrounds, can provide a valuable pathway toward well-paying careers. However, graduation rates at community colleges are very low--among first-time, full-time, degree-seeking students who enter public two-year schools, only 29 percent…

In 2019, MDRC launched the Scaling Up College Completion Efforts for Student Success (SUCCESS) project to improve college completion rates for traditionally underserved students, such as students from low-income backgrounds and students of color, at community and broad-access colleges (those that have open or minimally selective admissions…

This brief highlights lessons from the City Colleges of Chicago (CCC) Centers of Excellence model, which has redesigned each of the system's seven campuses as a "college-to-career center" and consolidated academic programs in high-demand industries at particular campuses. The model incorporates features of sectoral training programs,…

This practitioner brief is one of a series highlighting concrete strategies that education leaders can use to increase equity in education by building learning environments that meet all students' social and emotional needs. This brief discusses how school districts can use partnerships with outside organizations and agencies to help provide…

The COVID-19 pandemic has shown that when students' social and emotional well-being are poor, their engagement in instruction is profoundly affected. That revelation and the national mobilization for social justice sparked in 2020 have heightened public awareness is heightened that inequitable structures and policies--in school and out--have been…

What works to help community college students progress academically? This brief synthesizes 20 years of rigorous research by MDRC, presenting new evidence about key attributes of community college interventions that are positively related to larger impacts on students' academic progress. Findings: Findings are based on a synthesis of evidence from…

Community colleges provide postsecondary education to millions of students in the United States each year, but their graduation rates are low. Many community colleges have implemented interventions to help students persist in college and earn degrees. MDRC has studied many such interventions; several of them improved students' academic outcomes,…

This report provides supplementary information for the report "From Degrees to Dollars: Six-Year Findings from the ASAP Ohio Demonstration." The report includes the following tables and figures: (1) Baseline Characteristics; (2) Academic Outcomes by Semester; (3) Degree or Certificate Receipt Six Years after Random Assignment, by…

Postsecondary institutions, and particularly community colleges, are positioned well to train more and more of the nation's entry- and middle-skill workers. The New World of Work (NWoW), a program that promoted teaching and learning soft skills, was designed in 2012 and operated briefly in over 75 community colleges in California. The program…

MDRC's Scaling Up College Completion Efforts for Student Success (SUCCESS) project seeks to improve graduation rates for traditionally underserved students at two- and four-year colleges. SUCCESS integrates components from multiple programs that have proved to be effective at helping students accomplish their goals. The components include…

Workforce development organizations often find it challenging to assess how former program participants are faring in the labor market, since they need to rely on participants' willingness to report and verify their job placements after they either leave or complete their programs. The 2013 Unemployment Insurance Data Sharing Bill (S5773A) amended…

Across the country, as technology continues to advance rapidly, the labor market exhibits a growing need for workers who receive frequent and ongoing skill development. Employers in many fields struggle to find adequately trained workers to meet their needs. Community college noncredit career and technical education (CTE) programs are an important…

One major challenge that institutions face when launching transformation efforts is that they operate in "silos," meaning that they have separate departments--for example, student services, financial aid, and advising--that operate independently with little communication or coordination. Many successful transformation efforts include a…