During the summer of 2021, we taught a series of lessons on social media literacy during a 6-week summer bridge program designed to prepare students for their first year of community college. Community college students represent nearly 40% of all U.S. undergraduates (AACC, 2022), with nearly 50% of all first-generation college students attending…

Enrichment programs make up a small but significant part of a community college's offerings. In some cases, their impact can be enormous--especially in rural areas where a community college might be the only source of enrichment for residents. Community enrichment programs also can be challenging to administer. For instance, it can be hard to find…

This phenomenological study examined students' experiences with the academic support services provided during their enrollment at an Early College High School (ECHS) in South Texas. The participants in this study earned an associate degree from a community college while enrolled in an ECHS. Semi-structured one-on-one interviews were conducted with…

Summer bridge programs are the second most common student support program in the United States. Though they vary in design, most are focused on supporting students who are at risk. Programs vary in terms of their curricular offerings as well. This study examined the ex post facto data from a summer bridge program at Manchester Community College in…

This study examined opportunities for enhancing transfer outcomes for community college students through summer research opportunities at a university. It emphasizes the significance of academic capital, derived from Bourdieu's cultural capital theory, in facilitating successful transfers. By offering ten-week paid summer research opportunities at…

The Geo-Launchpad Program is a pre-Research Experience for Undergraduates (pre-REU) providing a summer internship and professional development for two-year college (2YC) students from Colorado. The program goal was to build students' interest and capacity to engage in geoscience-focused STEM career pathways. The pre-REU helped students develop…

As statewide college promise programs continue to develop, emerging equity concerns necessitate interrogating whom programs benefit and how expense funds can be applied. Critical Policy Analysis (CPA) is used in this chapter to understand how statewide promise programs advance or hinder racial equity across eligibility and financial aid support…

Chemistry students at community colleges often experience a lack of hands-on research opportunities, which can be a significant disadvantage when they transition to four-year universities. To address this, the Summer Chemistry Research Opportunities for Community College Students (SCROCCS) was established in 2022 by graduate students at the…

The purpose of this study was to understand how Puente Project community college faculty experience and conceptualize carino in the Puente Summer Institute training context and how carino is enacted with students. In this research, I used a grounded theory approach informed by culturally relevant and carino pedagogies as conceptual frameworks to…

Background/Context: The Holistic Oasis for Parents' Education (HOPE) Program is an on-campus summer program designed to serve the whole student with a three-dimensional support model. Low-income, Black, and Hispanic parents experienced some of the most egregious effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, which reflects the demographics of one in three…

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…

Background: In fall 2020, community colleges (CCs) served nearly five million students, representing 29% of U.S. undergraduates. Despite providing unprecedented access to postsecondary education, rates of degree attainment are low. Among first-time, full-time, degree/certificate-seeking students whose first postsecondary school is a CC, only 31%…

Yakima Valley College--a two-year, Hispanic-serving institution in south-central Washington state--partnered with four-year universities, agricultural centers, businesses, and federal and state agencies to develop a streamlined undergraduate research experience in which students work closely with a faculty mentor in a science, technology,…

The proportion of underrepresented minority (URM) students graduating with Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) degrees, matriculating to graduate programs, and entering the STEM workforce continues to be significantly low. The Virginia-North Carolina Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (the VA-NC Alliance)…

Community colleges have long provided students a gateway to greater economic opportunities, primarily through two pathways: completing two years of college courses while preparing to transfer to earn a four-year degree or career training that can lead to stable, well-paying positions. Eva L. Rivera Lebrón, a professor of mathematics at…