Teaching-focused professional development (PD) programs offered at institutions of higher education (IHEs) are uniquely positioned to be levers of change that improve the quality of undergraduate science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education in ways that broaden participation in STEM education, workforce development, and…

Mexican American educational history has become a vibrant field of study since the late 1980s. In the last seven years, however, it is notable that this research has inspired community-based efforts to preserve and publicly commemorate challenges to unequal education. In this commentary, we discuss the archival recovery of the "Francisco…

Colorado's Community College System's Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College Career Training (TAACCCT) grant facilitated and supported the state's redesign of developmental education (DE) to increase rates of student retention and completion across fifteen community colleges. This chapter presents observations about the process of…

Three schools spent time learning together in a Learning Forward Colorado Summer Institute focused on Learning Forward's book "Becoming a Learning System" (Hirsh et al., 2018). The book and the sessions with co-author Frederick Brown provided the blueprints and tools for building-based educational leaders to navigate a process for…

As higher education institutions across Colorado continue to address the impact of COVID19 on enrollment and identify practices that promote student success and institutional sustainability, many are focusing their attention on the enrollment of adult learners. The Colorado Department of Higher Education (CDHE) has actively engaged in building…

On November 13, the Colorado Children's Campaign and the Colorado Education Initiative cohosted a three-hour virtual event, convening almost 200 educators, district administrators, education advocates and policymakers to discuss the state of reopening schools during the COVID-19 pandemic. Across two virtual panels featuring system leaders from…

Landon Mascareñaz and Doannie Tran propose that, even as events of this decade have exposed stress points in existing top-down, closed systems within education and other public institutions, they have also created prime opportunities to rethink and redesign those systems in ways that encourage civic participation and invigorate local democracy. In…

Six years ago, Front Range Community College President Andy Dorsey sat down with his team and looked at the college's completion and graduation rates. Like a lot of colleges, they were in for a shock. It is not that they had expected to see 80 percent completion rates. But they certainly were not expecting to see only 43 percent of their students…

As additional states embark on the process of implementing four-year degrees at community colleges, they can learn from others' experience for help navigating the legislative, regulatory, and program approval processes. This brief uses examples from states currently offering bachelor's degrees at their community colleges to provide guidance for…

On February 18-19, 2016, representatives of 10 states participating in the Credit When It's Due (CWID) initiative attended a convening held at the University of Utah. The meeting was led by the CWID Research Team and sponsored by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and The Kresge Foundation, on behalf of the CWID Funders Collaborative. The…

In 2012, the Credit When It's Due (CWID) initiative was launched by the Funders Collaborative to "encourage partnerships of community colleges and universities to significantly expand programs that award associate degrees to transfer students when the student completes the requirements for the associate degree while pursuing a bachelor's…

This is the second brief in a series on strategies for Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College Career Training (TAACCCT) grantees and other educators. The Department of Labor's Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College Career Training (TAACCCT) program is providing nearly $2 billion in funds to build the capacity of the nation's…

As originally conceptualized, Early Colleges were small schools focused purposefully on college readiness for all students. Frequently located on college campuses, Early Colleges targeted students who might face challenges in postsecondary education, including students who were the first in their family to go to college, economically disadvantaged…

In November 2014, the Colorado Community College System (CCCS) received a round three Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College Career Training (TAACCCT) grant from the United States Department of Labor. This grant, from the Colorado Helps Advanced Manufacturing Program (CHAMP), had two primary goals. The first was to facilitate the redesign…

The persistent failure of public schooling in low-income communities constitutes one of our nation's most pressing civil rights and social justice issues. Many school reformers recognize that poverty, racism, and a lack of power held by these communities undermine children's education and development, but few know what to do about it. "A…