The State of Maryland has always prided itself on being a leader in higher education. In 2012, the Career and College Readiness and College Completion Act (CCRCCA) set an ambitious goal: that 55% of Marylanders would have at least one degree by 2025. Reaching this goal requires increasing college access and completion across a wide variety of…

Promise programs are proliferating across the United States, with wide variation in their design. Using national data on 33 Promise programs affecting single, 2-year colleges, this study examines program effects on first-time, full-time college enrollments of students by race/ethnicity and gender classification. Results suggest Promise programs…

One of the most substantial concerns surrounding remedial education at the postsecondary level is the impact that it may have on student success and completion. While Parts 1 and 2 of this series of briefs focused on providing context necessary to understand the concept and purpose of remediation and what postsecondary populations are assessed to…

There are concerns that the assignment to remedial courses itself may prove a barrier to successful outcomes by discouraging students or increasing their time to completion. As discussed in earlier reports in this series, one of the arguments supporting elimination or redesign of remedial courses is that those courses may prohibit student progress…

Community colleges play a vital role in postsecondary education, enrolling more than one in every three postsecondary students. While their importance has grown over the past 50 years, their students' success rates remain low. Consequently, community college stakeholders are searching with mounting urgency for approaches that increase students'…

This quantitative study employed a correlational design to examine the relationship between socio-ecological factors and academic success experienced by African American men who participate in African American male-based achievement programs at five Maryland community colleges. The Socio-Ecological Outcomes (SEO) model developed by Harris and Wood…

To investigate food insecurity in community college students, our research team developed a mixed methods study. For the first phase, we interviewed 16 Maryland community college administrators to determine which community colleges had food banks or food pantries. The second phase involved gathering in-depth information from 6 community college…

This document presents statistics about higher education in Maryland for 2021. The tables in this document are presented according to the following categories: (1) Students; (2) Retention, Graduation, & Transfer; (3) Degrees; (4) Faculty & Staff; (5) Revenues & Expenditures; (6) Tuition & Fees; (7) Financial Aid; (8) Private Career…

To support the long-term success of underprepared students, many community colleges are experimenting with accelerated developmental education models, which allow students to complete remediation and enroll in college-level math and English within a shorter time frame. This study examines three developmental acceleration programs, including two in…

This paper presents research that explores similarities and differences across six randomized controlled trials of learning communities in community colleges that were conducted by MDRC and the National Center for Postsecondary Research. Five of these studies track students' progress in the program semester and two follow-up semesters, and one…

This paper, based on a qualitative study, explores the transition experiences of Post-9/11 Era military veterans from active duty military service to college students for the purpose of adding to the body of knowledge about this student population. The subjects, who voluntarily offered to participate, were 15 community college student/veterans and…

In 2006, the National Center for Postsecondary Research, of which is MDRC is a partner, launched a demonstration of one-semester learning community programs at six colleges; five of these programs focused on developmental education. This is the final report from the project and includes findings from analyses that pool data across these five…

This document presents statistics about higher education in Maryland for 2020. The tables in this document are presented according to the following categories: (1) Students; (2) Retention & Graduation; (3) Degrees; (4) Faculty & Staff; (5) Revenues & Expenditures; (6) Tuition & Fees; (7) Financial Aid; (8) Private Career Schools;…

In this quasi-experimental design, I examine the impact of a political engagement program on students, looking at traditional measures of internal efficacy, as well as other areas of political engagement including levels of political knowledge, the development of political skills, and interest in media coverage of politics.

This document presents statistics about higher education in Maryland for 2020. The tables in this document are presented according to the following categories: (1) Students; (2) Retention & Graduation; (3) Degrees; (4) Faculty & Staff; (5) Revenues & Expenditures; (6) Tuition & Fees; (7) Financial Aid; (8) Private Career Schools;…