This paper outlines how four community colleges, and a large public university, collaborated to support over 80 paraprofessionals who sought to finish their bachelor's degree and earn licensure. Funding from a statewide "Grow Your Own" initiative allowed the teacher educators at the community colleges and university to put in place…

The Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC), formerly known as the Elementary and Secondary School Civil Rights Survey, is a part of the U.S. Department of Education's (ED's) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) strategy for administering and enforcing civil rights laws in U.S. public school districts and schools, including Puerto Rico.The CRDC collects a…

Many Virginians aspiring to earn a four-year degree intentionally begin their journey at one of the 23 community colleges within the Virginia Community College System (VCCS). In concert with those aspirations, the VCCS is committed to providing its residents an affordable and accessible program of study that prepares them to transfer and earn a…

Academic developers play a key role in advancing instructor engagement in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) at their higher education institutions, but face structural and epistemological isolation. To leverage the knowledge and experience of developers leading SoTL efforts at their respective institutions, a group of academic…

Youth are natural scientists at birth, discovering and exploring their world and trying to make sense of it (Bers, 2008). A child's education is not limited to just the time they spend in the classroom. Children learn at home with their families, in public libraries, or through out-of-school-time (OST) experiences provided at community centers and…

TransferBOOST (Bachelor's Opportunity Options that are Straightforward and Transparent) is a multi-year state-level initiative developed to provide students with affordable, quality, well-supported two- to four-year pathways. Affordability matters a great deal for transfer students, but it has typically not been understood or prioritized. The IHEP…

TransferBOOST (Bachelor's Opportunity Options that are Straightforward and Transparent) is a multi-year state-level initiative developed to provide students with affordable, quality, well-supported two- to four-year pathways. On average, 43 percent of credits are lost nationwide through the transfer process. Recognizing that today's students…

TransferBOOST (Bachelor's Opportunity Options that are Straightforward and Transparent) is a multi-year state-level initiative developed to provide students with affordable, quality, well-supported two- to four-year pathways. For every 100 students who enroll in community colleges, 31 students transfer to a four-year institution. Of those, only 15…

Existing research into the creation of articulation agreements focused solely on the functional aspects of these documents, such as maximizing transfer credit. However, little is known about the experiences of faculty and administrators at the community colleges and universities who create articulation agreements and how their experiences affect…

"Collaboration for Student Transfer: A Nationwide Degree Qualifications Profile Experiment" highlights key lessons learned from AAC&U's Quality Collaboratives project. It focuses on learning outcomes assessment and faculty leadership in the context of increased rates of student mobility and transfer. The project sought to build the…

Interprofessional education (IPE) is critical in today's educational and healthcare arenas. This article describes the initial design, implementation, and evaluation of a Community College/ University IPE collaboration that enabled dental hygiene graduate students to satisfy course requirements and service learning competencies, promoted faculty…

Community colleges, which often serve a higher proportion of students from low-income backgrounds, students of color, and women, can be launching pad institutions that change the educational and economic trajectory for individuals and families, awarding credentials that can lead to better paying jobs or form the foundation for additional…

Matthew Lighthart and Creedence Spreder, librarians, describe a partnership that proved successful for the school and library in their community of Pungo, nestled in Virginia Beach's vast but sparsely populated agricultural center. This community was facing a dual challenge: their only elementary school (Creeds) was in dire need of renovation and…

America's institutions of higher education have been challenged to develop new strategies to improve the success of all students. With more and more students attending multiple institutions, improving the transfer process is key to ensuring all students succeed. AAC&U launched the Quality Collaboratives (QC) project in 2011 with support from…

Harrisonburg, Virginia, a community nestled in the fertile hills of the Shenandoah Valley, is emblematic of the demographic changes taking shape in the U.S. for some years now. The town's agricultural industry has attracted a large number of immigrant workers from Central America. In addition, Harrisonburg's refugee resettlement center has drawn…