Late registration is a common practice in community colleges, but the evidence-based argument for the presumed deleterious effects of late registration on student success is weaker than is commonly believed, and there has been no published research on how success rates may differ for late registrants in online and on-campus classes, and for…

As a partner with the City University of New York (CUNY) on the Transfer Opportunity Project, MDRC's Center for Applied Behavioral Science (CABS) team used behavioral mapping to help identify the malleable factors (that is, the factors subject to change) that impede student transfer. MDRC and CUNY researchers conducted nearly 50 interviews and…

State support of community colleges has been reduced in recent years and is not expected to recover to previous levels, even though costs continue to rise. While many colleges have increased tuition in response to this situation, students cannot afford endless increases in tuition. While predicting the future is difficult, it is likely that…

Distance education is now a core delivery method for higher education, yet it is unclear whether shifts in instructional modality are leading to positive outcomes. This study reviewed outcome data for undergraduate science and mathematics courses taught in two or more modalities (classroom, hybrid, or online) at a public two-year degree-granting…

Based on a recent survey, this issue of "DataPoints" finds that work, expenses and family issues are the top three challenges to success cited by community college students. A breakdown of those categories shows the specific hurdles.

In 2015, Elgin Community College's Student Success Infrastructure used the book "Influencer: The New Science of Leading Change" (2013) by Joseph Grenny, Kerry Patterson, David Maxfield, Ron McMillan, and Al Switzler to help frame conversations about improving student success. One of the book's main concepts is using data to identify and…

This report provides an analysis of barriers experienced by first-generation students attempting to enroll in a two-year college. This multi-strand, mixed methods action research used both quantitative correlation and qualitative semi-structured interviews to explore the interaction between first-generation students and the two-year college. The…

This report provides an analysis of barriers experienced by first-generation students attempting to enroll in a two-year college. This multi-strand, mixed methods action research used both quantitative correlation and qualitative semi-structured interviews to explore the interaction between first-generation students and the two-year college. The…

This report provides an analysis of barriers experienced by first-generation students attempting to enroll in a two-year college. This multi-strand, mixed methods action research used both quantitative correlation and qualitative semi-structured interviews to explore the interaction between first-generation students and the two-year college. The…

This report provides an analysis of barriers experienced by first-generation students attempting to enroll in a two-year college. This multi-strand, mixed methods action research used both quantitative correlation and qualitative semi-structured interviews to explore the interaction between first-generation students and the two-year college. The…

This report provides an analysis of barriers experienced by first-generation students attempting to enroll in a two-year college. This multi-strand, mixed methods action research used both quantitative correlation and qualitative semi-structured interviews to explore the interaction between first-generation students and the two-year college. The…

This report provides an analysis of barriers experienced by first-generation students attempting to enroll in a two-year college. This multi-strand, mixed methods action research used both quantitative correlation and qualitative semi-structured interviews to explore the interaction between first-generation students and the two-year college. The…

In California, the combination of budget cuts and high unemployment from the Great Recession has resulted in "overcrowded" conditions, with more students attempting to enroll in fewer available classes. State-level policy recommendations have focused on altering registration priorities to mitigate the impact of overcrowding, but it is…

Conventional wisdom suggests attending the first day of class matters with regard to student course completion and final course grade. However, relatively little quantitative research exists on the effects of attending or not attending the first day of class. Qualitative research on student perceptions of the value and importance of the first day…

Students who register for classes late have always been a challenge for community colleges. The student who registers late creates a burden on the enrollment staff, and they create academic achievement challenges for themselves as well. Late class registration has been linked to lower overall GPA's, and to overall lower academic performance. This…