This case study investigated disciplinary literacy specific to the trades from a sociocultural perspective. Four community college faculty (diesel marine technology, mechatronics, and mathematics) participated in a disciplinary literacy learning community where they unpacked the discourse of their discipline, identified what it meant to be a…

This manuscript presents a study that was undertaken at three community college sites. The study was designed to build upon a prior study (Armstrong, Stahl, & Kantner, 2015a, 2015b, 2016) that aimed to answer the following general query: "What constitutes college-level text-readiness?" In the present study, that question was directly…

This paper presents an overall educational philosophy of working with students underprepared for college-level work, which we term "a pedagogy of preparation." We consider how instructors scaffolded instruction to foster college readiness in students who were now able to enroll in college-level work regardless of academic preparation…

The "college for all" ethos pervasive in American education, combined with open admission policies at community colleges, has allowed academically underprepared students to persist from high school to college. We ask: how do college advisors help academically underprepared students navigate decisions about their careers and upcoming…

Over half of community college students place into developmental education, resulting in significant financial costs. We extend previous research demonstrating that using placement tests to assign students into developmental courses results in frequent misplacement. We use Florida data to explore the extent to which students are misplaced into…

A significant number of students who enroll in community colleges are placed in remedial courses for which the credits do not count toward degree attainment. These remedial courses cost the same as first-year, credit-bearing college courses, and research indicates that students who enroll in these courses are less likely to finish their degree…

Ensuring equity in higher education access and success for Black and Latino Californians requires building and maintaining robust pathways from Los Angeles' high schools to its colleges and universities. In this report, the authors note that California's high schools, community colleges, and public four-year universities have increased enrollment…

This paper presents an overall educational philosophy of working with students underprepared for college-level work, which we term "a pedagogy of preparation." We consider how instructors scaffolded instruction to foster college readiness in students who were now able to enroll in college-level work regardless of academic preparation…

Most English Learners (ELs)care reclassified as English proficient well before graduating from high school based on meeting multiple district-identified proficiency standards, an important achievement on the path to college access, completion, and success in the labor market. Many former ELs also meet separate benchmarks indicating readiness for…

Over half of community college students place into developmental education, resulting in significant financial costs. We extend previous research demonstrating that using placement tests to assign students into developmental courses results in frequent misplacement. We use Florida data to explore the extent to which students are misplaced into…

Community college students often are unaware of the stakes involved in their performance on placement exams, used to sort the students into their first math and English courses. In our randomized experiment of approximately 13,000 newly admitted community college students, we test whether informing students, via a supplemental notification letter,…

Since 1998, the Iowa Department of Education's Division of Community Colleges and Workforce Preparation (division) has compiled and published "The Annual Condition of Iowa's Community Colleges," commonly known as the "Condition Report." The intent of this report is to provide clear, objective data about Iowa's community…

Employment within STEM fields has been escalating at a greater rate than employment in other fields (National Science Foundation, 2010). Unfortunately, the number of college students moving into STEM fields of study are substantially low (Lowell & Regets, 2006). The first two years of STEM education for many students take place at the…

Dual admission programs offer students who are not quite ready for enrollment at a four-year university joint admission to the university and a partner community college. After completing program requirements, students are automatically admitted to the university. We examine the experience of students offered dual admission to an urban,…

Developmental interventions for reading and writing often take place at community colleges during the winter or summer. These brief, intersession workshops are examples of compressed acceleration, as they give students the opportunity to exit developmental coursework and enroll in credit bearing courses the following semester. As college readiness…