Alcohol use is widespread among college students. Previous studies have shown that stress and mental health conditions are common risk factors for college student alcohol use, while social support and self-efficacy have demonstrated a protective effect against college student alcohol use. Research has also demonstrated that alcohol use can have a…

National employment data forecasts a significant need for graduates in the STEM disciplines for middle-income American jobs. If the American labor force is to keep pace with the global economy, it is critically important that American higher education increase STEM degree production. Currently, minority populations lack access and thus opportunity…

My study seeks to explore the extent that select secondary and postsecondary indicators predict STEM student enrollment and persistence particularly for Hispanic students. Identifying postsecondary STEM success and college readiness indicators with special focus on malleable indicators that can assist educators, administrators, and policymakers in…

This case study offers reflections on a student-led collaboration between the university and its student representative body (the Students' Union) and outlines the successes and challenges of partnership to address institutional cultural change. The project was set up to improve students' experiences and raise awareness of the existence of…

As community colleges across the country implement large-scale reforms to improve student success, they need timely and actionable metrics to determine if the changes they are making in a given year or term will likely improve student outcomes in the long run. In this brief, the authors examine how well nine measures of students' progress in their…

Online student success is a concern for higher education institutions especially community colleges with open enrollment admission. This study analyzed online student success using online GPA (dependent variable) and both demographic and academic characteristics of online students (independent variables) to determine which characteristics…

Colleges across the California Community College (CCC) system have been preparing for changes to their assessment and placement processes associated with the required implementation of Assembly Bill (AB) 705. While many initiatives were already underway to increase students' completion of their education, including Guided Pathways and the Student…

In the United States, there is a broadly held presumption that the journey along the pipeline from kindergarten to early career success gradually reveals each child's innate abilities. This presumption is widespread not only in the general public, but among students themselves, who self-identify and identify each other as either academically…

This is the executive summary for the report, "Born to Win, Schooled to Lose: Why Equally Talented Students Don't Get Equal Chances to Be All They Can Be." Throughout their youth, relatively advantaged children enjoy protective and enriched environments that help ensure their success. Meanwhile, equally talented children from poor…

This report provides information on the retention, graduation, and transfer rates of first-time, full-time students entering Maryland community colleges between 1992 and 2012. The report tracks student outcomes two, three, and four years following matriculation. The Appendix includes detailed data tables containing retention, graduation, and…

MDRC hosted a recent colloquium to celebrate their 40th anniversary and the contributions of former Board Chair Robert Solow. This paper summarizes a panel presentation featuring Frank Levy, Richard J. Murnane, Cecilia E. Rouse, and Ronald F. Ferguson, who discussed current challenges in education and how MDRC's research can help address them.

This research study examined the 2006 cohort of First-Time-in-College students from all 23 community colleges in Virginia. The goal was to examine the persistence of these students to the fall 2007 semester and the success of these students in their first college-level mathematics course. The main predictor variable was whether the first…

This report provides information on the retention, graduation, and transfer rates of first-time, full-time students entering Maryland community colleges between 2000 and 2010. The report examines retention and graduation data for students within two, three, and four years after matriculation into a community college. The Appendix contains tables…

Multiple-choice tests of punctuation and usage are used throughout the United States to assess the writing skills of new community college students in order to place them in either a basic writing course or first-year composition. To determine whether using the COMPASS Writing Test (CWT) is a valid placement at a community college, student test…

From the moment students step into an Advanced Placement Program® (AP®) classroom, they notice the difference in the teacher's approach to the subject, in the attitude of their classmates, in the new way of thinking the curriculum requires. More than just a class, AP is a community of students and educators who are passionate, curious, and…