This annual newsletter contains updates on the latest Community College Research Center (CCRC) research, new publications and details of upcoming presentations at major conferences. The feature article in this issue, "The Growing Prominence of Community Colleges," by Thomas Bailey, discusses how today's community colleges are increasingly perceived by educators, government officials, and philanthropists as a viable, low-cost means to address fundamental problems in American society. He also notes how in the years since CCRC was founded, its research on core community college functions has served both to generate and inform a renewed interest in these essential higher education institutions. He makes reference to the rising interest in community colleges while recounting some of the Center's most important work. Other sections of this newsletter include: (1) National Center for Postsecondary Research; (2) Achieving the Dream: Community Colleges Count; (3) Transforming Community Colleges to Accelerate Success for Low-Income Young Adults; (4) I-BEST: Accelerating the Transition from Basic Skills to College and a Career Pathway; (5) Student Achievement Initiative: Implications for Performance-Funding Policy; (6) Concurrent Courses Initiative: Pathways to College and Careers; (7) Employer Perceptions of Two-Year Degrees in Information Technology; (8) Higher Education Performance Funding in Multiple States; (9) Postsecondary Content Area Reading-Writing Intervention; (10) Automotive Manufacturing Technical Education Collaborative; (11) Announcements; (12) Upcoming Conference Presentations; and (13) Selected Publications.