The June 18, 2007 edition of The Chronicle of Higher Education features findings from a recent CCRC study on the effectiveness of “student success” courses at Florida community colleges. The article corresponds with the release of "Do Student Success Courses Actually Help Community College Students Succeed? (CCRC Brief No. 36)."

In the article, reporter Elyse Ashburn writes:

Community-college students who take courses designed solely to improve their academic and planning skills are not only more likely to stay in college than other students, but, five years later, are more likely to have earned a degree or transferred to a four-year institution, according to a new report.

"One course having that big of an effect over five years is pretty noteworthy," said Davis Jenkins, who worked on the report as a senior research associate at the Community College Research Center, at Columbia University's Teachers College.

The report, "Do Student-Success Courses Actually Help Community College Students Succeed?," is based on a study of about 37,000 students who were enrolled at Florida's 28 public community colleges. It is scheduled to be released today and posted on the research center's Web site…

--Subscribers to The Chronicle of Higher Education can read the article in its entirety at http://chronicle.com/daily/2007/06/2007061803n.htm?=attn

--Download CCRC Brief No. 36 at http://ccrc.tc.columbia.edu/Publication.asp?UID=531