RESEARCH OVERVIEW

The Community College Research Center (CCRC) is devoted to conducting both quantitative and qualitative research on community colleges and higher education in general, and to the development of practice and policy that expands access to higher education and promotes success for all students. The Center has carried out research projects involving quantitative analysis of student access and completion as well as case studies and institutional analyses of numerous community college activities including student services, developmental education and academic preparation, high school to college transition programs, distance education, the effects of the growing emphasis on accountability, and the question of how reform activities can become institutionalized and brought to scale in the colleges.  

CCRC has developed expert knowledge in the functions of community colleges, the experience of community college students, and the relationships among the colleges and other institutions, including businesses, high schools, four-year colleges, local and state governments, and the federal government. In total, CCRC researchers have conducted research at over 60 community colleges across the country.  

Our current and recently completed research projects include the following:

(Categorized by Area of Research)

Developmental Education

•

Content-area reading-writing intervention study. This CCRC study tests the potential efficacy of a self-directed instructional intervention designed to help community college developmental education students prepare for the reading and writing demands of courses in science and other areas. Lead contact: Dolores Perin. (Funded by the U.S. Department of Education.)

•

Connecticut community colleges student placement study. CCRC recently helped the Connecticut Community College System (CCCS) study the impact of testing and placement policies on the outcomes of underprepared students. Lead contact: Davis Jenkins. (Funded by CCCS and Lumina Foundation.)

Dual Enrollment / Transition to College

•

Career and Technical Education (CTE) dual enrollment study. This recently completed CCRC study used data from two states to investigate the impact of dual enrollment on CTE student outcomes. Lead contacts: Melinda Mechur Karp and Katherine L. Hughes. (Funded by the U.S. Department of Education.)

•

Evaluation of the Concurrent Courses initiative. This study examines the implementation of and outcomes from the Concurrent Courses Initiative, in which eight California secondary-postsecondary partnerships are implementing supportive, career-focused dual enrollment pathways. Lead contacts: Katherine L. Hughes and Melinda Mechur Karp. (Funded by James Irvine Foundation and the U.S. Department of Education.)

Workforce Development

•

Noncredit community college workforce education. The final report of this recently completed CCRC study discusses the landscape of noncredit workforce education and its relationship to credit occupational programs in terms of state policy and community college practice across all 50 states. Lead contact: Michelle Van Noy and James Jacobs. (Funded by Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.)

•

IT hiring practices study. CCRC is partnering with the National Workforce Center for Emerging Technologies (NWCET) at Bellevue Community College on a three-year project to examine the hiring process for entry-level IT jobs and the role of community college IT programs. Lead contacts: Michelle Van Noy and James Jacobs. (Funded by the National Science Foundation.)

•

Advanced Technological Education (ATE) study. The final report of this CCRC study discusses the impact of NSF-funded ATE Regional Centers in improving the delivery of technical education at community colleges and in supporting state and local workforce development efforts. Lead contacts: Monica Reid and James Jacobs. (Funded by the National Science Foundation)

•

Automotive Manufacturing Technical Education Collaborative (AMTEC) study. CCRC is studying how effectively this NSF-funded consortium of fifteen community colleges in seven states responds to the technical skills needs of participating automotive and supply companies. Lead contact: Katherine L. Hughes. (Funded by the Kentucky Community and Technical College System.)

Data-Driven Reform / Improving Student Outcomes / Institutional Change / State Policy Change

•

Transforming Community Colleges to Accelerate Postsecondary Success for Low-Income Young Adults. This project will produce a set of concrete recommendations for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s Postsecondary Student Success initiative by early 2012 through a comprehensive assessment of promising strategies for accelerating community college student success and improving institutional productivity. Our assessment will synthesize knowledge gained from past research, ongoing studies by other organizations, and a new set of studies strategically chosen to fill gaps in the knowledge base. The new studies will examine seven types of strategies based on promising but largely untested ideas about what works to increase completion rates for low-income young adults in community colleges; CCRC will examine these strategies in terms of their impact on student success, their cost-effectiveness, and their feasibility. The research team will also identify program characteristics and organizational practices that support effective implementation of each strategy on a large scale. Lead contacts: Thomas Bailey, Davis Jenkins, and Shanna Smith Jaggars. (Funded by The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.)

•

Achieving the Dream: Community Colleges Count.  CCRC plays multiple roles in supporting, studying, and evaluating this fifteen-state, multi-year initiative designed to improve the outcomes of community college students, especially those facing the greatest barriers to success. Lead contacts: Thomas Bailey and Davis Jenkins. (Funded by Lumina Foundation and other funders.)

•

Bridges to Opportunity initiative. CCRC is examining the effectiveness of this six-state, multi-year initiative that seeks to improve the outcomes of disadvantaged adults attending community colleges. Lead contacts: Thomas Bailey and Katherine L. Hughes. (Funded by the Ford Foundation.)

•

Evaluation of the Washington Sate Student Achievement Initiative. CCRC is conducting a qualitative review of a new policy called the Student Achievement Initiative during 2007-08, the first year of its implementation. Launched by the Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges (SBCTC), the initiative rewards colleges financially for increasing the rate at which students attain key achievement points, such as earning college credits. Lead contact: Davis Jenkins. (Funded by the Washington SBCTC and Lumina Foundation.)

•

Accountability: Performance funding study. This new study will investigate which design features, strategies for policy enactment and implementation, and socio-political circumstances make states more likely to adopt and retain performance funding systems for higher education and to make changes in funding levels and formulas for those systems. Lead contact: Kevin Dougherty. (Funded by Lumina Foundation.)

•

Student persistence in community colleges study. This recently completed CCRC study investigates the experiences of students in two urban community colleges to better understand how student services, Student Success courses, and other institutional features are used by students and to help determine what institutional practices are helpful in keeping struggling students enrolled in college. Lead contact: Melinda Mechur Karp. (Funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.)

CCRC has extensive contacts and relationships within the colleges through its advisory board of college presidents and its relationships with organizations such as the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC), the League for Innovation in the Community College, the National Council on Workforce Education (NCWE), the Council for the Study of Community Colleges (CSCC), and the National Council for Continuing Education and Training (NCCET) among others.  These connections and experiences situate CCRC well for identifying key issues to explore; collecting data with support and involvement from community college personnel; presenting research findings linked to both the context of the local institutions studied and the broader research and policy debate; widely disseminating research findings; and connecting research to practice by engaging the community in the research and the sharing of results. CCRC has also expanded its research agenda to include forms of technical assistance as another way of relating research to practice.

CCRC was established in 1996 by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, and is housed at the Institute on Education and the Economy (IEE) at Teachers College, Columbia University.  The continued generosity of the Sloan Foundation and support from other foundations and federal agencies makes the work of CCRC possible.