2022–2024
Biennial Report

In response to community college enrollment declines and learning setbacks caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Institute of Education Sciences created the Accelerating Recovery in Community Colleges (ARCC) Research Network. It includes six research teams that are working with state and local community college systems across the country to evaluate a broad range of recovery strategies, with a focus on groups most affected by the pandemic at community colleges—including students of color, low-income students, first-generation students, and adult students. CCRC is leading a team that is examining the implementation and effects of Virginia’s Get a Job, Get a Skill, and Get Ahead (G3) initiative. Working with the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center and the Wheelhouse Center at UC Davis to lead the ARCC Network, CCRC is also convening Network members and leading national data collection on community college recovery. The goal of the Network is to provide timely and actionable information that colleges can use to bring students back to the classroom, accelerate their academic progress, and lay a foundation for broader improvements in community college education.

In the 2015 book Redesigning America’s Community Colleges, CCRC researchers argued that community colleges must fundamentally redesign their programs and support services to create clearer, more educationally coherent pathways to credentials with strong labor-market value. Guided pathways gives colleges a framework for thinking about how to ensure that every student earns a certificate or degree in a reasonable amount of time and is well prepared to take their next step, whether taking a good job or transferring to a four-year college or university. Since the book’s publication, CCRC has released guidance, tools, and case studies to show college decision-makers what guided pathways looks like in practice. For example, because so many students drop out early on, CCRC researchers developed the Ask-Connect-Inspire-Plan framework to help colleges improve their student onboarding practices. With hundreds of colleges working on guided pathways reforms, CCRC is studying their efforts to reach down into high schools to help dual enrollment students connect to programs at the college and up to four-year colleges to promote transfer, while also urging colleges to create better connections to the workforce.

With nine million students—41% of undergraduates—enrolling in them each year, community colleges serve as an important low-cost gateway to higher education in the U.S. But underfunding complicates the already difficult challenge of serving the complex mix of older, traditional-age, and dual enrollment high school students in workforce, adult basic education, and transfer programs. CCRC is investigating state and local funding models that drive or reduce inequities in student access and outcomes and increase the odds of student success. Through the ARCC Network, CCRC is also examining how community colleges used over $25 billion in federal emergency relief funding to address student and institutional needs, with an eye toward lessons for future funding. Adequate and equitable funding for community colleges is the bedrock of all reforms—essential to helping community colleges deliver high-quality instruction and services and drive economic opportunity for their students.