Upcoming Presentations

League for Innovation in the Community College Annual Conference

How Can Community Colleges Help Expand and Diversify the Advanced Technology Workforce?

March 17, 10:45–11:45 AM PT

Expanding private and public investment in automation, AI, and other advanced technologies is increasing demand across industries for talent to fill well-paying technician jobs in healthcare, information technology, engineering technology, advanced manufacturing, biotechnology, and other fields. To meet this demand, community colleges need to dramatically increase and diversify graduates from programs in these fields. They also need to rethink how they design, teach, deliver, and recruit for these programs. The presenter will draw on ongoing CCRC research to frame a discussion of how community colleges can meet this opportunity to expand pathways to good jobs for students and talent pipelines for employers and their communities.

Presenters

Davis Jenkins, Senior Research Scholar, CCRC

Mordecai Brownlee, President, Community College of Aurora

Facilitating Positive Student Help-Seeking Experiences in Online Courses

March 18, 11:30 AM–12:30 PM PT

In this session, participants will learn of the many struggles college students face when asking for help, particularly in courses for science, technology, education, and mathematics (STEM). Research has found that avoidance of help-seeking can result from experiences of discrimination and marginalization, but studies show college students who seek help have better outcomes and experiences (Fong et al., 2023). The Postsecondary Teaching with Technology Collaborative (The Collaborative) is a research and capacity-building center aiming to study and improve how faculty build students’ self-directed learning skills and increase success in online STEM courses. To understand how faculty can foster help-seeking, The Collaborative’s researchers interviewed 25 students from online STEM courses in 4 community colleges. Drawing from 11 participants, the Collaboratives data supports two main themes which demonstrate instructor accessibility and responsiveness facilitate help seeking and close faculty-student relationships enable a stronger sense of belonging for students in an online setting. Students also reported more comfort in seeking help when instructors demonstrated transparency. In this session, presenters will discuss these findings and gather participants’ views on the best ways to facilitate transparent communication and develop skills around compassionate interaction with marginalized students.

Presenters

Keena Walters, Research Associate, SRI Education

Jenivee Gastelum, Research Assistant, CCRC

Louise Yarnall, Senior Researcher, SRI Education

ACTE’s National Policy Seminar 2024: Making the Case for CTE

2024 CTE Research Network Convening: Expanding the Evidence Base for Career and Technical Education

March 20, 9:00 AM–3:15 PM ET

CCRC Director Thomas Brock will deliver opening remarks at the convening.

Presenters

Thomas Brock, Director, CCRC

Lessons from Guided Pathways: Removing Obstacles and Clarifying Pathways in the Post-Pandemic Recovery

March 27, 1:00–2:00 PM ET

In this webinar, part of a series organized by the Education & Employment Research Center at Rutgers University, Tom Brock, the director of CCRC, will participate in a discussion of the cumulative research findings on guided pathways based on a new CCRC issue brief. He will be joined by Mike Gorman, president of Salem County Community College, who will discuss the implications of these findings for colleges.

Presenters

Thomas Brock, Director, CCRC

Mike Gorman, President, Salem County Community College

2024 AACC Annual Convention

April 5–9, 2024
Louisville, KY

Building a Sustainable Future: The Role of Community Colleges in Combatting Climate Change and Preparing Students for the Green Economy (Pre-Conference Convening)

April 6, 9:30 AM–4:00 PM ET

CCRC is calling on community colleges working to promote ecological sustainability, combat climate change, and prepare students for jobs in the green economy to join us for a pre-conference convening at the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) conference. The convening is an opportunity for you to help us develop a new research agenda to support the transition to a green workforce.

Presenters

Maggie P. Fay, Senior Research Associate, CCRC

Rethinking High School Dual Credit to Advance Student Success and Build Back College Enrollment

April 7, 10:00–10:45 AM ET

Enrollment of high school students taking community college dual credit courses has soared in recent years, even as the number of recent high school graduates matriculating at community colleges has declined. This session will feature a conversation with leaders of two colleges that have expanded enrollment by recent high school graduates by taking a more strategic approach to their dual credit offerings and students. Moderating the session will be a researcher from CCRC, which has recently published research on how colleges can rethink dual credit as a more effective and equitable onramp to community college degree programs for students after high school.

Presenters

Davis Jenkins, Senior Research Scholar, CCRC

Greg Hodges, President, Patrick & Henry Community College

Lynda Villanueva, President, Lee College

Tracking Transfer: Community College and Four-Year Institutional Effectiveness in Broadening Bachelor’s Degree Attainment

April 7, 3:30–4:15 PM ET

For the first time, national and state-level transfer outcomes are publicly available disaggregated by race, ethnicity, and income. Leaders from CCRC and Aspen will share the latest data from the National Student Clearinghouse. See how the nation and your state fare in serving transfer students, engage with interactive data dashboards, and learn more about possible strategies for improving transfer outcomes for all students.

Presenters

Davis Jenkins, Senior Research Scholar, CCRC

Josh Wyner, Vice President, Aspen Institute; Founder and Executive Director, College Excellence Program

The Role of Community Colleges in the Green Jobs Revolution

April 7, 3:30–4:15 PM ET

In light of an empowering new focus on how community colleges are experiencing and reacting to the pressures of climate change, join our session to hear from a panel of experts on sustainable workforce development in community colleges. Learn strategies for contributing to climate resilience and prepare your students & communities for the transition to the green economy.

Presenters

Maggie P. Fay, Senior Research Associate, CCRC

Amy Seeboth-Wilson, Director of Grants, Southwest Wisconsin Technical College

Ashley Wojtalewicz, Energy Coordinator/Sustainable Energy Management Instructor, Southwest Wisconsin Technical College

Andrea Rodriguez- Blanco, Career Center Director, West Los Angeles College

Jo Tavares-Reager, Director, Center for Climate Change Education, West Los Angeles College

AACRAO Annual Meeting

April 7–10, 2024
Columbus, OH

Measuring Up: Using New Institutional Performance Metrics to Improve Bachelor's Outcomes for Community College Transfer Students

April 9, 9:00–10:15 AM ET

The first major update to the Tracking Transfer report in eight years, released in February, introduced first-of-its-kind data on outcomes for community college transfer students at four-year institutions. Learn how you can use these metrics to benchmark your institution’s effectiveness, and to set clear goals for eliminating disparities and expanding transfer opportunity for all students who start at a community college with the dream of earning a bachelor’s degree.

Presenters

Davis Jenkins, Senior Research Scholar, CCRC

Doug Shapiro, VP, Research and Executive Director, Research Center, National Student Clearinghouse Research Center

Josh Wyner, VP, The Aspen Institute; Founder and Executive Director, College Excellence Program

2024 AERA Annual Meeting

April 11–14, 2024
Philadelphia, PA

Pandemic Recovery Efforts in Practice: Community Colleges’ Use of Higher Education Emergency Relief Funds

Time TBA
Philadelphia Convention Center

This symposium session presents a comprehensive review of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on community colleges and their subsequent recovery efforts. Presenters will shed light on specific recovery efforts including the use of Higher Education Emergency Relief (HEER) Funds at community colleges, responses to sweeping declines in community college enrollment, and impacts on economic opportunities and transfer pathways that community college students rely on to more affordably obtain bachelor's degrees. Through an interactive panel discussion, participants will have the opportunity to engage in discussion about pandemic recovery efforts and needs, leaving with valuable insights into ways to address racial/ethnic disparities at community colleges and steps to guide policymakers and practitioners in crafting effective strategies for equitable student success.

Presenters

Tia Monahan, Senior Research Assistant and PEAR Fellow, CCRC

Hollie Daniels, Research Associate, CCRC

Understanding the Support Networks of First-Generation College Student

First-generation college students comprise more than one-third of undergraduates in the US but succeed at lower rates compared with their peers. Utilizing a mixed-methods approach, we found that the first-generation identity is not a monolith and that these students have a variety of relationships and knowledge that moderate their campus experience. The presenters will aim to provide insight into first-generation college student identities and suggest how colleges can improve supports for first-generation students and better direct limited resources.

Presenters

TBA

CSCC 2024 Conference

Access to Success: Insights and Strategies in Implementing Multiple Measures Assessment

Time TBA

CAPR, with support from Ascendium Education Group, are assisting colleges and states nationwide in the adoption and implementation of MMA practices that place more students, and allow more students to be successful, in college-level courses. This presentation summarizes insights derived from this work, focusing on the adoption of multiple measures assessment in open-access colleges in Arkansas and Texas. During the presentation, researchers will present cost analysis findings, explore supporting factors for implementation, and delve into specific strategies used by colleges to tackle common implementation challenges.

Presenters

Elizabeth Kopko, Senior Research Associate, CCRC

Dan Cullinan, Senior Associate, MDRC

Exploring Corequisite Implementation in the CUNY System

Time TBA

This presentation provides insights into the implementation of corequisite models in English and math courses across seven CUNY colleges, and discusses the challenges and opportunities faced by faculty, staff and administrators while scaling corequisite courses. Findings and implications about the variability in corequisite approaches and staff experiences are explored.

Presenters

Maggie P. Fay, Senior Research Associate, CCRC

Farzana Matin, Research Assistant, CCRC

Unpacking the Transfer Playbook: How Higher Education Institutions Can Improve Transfer Outcomes

Ontario Council on Articulation and Transfer (ONCAT) Student Pathways in Higher Education Conference
May 02, 2017
Toronto, Ontario, Canada

While the majority of community college students in the United States report a goal of attaining at least a bachelor’s degree, fewer than one in five students do so within six years of community college entry. Drawing on National Student Clearinghouse (NSC) data tracking an entering community college cohort nationally, this session highlighted the variation that exists in institutional and statewide effectiveness in helping students to transfer and earn bachelor's degrees and surfaced some of the structural barriers these students encounter.

The Transfer Playbook, published in May 2016, documents the practices of pairs of sending and receiving institutions identified via NSC data as very successful in helping students to transfer and earn bachelor's degrees. Based on visits to more than a dozen of these highly effective institutions, findings from the Transfer Playbook were discussed.

Associated Papers

Participants

Senior Research Associate and Program Lead
Community College Research Center

Associated Project(s)