CCRC in the News
Don’t Forget Equity When Reforming Postsecondary Math
This Just Equations blog post summarizes CCRC's November 2020 working paper on improving developmental and college-level mathematics. Researchers found that broad-based reforms have been insufficient in eliminating inequities in developmental placement and completion between underserved students and their more advantaged peers.
How to Earn College Credit Through Dual Enrollment
U.S. News and World Report describes how dual enrollment programs operate and what opportunities they may offer to high school students. The cost of these programs for students tends to vary by high school, CCRC Senior Research Scholar Elisabeth Barnett said.
PolitiFact: Democrats Say 40% of People With College Debt Didn't Get Degrees
CCRC Senior Research Scholar Judith Scott-Clayton weighed in on the truthfulness of Democrats' claim that almost 40% of people with college debt never finished a degree. There's not a ton of information on this, but Scott-Clayton told PolitiFact that an analysis of NCES data supports the statement.
The New College Days: Reflecting on the First Semester of the 2020-2021 Academic Year
CCRC Director Tom Brock spoke to Connecticut Public Radio about what the state's decision to merge its 12 community colleges into one system means for faculty, students, and staff. He also described how the pandemic has affected community colleges across the country thus far.
‘It’s Just Too Much’: Why Students Are Abandoning Community Colleges in Droves
CCRC Senior Research Scholar Davis Jenkins told The Hechinger Report that, rather than creating a whole new set of problems for community colleges, the COVID-19 pandemic has simply accelerated and exacerbated the issues the sector was facing before the crisis began.
Getting More Students to and Through College: The Story of Developmental Education Reform in North Carolina
EdNC details the history of developmental education in North Carolina, including the state's use of corequisite remediation and multiple measures assessment and placement. CCRC Senior Research Scholar Nikki Edgecombe offered her perspective on the data that encouraged leaders in North Carolina to take up developmental education reform. Edgecombe also contributed to EdNC's stories on corequisite remediation and the future of developmental education in the Tar Heel State.
How Are Community Colleges Paying for Guided Pathways?
Higher Ed Dive describes findings from CCRC's report estimating the cost of implementing guided pathways. A companion report includes resources for community college leaders who want to develop and sustain plans for funding the reforms.
How Two-Year Colleges Can Mitigate Student Enrollment Declines
Diverse: Issues in Higher Education contextualizes the drop in community college enrollment in the midst of the pandemic. CCRC Director Thomas Brock explains why this loss of learners matters not only for institutions but also for individual students and families.
Low-Income Community College Students Most Likely to Cancel Plans
In a November blog post, CCRC Research Affiliate Clive Belfield and CCRC Director Thomas Brock used census data to examine why students decided not to enroll in community colleges this fall. Inside Higher Ed explains what they found.
How the Pandemic Worsened—and Highlighted—Community Colleges’ Chronic Challenges
This Chronicle of Higher Education story contextualizes community colleges' pandemic enrollment woes. Many institutions were surprised to see enrollment drop so sharply this fall because they have historically struggled to track their students, CCRC Senior Research Scholar Davis Jenkins said.
