CCRC in the News

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.

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.

First Lady Jill Biden views affordable higher education and training programs as a key to America's economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. CCRC Director Thomas Brock told The National Interest that free college policies should not be limited to community colleges and should instead make two years of college affordable for students attending community colleges or four-year institutions, up to a reasonable limit.

This U.S. News and World Report story 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 

In this Inside Higher Ed op-ed, CCRC Senior Research Associate John Fink argues that community college transfer pathways are key to improving equity in higher education and outlines four institutional roadblocks that regularly impede transfer student success. 

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. 

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. 

This EdNC story 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.

This Higher Ed Dive story describes findings from CCRC's October report that estimated the cost of implementing guided pathways. The report also includes resources for community college leaders who want to develop and sustain plans for funding the reforms. 

This Diverse: Issues in Higher Education story 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.