Publications
Timing Matters: How Delaying College Enrollment Affects Earnings Trajectories
Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997, this paper compares the academic and labor market outcomes of high school graduates who delay college enrollment and those who enroll in college immediately up to 13 years after high school completion.
Math Transition Courses in Context: Preparing Students for College Success
Based on interviews with stakeholders in 11 states and other data, this brief describes the design, implementation, and effectiveness of math transition courses and identifies major trends in course development.
High School-to-College Transition Courses: A Typology of Design Choices
High schools across the country are implementing transition curricula to boost college readiness. This short publication offers an overview of course design options for educators thinking about implementing transition courses.
Understanding the Needs of Part-Time Faculty at Six Community Colleges
Using interview, focus group, and survey data, this brief explores the experiences of part-time faculty at six Achieving the Dream leader colleges working to engage adjunct faculty in student success initiatives.
Is School Out for the Summer? The Impact of Year-Round Pell Grants on Academic and Employment Outcomes of Community College Students
This paper employs a difference-in-difference approach to examine the credit, credential completion, and labor market outcomes resulting from the year-round Pell using a state administrative dataset from a community college system.
English Transition Courses in Context: Preparing Students for College Success
Based on interviews and other data, this brief describes key elements of English transition curricula in seven states and highlights ways this type of intervention may help prepare students for college.
Mathematics Pathways to Completion: Setting the Conditions for Statewide Reform in Higher Education
This report describes the Mathematics Pathways to Completion project developed by the Charles A. Dana Center and the condititions that facilitate the statewide implementation of math pathways reforms.
Student Choice in Higher Education—Reducing or Reproducing Social Inequalities?
This paper, published in Social Sciences, examines the idealizations and illusions of student choice and marketization in higher education policy in England.
Math Pathways: Expanding Options for Success in College Math
This brief, written in collaboration with the Education Commission of the States, describes three math pathways models, lays out the evidence for their effectiveness, and gives recommendations for the effective implementation of math pathways.
Credential Production by Field and Labor Market Alignment at Minority-Serving Institutions: A Descriptive Analysis
This CAPSEE working paper compares credential production patterns of minority-serving institutions (MSIs) and non-MSIs by field of study and examines the extent to which they correspond to employment industry clusters in Alabama and California.
KCTCS Enhancing Programs for IT Certification (EPIC)
This report evaluates the implementation and impacts of Enhancing Programs for IT Certification (EPIC), a program that aims to expand access to computer and medical information technology credentials at six Kentucky community colleges.
Multiple Measures Placement Using Data Analytics: An Implementation and Early Impacts Report
This report from the Center for the Analysis for Postsecondary Readiness (CAPR) examines implementation of a multiple measures placement system at seven State University of New York community colleges and presents results on first-term impacts.
Building Guided Pathways to Community College Student Success: Promising Practices and Early Evidence From Tennessee
This report describes the guided pathways reforms taking place at the 13 community colleges in the Tennessee Board of Regents, along with promising trends in first-year momentum among entering students.
Becoming College-Ready: Early Findings From a CUNY Start Evaluation
This report describes the early findings of a random assignment evaluation and implementation study of CUNY Start by CCRC, MDRC, and the City University of New York.
Toward Better College Course Placement: A Guide to Launching a Multiple Measures Assessment System
Drawing on lessons from 10 Minnesota and Wisconsin colleges that piloted multiple measures systems for placing students into developmental and college-level courses, this guide provides recommendations for other colleges interested in implementing or testing their own multiple measures systems.
Rethinking Dual Enrollment to Reach More Students
This brief published by Education Commission of the States discusses state approaches that systematically broaden dual enrollment access and provide pre-collegiate experiences to middle- and lower-achieving students.
Redesigning Advising With the Help of Technology: Early Experiences of Three Institutions
This report describes how three institutions—the University of North Carolina, Charlotte; California State University, Fresno; and Montgomery County Community College in Pennsylvania—are approaching comprehensive, technology-based advising reforms.
Strengthening Transfer Paths to a Bachelor’s Degree: Identifying Effective Two-Year to Four-Year College Partnerships
Using National Student Clearinghouse data, this paper introduces a two-stage, input-adjusted, value-added analytic framework for identifying partnerships of two- and four-year institutions that are particularly effective in enabling students to transfer and earn bachelor’s degrees.
The Impact of Occupational Licensing on Labor Market Outcomes of College-Educated Workers
This paper identifies the effects of licenses on a set of labor market outcomes for the college-educated workforce using newly available national Current Population Survey data merged with data from the U.S. Department of Labor on state-level, occupation-specific licensing requirements.
What Accounts for Gaps in Student Loan Default, and What Happens After
This Brookings Institution report uses data from the U.S. Department of Education to examine whether disparities in student loan default rates by race/ethnicity and institution sector can be explained by other factors, along with what happens after a default and whether this also varies across student subgroups.