Publications
Scaling ASAP: How Expanding a Successful Program Supported Broader Institutional Change at Bronx Community College
This brief examines the relationship between BCC’s ASAP expansion and institutional change to illuminate how scaling a discrete reform can impact other areas of the college and change the way an institution serves all students.
A Changing Paradigm in High School Mathematics
This paper examines challenges embedded within the prevailing high school mathematics course sequence, which prioritizes algebra, and explores innovations that aim to provide curricula and pedagogy more aligned with students’ academic and career goals.
Improving Developmental and College-Level Mathematics: Prominent Reforms and the Need to Address Equity
This paper examines the equity implications of existing reforms to developmental math and explores the potential of more targeted reforms to address factors such as stereotype threat, math anxiety, instructor bias, and tracking.
Funding Guided Pathways: A Guide for Community College Leaders
Drawing on research at six institutions, this guide is intended to help community college leaders understand the costs involved in implementing guided pathways reforms and develop plans for funding and sustaining them.
The Economics of Guided Pathways: Cost, Funding, and Value
Drawing on data from 12 community colleges, this paper analyzes the resources required to implement guided pathways reforms and examines their feasibility and affordability, as well as their value for students.
Who Should Take College-Level Courses? Impact Findings From an Evaluation of a Multiple Measures Assessment Strategy
This report describes impact findings from an evaluation of multiple measures assessment and placement at seven State University of New York (SUNY) community colleges.
Lessons Learned From Advising Redesigns at Three Colleges
This report presents findings on the implementation of technology-mediated advising reforms at California State University at Fresno, Montgomery County Community College, and the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.
High School Dual Enrollment in Florida: Effects on College Outcomes by Race/Ethnicity and Course Modality
Using data on two cohorts of Florida students who started public high school in 2007 and 2012, this report analyzes dual enrollment course-taking and outcomes by racial/ethnic group (Black, Hispanic, White) and course modality (face-to-face on-college-campus, face-to-face off-campus, and online).
The Dual Enrollment Playbook: A Guide to Equitable Acceleration for Students
Based on research conducted in three states, this report identifies five principles that undergird the strategies and practices of equitable dual enrollment partnerships between high schools and colleges.
Major Decision: The Impact of Major Switching on Academic Outcomes in Community Colleges
Using state administrative data and propensity score matching, this study examines the characteristics and academic outcomes of community college students who switch majors.
Labor Market Trajectories for Community College Graduates: New Evidence Spanning the Great Recession
This paper examines returns to terminal associate degrees and certificates up to 11 years after students initially entered a community college in Ohio. The authors use an individual fixed-effects approach that controls for students’ pre-enrollment earnings and allows the returns to credential completion to vary over time.
Do Differential Grading Standards Across Fields Matter for Major Choice? Evidence From a Policy Change in Florida
Using administrative data from Florida, this article examines the effect of changing the grading scale from whole-letter grades to plus/minus grades on STEM major choice.
How Did Six Community Colleges Design Supports for Part-Time Faculty? A Report on Achieving the Dream's Engaging Adjuncts Project
This report describes findings from a study of a two-year initiative led by Achieving the Dream to develop and implement strategies to support adjunct faculty in improving student outcomes.
Unpacking Program Enrollments and Completions With Equity in Mind
This guide presents a set of example data analyses colleges can replicate to examine whether underserved groups of students are equitably represented in programs that lead to higher opportunity outcomes for employment and/or baccalaureate transfer.
What Really Works in Student Success?
Based on a forthcoming book chapter, this paper discusses how the development of an overall framing vision for student success, the implementation of evidence-based practices, and the establishment of a culture that is conducive to innovation can help colleges improve student outcomes.
How Relationships Support and Inform the Transition to Community College
Drawing on interviews with 96 first-year community college students, this journal article compares the roles of students' on- and off-campus relationships in providing information and support.
How Can We Improve Teaching in Higher Education? Learning From CUNY Start
This paper describes the professional development model used in CUNY Start, a program developed at the City University of New York to support entering students identified as academically underprepared in literacy and mathematics.
Exploring the State of the Humanities in Community Colleges
This paper discusses what is known about humanities coursework in community colleges, outlines key challenges facing humanities education in this sector, and considers approaches to addressing these challenges.
Redesigning Community College Student Onboarding Through Guided Pathways
This practitioner packet provides guidance to colleges seeking to redesign their new student onboarding practices to better help students explore, choose, and plan a program of study best suited to their interests and aspirations.
A Broken “Promise”? How College Promise Programs Can Impact High-Achieving, Middle-Income Students
This report builds off previous research on American Honors to look at the unintended consequences of college promise programs for the economic mobility of high-achieving, low-income students.