Introduction to the CCRC Assessment of Evidence Series

Introduction to the CCRC Assessment of Evidence Series

Policymakers and private foundations have set ambitious goals for improving the rate at which Americans earn college credentials, a particular challenge for community colleges, which disproportionately serve low-income, first-generation, and academically underprepared students.

The goal of the CCRC Assessment of Evidence Series is to help community colleges identify concrete strategies that have the potential to improve student success on a scale needed to meet national goals for increased postsecondary attainment.

Across the first year of a major grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and with supplemental funding from Lumina Foundation for Education, CCRC has gathered and synthesized a large body of research evidence on strategies that may improve the success of community college students.

This introductory paper summarizes findings from the eight working papers in the series and makes four broad recommendations based on these findings.