Catastrophe or Catalyst? Reflections on COVID’s Impact on Community Colleges
This essay discusses how students and community colleges responded to the pandemic and what their experiences reveal about inequities in higher education.
Increasing Gatekeeper Course Completion: Three-Semester Findings From an Experimental Study of Multiple Measures Assessment and Placement
This report describes findings from a random assignment study examining the implementation, cost, and efficacy of multiple measures assessments for placing students into college-level or developmental courses.
Measuring STEM Momentum: Early Indicators of STEM Transfer Success for Community College Students
Drawing on findings from a study of postsecondary college transcript and degree records, this brief describes metrics that may be useful in assessing efforts to improve STEM transfer outcomes.
Using Guided Pathways to Build Cross-Sector Pathways Partnerships
Based on fieldwork at four guided pathways colleges, this report introduces a cross-sector pathways model and highlights emerging practices and strategies that community colleges are using to build stronger connections with employers, universities, and K-12 schools.
Patterns of Community College Use Among Working Adults
This brief describes results from a nationally representative survey of American workers aged 24–64 to learn what training providers they have used and what their experiences have been with these providers.
Toward a Practical Set of STEM Transfer Program Momentum Metrics
Drawing on administrative records from transfer-intending community college starters across three states, this paper develops a set of early STEM momentum metrics that are useful indicators of subsequent STEM transfer and bachelor’s degree attainment.
The Implementation and Outcomes of Lesson Study in Community College Mathematics
This report describes a project undertaken by CCRC, Education Northwest, and three Oregon community colleges to adapt lesson study for use among faculty teaching a precollege (developmental) quantitative literacy course.
How to Achieve More Equitable Community College Student Outcomes: Lessons From Six Years of CCRC Research on Guided Pathways
This report describes how CCRC’s thinking about guided pathways has evolved since the publication of Redesigning America’s Community Colleges in 2015.
Committing to Instructional Improvement in an Era of Community College Reform
This article argues that by tying instructional improvement efforts to ongoing reforms, colleges may be able to take advantage of structures and mechanisms employed by the reform to make teaching an institutional priority.
Advising and Student Supports at Community Colleges
This fact sheet describes the importance of academic and nonacademic services, particularly for underserved students, and how students that receive targeted, intensive support experience improved outcomes.
Community College Transfer
This fact sheet outlines challenges in supporting successful student transfer from community colleges to four-year institutions and considerations for improving the transfer process.
Developmental Education
This fact sheet describes how traditional developmental education may have unintended consequences for students and the growing body of research evidence on promising reforms.
Participation in Federal Work-Study
This fact sheet outlines how the Federal Work-Study program works, its effects on academic and labor market outcomes, and why so few community college students receive Federal Work-Study aid.
Community Colleges and Student Debt
This fact sheet discusses the rate of borrowing among students in different sectors, how community college students can benefit from access to loans, and the wide disparities in default by race and income.
An Introduction to Community Colleges and Their Students
CCRC offers a short primer on the multiple missions of these institutions, what kinds of students they enroll, what outcomes they produce, and some of the major issues they face.
A Role for Disciplinary Societies in Supporting Community College Adjunct Faculty
This article establishes the importance of adjunct faculty in supporting student success, describes the experiences of adjunct faculty, and offers suggestions for disciplinary societies that seek to meet the needs of adjunct faculty.
How Ohio Community Colleges Are Using Guided Pathways to Personalize Student Support
This report examines how Ohio community colleges—which have been engaged in guided pathways reform for several years—are innovating within the model to provide scaled, personalized support to help students gain early academic momentum.
Strategies for Improving Postsecondary Credential Attainment Among Black, Hispanic, and Native American Adults
This set of three studies examines what states and community colleges can do to address the needs of racially minoritized adult learners who are pursuing postsecondary education and training as a path to re-employment, better jobs, and higher incomes.
Strengthening Community College Workforce Training
This brief describes the substantial role community colleges play in workforce education, what innovative colleges are doing to improve programming and labor market outcomes for participants, and how the federal government can support these efforts.
Happy Together? The Peer Effects of Dual Enrollment Students on Community College Student Outcomes
Using administrative data from a large state community college system, this paper examines whether being exposed to a higher percentage of dual enrollment peers influences non-dual enrollment enrollees’ performance in college courses.