Publications
New Evidence of Success for Community College Remedial English Students: Tracking the Outcomes of Students in the Accelerated Learning Program (ALP)
This paper presents the findings from a follow-up quantitative analysis of the Community College of Baltimore County’s Accelerated Learning Program (ALP).
Community College Occupational Degrees: Are They Worth It?
Thomas Bailey and Clive Belfield consider the role of community colleges, with particular attention to the benefits to workers (as measured by earnings) of certificates and degrees by field of study.
Not Just Math and English: Courses That Pose Obstacles to Community College Completion
This paper offers methods for identifying introductory courses that are obstacles to college completion, and the relative extent of the obstacle each poses.
Improving Developmental Education Assessment and Placement: Lessons From Community Colleges Across the Country
This paper describes a range of approaches to improving poor course placement accuracy and inconsistent standards associated with traditional assessment and placement practices at community colleges.
College 101 Courses for Applied Learning and Student Success
A study of College 101 courses at three community colleges in Virginia suggests that these courses could have long-term impacts if they focused more on the application and practice of learned skills.
Structure in Community College Career-Technical Programs: A Qualitative Analysis
This study examines the structure of community college career-technical programs and its association with program completion.
Teaching Academically Underprepared Students in Community Colleges
This chapter discusses instructional approaches intended to prepare initially low-skilled college entrants for the reading, writing, and mathematics skills they need to learn from the postsecondary curriculum.
Development, Discouragement, or Diversion? New Evidence on the Effects of College Remediation
This paper finds that remediation does little to develop students' skills but does not discourage initial enrollment or persistence, except among students identified as potentially misassigned.
Can Community Colleges Achieve Ambitious Graduation Goals?
This book chapter discusses community college graduation goals that have been set by the Obama administration, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and Lumina Foundation for Education.
Broadening the Benefits of Dual Enrollment: Reaching Underachieving and Underrepresented Students With Career-Focused Programs
The three-year study examined the outcomes of almost 3,000 students participating in eight dual enrollment programs across California.
Bridging College and Careers: Using Dual Enrollment to Enhance Career and Technical Education Pathways
This NCPR working paper compares outcomes of students who participated in dual enrollment courses through the Concurrent Courses Initiative with those of similar students who did not participate.
Bridging the Gap: An Impact Study of Eight Developmental Summer Bridge Programs in Texas
This NCPR report presents findings from an experimental study of eight developmental summer bridge programs offered in Texas during the summer of 2009.
Preparing High School Students for College: An Exploratory Study of College Readiness Partnership Programs in Texas
This study examines 37 college readiness partnership programs in Texas and the partnerships that created them, identifying their key characteristics as well as benefits and challenges related to their implementation.
“I Don't Know, I've Never Been to College!” Dual Enrollment as a College Readiness Strategy
This chapter provides a theoretical framework through which to understand the experiences of dual enrollment students as they "try out" the role of college student.
Teaching and Learning in the Dual Enrollment Classroom
Using qualitative data from California's Concurrent Courses Initiative, this article explores how teaching in a dual enrollment program can foster new approaches to classroom pedagogy.
Does Dual Enrollment Increase Students' Success in College? Evidence From a Quasi-Experimental Analysis of Dual Enrollment in New York City
This article reviews previous studies on dual enrollment and discusses the results of an evaluation of College Now, the dual enrollment program of The City University of New York.
The Academic Consequences of Employment for Students Enrolled in Community College
This study examines the effects of student employment on academic outcomes, using a dataset that combines students' transcripts with earning records from the Unemployment Insurance system.
Dual Enrollment for College Completion: Findings From Tennessee and Peer States
Commissioned by the Nashville Chamber of Commerce, this report reviews dual enrollment policies in Tennessee and five peer states—Florida, Texas, Georgia, North Carolina, and Kentucky.
Washington State Student Achievement Initiative: Achievement Points Analysis for Academic Years 2007–2011
This paper examines the performance of Washington State’s two-year colleges under the Student Achievement Initiative, a policy to reward colleges for improvements in student achievement.
Valuable Learning or "Spinning Their Wheels"? Understanding Excess Credits Earned by Community College Associate Degree Completers
This paper documents the phenomenon of excess credits by examining the credit distributions of six cohorts of students in one state community college system.