Performance Incentives to Improve Community College Completion: Learning From Washington State’s Student Achievement Initiative

This policy brief examines key issues raised by Washington State’s experience with the Student Achievement Initiative model of performance funding for community and technical colleges.
Online Learning: Does It Help Low-Income and Underprepared Students? (Assessment of Evidence Series)

This review of the postsecondary literature on online learning suggests that online coursework hinders progression for low-income and underprepared students, explores why students might struggle in these courses, and offers suggestions on how public policy and institutional practice could be changed to improve online learning.
Reforming Mathematics Classroom Pedagogy: Evidence-Based Findings and Recommendations for the Developmental Math Classroom (Assessment of Evidence Series)

This paper reviews the evidence base for pedagogical reforms in the developmental mathematics classroom, examining the theoretical and empirical evidence on six innovative instructional approaches.
Redesigning Community Colleges for Completion: Lessons From Research on High-Performance Organizations (Assessment of Evidence Series)

Based on practices found to be effective among a broad range of high-performance organizations, this paper outlines practical steps community colleges can take to bring about continuous improvement in student learning and progression.
The Shapeless River: Does a Lack of Structure Inhibit Students’ Progress at Community Colleges? (Assessment of Evidence Series)

Evidence from behavioral economics and psychology lends support for the idea that students are more likely to persist and succeed in programs with highly structured paths to completion.