Research Projects
March 2024–February 2029
Researchers will conduct a mixed-methods evaluation of the implementation and effectiveness of the fourth round of the Strengthening Community Colleges Training Grants Program (SCC4), which seeks to build community colleges’ capacity to equitably support students in obtaining good jobs and meet employers’ needs for skilled workers by enhancing sector-based career pathways programs.
July 2024–June 2028
This project examines the 10-year impact of the City University of New York's Accelerated Studies in Associate Programs on education and labor market outcomes, pooling data from six community colleges in New York and Ohio. It is the first study to assess ASAP’s labor market outcomes, including employment and earnings.
February 2024–January 2028
The Ohio Strong Start in Science project (OhioSSS) will provide colleges and their science faculty support to review placement procedures, redesign curriculum, and institute academic supports in introductory chemistry, biology and human anatomy and physiology courses.
October 2024–August 2027
This project continues previous research on Dual Enrollment Equity Pathways (DEEP) by producing research-based guidance, tools, and metrics to support efforts by college and K-12 practitioners to plan, implement, and scale practices aligned with the DEEP framework.
May 2024–April 2027
This project is examining the potential of mobile-enabled learning (or m-learning). The project will also highlight how individual colleges can develop promising innovations that can be rigorously tested in pilot studies before being scaled across additional institutions, leading to systemwide reform.
March 2024–February 2027
This project addresses equity gaps in developmental education reforms and seeks interventions to generate larger and longer-lasting effects for underserved students.
January 2022–January 2027
The Regional Education Laboratory (REL) Northwest, led by WestEd, is creating a toolkit to facilitate the adoption of the recommendations in a practice guide on technology and postsecondary instruction from the Institute of Education Sciences at the Department of Education. In this project, CCRC will evaluate a professional learning component of the toolkit.
September 2022–August 2026
In this project, researchers will use a randomized controlled trial (RCT) to evaluate whether a cost-of-living grant for low-income community college students increases college retention and completion.
July 2021–June 2026
The Postsecondary Teaching with Technology Collaborative works with students, faculty, technology developers, and other researchers to improve our knowledge of how college and university instructors can effectively use technology to help students develop self-directed learning skills in online courses.
January 2023–December 2025
Using surveys and interviews with students, faculty, and staff, as well as
administrative data, this project will explore students’ decision-making about programs of study and what perceptions they have about these programs over the course of their college careers.
July 2014–December 2025
CAPR carries out research on innovative approaches to remedial assessment, placement, and instruction in collaboration with social policy research organization MDRC.
June 2022–November 2025
In this project, CCRC and the Aspen Institute College Excellence Program will collaborate with 10 community colleges or districts to improve their students’ post-college outcomes.
September 2022–August 2025
The Accelerating Recovery in Community Colleges Network (ARCC Network) is studying strategies that community colleges are using to combat enrollment drops, learning loss, and other negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Over the three years of the project, the network will work closely with community colleges and college systems to identify and evaluate programs and policies designed to bring students back to college and accelerate their academic progress.
June 2019–August 2025
In this project, CCRC will investigate the effects of Federal Work-Study (FWS) at a large, urban, public postsecondary system using a randomized lottery among equally eligible FWS applicants.
September 2022–August 2025
CCRC is partnering with the Virginia Community College System (VCCS) and the University of Pennsylvania to examine and improve Get A Skill, Get A Job, Get Ahead (G3), VCCS’s pandemic workforce recovery initiative.
September 2023–August 2025
Working with Dr. Lauren Schudde and her team at the University of Texas at Austin, CCRC researchers are examining which types of dual enrollment deliver the strongest educational and economic returns, in which states dual enrollment is more effective, and opportunities for greater impact.
July 2019–June 2025
The CCRC–City University of New York (CUNY) policy lab is developing broader and more nuanced measures of post-college success; studying what factors predict successful transitions from college into the labor force; and evaluating the impact of specific interventions and experiences that may improve post-college transitions, particularly for disadvantaged groups.
August 2021–December 2024
This project will examine community college funding policy and institutional resources allocation in Texas, California, and Ohio.
January 2023–December 2024
This project explores the backgrounds and goals of adult education ESL students and the barriers they face navigating long ESL course sequences and complicated performance requirements. It will also examine how City College Chicago campuses are reforming ESL, how federal and state policy related to ESL courses is helping or hindering student outcomes, and the perspectives of adult education ESL instructors.
September 2023–December 2024
To build a sustainable future, community colleges are aligning training programs to the opportunities and demands of a green economy. However, research has yet to document the actions community colleges are taking nationally to prepare students for jobs in the green economy
