Research Projects

Identifying Best Practices to Close Equity Gaps in Community Colleges

July 2023–December 2024

Working with Complete College America, CCRC researchers will identify colleges closing equity gaps between students of color and their peers. This project is intended to highlight opportunities to integrate student success reforms with culturally sustaining offerings.

Increasing Community College Participation in Applied Learning Activities

June 2023–September 2024

This study will identify what topics colleges most want to learn about and what they see as their most pressing challenges. The findings will be used to make recommendations regarding what applied research organizations, intermediaries, technical assistance providers, and funders can do to design and implement applied learning activities that will do a better job of attracting and addressing the needs of underserved colleges.

Scaling Dual Enrollment Equity Pathways to College and Career Success

September 2021–August 2024

In this project, CCRC will work in Florida and Texas to expand efforts by community colleges and their K-12 partners to extend equity-focused guided pathways practices to dual enrollment students from underserved groups.

Advancing Racial and Socioeconomic Equity in Transfer Student Success

September 2022–August 2024

In this project, CCRC will partner with the Aspen Institute and the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center (NSCRC) to update two influential publications on transfer but with a more central focus on improving equity in bachelor’s degree attainment among community college transfer students.

Understanding the Support Networks of First-Generation College Students

July 2021–June 2024

In this mixed-methods project, researchers will describe the support networks and help-seeking preferences and behaviors of first-generation students at four public colleges in California.

Scaling Dual Enrollment Equity Pathways Across States: Guidance From Practitioners for Policymakers

January 2022–December 2023

In this two-year project, CCRC will develop additional guidance for state policymakers on how they can support the scaling of dual enrollment equity pathways (DEEP) practices across their states.

Evaluating the Potential of Community College Guided Pathways Reforms to Increase Undergraduate STEM Student Success

October 2019–September 2023

This project will study whether whole-college guided pathways reforms can improve STEM outcomes for underrepresented students and students generally.

Guided Pathways: What and How To Educational Series

September 2020–July 2023

To support colleges' efforts to implement guided pathways reforms, CCRC is developing a set of resources that includes workshop curricula and materials as well as summer data institutes.

English Learners in Community Colleges

July 2019–June 2023

This exploratory study will examine English learners’ experiences in community college; it will focus on institutional policies and practices related to their enrollment and advancement in English as a Second Language and developmental English courses as well as college-level courses and programs likely to impact their academic outcomes.

Research on Guided Pathways in the Humanities

January 2021–March 2023

In this project, CCRC is using a mixed-methods design to examine how community colleges promote and facilitate enrollment, persistence, and transfer in humanities fields.

Caring Campus Initiative

December 2019–December 2022

CCRC is evaluating the Caring Campus Initiative, a project designed to create a positive, supportive campus culture and to increase students’ sense of connectedness to the college through the development of student-centered behaviors and activities among faculty and staff.

Supporting Diverse Student Populations: Promising Practices for Black, Latinx, and Low-Income Learners

November 2020–October 2022

This project will address the need for targeted efforts to support Black, Latinx, and low-income students and close achievement gaps.

Scaling Guided Pathways Reforms in Ohio

September 2016–September 2022

CCRC is working with the Ohio Association of Community Colleges (OACC), the Ohio Department of Higher Education (ODHE), and the state’s 23 community and technical colleges to create guided pathways for students to postsecondary credentials and careers.

Knowledge Development for the AACC Pathways Initiative

August 2015–August 2022

Over the course of this three-year project, CCRC will seek to build knowledge and tools that will help practitioners implement effective guided pathways reforms.

Exploring the Implications of Rapid Technological Change on Community College Workforce Training

July 2019–December 2021

In collaboration with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Task Force on the Work of the Future, CCRC is examining how employers’ adoption of new technologies such as artificial intelligence and robotics is impacting workforce education programs at community colleges, with a focus on programs and practices that offer meaningful opportunities for low income and underrepresented students to advance economically.

From Guided Pathways to Regional Talent Pathways Partnerships

January 2020–December 2021

As part of the next frontier of guided pathways work, CCRC and WestEd are studying how community colleges are partnering with local employers, universities, and K-12 schools to build cross-sector educational pathways to good jobs in their communities.

Launch Years: Redefining College Prep Math in High School

September 2018–August 2021

Led by the Charles A. Dana Center at the University of Texas at Austin, this project seeks to create a new paradigm for college and career readiness in mathematics and in doing so reduce equity gaps and prepare students for success in postsecondary education and a range of occupations.