For a high percentage of students, taking remedial, non-credit-bearing courses delays or prevents their progress toward a degree. Community colleges are beginning to implement a variety of interventions to help students persist in college and progress toward a degree. This report explores program specifics, efficacy evidence, and costs for 14 intensive math interventions. Researchers focus on short-term programs designed to accelerate students’ progress through developmental material, discuss similarities and differences among the programs within three category types, and examine strategies used to support developmental math students.

Community colleges are becoming increasingly creative in their approaches to teaching, but it’s important to understand what impact these new instructional approaches have on student learning. This brief describes the findings of a controlled trial of Content Comprehension Strategy Intervention, a self-paced and self-directed format for building in critical reading and writing skills in upper-level developmental courses.

Drawing on data from four large-scale surveys of community college students, faculty, and administrations, the Center explores the benefit potential of 13 promising practices for student success, with a particular focus on students’ early experiences within the college setting (e.g., assessment and course placement, first-year experiences, learning communities). The report includes specific examples of schools’ implementation of these practices and provides guidance on how colleges can design and bring their own programs to scale.

Regularly faced with budget reductions, public colleges and universities are still expected to improve access to education. This report examines various performance measures at higher education systems nationwide against the levels of per-student funding. Measures analyzed include completion rates, degree productivity, and research and development. From this initial study, they find that different institutions can perform at the same level with differing amounts of resources, and therefore, some institutions can maintain or improve performance with fewer resources.

In many industries, opportunities for advancement depend on additional training that employers may be reluctant to provide, seeing it as a disruption that compromises service. This practice guide discusses the Jobs to Career Initiative, a work-based learning model which integrates learning into the job and provides participants the opportunity to earn college credit. This approach is considered most effective for frontline healthcare workers who often earn low wages. While the approach is still developing, the authors highlight two sites where it is being implemented and offer lessons learned and suggestions for site-specific strategies.

Few institutions of higher learning have yet to figure out how to successfully graduate a majority of their students, much less place them in high-wage jobs. This report describes the Tennessee Technology Centers —a statewide system of 27 institutions that provide rigorous technical and occupational education programs at consistently high completion and placement rates. The report provides an overview of the system and examines four integrated components of its institutional framework—program structure; a competency-based, self-paced learning model; contextualized foundation skills; and supportive services—and discusses how each contributes to the effectiveness seen in this new model of student success.

There is a need for understanding if promising practices that appear to work for the general student population are effective in increasing access and success in postsecondary education for low-income and underrepresented students. This report addresses accelerated learning options and how they might improve rates of college enrollment, persistence, and graduation for underserved students. However, there is a need to improve data collection and data reporting systems across states to understand how underserved students would benefit from accelerated learning programs. Among the recommendations in this report is a call for policymakers, researchers, practitioners, and external funding groups to improve collaboration and evidence-based research to begin efforts to improve student outcomes through accelerated learning options.

While some colleges have begun experimenting with alternative delivery and design of remedial courses, institutions are guided (and sometimes limited) by systems and state policies that often reinforce the traditional design and delivery and make reform difficult. This policy brief draws on the examples from three community colleges to explore the impact of state and system policies on school-level efforts to reform developmental math curricula.

In 2009, the Breaking Through initiative awarded grants to five participating schools to help them scale up their efforts in improving career and technical education for low-skilled students. The case studies presented here explore the strategic approaches of each school (e.g., financial incentives, advising and student supports, revised curricular alignment, external workforce partnerships) and the successes and challenges of bringing these efforts to scale.

The low success rate of students in developmental education continues to perplex community college decision makers on how to improve their opportunities for success. This study examines instructional innovations used in developmental education and reports on why these instructional reforms have little impact on improving student achievement. In response to this observation, the author proposes “The Adoption and Adaptation Framework” as a process model for how developmental education can be more effective if student needs were identified first, and then instructional approaches were selected purposefully to align with the needs of the students.

Jobs for the Future’s Breaking Through initiative is designed to help community colleges build programs that encourage low-skill adult students in pursuing career training and degree programs. In support of this goal, schools need to effectively gather and analyze data to determine program impacts. This toolkit provides a guide to data types and collection and analysis methods and outlines the common core data points that will help colleges ensure the usefulness of data collected. An appendix includes a larger map of data points to consider.

Without sufficient financial aid, many community college students cannot begin their postsecondary education, much less sustain it to complete a certificate or degree. This report describes how at a particular meeting in early 2012, postsecondary reform leaders, policymakers, and financial aid experts collaborated to understand how existing federal financial aid policies act as a barrier to institutional and statewide innovation for low-income students. Using case studies, the report describes the reform efforts of two states—Virginia and Washington—to describe obstacles encountered with federal policy and how these states developed workarounds and unique solutions to ensuring that low-income students have funds to complete their education. The author outlines next steps for states, as identified by those participants who are leading the conversation in financial aid policy reform. 

As part of the Community College Research Center’s Assessment of Evidence series, the authors examine the existing research on college placement assessments. Among the aspects addressed are the understandings of what role assessments play, the varying state policies on assessments, and issues of validity of two major assessments—COMPASS and ACCUPLACER. The authors also identify gaps in existing research and recommendations on where to focus future policymaking efforts.

The Best Practice Web site provides information to help college leaders develop innovative solutions to challenges which face their institutions. The Web site may be utilized to learn about new techniques, improve processes, create new programs, make current programs more effective and enhance outreach. 

Since the future of California’s economy is dependent upon its ability to fulfill workforce demands with highly educated individuals, improving completion and transfer rates at community colleges is key. This report examines the importance of a positive and successful first semester for improving persistence and transfer rates of community college students intending to transfer to a four-year college. The author discusses how actual student retention behavior doesn’t match educational aspirations and that policymakers need to pay less attention to college access and more attention to factors that foster student persistence in college, such as course-taking patterns and grades in transfer-eligible courses, and especially for students who reflect California’s changing demographics.

This brief explores issues related to the college readiness gap, identifying less-selective and open-access institutions as the most likely to be impacted. The authors provide policy recommendations for statewide efforts targeted to these most vulnerable groups, including a model college readiness agenda involving various stakeholders from the institutions to the governor and the development of high standards of mastery in reading, writing, and math regardless of students’ postsecondary education plans.

The Bridging Research, Information, and Culture (BRIC) Initiative aims to strengthen cultures of inquiry and evidence in the California community college system via three, complementary means: 1. a technical assistance initiative, access to a suite of resources, and dedicated support to institutional researchers and planners. The site includes downloadable resources in several content areas including assessing student learning outcomes.

With college enrollment information generally geared toward traditional students, it can be difficult for adult students with previous college experience to find relevant information on re-enrolling. In this case study, the authors describe Nevada’s Concierge Model, which ensures that each public institution has at least one staff member responsible solely for working adults returning to college. These concierge personnel guide students through the complex issues of the re-enrollment process, including financial aid, learning assessments, class scheduling, transferring credits, and coping with anxiety about reentering the classroom.

While use of student data at community colleges has historically been limited to required federal reporting, schools are now exploring methods of using data to identify areas of student weakness, progress, and growth in order to strengthen the delivery and support of learning. This report describes the experiences of four community colleges working to build a culture of evidence-based decision-making by implementing strategies for improved data use. Other institutions can use the lessons learned by these colleges as a model for strengthening their organization and use of institutional data.

Certain false assumptions can undermine the implementation of lasting and effective change. The authors present the realities behind these “myths,” exploring what leadership actions are needed to assess and mitigate the risks involved in major organizational change. While presenting examples primarily from the corporate realm, the major ideas are applicable within an educational setting.

African American students, particularly men, have historically underperformed in postsecondary education. To better serve these students, it is important for community colleges to have a strong understanding of the factors that influence their college experience. This combined quantitative/qualitative study examines the specific institutional factors at one California community college to identify which factors correlate with higher educational outcomes. Findings show that African American men perceive themselves as unsupported by and disconnected from the college community, but positive peer and faculty interactions can build a more supportive environment and relate to higher outcomes.

Millions of Americans who are out of work want to work, but don’t know how to reenter the 21st century job market. This report describes how five Career and Technical Education (CTE) pathways provide education and training that could help Americans become employable for jobs that offer middle-class earnings without the need for a bachelor’s degree. The authors discuss different types of jobs and industries in the current job market and describe each of the five pathways that best support those particular jobs and industries. The authors also suggest policy recommendations for advancing the nation’s CTE infrastructure.

Keynote speech at the Association of Community College Trustees (ACCT) Annual Leadership Congress, San Francisco, CA.  

Often unaware of financial aid resources and employment services available on campus, many community college students struggle to get the support they need and end up leaving, never attaining their degree or certificate. This documentation study examines how integrated service delivery, specifically the Center for Working Families (CWF) bundled approach, is being implemented at ten community colleges to achieve improved postsecondary outcomes for low-income students. The authors discuss the diverse ways that these community colleges have deployed the CWF approach, while presenting key findings on implementation and lessons related to data tracking, bundling of services, and sustainability. Using case studies and brief descriptions, the report describes each of the ten community colleges’ CWF program or implementation process. 

Chabot Community College's English Department offers an example of department-wide articulated assumptions where all remedial English courses, regardless of the level, focus on the same kinds of competencies required for college-level English.

This literature review analyzes social science, education, and policy studies from the last 25 years to identify factors that contribute to and inhibit community college success. Focusing on aspects of opportunity structure, institutional policy, and student attributes, the author summarizes past research on issues such as governance, financial aid and economic hardship, developmental education, classroom practices, and academic preparation; offers brief notes on current promising reform initiatives; and outlines suggestions for future research.

A guide to assist community college faculty, staff, and administrators as they begin their work to rethink and redesign their systems, programs, and instruction to improve student completion.

Among first-time community college students, the credential completion rate is low but the rates of completion are even less successful for low-income students. This paper uses quantitative data of a single cohort from the state of Washington to chart the rates at which students, especially socioeconomically disadvantaged students, enter a concentration, take remedial courses in each concentration, earn certificates or degrees, or transfer to four-year institutions. The authors examine the course-taking behavior of low-income students and find that compared to their peers from higher socioeconomic levels, low-income students are more likely to start in adult basic courses and less likely to enter a concentration in a field of study. Of those who select a concentration, low-income students are more likely to enter in career technical education, where completion rates are lower.

This toolkit from the U.S. Department of Education provides guidance for state leadership and policymakers as they work to improve college completion rates. It explores why and how to implement seven targeted strategies to increase student success. These strategies impact all phases of the college-going process and cover topics including aligning high school and college standards and using data to drive decision making.

Our nation has been challenged to increase its production of college graduates, but postsecondary institutions are struggling to get students to completion. These guidelines are for leaders and faculty of higher education institutions in their efforts to improve assessment and accountability in their colleges. The principles discussed are aimed at helping institutions set goals for student achievement, use evidence to measure performance, improve outcomes, and report results. 

As community colleges are working to improve student completion rates, it’s not often that college leaders can learn the collective views of their students about what’s working and not working for them at the institution. This report uses focus group data to describe the perspectives of community college students— current students, completers, and non-completers—and their community college experiences. Specifically, the authors identify findings as they relate to three areas: connection to information and supports, connection to instructional services, and connection to career and/or career exploration. In each area, the authors discuss students’ perspectives on the services that met their needs, key challenges they encountered, and suggestions for improving how colleges can be more pro-active in anticipating student needs and engaging student learning.

Contextualized teaching and learning (CTL) helps students gain a deeper understanding of subject matter by relating material to meaningful situations that students encounter in real life. This brief offers a quick overview of CTL approaches implemented by 11 different community colleges. Strategies discussed include asking composition students to research community issues, introducing math concepts in a practical, mechanical context, and creating opportunities for minority students to learn in relation to their cultures. These approaches and others are also discussed in further detail in Contextualized Learning and Teaching: A Faculty Primer.

The Council for Advancement of Adult Literacy (CAAL) is a national public charity dedicated to developing adult education, ESL, and workforce skills in America. CAAL operates a varied program of  research, policy and issue analysis, symposia, planning, and leadership development activities. 

Research has shown that community college students who enroll in a remedial math, reading, or writing course have lower success rates than students who start college-ready. Using quantitative data, this study investigates developmental course-taking patterns and related student outcomes, and using qualitative data, examines related policies and practices among California’s community colleges. The authors describe the characteristics and course-taking patterns of developmental education students as well as current issues within developmental education. Additionally, the authors identify the different approaches to the practice of developmental education and the need for innovation and effective practices to move students through remedial coursework quickly and successfully.

These slides accompany a presentation on how to develop deep learning experiences. The presentation maps out methods to influence students’ approach to learning and the mental processes involved in deep learning, providing strategies that can be used to encourage students to engage these processes.

High school students take Advanced Placement and dual enrollment courses, believing these courses will increase their college access and success. This study uses data from two cohorts of Florida high school students to examine the predictive outcomes of students who take these courses. The author finds that dual enrollment students are more likely than Advanced Placement students to go to college after high school, but are less likely to first enroll in a four-year college. In terms of bachelor’s degree attainment, the difference between dual enrollment students and Advanced Placement students is much smaller and not statistically significant.

Within the larger Achieving the Dream Initiative, the Developmental Education Initiative (DEI) supports participant schools as they undertake reforms to reduce student dependence on developmental education. In furtherance of this goal, DEI created this self-assessment to help schools identify areas of strength and weakness across multiple dimensions. While created for Achieving the Dream schools, this tool may be useful to any school considering reforming their approach to developmental education.

The majority of California community college students are placed in remedial courses, thus delaying the earning of college credits and decreasing their chances of reaching completion. This report introduces diagnostic assessment as one tool for community college reform in California. The author discusses the lessons learned and implications from three states, and opportunities for K–14 alignment, especially as it relates to the Common Core State Standards.

This brief report profiles a young adult returning to school through the support of a Back on Track program, “X-Cel,” aimed at getting disconnected youth on a path toward postsecondary success. Focusing on the journey of this one individual, the report describes how X-Cel provides one-to-one support to low-income, young adults to help them successfully complete high school and navigate the obstacles of college.

Whether a student begins college in developmental education or in college-credit courses is determined by a single, high-stakes assessment. This paper uses data on more than 42,000 first-time students at a large, urban community college system to examine the predictive validity of one of the most commonly used placement assessments. The author analyzes the difference of predicted success in math and English based on placement accuracy and error rates, and suggests that multiple measures for making placement decisions would reduce misplaced students in developmental education and the remediation rate.

While innovation is necessary in reforming developmental education, it has to be part of a larger system that supports it. This report, the first of a series, introduces the notion that there are effective, innovative instructional reforms that could be replicated and scaled up under the right conditions. In addition to describing three examples of these instructional reforms, the report discusses the role of faculty in leading the innovation and the importance of an infrastructure that provides ongoing support for practitioners in implementing and sustaining innovative practices.

As the demand for dual enrollment programs such as early college high schools increases, it’s important to understand what goes into the design and implementation of high-quality programs. This guide is geared toward helping secondary schools navigate the process—from establishing a partnership with a postsecondary institution to sustaining program success—and provides links to additional resources.

Through recent changes in regulation, California community colleges have been eliminating contextualized math courses since they often do not have an elementary algebra prerequisite. This study documents both the scarcity and the effectiveness of contextualized developmental math in California community colleges. Report findings suggest that students in the contextual group passed their developmental math course at much higher rates than students in a control group.

Various student ethnic populations are likely to have very different conceptions of the campus community, and these conceptions have a significant impact on their experience of postsecondary education. All schools, but particularly those with increasingly diverse student populations, need to understand this and provide effective targeted supports that address the racial climate on campus. This report offers a detailed review of research on the impact of racial climate on student attitudes and outcomes and provides examples of programs schools have implemented to address the complexities of student diversity.

Part of the Community College Research Center’s Assessment of Evidence Series, this literature review examines research on the effectiveness of contextualized and integrated instruction in assisting low-skill students. While rigorous research is in short supply, the review shows evidence that providing students a contextual framework for reading, writing, and math skills can lead to improved basic-skill and content-area achievement.

Students forced to complete a long sequence of remedial or English language classes before they can begin their postsecondary program are less likely to earn college certificates or degrees. This brief highlights six promising programs that show how career pathway bridges help lower-skilled students move farther and faster along college and career paths through programs that link basic skills and occupational certificate courses. The author explains two career pathway bridges models — the paired course approach and the integrated course approach — and describes how six colleges implement either approach to meet the particular needs of lower-skilled adults.

This guide, part of the Achieving the Dream initiative aimed at college reform in pursuit of student success, provides an overview of the initiative’s student-centered institutional improvement framework. The framework revolves around a five-step process: commit; use data; engage stakeholders; implement and evaluate; and establish a culture of continuous improvement. The guide also includes profiles of effective institutional transformations, as well as a readiness assessment schools can use to examine their current policies and practices in relation to the Achieving the Dream model.

Community college ESL programs vary widely in the structure and support they provide to students. This report summarizes the major findings of a series of studies on the nature and effectiveness of selected ESL programs, identifying and describing promising strategies for improving ESL instruction that are too often absent from developmental courses. These strategies relate to high-intensity instruction, authentic experiences, attention to diversity of learners, and increased transition rates. Additionally, the author discusses how ESL programs often lack student services, a professionalized faculty, strategic planning, and adequate standardized assessments — all of which require proper funding, clear program goals, and a network for ESL programs.

While the GED increases educational and employment opportunities for high school dropouts, few of those who pass the exams and go on to college persist to earn a degree. In part, this can be linked to traditional GED preparation programs that focus on test preparation only. The authors of this guide explore the potential of a college-connected program model to improve success rates among GED earners by providing enhanced instruction in preparation for the test, bridge programs to help college-bound students build necessary skills, and academic supports during the first year of college.

Adult learners pursuing their postsecondary degrees after time away from the classroom need additional support to stay in school, different from the traditional student. Common strategies for helping adult learners achieve their goals are innovative academic programming, increased and creative financial aid opportunities, and support services. This study examines another strategy, Prior Learning Assessment, or PLA, which is the process by which colleges evaluate for academic credit the college-level knowledge and skills an individual has gained outside of the classroom such as through employment, the military, or hobbies. The findings show positive outcomes for PLA students who, compared to non-PLA students, had higher degree-earning rates and earned degrees in less time, saving on costs to the individuals and the institutions. Additionally, the report discusses PLA methods offered among the 48 colleges and universities studied, characteristics of the adult learners who participate in PLA, and their college-going behavior.

A distillation of the paper of the same name, this presentation from the 2011 convention of the American Association of Community Colleges explores the importance of tracking student progress toward entry in coherent programs of study and provides an overview of effective practices to enact at each phase to improve students’ success.

High school students preparing for the next phase of their educational career are often in need of college guidance and academic support to help them successfully transition, but low-income students and first-generation college students need even more and extended forms of support to be successful. This early report describes a new college-readiness program between two high schools and a partnering local college that provides a system of multiple supports, including monetary incentives, targeted at low-income students as they transition out of high school to postsecondary institutions. In addition to discussing how the high school graduates fared after their first year of participation in the program, the author introduces the upcoming evaluation to better understand implementation and impact of the program.

The Governance Institute for Student Success is a national initiative designed to provide a governance leadership model that will identify key policy decisions, actions, and levers for institutional transformation that trustees and presidents can utilize throughout the country to support innovation, accountability, and work to break the logjam of developmental education and improve student success, equity, and completion.

Students receiving financial aid for their postsecondary education can budget their expenses with the anticipation of tuition, books, and living expenses; however, for a low-income student facing an unforeseen financial crisis, the unplanned expenses and lack of funds may lead to dropping out of school. This report evaluates two Lumina Foundation for Education emergency financial aid programs — the Dreamkeepers and Angel Fund — created to assist students at community colleges or tribal colleges and universities who are at risk of dropping out because of unexpected financial crises. The two programs are evaluated for how they are designed and implemented at the participating colleges and universities, focusing on the most frequent reasons students request financial help, eligibility parameters schools use for awarding grants, characteristics of aid recipients, impact on student retention, and fundraising capacities. Based on the data of the 37 Dreamkeepers and Angel Fund colleges, the authors capture challenges that the participating institutions faced and present lessons learned and recommendations for colleges interested in instituting similar emergency financial aid programs.

Dual enrollment is becoming increasingly popular as a means to improve student success; however, there is little evidence of its impact on student outcomes. This study, based on analysis of student data from two high school cohorts, examines the causal effects of dual enrollment course taking on marginal students. The author finds that simply taking a dual enrollment course has no impact on these students’ rates of high school graduation, college enrollment, or college degree attainment. However, for marginal students who took a dual enrollment course in college algebra, the impact revealed large and significant effects on college enrollment and graduation rates.

Recognizing college as an important aspect of their lives improves students’ chances of persisting, but community college students often have difficulty prioritizing it as such. This literature review examines how four non-academic supports—creating social relationships, clarifying aspirations and enhancing commitment, developing college know-how, and making college life feasible—can help students integrate into college-going culture and provides guidance for ensuring students have knowledge of and access to non-academic supports.

Postsecondary institutions are faced with the tremendous challenge of how to improve student persistence. Open access institutions, which serve greater proportions of high-risk students, see even lower rates of retention and graduation than do selective institutions. Based on a study of four for-profit schools in Texas that had high graduation rates and low student loan default rates, this report describes what those institutions did to achieve such positive outcomes, particularly for these high-risk students. This study finds that among these institutions, a combination of key institutional practices aimed at retaining and graduating students along with establishment of a culture that emphasizes completion and job placement contributed to these schools’ abilities to support postsecondary student success.

Far too many community college students, especially developmental education students, are at risk of failing, and thus at greater risk of not earning a living wage or advancing through job opportunities. This policy brief examines the challenges of developmental education and the efforts that states can pursue to increase the success of students enrolled in remedial courses, leading to improved rates of transition to credit-bearing courses. The authors recommend that state policymakers consider policy changes affecting data systems, assessment and placement, concurrent developmental and college-level course taking, financial aid eligibility, support services, and funding for new models of delivery. These recommendations are discussed along with brief examples of what a few states have done to increase student transition out of developmental education.

The wide range of educational opportunities provided at community colleges make them an ideal resource for immigrant populations. However, many schools struggle to meet the unique needs of immigrant students. This report identifies common challenges immigrant students face (e.g., language barriers, late entry to postsecondary education, financial hardship, or gaps in cultural or academic knowledge) and offers an 11-point framework schools can use to guide their efforts to better meet students’ needs. For each item described in the framework, the author provides examples of successful implementation.

Improving student success in developmental education across an entire state's community college system is an ambitious plan. This report explains how a participatory process involving teachers and administrators as stakeholders, enabled developmental education reform in the Virginia community college system. The author discusses how the reform initiative began with using the statewide student data system to identify the issues: reduce the need for remediation, shorten the time spent in developmental education, and increase college completion rates for students who start out in developmental education. The author describes how redesign teams dramatically reconceived developmental mathematics and developmental English and implemented a common placement assessment that yielded formative data aligned with the new courses to increase college readiness for students.

Traditional semester-length developmental math courses are often unsuccessful in helping students gear up for college-level work, in part because students have varying competencies and skill gaps that can’t be properly addressed within the strictures of the course. This piece profiles three community colleges’ efforts to redesign remediation in math to allow for self-pacing by students and targeting specific individual needs. The authors also explore the issues involved in scaling up these programs to serve statewide community college systems.

The CCRC Assessment of Evidence Series consists of working papers that provide evidence-based recommendations in eight major topics impacting college completion. This introduction provides a brief explanation of findings within each topic as well as an exploration of how four aspects of organizational redesign—simplifying bureaucracies, engaging faculty, curriculum alignment, and data use—serve as unifying themes for the series.

Carnegie is addressing the low success rate of students in developmental mathematics by providing alternatives to the current community college mathematical sequence and content. The Statway™ Network, which went live in fall 2011, is designed to take developmental math students to and through transferable college statistics in one year. The Quantway™ Network, which will be taught beginning January 2012, provides an alternate and accelerated pathway with an innovative quantitative literacy focus in which students use mathematical skills and quantitative and algebraic reasoning to make sense of the world around them.

As the costs of college increase and the amount of financial aid awarded students decreases, low-income students are impacted in ways that are critical to their college enrollment and success. This report examines how barriers to financial aid access are as a result of systemic issues at the federal, state, and institutional levels, but how especially for low-income adult students, these trends lessen the opportunities for postsecondary success. Based on conversations with practitioners, policymakers, and other experts on financial aid, the authors offer key recommendations to funders on improving financial aid access toward the goal of increasing college access and completion for low-income young adults: Support the leveraging of existing aid channels, innovate aid access and delivery, and expand the amount of aid in the system.

This report describes the efforts of one school district on the Texas-Mexico border that implemented dual enrollment and career pathway programs districtwide and successfully turned around a district known for high dropout rates and high populations of low-income students and second language learners who did not go on to college. The author describes how the district created rigorous career pathways and a range of early college options, and then explores the instructional changes in the classrooms implemented to prepare students for the challenges of college-level work.

Community college completion and transfer rates are startlingly low, and students need for colleges to make learning, especially at the remedial level, meaningful to help students engage and persist. This preliminary report examines the impact of learning communities on students enrolled in developmental education English courses at two community colleges. The authors describe the implementation of learning community programs at these two campuses and their related outcomes — which were found to be inconsistent — in pass rates, credits earned, and enrollment post program. An additional report is anticipated, synthesizing the findings and lessons across six community colleges to better understand the potential impact of learning communities on student progress.

Community colleges serve diverse student populations that have a wide range of reasons for attendance. As such, it’s challenging to assess the specific needs that could lead to improving student progression and retention. Based on survey results, this report discusses the challenges community colleges face in using assessment data to inform decision making on issues ranging from improving instruction to allocating resources. The authors provide examples of promising practices in assessment and offer guidance and cautions for community colleges in using and identifying new assessments for greater transparency and accountability and for improving student outcomes.

Literacy Information and Communication System (LINCS) is a national dissemination an dprofessional development system, providing information on literacy research, practice, and resources.

Students who have been raised in homes where English is not the dominant language, who have attended U.S. high schools, and who speak more fluently compared with more recent immigrants, have academic needs that are different from native-born English speakers and other groups of students learning English, yet their unique circumstances aren’t considered in how they are assessed and placed in their postsecondary courses. This report explores language-related policies, practices, and instructional options that U.S.-educated language minority students encounter in California community colleges, and how information concerning assessments, placements, and course sequences are communicated to them. Researchers discuss findings from an analysis of college websites, interviews with community college staff and administrators, and site visits, and offer recommendations for improving access and success for U.S.-educated language minority students. This report is the first of three focused on the practices and implications of community college ESL and English placement tests on U.S.-educated language minority students and promising practices for meeting their needs.

This memo is first in a series of eight memos responding to questions regarding student service delivery methods and structures.

Memo 1 addresses the question: Is there research on the value or benefit of mandating orientation, assessment, and counseling to improve student success and completion in community college? If so, what has the research found? If not, are there example(s) of colleges that are testing out those practices?

This memo is third in a series of eight memos responding to questions regarding student service delivery methods and structures.

Memo 3 addresses the question: What research is there on the effectiveness of student success courses in helping to improve community college student outcomes? What are the elements of an effective student success course?

This memo is seventh in a series of eight memos responding to questions regarding student service delivery methods and structures.

Memo 7 addresses the question: Are some student support services demonstrated to be more effective for high-need, high- touch students and for low-need students? If so, what services are most effective for each group of students?

MiraCosta Community College's Credit ESL Program focuses on providing advanced skill development and College Academic Preparation to students whose first language is other than English.  This program provides students with the tools and techniques they need to reach their goals, whether they be academic preparation, workplace improvement, or personal enrichment.

This essay uses longitudinal transcript data from the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 to create transcript-based portraits of traditional-age community college students. These portraits focus on academic behaviors, including entry point, attendance patterns, persistence, course selection, and success to identify six basic populations described by age, the type of institution they attend, transfer rates, and educational expectations. The authors present this information through a metaphor that treats the community college as a “town” where students may visit or take up residence.

While most schools offer developmental courses, often the students who would most benefit from remediation do not enroll in recommended classes. Researchers used data from the National Education Longitudinal Study (high school class of 1992) to examine the nationwide availability of remediation courses, the demographic characteristics of the students who enroll in the classes, and the effects of remedial coursework on degree completion for various student populations at two- and four-year institutions.

As states are building more robust K–16 data systems for improving student outcomes, there is a need for a common approach to interpret the data. This report describes a set of key indicators of community college student progression and completion benchmarks intended for practitioners and policymakers to use in their reform efforts to increase student achievement. Developed by the Achieving the Dream Cross-State Data Work Group, the final benchmarks, plus interim indicators, enable states and institutions to track student progress toward college completion. The report discusses how interim indicators can identify students in need of intervention to get them back on track, and how the set of measures makes possible cross-state comparisons for those institutions that are committed to making data transparent.

The assessments that determine course placement are a small piece of the college admissions process, but they can significantly impact students’ long-term success. This report examines assessment and placement policies in the California community college system, using interviews with counselors, matriculation officers, and students to compare policymakers’ intent to students’ real experiences. Based on findings that show a majority of students feeling unprepared for and confused by the assessment, counseling, and course placement processes, the authors offer several recommendations for reform. These include increasing the transparency of the process, engaging early outreach strategies to introduce middle and high school students to assessments, and developing innovative methods of  measuring and raising students’ readiness for college-level coursework.

The authors present two contrasting case studies of Chicago elementary schools to show the impact of strong leadership on the reform process and building a dedicated community of educators. The cases highlight the importance of not only dedicated administrators and faculty, but also of a coherent plan for improvement that is clearly communicated to stakeholders.

Geared toward a researcher audience, this report presents a critical analysis of the existing research on improving student outcomes through four broad practices: advising/orientation programs, learning communities, developmental education, and collegewide reform. The authors use this analysis to identify effective practices and promising areas for further research, evaluate the current research efforts by community colleges, and recommend ways to improve research in the future.

Students enrolled in non-credit ESL courses have low persistence rates; in this longitudinal study at an urban community college, only 8 percent made the transition to credit-bearing courses. The authors describe the non-credit and credit ESL programs, examining the enrollment trends, persistence rates, advancement rates, and transition rates to credit courses and finding a strong correlation between persistence, hours attended, and advancement of class levels. Additionally, they find that students who took advantage of two optional program features—the non-credit matriculation process and the program enhancement courses—were more likely to make transitions.

In this era of community college reform, college leaders are focused on increasing student success, but their efforts to create change are not always supported by current policy conditions. Based on the collaboration of California community college chief executive officers and members of their boards of trustees, this report captures their evidence-based recommendations and proposes a new policy agenda that creates conditions conducive to reform. The agenda comprises a breadth of specific recommendations for changes in local policies and practices as well as changes in state policy — given the political and economic climate — that are needed for community colleges to improve student success.

There is debate about whether placement tests are accurate in determining student readiness for college-level courses. This study uses data from a statewide community college system to examine the validity of placement tests in predicting course grades and college performance. The authors discuss how placement tests are positively associated with college credit accumulation, but that high school GPAs have a stronger association with predicting college GPA. Furthermore, placement tests are associated with severe error rates, making the case that placement tests might be waived for those students who have high school GPAs above a certain threshold, thereby decreasing the number of students needing to take developmental education courses.

The Carnegie Foundation’s Statway project networks the knowledge base of researchers and practitioners working to reform developmental math education pathways leading to statistics. This presentation represents one piece of that work: a research and implementation cycle focused on identifying and responding to the drivers inhibiting student engagement.

As part of efforts to improve student retention and success, the Virginia Community College System engaged CCRC to study the factors that impact students’ likelihood to progress through developmental courses and successfully earn college credit in math or English. The study tracked 24,000 students over the course of four years, and used the data to provide the schools with recommendations for improving student achievement. This study is presented in greater detail in Strategies for Promoting Gatekeeper Course Success Among Students Needing Remediation: Research Report for the Virginia Community College System (Roska, Jenkins, Jaggars, Zeidenberg, & Cho, 2009).

This evaluation examines the efficacy of an eight-week, accelerated college connections program designed to prepare out-of-school youth for entry to community college. Program participants received support from coaches in core subject areas including math, English, reading, career exploration, academic advising, and college success. The program showed positive impacts on participants, with more than 80% enrolling in credit-bearing college courses.

The 21st century economy calls for a new generation of workers who have postsecondary degrees, yet the U.S. is falling behind other nations in producing a population with this requirement. This report discusses the need for a community college redesign to meet the demands of a changing workforce and to ensure that individuals have greater opportunities for postsecondary success. The report suggests a framework for reimagining community colleges and describes essential crosscutting elements in transforming institutions. It also offers seven recommendations centered on students’ educational experiences, institutional roles, and incentives for student and institutional success, as well as a set of implementation strategies accompanying each recommendation.

This report examines patterns of student progress through developmental course sequences—a series of two or more related subject-area courses designed to prepare low-skilled students for college-level work. Using longitudinal data from Achieving the Dream and the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1998, the authors examine the factors that play into students’ success or failure in completing their recommended course sequences and progressing to credit-bearing courses. Findings show that failure to complete a developmental sequence is more often related to not enrolling at all rather than failing or withdrawing from a course.

This contribution to the Assessment of Evidence series examines the existing research on using classroom pedagogy reforms as a tool to improve student success in developmental math courses. Using research on both K–12 and postsecondary classroom practices to identify six specific types of teaching strategies—student collaboration, metacognition, problem representation, application, understanding student thinking, and computer-based learning—the author explores the underlying theories and observed impact of each. She goes on to provide recommendations for incorporating strategies in developmental math courses.

Currently, basic skills students must spend additional time and money taking remediation courses. This is the key reason, according to research, for why these students don’t graduate or transfer. This brief suggests key principles for policymakers concerning resource adequacy, transparency, and acceleration. Additionally, the author briefly describes strategies institutions can use in redesigning instructional systems and support services to better support students in need of basic skills.

MDRC’s Opening Doors tested the impact of four academic interventions, operating individually and in combination. This report evaluates the performance-based scholarships implemented in two Louisiana community colleges. These scholarships—up to $1,000 in addition to other available aid disbursed in three payments throughout the semester—were offered to low-income parents on the condition that they maintain an average of “C” or better. The follow-up period was cut short due to the impact of Hurricane Katrina on the area, limiting the available findings, but initial results showed increased rates of registration, persistence, and credit earned for program participants.

While the Latino population in the United States continues to grow, college completion rates remain low for Latino students. Improving degree attainment among Latinos is vital to reaching the nation’s educational goals. To that end, this guide outlines recommended actions and areas for consideration for policymakers at the community, college, state, and federal levels.

Each year, states participating in the Developmental Education Initiative complete a self-assessment to identify their progress in developing policies that promote innovative reforms to improve the delivery of developmental education. This brief uses the data from these assessments to explore what policies have been put into place in each of the areas defined by the Initiative’s framework and what steps states are taking to ensure lasting change.

In learning communities, a group of students enrolls together in multiple courses (often thematically linked) in order to provide them with greater sense of community and support. This report examining the necessary components to build and maintain strong learning community programs at community colleges is the first from the national Learning Communities Demonstration, a longitudinal study of six community colleges. At this early stage, and with the range of implementation, the report cannot fully assess the impact of learning communities on student achievement; it does, however, highlight the requirements for scaling up a strong learning community program.

Too many students enter community college needing developmental education, and many are at risk of leaving school before ever reaching college-level coursework. This brief describes how 15 states participating in the Achieving the Dream initiative have concentrated their efforts to change state policy in four broad strategies aimed at improving outcomes for underprepared students: preventative strategies, assessment and placement, implementation and evaluation of program innovation, and performance measurement and incentives. Collins shares results and lessons learned from the innovations and promising practices of high-performing institutions and the critical role that state policy plays in developing the conditions that support change.

Drawing from the EdSource research study, Course-taking patterns, policies, and practices in developmental education in the California Community Colleges, this report examines how California’s community colleges can adjust developmental education programs to help students succeed in the face of new and stricter completion standards. In addition to encouraging innovation in developmental education policies and practices, the authors suggest developing common, statewide standards for college readiness to reduce the number of students requiring remediation.

As funding for financial aid diminishes, states need to leverage their resources to best support student success. Prepared for Massachusetts Department of Higher Education’s Vision Project, this report examines existing financial aid policies currently in place in various states to improve college access and success. The author categorizes financial aid policies into three distinct models — entitlement programs, programs targeted to low-income students, and programs that reward certain behaviors — and describes them for Massachusetts’ consideration in its desire and effort to improve college success and degree completion through student financial aid reform.

Using data on 35,000 first-time students in Florida community colleges, this research brief explores the factors impacting academic outcomes of traditional and older students. The authors specifically focus on student outcomes from enrollment in developmental course pathways and earned-credit milestones (i.e., completing 20 credits or 50% of a program). Findings suggest that students of different age groups are impacted differently by enrollment pathways and credits earned, and the authors note ways support services can take these differences into account.

While there is consensus among IHE leaders that higher education in the U.S. needs to alter how it prepares individuals for a changing economy, the role that trustees should play in higher education reform is unclear — even among themselves. For this study, 39 directors and trustees from a wide range of higher education institutions were interviewed and spoke candidly about their views on the role of trustees, with the agreement of remaining anonymous. The overall conclusion is that most trustees are currently focused on the short-term challenges facing their institutions and have not yet fully engaged with broader issues of higher education reform. Trustees also report that at this time, they are not likely to take a leadership role as drivers of higher education reform, nor question policies of the administration. The authors present the viewpoints of the majority and the minority, including areas of agreement and disagreement, about the reform agenda for higher education.

This report describes the Strengthening Pre-Collegiate Education in Community Colleges initiative, which is designed to introduce innovation to the teaching and learning of developmental education in the community college classroom. Currently underway at 11 California community colleges, the initiative encourages a data-driven culture in which educators work together to improve student learning. To address the challenges facing students who may not believe themselves to be “college material,” the initiative includes a variety of student supports, including learning communities, tutoring, and explicit instruction.

Archive of WestEd/Public Agenda's Student Focus Group Training Webinar: January 10, 2012.

This summary brief of the longer report, Referral, Enrollment, and Completion of Developmental Education Sequences in Community Colleges, focuses on the relationship between referrals to developmental education and actual enrollment, students’ progress through their developmental course sequences, and the demographic and institutional characteristics impacting student progress. The authors use longitudinal data from the Achieving the Dream initiative alongside data from the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 to examine the course-taking patterns and progress of various student populations. The brief includes school-level recommendations for improving student progress through developmental course sequences.

Student success courses are designed to orient new students, giving them a stronger foundation of study skills and introducing the support services the school offers. Originally accompanying a presentation at the 2010 AERA meeting, this one-page summary provides an at-a-glance evaluation of the impact of these courses on student achievement within the Virginia Community College System.

The income gap between individuals with and without a postsecondary education is wide and increasing rapidly. This brief discusses the learning needs that ESL adult learners have when transitioning from ESL programs to postsecondary education. The author describes research-based strategies ESL teachers can use to support students’ transitions in academic programs as well as recommended ESL program features for administrators to consider when designing supportive transition programs from ESL to college-level coursework.

Navigating the college process is challenging enough for most students, but first-generation college students often have additional circumstances that make the process even more challenging. This brief, prepared for institutions working on increasing capacity for supporting underserved students, or Minority-Serving Institutions, provides an overview of existing programs and resources aimed at supporting this particular population of postsecondary students. The report offers promising classroom-based practices and examples from institutions participating in the Walmart Minority Student Success Initiative toward the effort of improving first-generation student success.

Currently, the federal approach to measuring community college completion assumes that students will earn a credential within three years, but this assumes a college-attending behavior similar to a traditional full-time student, and does not account for older or part-time students who work and raise families while attending school. This policy brief discusses how the current federal method for measuring community college performance is too simplistic, and describes a modified approach to defining and measuring student success with more accuracy. Based on the pilot project of the Achieving the Dream Cross-State Data Work Group, the author reports on the group’s methodology for analyzing postsecondary data, the results of their testing process, and how the findings can lead to changes in state policy concerning increased community college success.

This research contributes to the literature on the effects of employment on student performance. Using a dataset from Washington state that combines student transcripts and earning records from the state unemployment insurance system, this study examines the academic consequences of community college students when they are employed while attending school. The author discusses observed changes in first-semester academic performance, specifically grade point average and credits earned across quarters in relation to number of hours worked, and finds that a moderate increase of hours per week had very small, negative effects on GPA and may have positive effects on credits earned.

Funders, organizations, and colleges want new models for how to improve postsecondary success rates, but working alone, they are limited by their own capacity, knowledge, and existing systems. This report describes the successful collaboration between a community-based organization (CBO) and a New York City community college focused on improving the college success rates of underrepresented, postsecondary students. Bringing their resources and strengths, the two partners provided a comprehensive support system to the underperforming students that helped in their academic, and social and developmental preparation for college. The authors describe how the collaboration began, key components of the initiative, and lessons learned for future endeavors between CBOs and postsecondary institutions.

In 2009, the College Board’s Commission on Access, Admissions and Success in Higher Education issued a set of 10 comprehensive education reform recommendations designed to improve student achievement and degree attainment. These recommendations, spanning issues from preschool access to college costs and financial aid, are designed to support the Commission’s goal of raising college completion to 55% of young adults (ages 24–35) by 2025. In this follow-up report, the authors examine the progress and challenges in each area, summarizing the reasoning for the recommendation and any current policy issues surrounding it.

Current metrics used to track enrollment and matriculation of college students are insufficient for informing colleges of when students fail along the way, making it difficult for institutions to know how to help with new programs or interventions. They also differ between states and systems. In response, this report offers The Completion Arch, a five-part framework that can be commonly used as a nation and by states to measure student progress and success. The Completion Arch spans five areas, encompassing enrollment to workforce entry. For each area, the authors discuss what the research says, the multiple measures related to that area, and the indicators within each measure.

In the current developmental education model, few students who start more than one level below college proficiency ever complete their developmental education requirements. This report discusses the role of state policy in six Achieving the Dream states, presenting a framework that identifies the highest-impact policy levers for improving developmental education delivery and outcomes. The framework addresses three major components: a data-driven improvement process, a state-level innovation investment strategy, and policy supports for innovation and scale-up of effective practices.

More than half of all community college students are referred to developmental education courses, and yet most of these students never complete their remedial course sequence or leave school before earning their degree or certificate. Using data from six community colleges, this study examines the short-term effects of learning communities for developmental education students. Overall, the study finds that learning communities had a small, positive effect on progress in the targeted subject (English or math) and on total credits earned, but no impact on credits outside of the targeted subject, and no impact on persistence in college. 

In the U.S., K–12 and postsecondary education are disjointed, creating barriers that hinder students — especially lesser-prepared students — from successfully navigating the transition to and through higher education. Based on a four-state study that analyzed K–16 educational governance and state policies in areas such as finance, curricula and assessment, accountability, and data systems, this report proposes a set of policy levers for states interested in K–16 reform. In addition to providing examples of the steps several states have taken to move the K–16 agenda forward, the authors also offer recommendations to help states formalize current approaches into more effective, sustainable, and long-term governance structures and policies for improving success opportunities for students.

In the past twenty years, many school reform models have been initiated to improve college preparation, access, and success for underserved students. This paper examines the predictors of college-going behavior and how they have been addressed within the high school reform movement. The authors review and analyze a variety of school reform initiatives including AVID, Talent Development High Schools, International Baccalaureate, Project GRAD, and GEAR UP, among others. The authors extrapolate promising practices from existing reform initiatives and make recommendations for addressing the predictors of college-going behavior. Among the predictors, the authors find that academic rigor and strong social and academic support are the most crucial predictors of a student’s successful enrollment in, and completion of, postsecondary education.

The process of assessing underprepared students, placing them into an appropriate developmental education course sequence, and advancing them through to college-level coursework is broken. Based on a case study of the City University of New York’s six community colleges, this report proposes a new opposing forces framework for understanding the dysfunction of the developmental education system. The authors discuss the tensions inherent in the framework — systemwide consistency versus institutional autonomy, efficient versus effective assessment, and promotion of student progression versus enforcement of academic standards — and use CUNY as a case study to describe how each of the opposing forces shape developmental policies, practices, and student progression patterns.

Employers need skilled workers, but there needs to be new and clearer career pathways for adults to get the education and training they need to become such workers. As part of a technical assistance effort, this report presents a framework — comprising six key elements — that workforce investment systems can use to develop and implement successful career pathways, especially for adult learners. For each element, the report offers examples of specific approaches and models in place among states. The authors also discuss how key state and local workforce investment systems can strategically partner to improve career pathways toward educating a more prepared generation of workers.

The Puente Project is a national award-winning program with the mission to increase the number of educationally disadvantaged students who enroll in four-year colleges and universities, earn college degrees and return to the community as mentors and leaders to future generations. The program is interdisciplinary in approach, with writing, counseling and mentoring components.

The H&R Block FAFSA experiment compared outcomes for individuals who completed the FAFSA independently to those who completed it with guidance from an H&R Block representative and received an estimate of their aid eligibility. The authors used the data to determine the impact of guidance and simplified forms on applicants’ completion of the complex and often confusing financial aid application process. Results suggest that assistance has a positive impact on college enrollment decisions.

The structure hypothesis argues that community college students are more likely to succeed when offered a highly structured program of study that makes clear the path to completion and reduces bureaucratic barriers. Using existing research this report examines the decision-making processes that students must go through to successfully navigate college and the psychological impacts of making these decisions in a low-structure context. The author then reviews several methods that schools might consider implementing to provide students with a more structured, easier to navigate college experience, including revised curriculum design and improved access to information.

The Wallace Foundation: Knowledge Center offers a compilation of research reports and promising tools in areas including School Leadership and Adult Literacy.

Fast Facts about postsecondary complied from various reputable sources.

Success in college unquestionably requires the academic skills and knowledge to complete rigorous coursework. This report argues that the non-academic challenges of postsecondary education (e.g., navigating the bureaucratic hurdles and building new interpersonal relationships) can also be significant barriers to success. The author reviews existing research on the support services available to students, focusing on the major processes within commonly implemented programs that help students cope with non-academic stressors.

In 2004, 26 colleges began working with the Achieving the Dream initiative to improve their use of student performance data to shape the services they provide to students and raise achievement levels. This report examines the progress of these “First Round” schools over the first five years of the initiative, including leadership and staff engagement, data systems and programs implemented, and student outcomes.

Some would believe that the playing fields are leveled when California students leave their intensely segregated high schools and enter their local community colleges. This report explores the student pipelines to and from Southern California’s 51 community colleges and describes the varying levels of segregation and educational opportunity for the students among these institutions. The authors examine the relationship between high school performance and racial and ethnic segregation in the 51 community colleges, as well as the transfer outcomes among all racial and ethnic groups. The authors conclude with recommendations for improving access, affordability, and excellence, especially for students faced with the greatest needs.

Community colleges continue to explore innovative approaches to increasing the graduation rates of their students. This report examines one such program: CUNY’s Accelerated Study in Associate Programs (ASAP), a multifaceted and long-term program with the goal of graduating 50 percent of its students within three years. Aimed at helping community college students graduate, ASAP provides supports and incentives for overcoming barriers to student success throughout the three years. Presenting promising early findings, the authors discuss the effects on full-time enrollment, credits earned and completed developmental coursework, and semester-by-semester retention.

Research on college completion seldom includes controls to examine the effect of various institutional policies on student completion rates or how policies’ effectiveness change over time. In this study, researchers used longitudinal transcript data to examine the relationship between institutions and graduation probability. They then ranked similar community colleges on their success in graduating minority students and held interviews with personnel from six schools (three high-impact and three low-impact colleges) to determine which policies contribute to the schools’ completion rates.

Improving college attendance and persistence is critical to the goal of improving student success rates. This report examines the college-going behaviors of students enrolled in dual enrollment programs — a strategy that can help lesser prepared students get ready for college. Based on studies, the report describes positive outcomes for students in dual enrollment programs and the benefits students experience from taking dual enrollment courses.

Measuring student success by completion rate doesn’t present an accurate picture of the different postsecondary goals students have and how they plan to reach them. Using data from an earlier study, this report examines how community college students’ patterns of course-taking behavior can contribute to or distract from meeting their degree, certificate, and transfer goals. The authors identify characteristics of students who exhibit these patterns and suggest that community colleges use these data to strengthen support services and interventions, especially for the disproportionate groups of students that are not successfully reaching completion.

The traditional use of placement exams for incoming college students may actually act as a barrier to college completion, misassigning students into developmental education who really don’t need remediation. Using information from a Jobs for the Future convening, involving state officials and community college leaders along with interviews and analysis, this report examines how emerging research is challenging assumptions about placement tests as an accurate data source for determining college readiness. The author describes innovative approaches that some states are taking with placement exams and presents them in three broad categories: Downplaying the tests, Changing the tests, and Supporting students around the tests. Lastly, the author discusses key issues of cost, time, and validity as related to reforming the use of placement tests.

This report explores “degree productivity” improvement through a synthesis of research, an analysis of systemwide datasets, and detailed studies of high-performing institutions. Based on these sources and observations, the authors suggest the following five practices, in conjunction with essential elements, for increasing productivity without reducing the quality or access to education:

1. Systematically enabling students to reach graduation through reforms such as structured pathways to graduation, effective student supports and placement, and preparing students for post-study work.
2. Reduce nonproductive credits by improving developmental education and tutoring, implementing policies for tracking and intervening to support student progress and completion, and aligning transfer policies.
3. Redesign the delivery of instruction by leveraging technology to become more cost-effective, providing course mentors to augment online teaching materials, and including a full summer semester to the academic calendar year.
4. Provide more efficient core supports and services by implementing cost-saving measures such as converting from a paper-based to an electronic system and providing self-service online systems for administering financial aid.
5. Optimize non-core services and maintaining only mission-critical, non-core services.

For all institutions to increase their degree of productivity to the levels achieved by the highlighted high- performing institutions, the authors suggest the following steps for institutions as well as policymakers:

1. Honest self-assessments conducted by higher education institutions to compare their overall productivity and performance on the five identified practices to those of highly productive institutions. Moreover, institutions must assess the will and skill of leadership and management to pursue systemwide change.
2. Improve statewide performance measurement, data gathering, and benchmarking to improve the tracking of institutional progress. Without this in place, states and institutions cannot be held accountable for their progress.
3. Make productivity in higher education a priority in state and federal policy. While they should not dictate how to increase productivity, grants and policies should support innovative strategies and the sharing of best practices.

With national interest focused on increasing college completion rates, decision-makers and the public need to understand some of the barriers to completion from the perspective of the students themselves. Using survey data of more than 600 young adults, this first of three reports compares the reasons why students leave college before completing a degree or certificate with those of students who had successfully completed a two- or four-year college program. The authors discuss the myths about why students drop out of college and the actual findings as reported by the students. The report also presents solutions that students believed would have made a significant difference in successfully completing their postsecondary education.

Students arrive at community colleges with college-ready status determined by a placement test; however, many of these students, along with their peers in developmental education, are still not completing college successfully. Perhaps, then, college readiness support should not focus only on academics. Based on interview data from a previous study, this paper addresses the non-academic expectations of community college students and the unspoken role they are expected to exhibit to successfully navigate and complete their academic programs. The authors provide a description of the community college student role and the specific components of the role. Aiming for transparency for students, the authors offer student strategies within each component for playing out the new role.