Among states, there is growing interest in providing new incentives to community college systems for improving college completion, but there are few resources available. This brief presents a set of tools that can help states design performance-based funding systems to influence student and institutional behavior. The first tool is a set of reflections based on Ohio’s new performance-based funding system that shifted its focus from course enrollment to course completion. The second tool is a set of recommendations to guide state leaders through design and implementation issues, especially related to challenges of equity, sustainability and political buy-in. The last tool is a matrix that summarizes similarities and differences among the Achieving the Dream states that have performance-based funding for their community colleges.

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.

Our nation’s states and colleges are being charged with the task to lead the world in college attainment. With consideration to the certificate as another option for completing higher education, this report describes how postsecondary institutions award certificates and who the individuals are that are earning them. Based on research studies, the author presents findings about labor market payoff from long-term certificates and recommends ways that colleges, states, and federal policymakers can maximize the potential of certificates for helping individuals and improving the economy. Recommendations include setting more aggressive goals for awarding more long-term certificates, aligning certificates to market needs, and focusing on program completion.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

For too many postsecondary students, remedial courses act more as a barrier than a support to attaining their degree or credential. Using data on college readiness, this report describes how the current developmental education model is failing to move students along on a successful path to completion. The report proposes specific practices for better preparing students for college-level work before they begin college and a new model in which, in lieu of remedial courses, all students enroll in first-year college courses that include embedded tutoring and support. The report presents 33 state profiles, each showing demographics of students in need of remediation and the rates at which students are completing remediation and college in that state.

The high dropout rate of Latino high school students means that Latino students are not enrolling in college, earning degrees, nor participating in the economy at the rate they should be. Based on the research, this report identifies six effective, replicable programs that have reduced dropout rates and have increased college attendance and student performance. Additionally, the authors describe other college attendance/dropout prevention programs that are used in California for improving outcomes of Latino students and present common program themes found among them.

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.

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.

To improve our nation’s economy, we need to create more coherent and effective education and workforce development systems, especially targeting disadvantaged youth and adults. This paper proposes new federal competitive grants to states that fund training partnerships between education institutions, employers from key industry sectors, workforce agencies, and other intermediaries at the state level, as well as fund support and services. The author discusses predicted costs and benefits of the grants and purports that over time, these activities will create more effective education and workforce systems, and that these investments will help reduce the nation’s unemployment rate.

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.

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.

States are considering the use of financial incentives to encourage students to complete a postsecondary credential. In this February 2012 interview with Dr. Richard Freeland, Commissioner of Higher Education for Massachusetts, Freeland discusses how state policy in the Commonwealth is aiming to increase postsecondary completion for low-income students and to close the racial achievement gap in postsecondary attainment. In his interview, Freeland describes the Vision Project, a pilot project in which Massachusetts public institutions of higher education develop a concrete proposal, based on promising practices and recommendations, for experimenting with the use of financial aid to improve college access and success for students in need.

Postsecondary students are not completing college for an array of reasons, but one may be due to selecting an institution that is not a good match for the student from the start. Based on survey data of more than 600 students who attended or completed college, this second of three reports describes the perspectives that young adults have of their college-preparation experiences with their high school guidance counselors. The report’s survey findings generally indicate that students felt unknown to their high school counselors and did not feel as if they were given useful or sufficient advice to help them navigate the college application and selection process successfully. 

Today’s college student is working while attending school, and as a result, is taking longer to earn a degree or complete courses for transfer — provided they don’t lose momentum and drop out first. In this article, the author examines how the new majority of postsecondary students are balancing work and college, and proposes new policies that boards of trustees can enact to specifically reduce the time it takes for a student to graduate. To save students time, the author advocates for fewer choices in the following ways: 1) Students sign up for a “program” with a set pathway of course requirements rather than sign up for individual courses that may delay progress, and 2) Colleges offer more structured scheduling, enabling students to plan for daily class attendance rather than anticipating an unpredictable schedule semester to semester.

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.

Continuing and increasing educational and workforce inequalities of Hispanic, Black, and American Indian/Alaska Native populations, if left unchecked, will negatively impact the economic welfare of the western United States. This report focuses on the ability of these states to educate minorities in order to improve their workforces and economies. The author uses state-by-state data to examine current education gaps, preparation for high-skill and high-wage jobs for certain minority groups, workforce status, and the impact of increasing the educated minority workforce in the region.

According to American employers, our nation’s college graduates are not prepared for the workforce, despite having “served their time” in school. This report describes the history of the “credit hour” and how it has become standard practice for colleges to award degrees based on seat time rather than on learning attained. The author discusses the negative consequences this practice has had on completion rates and student debt. In response, the author recommends how the federal government can use three existing tools that would redefine “credit hours,” award financial aid based on learning and not time, and support innovation and experimentation in this area.

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.

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 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.

Without a postsecondary degree, otherwise employable adults are not able to be part of the workforce that would contribute to sustaining a thriving economy. This brief examines New Jersey’s existing policies, programs, and initiatives toward providing better and flexible options and support services to those postsecondary students who are just short of their degree or certificate. The authors discuss current initiatives aimed at reengaging adult students and suggest policy recommendations to strengthen state efforts to increase degree completion rates in the Garden State, with a focus on systems alignment and goal setting, student recruitment and retention, tuition funding, student supports, and flexible delivery options.

Many students—especially, low-income or racially and ethnically underrepresented students—begin their postsecondary education at a two-year college; however, increasing education costs are making it more difficult for these students to stay in school, transfer to a baccalaureate-granting institution, and earn a degree. This report addresses the concern that community college tuition increases have outpaced family income and financial aid options. The report calls for improved financial aid policies, such as financial assistance for part-time students who need to work, and more efficient pathways for transferring from community college to four-year institutions, such as adoption of a common course numbering system across two- and four-year colleges to ensure that credits from courses that teach the same content are recognized and transferable.

The Early College High School Initiative introduces students to free, credit-bearing college-level course work while in high school and provides support in the college application and enrollment process. This report describes the history and outcomes of the Initiative to date. The authors offer details on the context of the Initiative’s origin, key program elements and success indicators, and its supporting partnerships. Profiles of specific sites provide more in-depth snapshots.

Low-income, college-ready students are often at a disadvantage when it comes to selecting the best colleges to apply to as they may be lacking information, resources, and support to guide them through the process. This brief reviews the common challenges students face in the college selection process, such as late planning, limited school and financial aid information, and limited support, and provides guidance on how practitioners can better support students through the process.

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.

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. 

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.

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 nation has gaping economic needs that with training and education, could be filled by disconnected youth returning to school. This report offers a model based on successes in creating aligned pathways between community-based organizations, school districts, and postsecondary institutions targeted at putting off-track high school students and returning dropouts back on track through their first year of college. The Back on Track model features enriched and accelerated academic preparation, postsecondary bridging, and first-year supports. The authors present examples of current partnerships that work together to create this bridge, as well as policies to support the scaling up of this model

Improving the success of college completion and transfer rates requires new innovations aimed exactly at those efforts. This report profiles five California community colleges that have implemented practices or programs focused on completion and transfer to a four-year university or the workforce. Additionally, this report presents four commonalities, based on the work of these community colleges, that serve as a framework for any effort to improve student success: information matters, working together, supporting students outside the classroom, and college leaders are key.

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.

Low-income, minority, and adult students’ lower rates of passing introductory courses reduce their chances of earning a degree. Introductory courses are often generic and lecture-based, failing to meet the learning needs of students, but some institutions have effectively redesigned instructional approaches to increase rates of course completion. In this monograph, researchers identified six characteristics integrated into the student learning experience in the effective approaches, including student-centered learning, computer-based learning and testing resources, and on-demand help. Examining the implementation of redesigned courses in colleges with large populations of underserved students, the authors found improved outcomes for underserved students.

With nearly half of all students in higher education not earning a degree, colleges and universities refine strategies to increase retention rates and to address specific needs determined by their student demographics. This study investigates the retention rates for full- and part-time students at public community colleges by degrees of urbanization (i.e., city, suburb, town, and rural), and the differences in retention rates between and among these differing institutions. The authors present the findings regarding retention rates and recommend further research to examine the causes.

As demand for an educated workforce increases, effective high school-to-college pathways are needed to improve college and career readiness. This policy brief describes dual enrollment initiatives that seven states are enacting to provide more high school students — high- and low-achieving students — with opportunities to take college courses while completing high school. The authors introduce a web tool and offers six design principles for helping state leaders shape research-based policies on this key strategy.

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.