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Academic achievement in higher education is an important current policy issue because institutions are under public pressure to justify state subsidies and rising tuition with demonstrable gains in student learning. This article uses data from three flagship public universities to examine the effects of financial aid on first- through fourth-year college grade point average. The findings indicate that need-based aid and merit-based aid both have positive effects throughout college, and thus colleges may be able to use financial policy levers to increase academic achievement. However, since the effect of merit aid is larger than that of need-based aid, institutions may have incentives to reallocate aid and admissions spots from needy to merit students unless appropriate safeguards are adopted.

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The community college mission to provide accessible and affordable higher education for Americans, is being increasingly challenged by economic, political and social developments such as decreasing funding combined with growing enrolments, a greater emphasis on outcome-based accountability, competition from for-profit institutions, and a growing immigrant student population. These challenges are compounded by economic and workforce development pressures that could affect the capacity of colleges to fulfill their mission. This edited volume draws on case studies of colleges in six states to examine how these challenges impact the community college's mission of educational opportunity and how they can maintain their open-door policies and support students to complete qualifications that prepare them successfully for jobs. Particular focus is given to how colleges can serve low-income students of colour and other under-served groups. The authors propose a set of strategies to strengthen the role of colleges in providing both access and student achievement for all students. The chapters are as follows: Introduction: defending the community college equity agenda / Thomas Bailey and Vanessa Smith Morest (pp.1-27); Double vision: how the attempt to balance multiple missions is shaping the future of community colleges / Vanessa Smith Morest (pp.28-50); Performance accountability as imperfect panacea: the community college experience / Kevin J. Dougherty and Esther Hong (pp.51-86); Increasing competition and the growth of the for-profits / Thomas Bailey (pp.87-109); Virtual access / Rebecca D. Cox (pp.110-131); The limits of 'training for now': lessons from information technology certification / Jim Jacobs and W. Norton Grubb (pp.132-154); 'Lights just click on every day' / Dolores Perin and Kerry Charron (pp.155-194); 'Like, what do I do now?': the dilemmas of guidance counseling / W. Norton Grubb (pp.195-222); Twice the credit, half the time?: the growth of dual credit at community colleges and high schools / Vanessa Smith Morest and Melinda Mechur Karp (pp.223-245); The community college equity agenda in the twenty-first century: moving from access to achievement / Thomas Bailey and Vanessa Smith Morest (pp.246-270). Includes an extensive reference list. Show less

This brief was prepared for the Community College Virtual Symposium, a project of the US Department of Education, Office of Vocational and Adult Education, held at Montgomery College, Silver Spring, Maryland on April 27, 2011. It describes recent approaches to bridge programs and explores promising practices that contextualize and/or integrate instruction and strengthen student support and transition services to improve students' rates of postsecondary transition and completion. It focuses exclusively on programs bridging adult education and community college occupational programs. Although some students may not have a secondary credential when entering bridge programs, a major goal of these programs is to enable students who lack a secondary credential to earn one during the program.

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This paper examines how parental unemployment affects the transition to postsecondary education in different institutional contexts. Drawing on theoretical perspectives in intergenerational mobility research and sociology of higher education, we estimate the extent to which these intergenerational effects depend on social and education policies. We use data from five longitudinal surveys to analyze effects of parental unemployment on entry to postsecondary education in 21 countries. The results of multilevel regression analysis show that contexts providing better insurance against unemployment in terms of generous earnings replacement alleviate the adverse effect of parental unemployment. Moreover, entry gaps between youth from unemployed and employed households are smaller in tertiary education systems with more opportunity-equalizing education policies that provide higher financial support to students and reduce the role of private expenditure. We also find that these education policies are more relevant for children of less-educated unemployed parents.

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This quarterly newsletter reports on education and training issues, primarily focusing on Australia but with some coverage of developments in overseas countries. The feature article in this issue is 'The Desert Peoples Centre' by Gregor Ramsey which describes the development and function of this centre based in Alice Springs but involving other tertiary institutions and remote study centres. It is designed to be the Aboriginal desert peoples' 'own place of knowledge in which Aboriginal languages and culture is fundamental in nurturing learning and knowledge sharing'. This issue also includes a summary of the major outcomes of the July meeting of the Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs (MCEETYA), including a Ministerial declaration on Adult and Community Education (ACE), and a feature on early childhood education issues in Australia, the UK and the US. Other items included are the national Blue Sky Project, an Australian National Training Authority (ANTA) initiative to 'put learning back on the vocational education and training agenda', education in the UK, and educational issues from the Australian States and overseas. Show less

American policy makers, educators, and others are concerned that predicted workforce shortages in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields will have a catastrophic impact on the economy. This article takes a realistic look at the 'STEM problem,' identifying how community colleges can be a part of the solution. We provide evidence that shortages in STEM workers vary by geographic locale. Furthermore, STEM achievement is not consistent across ethnic groups or between men and women. These gaps may be due to unequal access to STEM degree programs and the shortage of quality STEM teachers.

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This paper is part of the Measuring the Effectiveness of Student Aid (MESA) project, a four year research effort being conducted by the Canadian Education Project and the School for Policy Studies at Queen's University on behalf of the Canada Millennium Scholarship Foundation.

The paper exploits the unprecedented rich information available in the Canadian Youth in Transition Survey, Sample A (YITSA) to investigate issues related to access to post-secondary education (PSE). The questions [the authors] ask are basically two-fold: What are the various influences on access to PSE of an individual's background, including more traditional measures such as family income and parental education, as well as a broader set of measures such as high school grades, social/academic 'engagement', and other cognitive and behavioural influences? How does including such a more extensive set of variables than has been possible in previous studies change the estimated effects of the more conventionally measured family/parental influences (family income and parental education) on access to PSE, and thus indicate how much of the latter influences operate through (or otherwise proxy) the effects of the broader set of variables, thereby isolating the direct - as opposed to indirect - influence of these traditional measures on access?

Utilizing multinomial logit models to capture the choice of level of PSE (i.e. college versus university) [the authors] find that parental income is positively related to university attendance, while having only a minor effect on college, but this effect is greatly diminished once parental education is included in the estimation. Similarly, the importance of parental education to university attendance is somewhat diminished once certain measures of high school grades, academic 'engagement', and a standardised reading test score are included - although, interestingly, these additional variables have little further affect on the family income influences. These results thus support other recent work which points to the importance of addressing earlier cognitive and behavioural influences, and family 'culture' more generally as captured by parental education, in effecting change in the rates and patterns of participation in PSE - although family income does remain a significant independent factor, albeit of significantly reduced influence.

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Disparities in educational attainment among population groups have characterized the United States throughout its history. Education is sometimes characterized as the 'great equalizer', but to date, the country has not found ways to successfully address the adverse effects of socioeconomic circumstances, prejudice, and discrimination that suppress performance for some groups. To ensure that the pursuit of equity encompasses both the goals to which the nation aspires for its children and the mechanisms to attain those goals, a revised set of equity indicators is needed. Measures of educational equity often fail to account for the impact of the circumstances in which students live on their academic engagement, academic progress, and educational attainment. Some of the contextual factors that bear on learning include food and housing insecurity, exposure to violence, unsafe neighborhoods, adverse childhood experiences, and exposure to environmental toxins. Consequently, it is difficult to identify when intervention is necessary and how it should function. A revised set of equity indicators should highlight disparities, provide a way to explore potential causes, and point toward possible improvements.

[This report] proposes a system of indicators of educational equity and presents recommendations for implementation. This report also serves as a framework to help policy makers better understand and combat inequity in the United States' education system. Disparities in educational opportunities reinforce, and often amplify, disparities in outcomes throughout people's lives. Thus, it is critical to ensure that all students receive comprehensive supports that level the playing field in order to improve the well-being of underrepresented individuals and the nation.

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This special issue, 'Constructions of gender', is guest edited by Pamela L. Eddy. The volume intends to challenge the historic concepts of gender performance and highlight how gender is much wider in its application and influence on campus.

Edited excerpts from publication.

The chapters are as follows: Setting the stage: broadly considering gender constructions / Jaime Lester and Carrie Klein (pages 11-22); Achieving gender equity for women leaders in community colleges through better communication / Amy Fara Edwards (pages 23-34); Changing leadership: taking a stand by 'Moving the Needle' for women's leadership in community colleges / Rosemary Gillett-Karam (pages 35-45) [indexed in VOCEDplus at TD/TNC 129.1085]; 'Good' places to work: women faculty, community colleges, academic work, and family integration / Kelly Ward and Lisa Wolf-Wendel (pages 47-58) [indexed in VOCEDplus at TD/TNC 129.1086]; The Clery Act on campus: status update and gender implications / E. Ashleigh Schuller Lee (pages 59-66); The intersectionality of gender and race: programs to support men of color in education / Dawn Person, Robert Dawson, Yvonne Garcia and Andrew Jones (pages 67-76) [indexed in VOCEDplus at TD/TNC 129.1087]; From boots to suits: women veterans transitioning to community college students / Judie A. Heineman (pages 77-88) [indexed in VOCEDplus at TD/TNC 129.1088]; Conflating gender and identity: the need for gender-fluid programming in community colleges / Eboni M. Zamani-Gallaher (pages 89-99); Looking forward: strategies for inclusivity / Pamela L. Eddy (pages 101-112). Show less

Success in post-secondary education cannot be taken for granted. The question of how students fare after initial entry into post-secondary studies has become increasingly important as participation in higher education has grown. The proportion of students from families with no previous history of post-secondary education, from families with moderate or low incomes, of average or even below-average academic achievement, and students who are Aboriginal, has grown. These types of students not only face greater barriers to access but potentially are also more likely, for academic, financial or cultural reasons, to abandon their studies before graduation. Low levels of persistence pose a problem for students, institutions and societies and this is why persistence is an issue of concern to policy-makers.

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