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Over the past four decades, community colleges have played an increasingly important role in higher education. Today, community colleges - which are accessible and affordable, relative to four-year institutions - enroll more than one in every three postsecondary education students. Unfortunately, among students who enroll in community colleges with the intent to earn a credential or transfer to a four-year institution, only 51 per cent achieve their goal within six years. These students may face fewer difficulties and make better academic progress if they had better access to, or more adequate, student services, but, as it stands, student-to-counselor ratios at community colleges are often more than 1,000 to 1, limiting the assistance that students receive. As part of MDRC's multisite Opening Doors demonstration, Lorain County Community College and Owens Community College in Ohio ran a program that provided enhanced student services and a modest stipend to low-income students. Students in the Opening Doors program were assigned to one of a team of counselors, with whom they were expected to meet at least two times per semester for two semesters to discuss academic progress and resolve any issues that might affect their schooling. Each counselor worked with far fewer students than did the regular college counselors, which allowed for more frequent, intensive contact. Participating students were also eligible for a $150 stipend for two semesters, for a total of $300. To estimate the effects of the program, MDRC worked with the colleges to randomly assign students either to a program group, whose members were eligible for the Opening Doors services and stipend, or to a control group, whose members received standard college services and no Opening Doors stipend. Any subsequent substantial differences in academic and other outcomes can be attributed to the program.

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First year students' academic performance in three life sciences courses (Botany, Zoology and Bioscience) was compared. Pass rates, as well as the means and distributions of final marks were analysed. Of the three components (coursework, practical and theory examinations) contributing to the final mark of each course, students performed best in the coursework. Subcomponents of the theory examinations of each subject showed students performed more poorly in the essay section. As the highest frequency of students achieved a final mark in the 50-60 per cent category for all three subjects, it is clear that the weighting of the examinations to the final mark should not be increased as this would lower students overall performance and decrease pass rates dramatically. It appears that improvement of appropriate assessment tasks linked to learning outcomes, and appropriate development of learning opportunities need to be ongoing in both coursework and examinations for the three courses.

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The focus of this report is to identify ways to improve the delivery of the Equality and Human Rights Commission's Staying On initiative, which is in response to the Education and Skills Act 2008. The new legislation will mean that, from 2013 teenagers in England will remain in education or training until at least their 17th birthday, rising to 18 by 2016. The first cohort to stay on entered secondary school in September 2008. The research has focused on improving engagement for all young people, with particular attention on those who are not in education, employment or training (NEET) and tend to suffer the greatest inequality in learning. Those suffering the greatest inequality are more likely to be young people who are disabled, from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, refugees, ethnic minorities, asylum seekers, Gypsies and Travellers, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender, and young mothers.

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In America a diverse chorus of researchers, employers, philanthropies, state and local officials, and now the president himself, articulates the importance of raising national educational attainment for achieving broad-based economic growth and strengthening the middle class. Community colleges are thought to be critical to any such effort as the education and training they provide help to fill important labor market needs. Students who earn degrees and certificates from community colleges enjoy significant earnings advantages over workers with a high school diploma alone. However, only one-third of students in these colleges earn a credential of any kind within six years of enrollment. This paper argues that one overlooked factor that contributes to this is the relatively meager financial support that community colleges receive from the federal government.

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This study uses a classification scheme, the Community College Taxonomy (CCT), to analyze outcomes for beginning community college students according to how 'directed' (strongly directed, moderately directed, or not directed) they are toward completing a program of study. Levels of direction are based on factors associated with student persistence and degree attainment, and outcomes examined included institutional retention, student persistence, 4-year transfer rates, enrollment continuity, and first-year attrition. The study is based on data from the 2004/06 Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal Study (BPS:04/06), a national sample of undergraduates who enrolled in postsecondary institutions for the first time between July 1, 2003, and June 30, 2004; participants were interviewed in 2004 and 2006. This study includes only students who initially enrolled in a community college and were not enrolled concurrently in any other institution. Some key findings include: (1) students classified according to the CCT as 'strongly directed' toward completion had higher rates of institutional retention, student persistence, AA degree attainment, and 4-year transfer than did their less-directed peers; (2) nearly one-fourth left college in their first year and did not return within the 3-year study period. 'Strongly directed' students left college in their first year at a lower rate (16 per cent) than did their 'moderately directed' (29 per cent) or 'not directed' (41 per cent) counterparts; (3) overall, 49 per cent of students had maintained their enrollment or completed a program of study at their first institution, and 55 per cent had persisted in any postsecondary institution, within three years after their enrollment; and (4) some 10 per cent of students had earned an AA degree, five per cent had obtained a vocational certificate, and nearly 20 per cent had transferred to another institution.

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In this paper we explore whether power issues enhance and/or inhibit retention of foundation-learners in vocational education in Aotearoa New Zealand. After surveying reasons given for early departure in the retention literature, the paper offers Foucault's notion of governmentality as another possible factor in early departure. The paper explores three aspects of governmentality through the data: whether student resistance to the exercise of power creates conditions for early departure; whether the process of group formation, identity building and behaviour creates power dynamics within groups that inhibit or enhance retention; whether self-disciplining, using power on oneself to conform to others' expectations, norms or rules, influences learners' decisions about staying or leaving early. Our conclusions are tentative but we suggest that power issues do play a part in helping learners decide whether or not to complete their courses of study.

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Using multi-institutional data from the Cooperative Institutional Research Program's (CIRP) annual survey of entering freshmen, the Higher Education Research Institute's (HERI) Faculty Surveys, campus registrars' offices, and [integrated past-secondary education data system] IPEDS data, we evaluated the extent to which peer institutional retention climates and faculty perceived campus climates influenced individual 6-year retention rates. We used hierarchical generalized linear models (HGLM) to examine the extent to which institutional climate (as measured by peer institutional retention climate and faculty perceived climate), net of students' ability, expectations, and family socioeconomic status, influence students' persistence behavior. We found that institutional retention climate, as defined by a student body's aggregated report of withdrawal intentions, did independently determine whether a student would persist or not. While past research has overlooked peer and faculty climates, the results from this work call for the attention of peer institutional retention climates.

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Two major groups of theories - the existential norm theory and the ontological theory - are often employed in research studies in lifelong learning. Existential norm theory emphasizes policy formulation while ontological theory focuses more on the role of the learner. Regardless of which theory a survey is based upon, empirical evidence is indeed crucial. To date, surveys based on empirical evidence are rare in quantity. The objective of this study was to conduct a large-scale survey of local citizens to obtain their general opinions on the demand for continuing education. The survey was conducted between March and May in 2008 through stratified random telephone interviews, and 1,506 Hong Kong citizens aged between 18 and 64 were successfully interviewed. This paper summarizes the survey findings in five major aspects: (1) participation rate of continuing education and projected participation rate in the next 12 months; (2) most preferred subject areas and the learners'learning motives; (3) channels and/or media through which course/programme information was obtained; (4) hindrances to learning and the reasons behind them; and (5) attitude towards online learning and reasons for choosing (or not choosing) the online learning mode. The authors hope that the findings help the Government, in some way or other, to formulate education policies, and also assist education providers in planning the offering of courses/programmes. It is hoped that this kind of survey will promote empirical studies in the field of continuing education and lifelong learning, and can be used as references for the continuing education sector.

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This study sought to identify influences on the retention of Maori students, and adult students in general within Te Wananga O Aotearoa. Te Wananga O Aotearoa is a Maori-led tertiary institution in New Zealand. Seven retention variables were identified. These were student retention attitudes and behaviours, kaiako (teacher) characteristics, whanau (family) features, integration processes and institutional culture, employment and financial situation, student motivation, and pre-enrolment and induction processes. After highlighting the key factors affecting the retention of students at Te Wananga o Aotearoa, four propositions were made regarding ways to improve their retention. These were: kaiako (teachers) need retention related training; external motivation for kaiako (teachers) will improve student retention; improved student retention requires a change in institutional culture; and the measurement of retention attitudes and behaviours could provide data essential for increasing retention.

The study has led the way for future research in the following areas: using the student voice to provide a grounded view of retention; researching the area of kaiako (teachers) and pedagogy with regards to their ability to positively affect retention; researching the role of whanau (family) features to effectively configure support programs to positively affect retention; and identifying significant factors that contribute to adult students feelings of pressure, negatively affecting their retention.

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In 2003, Lumina Foundation for Education launched a bold, national initiative aimed at improving community college students' success - that is, helping students remain in school, improve their performance, and ultimately graduate with certificates or degrees - particularly among low-income students and students of color. Now encompassing 102 institutions in 22 states, Achieving the Dream: Community Colleges Count supports colleges through an institution-wide improvement process focused on the use of evidence to inform decisions about programming and practice. The goal for colleges is to develop a 'culture of evidence' in which a broad spectrum of faculty, staff, and administrators review data on student outcomes to identify priority areas for reform, develop strategies for improvement, implement and evaluate those strategies, and institutionalize those that yield evidence of increasing student success. The initiative provides both funding and expert consultation to help colleges through this process. Guilford Technical Community College, in Jamestown, North Carolina, joined the first cohort of colleges to participate in Achieving the Dream in 2004. This case study draws from Guilford's experience implementing Achieving the Dream to highlight what colleges may achieve and the challenges they may face in undertaking a similar process of institutional reform.

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