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This paper is a literature review that explores the nature and effectiveness of contextualization as a way to improve outcomes for academically under-prepared college students. Two forms of contextualization have been studied: 'contextualized' and 'integrated' instruction. There is more descriptive work on the contextualization of basic skills than studies with student outcome data. In addition, many studies with quantitative evidence on the effectiveness of contextualization have methodological flaws that limit conclusions. Further, only a small number of studies are with college students. However, despite these problems, contextualization seems to be a promising direction for accelerating the progress of academically under-prepared college students. The method of contextualization is grounded in a conceptual framework relating to the transfer of skill and student motivation; practitioners who use it observe positive results, and the available quantitative evidence indicates that it has the potential to increase achievement.

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This paper examines the ways in which academically vulnerable students benefit from non-academic support. By reviewing theories of student persistence as well as program evaluation literature, the author identifies four mechanisms by which non-academic supports can improve student outcomes, including persistence and degree attainment. Programs associated with positive student outcomes seem to involve one or more of the following mechanisms: (1) creating social relationships; (2) clarifying aspirations and enhancing commitment; (3) developing college know-how; and (4) making college life feasible. Identifying these mechanisms allows for a deeper understanding of both the functioning of promising interventions and the conditions that may lead students to become integrated into college life. Notably, each of these mechanisms can occur within a variety of programs, structures, or even informal interactions. The paper concludes by discussing avenues for further research and immediate implications for colleges.

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Using data from the Virginia Community College System and building upon prior Florida-based research, this study examines whether student success course enrollment, as well as student and institutional characteristics, has positive associations with shorter term student outcomes, including earning any college credits within the first year and persistence into the second year. The present study finds that students who enrolled in a student success course in the first semester were more likely to earn any college-level credits within the first year and were more likely to persist to the second year. The study also finds that students who were referred to developmental education were more likely to earn any college-level credits within the first year if they enrolled in a student success course in their first term.

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Many students enrolling in community colleges in the US never complete their course. Low-income, minority, and first-generation college students have even lower completion rates. This report is part of an initiative, ‘Achieving the dream: community colleges count’, that will initially work with 27 community colleges to help them to increase retention, completion, and success for underserved groups. The report contributes to four main goals: (1) to provide general descriptive information on community college student characteristics and educational outcomes, and make comparisons with other higher education sectors; (2) to discuss the importance of college completion and transfer, reviewing the debate about whether completion is a meaningful or justifiable standard for a community college; (3) to review current research on the factors influencing student outcomes in community colleges in order to help colleges improve student outcomes and to recommend ways to improve the quality and effectiveness of research; and (4) to initiate a program of empirical research on institutional graduation rates through an analysis of community college graduation rates and the development of a benchmarking system for evaluating college performance that allows for differences in college characteristics. The research identified several institutional determinants of graduation, e.g. colleges with many part-time students have lower graduation rates even for full-time students, graduation rates were lower for African-American and Hispanic students, higher tuition was linked to lower graduation rates, and higher expenditure on instruction was associated with higher graduation rates. Based on the findings of the research, three groups of programmatic and policy implications for colleges are presented: retention, graduation, and transfer rates; programs and practices; and research on community colleges. Show less

Dual enrollment programs allow high school students to take college courses and receive college credit and have become a popular educational intervention. This paper seeks a rationale for this enthusiasm by exploring whether dual enrollment might serve as a location in which students learn about the role of college student. Sociological theories of role change posit that, if this is the case, dual enrollment might encourage postsecondary persistence. In this study, in-depth interviews and observations were conducted among a sample of 26 students in their first semester of a dual enrollment course. Seventeen of the 26 high school students shifted their conceptions of the role of college student during their first semester in a college course, as indicated by their more accurate descriptions of the role at the end of the course. Changes in participants’ role conceptions and identities were encouraged by anticipatory socialization, role rehearsal, trial-and-error, and cognitive interpretation of individual experiences. The paper concludes with implications for programs and policy.

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Told from the point of view of the Miami Dade College’s (MDC’s) Office of Institutional Effectiveness, this paper describes how the college is using the interpretation of a variety of data to make better-informed choices about the operation of student programs and services. MDC has made a number of changes in an attempt to improve student outcomes across its large, eight-campus college. While this endeavor continues to move forward, some specific strategies relevant to the college’s developmental mathematics pathway that were launched a few years ago have begun to show promising results. What is more, the processes that took place in choosing, implementing, and assessing those strategies have to some meaningful extent been institutionalized through college-wide reform.

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Dual enrollment programs enable high school students to enroll in college courses and earn college credit. Once limited to high-achieving students, such programs are increasingly seen as a means to support the postsecondary preparation of average-achieving students. Moreover, though dual enrollment programs typically have been reserved for academically-focused students, increasing numbers of career and technical education (CTE) programs are providing such opportunities to their students.

Despite the popularity and growth of dual enrollment programs, little is known about their efficacy. This report seeks to answer several questions regarding their effectiveness using rigorous quantitative methods. We examine the impact of dual enrollment participation for students in the State of Florida and in New York City. For both locations, we specifically examine postsecondary outcomes for participating CTE students; in Florida, we also examine the outcomes of dual enrollment participation for all students. We provide evidence that dual enrollment is a useful strategy for encouraging postsecondary success for all students, including those in CTE programs.

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This guide is designed for community colleges and state agencies that are interested in analyzing the labor market outcomes of their programs and identifying opportunities for improving employment outcomes of their students.

The 'tipping point' refers to a study conducted by David Prince of the Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges (SBCTC) and Davis Jenkins of CCRC. Using transcript data on individual students collected by the SBCTC, the study tracked the progress over five years of a cohort of Washington State community and technical college students 25 or older who entered the system with at most a high school diploma. Compared to students who earned fewer than 10 credits, those who reached this 'tipping point' of at least two semesters of credits and a credential had a considerable average annual earnings advantage: $7,000 for students who started in ESL [English as a second language], $8,500 for those who started in ABE [adult basic education] or GED [General Education Development], and $2,700 and $1,700 for those who entered with at most a GED or high school diploma.

The study found, however, that few students reach the tipping point, with many adult basic skills students earning no college credits at all. This finding motivated the SBCTC staff to explore with educators throughout the system ways to increase the rate at which adult basic skills students transition to college and reach the tipping point. One strategy developed in response, called Integrated Basic Education and Skills Training, or I-BEST, involves courses for basic skills students jointly taught by basic skills and college-level occupational faculty. The SBCTC evaluated pilots of the I-BEST programs and found that they substantially increase the rate at which basic skills students advance to college and reach the tipping point. Community college agencies in several states have since expressed interest in conducting tipping point studies using data on their own students. This document is intended to provide guidance on how to do that.

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[This paper] presents findings from a study of the experiences and outcomes of older and younger community college students. We developed a discrete-time hazard model using longitudinal transcript data on a cohort of first-time community college students in Florida to compare the impact of enrollment pathways (such as remediation) and enrollment milestones (such as attaining a certain number of credits) on educational outcomes of older students - those who entered college for the first time at age 25 or later - with those of traditional-age students. Results suggest that reaching milestones such as obtaining 20 credits or completing 50 per cent of a program is a more important positive factor affecting graduation probabilities for younger students than it is for older students. We also found that although enrollment in remedial courses decreases the odds of graduating for all students, older students who enroll in remediation are less negatively affected than are younger ones who do the same.

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Beginning at a local two-year college and then transferring to a four-year institution has been one of the most affordable ways for students to earn a bachelor's degree. Yet transfer pathways from two- to four-year institutions are often complex and confusing, and too many students who begin at a community college and aspire to earn a bachelor's degree fail to do so. Macomb Community College has taken a number of significant steps to address this issue. Macomb has developed over 200 transfer plans with partner institutions to facilitate transfer and to improve success rates for transfer students. It has partnered with its most popular transfer destinations to form the University Partners Advisory Council (U-PAC) to study and improve transfer pathways for students who begin their studies at Macomb and want to eventually earn a bachelor's degree.

Through an analysis of student data, this report provides information on the outcomes of students who attended Macomb during or after 2003 and who transferred to U-PAC institutions between fall 2007 and spring 2009. Outcomes are tracked through June 2017. The study examines the rate at which students earn bachelor's degrees, for U-PAC colleges as a group and in some cases for each individual de-identified U-PAC member. It also examines excess credit accumulation, that is, whether transfer students earn more credits than are necessary for a degree. The excess credit analysis is based on a smaller sample of students for which linked transcript data from both Macomb and the U-PAC colleges were available. The conclusion of the report makes suggestions for reforms in policies and practices that have the potential to improve transfer outcomes for Macomb students.

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