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All 13 state community colleges are under the Tennessee Board of Regents (TBR) implementing what they call 'Tennessee completion practices' - reforms to help students choose, enter, navigate, and complete programs that prepare them for further education and careers. This report describes how the colleges are operationalizing the Tennessee completion practices in their own contexts, as well as how trends in leading indicators of student completion have changed since the reforms began.

Drawing on colleges' detailed self-assessments of their progress and telephone interviews with college administrators, staff, and faculty, the authors discuss how far along the colleges are in implementing completion practices in each of the four major areas of guided pathways reforms: (1) mapping pathways to student end goals; (2) helping students choose and enter a program pathway; (3) keeping students on path; and (4) ensuring that students are learning. They then examine promising trends in first-year momentum among entering students, with a focus on students' accumulation of college credits and completion of gateway college math and English courses in their first year. In addition to looking at overall improvements in early momentum metrics, the authors review the extent to which the colleges have made progress in closing equity gaps by race/ethnicity and age. The report concludes with a consideration of critical next frontiers for the Tennessee community colleges, along with future directions for the Community College Research Center's continuing research partnership with TBR and the Tennessee community colleges.

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In this report, we present a model for rethinking dual enrollment - through which over 1.5 million high school students take courses for college credit each year - as a more equitable on-ramp to college degree programs that prepare students to secure well-paying, career-path employment in their 20s. We describe emergent efforts by early adopter institutions of whole-college guided pathways reforms to expand access to dual enrollment for students from groups underrepresented in college and to redesign dual enrollment offerings and supports so that students can more readily pursue a postsecondary degree program in a field they are interested in directly after high school. This model, which we call dual enrollment equity pathways (DEEP), reflects a change in mindset from colleges' and high schools' conventional approach to dual enrollment. Conventional dual enrollment programs are sometimes described as 'programs of privilege' because of uneven access and barriers to participation or as 'random acts' because of insufficient intentionality (and advising) in terms of how the coursework can fit into postsecondary pathways aligned to students' interests.

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In this article, researchers from the Community College Research Center reflect on what they have learned from their study of Guided Pathways reforms at over 100 colleges nationally since the publication in 2015 of Redesigning America's Community Colleges. They examine five areas of practice: (1) program design, (2) new student onboarding, (3) remediation and academic support, (4) ongoing student advising, and (5) teaching and learning. For each area, they describe how their thinking about Guided Pathways has evolved from the model presented in Redesigning and discuss the implications for practice. In the conclusion, they provide guidance to college and state system leaders about how to advocate for adequate state fiscal support for evidence-based reforms needed for achieving more equitable student outcomes and ensuring college survival in a very challenging environment for community colleges and their students.

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This guide presents examples and instructions for data analyses colleges can conduct to better understand student enrollments and completions in particular programs. Such analyses can help colleges scrutinize representation of historically marginalized groups in programs leading to greater opportunity after graduation. There is an equity imperative in this effort. Without disaggregating program enrollments with an eye to what those programs lead to - and interrogating and redesigning practices and policies perpetuating inequities - student success reform approaches such as guided pathways will likely continue to reinforce existing racial/ethnic, gender, and socioeconomic stratification. Examining representation across college programs with equity in mind is an important complement to the work colleges are doing to increase completion rates overall and close equity gaps.

The authors recommend that colleges undertake a series of data exercises and reflective discussions based on the following three questions: (1) What programs are our students currently enrolled in? (2) What opportunity does each program lead to in terms of further education (e.g., transfer to bachelor's programs or bridges into more advanced workforce credentials) and/or immediate job prospects and earnings; (3) Which programs lead to greater or lesser opportunity? Is student representation across programs proportionate? Which subgroups of students (by race/ethnicity, gender, socioeconomic status, and age) are underrepresented in higher-opportunity programs? To answer these questions, the authors show how to carry out a set of relatively simple data analyses that colleges can replicate using their own data. Similar analyses can be used to examine program completions.

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Objective: This study develops an analytical framework for identifying effective partnerships between 2- and 4-year institutions that enable community college entrants to transfer to a 4-year institution and earn a bachelor's degree in a timely fashion. Method: Using the individual term-by-term college enrollment and degree records from the National Student Clearinghouse for the entire 2007 fall cohort of first-time-in-college community college students nationwide, we use regressions to control for student and institutional characteristics in identifying effective partnerships in two steps: first, we identify community colleges with large residual values (better than expected outcomes); and second, we identify the 4-year partners of those community colleges with large residual values. Results: Descriptive results on the variation in transfer outcomes among the thousands of unique transfer partnerships nationally are presented alongside results from regressions used in the two-step effective transfer partnership identification. Contributions: Recommendations and considerations for using this framework to evaluate and benchmark institutional performance in supporting the academic success of vertical transfer students for baccalaureate attainment are also discussed.

Published abstract reprinted by permission of the copyright owner.

This article is based on the CCRC working paper, 'Strengthening transfer paths to a bachelor's degree: identifying effective two-year to four-year college partnerships', available in VOCEDplus at TD/TNC 128.629. Show less

Investing in community colleges is a central part of the Biden administration's education agenda, with the goal of strengthening America's middle class and opening the benefits of education to all Americans. [Community College Research Center] CCRC has conducted 25 years of research on how community colleges can more effectively educate students and set them up to successfully transfer to a four-year college, launch a family-sustaining career, or upskill to get a better job. Our research has led to the conclusion that systemic, whole-college reform is needed to reach all students and to help many more of them reach their goals.

Guided Pathways is a comprehensive reform approach whereby community colleges fundamentally redesign their programs and support services in ways that create clearer, more educationally coherent pathways to credentials with strong labor-market value. It is currently being implemented by hundreds of colleges across the country. Guided Pathways is not an intervention but rather a framework that the federal government, states, and colleges can use to strengthen community colleges and improve student outcomes. In this brief, we explain what Guided Pathways is, why we think it has promise, what it costs, and how it can help improve student success on a large scale and thus grow a stronger, more prosperous, and more inclusive middle class.

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Most students entering community college aim to earn a bachelor's degree. But, as shown in the recent study, 'Tracking transfer: new measures of institutional and state effectiveness in helping college students attain bachelor's degrees', a relatively small portion of these students transfer and earn a bachelor's degree within six years. This playbook is a practical guide to designing and implementing a key set of practices that will help community colleges and their four-year college partners improve transfer outcomes. The playbook is based on the practices of six sets of community colleges and universities that together serve transfer students well. These institutions have higher than expected rates of bachelor's degree attainment for degree-seeking students who start at community college and transfer to a four-year institution - after accounting for their student demographics and institutional characteristics.

The playbook is organized around three broad strategies observed in these partnerships: (1) make transfer student success a priority; (2) create clear programmatic pathways with aligned high-quality instruction; and (3) provide tailored transfer student advising. Included in the playbook are essential practices underlying each of these three strategies, a discussion of the next frontiers of practice, and a list of activities for community colleges and four-year colleges to undertake in order to implement the strategies.

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More than a million high school students across the nation participate in dual enrollment each year. Dual enrollment students are more likely to graduate from high school, enroll in college, and complete college degrees. But students from historically underrepresented racial/ethnic groups and low-income backgrounds do not have equitable access to or success in dual enrollment. This playbook examines nine dual enrollment programs in Florida, Ohio, and Washington that have narrowed or closed equity gaps in dual enrollment for Black, Latinx, Indigenous, and Pacific Islander students. These programs - developed by partnerships between high schools and community colleges - show that it is possible to close equity gaps when intentional strategy is paired with innovation and commitment. The playbook identifies five principles and the supporting strategies and practices through which community colleges and K-12 leaders can advance equity in high-quality dual enrollment: (1) Set a shared vision and goals that prioritize equity; (2) Expand equitable access; (3) Provide advising and supports that ensure equitable student outcomes; (4) Provide high-quality instruction that builds students' competence and confidence; and (5) Organize teams and develop relationships to maximize potential.

Excerpt from publisher's website. Show less

Objective: The objective of this study was to describe practices of 2- and 4-year institutional partnerships effective in supporting transfer student success. Method: Using student records from the National Student Clearinghouse (NSC) for the entire 2007 fall cohort of first-time-in-college community college students nationwide, researchers identified partnerships of 2- and 4-year institutions that were more effective than expected (controlling for student and institutional characteristics) in enabling community college entrants to transfer to a 4-year institution and earn a bachelor's degree. Based on this methodology, and in partnership with the Aspen Institute's College Excellence Program, researchers visited six pairs of 2- and 4-year college transfer partnerships identified as high performers, interviewing more than 350 faculty, student-facing and senior-level staff, and transfer students.

Results: From these in-depth interviews, researchers identified a set of essential transfer practices common among these highly effective institutional partnerships. The practices were grouped under three broad strategies: (a) make transfer a priority, (b) create clear programmatic pathways with aligned high-quality instruction, and (c) provide tailored transfer advising. Contributions: This study offers a set of essential transfer practices culled from national fieldwork to 2- and 4-year institutional transfer partnerships identified using NSC data as highly effective in supporting transfer student success.

Published abstract reprinted by permission of the copyright owner.

Special issue: 'Transfer matters', guest edited by Mark M. D'Amico and Matt S. Giani. Show less

Objective - Some have hypothesized that community college programs are not sufficiently structured to support student success and that students would benefit from more highly structured programs. This study examines the specific ways that structure is expressed in policy and practice at representative community colleges. Method - Using data obtained from interviews and program websites at Washington State community and technical colleges, [the authors] examine the structure of community college career-technical programs along four dimensions: program prescription, program alignment, access to information, and active advising and support. Results - [The authors] find high levels of structure on all dimensions in the allied health, computer and information science, and mechanics and repair programs. There are moderate levels of structure in the business and marketing programs. Contributions - This study documents the specific ways that community college career-technical programs are structured to support student success, and it provides a framework for examining structure to inform practice and guide future research efforts.

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