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Many community college students are overwhelmed by the number and complexity of choices they face in navigating college, leading to suboptimal decisions that can waste their time and money or that can divert them from a promising academic or career path. This case study describes how a large, suburban community college planned and implemented a relatively low-cost redesign of its student intake and information provision processes in an attempt to reduce confusion and increase student success.

Preliminary results suggest that the redesign improved the student experience, increasing the proportion of students who found the college's orientation to be very helpful and improving their performance on self-advising tasks. The concluding section of this paper discusses additional possibilities for low-cost improvements to help students navigate college, including simplifying program and transfer structures, more explicitly teaching students how to self-advise, and leveraging online e-advising tools to make advisors' work more in-depth, effective, and efficient.

Abstract from publisher's website. Show less

With the advent of massive open online courses (or MOOCs), it is theoretically possible for anyone with an Internet connection to access course materials from elite universities - a possibility that some commentators have hailed as a ‘democratization’ of education. Of course, MOOCs are very new, and it is not yet clear how they will affect postsecondary access or attainment, particularly among traditionally underserved populations. To provide some perspective on how MOOCs and other online delivery methods might affect educational equity, in this article [the author] examines recent research on online college coursework (that is, courses in which most or all of the learning experience takes place online) and discuss potential implications for postsecondary access and learning.

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To help guide students through program and course options, all community colleges provide academic advising services. However, to provide the support needed, colleges would have to substantially increase their number of advisers. Given increasing enrollments and decreasing public funding, more cost-effective solutions are needed. This chapter examines the use of technology and other structural changes to encourage comprehensive advising reforms. Using case study data gathered from several community colleges engaged in technology-mediated advising reforms, the authors suggest that e-advising tools may be most effective when they prompt colleges to rethink and restructure delivery of a range of services and programs into a more cohesive and international whole.

Edited excerpts from publication. Show less

In fall 2012, a public-minded privately held firm, Quad Learning (QL), partnered with two community colleges to pilot a new program dubbed American Honors (AH), which was designed to help academically talented community college students overcome the challenges of transferring to more selective four-year destinations. By fall 2018, QL had dissolved the AH program for domestic students. This paper traces the components of the program's socially conscious theory of change and its for-profit business model, and the tensions between the two. We explore the meaning of AH's various components to students, faculty, and administrators, and we estimate its impact on students' academic outcomes and offer takeaways for future public-private ventures.

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This report discusses findings and recommendations from a Community College Research Center (CCRC) study designed to help community colleges develop strategies for improving the rate at which academically underprepared students take and pass initial college-level (or 'gatekeeper') courses in math and English. Based on analysis of more than 24,000 first-time students who enrolled in a Virginia community college in summer or fall 2004, the study examines student characteristics, course-taking patterns, and other factors associated with higher probabilities that students who require remediation will take and pass math and English gatekeeper courses.

Published abstract reprinted by permission of the copyright owner. Show less

Policymakers have become increasingly concerned with measuring - and holding colleges accountable for - students' labor market outcomes. In this paper [the authors] introduce a piecewise growth curve approach to analyzing community college students' labor market outcomes, and discuss how this approach differs from Mincerian and fixed-effects approaches. [The authors'] results suggest that three assumptions underpinning traditional approaches may not be well founded. [The authors] then highlight how insights gained from the growth curve approach can be used to strengthen evolving econometric analyses of labor market returns, as well as to improve the accuracy and usefulness of the relatively simple models required by policymakers and practitioners.

Published abstract. Show less

Online learning has generated much enthusiasm for its potential to promote greater access to college by reducing the cost and time of commuting and, in the case of asynchronous approaches, by allowing students to study on a schedule that is optimal for them. The enthusiasm surrounding these and other innovative, technology-based programs has led educators to ask whether the continuing expansion of online learning could be leveraged to increase the academic access, progression, and success of low-income and under-prepared college students. However, this review of the postsecondary literature on online learning strongly suggests that online coursework, at least as currently and typically implemented, may hinder progression for low-income and under-prepared students. The paper explores why students might struggle in these courses, discusses current access barriers to online education, and offers suggestions on how public policy and institutional practice could be changed to allow online learning to better meet its potential in terms of improving both college access and student progression.

Published abstract from CCRC website. Show less

In the US, 1,200 community colleges enroll over 10 million students each year - nearly half the number of US undergraduates. Yet fewer than 40 per cent of entrants complete an undergraduate degree within six years. This fact has put pressure on community colleges to improve academic outcomes for their students. This book is based on findings from the Community College Research Center's study of community colleges over the past eight years. It argues that to substantially increase student completion, community colleges must engage in fundamental redesign in relation to the organisation of programs of study, support services, and instruction. Community colleges were originally designed to expand college enrollments at low cost, not to maximize completion of high-quality programs of study. The result was a model in which students could select courses from an array of choices with little guidance. The authors urge administrators and faculty to reject this traditional model in favor of 'guided pathways', that is, clearer, more educationally coherent programs of study that simplify students' choices without limiting their options and that enable them to complete credentials and advance to further education and the labor market more quickly and at less cost.

Edited excerpts from publisher's website.

The contents are as follows: Introduction; Redesigning college programs; Guiding students; Rethinking student instruction; Helping underprepared students; Engaging faculty and staff; The economics of college redesign; Conclusion. Show less

Given the current labor shortage in the field of computer science (CS), it is critical to the continued strength and growth of the US economy for colleges to supply more CS graduates. Moreover, in order to understand the problems faced by diverse populations and generate creative hardware and software solutions, the populations of CS graduates themselves need to be more diverse. Although community colleges represent a promising source for CS bachelor level graduates from groups underrepresented in the field, much work remains to be done in order for that promise to be fulfilled. This report investigates the national landscape of CS students at community colleges in order to better understand student behaviors and institutional characteristics that support or hinder community college students' efforts to attain a CS bachelor degree.

The data suggest that navigating the community college pathway to a CS bachelor degree is complex and challenging. The following findings from the authors' analyses point to areas where further strides could be made toward supporting the success of community college students in CS: (1) community college students who eventually attained a CS bachelor degree were unusually focused and fortunate; (2) CS bachelor degree earners were less likely than their peers to earn a community college award; and (3) although CS pre-baccalaureate award earners were more likely to be from underrepresented groups, few went on to earn a bachelor degree in CS. The report also presents recommendations on how two- and four-year colleges can partner more closely together to create more structured and supported pathways that will help a larger number of underrepresented community college students to attain a CS bachelor degree.

Edited excerpts from Community College Research Center website. Show less

Almost two-thirds of students who enter community colleges in the US every year are judged to be academically not ready to engage in college-level coursework. In order to enroll, these students typically must take one or more 'remedial' or 'developmental' math or English courses that will not count toward their college degree. The students most likely to be referred to these courses are the low-income and minority students for whom a college degree could change the trajectory of their lives, and address disparities in educational attainment by income and race. The bulk of the evidence, however, suggests that the annual investment in services to help underprepared students is having little positive impact on the success of those students in community colleges. In this report, the authors review that research, describe findings from studies on four types of reforms under way at various colleges, and conclude with their view that a wholesale redesign of the student experience at community colleges is needed to make a real difference in the outcomes of underprepared students.

Edited excerpt from publisher's website. Show less