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Stackable credentials - sequential postsecondary awards that allow individuals to progress on a career path - have been suggested as a way to enhance the labor market prospects of middle-skill workers. Yet, thus far, little evidence has been provided on the economic value of these credentials. In this paper, the authors report a series of estimates on the association between stackable credentials and earnings. They use national, survey, and college-system-level datasets. A significant body of evidence indicates that the labor market returns to certificates - along with those to college degrees - are positive. But the authors' estimates of stackable credentials show only weakly positive and inconsistent gains from these award combinations. Generally, these estimates are indistinguishable from the returns to only one postsecondary credential. There is no clear evidence of how earnings vary across types of stack - progressive, supplemental, or independent - or student characteristics. However, estimated earnings gains from stackable credentials may be imprecise. Few college students stack awards, the motives for stacking are unknown, and notably, the number of stacked awards depends on whether general vocational awards are included. Future research should examine why students stack awards and how they can choose combinations of awards that maximize their earnings gains from stacking.

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More than one third of college-educated workers have a license that provides the right to practice a particular occupation. In contrast to certificates, these licenses, serving either as a productivity signal or acting as a restrictive practice, are associated with significantly higher earnings. Thus, it is possible that some part of the returns to college are in fact returns to licensing. In this paper, the authors identify the effects of licenses on a set of labor market outcomes for the college-educated workforce using newly available national Current Population Survey data merged with US Department of Labor. The results show significant discrepancies between individual self-reported licensing rates and state-mandated licensing requirements across occupations. Findings indicate significant advantages from licensing in terms of earnings and labor market participation (hours worked). Moreover, controlling for licensing does not significantly reduce the measured returns to college. Licenses convey economic benefits even in occupations where they are not required. In contrast to prior studies, the current study also finds that licenses reduce wage dispersion across the college-educated workforce.

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Stackable credentials - sequential postsecondary awards that allow individuals to progress on a career path - can enhance the labor market prospects of middle-skill workers. In light of recent labor market changes, these credentials may represent an important buffer against job displacement. However, very little evidence exists as to what constitutes a stackable credential and how many persons have obtained them.

[The authors] distinguish three types of stacking - progression, supplemental, and independent. Using national, survey, and college-system-level datasets, [they] estimate that between three and five per cent of the college-educated population have stackable credentials. However, there are several substantial empirical challenges in identifying stackable credentials related to the ordering of awards and to the degree of skill complementarity across awards. Significantly, [the authors] find that general vocational awards - earned at any institution and typically not credit-bearing - are often conflated with stackable certificates. The incidence of these awards is far greater than of stackable credentials. A review of the evidence shows that certificates convey modestly positive gains in earnings, but there is no evidence that stacking yields earnings gains. Finally, despite frequent changes in skills needs across the economy, [the authors] identify barriers to the expansion of stackable credentials.

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After being assessed, many students entering community colleges are referred to one or more levels of developmental education. While the need to assist students with weak academic skills is well known, little research has examined student progression through multiple levels of developmental education and into entry-level college courses. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the patterns and determinants of student progression through sequences of developmental education starting from initial referral. We rely primarily on a micro-level longitudinal dataset that includes detailed information about student progression through developmental education. This dataset was collected as part of the national community college initiative 'Achieving the dream: community colleges count'. The dataset has many advantages, but it is not nationally representative; therefore, we check our results against a national dataset - the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988. Our results indicate that only three to four out of 10 students who are referred to remediation actually complete the entire sequence to which they are referred. Most students exit in the beginning of their developmental sequence - almost half fail to complete the first course in their sequence. The results also show that more students exit their developmental sequences because they did not enroll in the first or a subsequent course than because they failed a course in which they were enrolled. We also show that men, older students, Black students, part-time students, and students in vocational programs are less likely to progress through their full remedial sequences. Finally, we provide weaker evidence that some institutional characteristics are related to a lower probability of completion of developmental education.

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In the paper, I review evidence on the number of students who enter community colleges with weak academic skills and on the incidence of developmental education. I then report on what happens to developmental students and review the research on the effectiveness of programs at community colleges designed to strengthen weak academic skills. I briefly discuss the costs of these programs. I conclude by arguing that, on average, developmental education as it is now practised is not very effective in overcoming academic weaknesses, partly because the majority of students referred to developmental education do not finish the sequences to which they are referred. Yet there is reason for optimism. In recent years, a dramatic expansion in experimentation with new approaches to strengthen student skills has taken place. There is now a growing commitment to better evaluation and quantitative analysis of student progression in community colleges that promises a more systematic and informed process of program and policy development. I suggest a broad developmental education reform agenda based on a comprehensive approach to assessment, more rigorous research that explicitly tracks students with weak academic skills through their early experiences at community colleges, a blurring of the distinction between developmental and 'college-level' students that could improve pedagogy for both groups of students, and strategies to streamline developmental programs and accelerate students' progress toward engagement in college-level work.

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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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