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Four deans of instruction in small, rural junior colleges and four deans of instruction in large, urban junior colleges were interviewed, and faculty members from the small junior colleges were surveyed, in order to ascertain their opinions regarding faculty development procedures. It was found that: (1) deans felt in-service workshops to be essential while faculty were generally unconvinced as to the usefulness of such workshops; (2) consultants were felt to be useful by both deans and faculty; (3) varying methods of faculty evaluation were used, and in the small colleges the deans played a personal role in the evaluation process while in the large colleges where evaluation procedures were more systematic the deans' role was less important; (4) deans in small colleges tended to favor faculty exchange programs while deans in large colleges had reservations as to the utility of such a practice; (5) tangible recognition for teaching excellence or outstanding service was almost unanimously approved by both faculty and deans; (6) faculty and deans approved of community involvement/service as a means of faculty development; and (7) overall, while there was no great difference in the opinions of faculty members and deans' perceptions as to the deans' role in the faculty development process, there seemed to be a nominal breakdown in communications resulting in some unnecessary misunderstandings. An extensive bibliography and the survey instruments are appended. (JDS)

A correlational study was conducted using ACT (American College Test) sub-test scores and actual grades earned in corresponding subject areas in order to determine if the ACT was an effective predictor for student's grades at Southern West Virginia Community College (SWVCC). Study subjects were all students (n= 241) who had ACT test scores on file and who were enrolled at SWVCC. Correlational analyses yielded coefficients of such low magnitude as to conclude that there is no significant relationship between ACT test scores and academic performance at SWVCC. Based on these findings, it was recommended that use of the ACT be discontinued and that a more suitable instrument such as the College Qualifying Test or the Comparative Guidance and Placement Test, both of which have been developed for and normed on community college students, be used. (Author/JDS)

The development of a Mental Health Technology Program at Middlesex Community College is proposed. The 2-year program would train the student to become a middle-level generalist in the field of mental health with special abilities as a communicator. On successfully completing the program, the student would receive an Associate Degree in Mental Health Technology. The sections of the proposal are: 1. Purpose of the Program (Major Objectives, Job Performance, Specific Agencies to Be Served); 2. Need for the Program; 3. Program Design (Curriculum, Course Descriptions); 4. Clinical Affiliations; 5. Potential Enrollment; 6. Similar Programs; 7. Faculty Requirements; 8. Physical Plant and Equipment; 9. Cost Analysis; 10. Cover Letter and Attachments. (DB)

This report describes the development, functions, and operations of the Delaware Valley Community College Service Center in Pike County, Pennsylvania, which is designed to provide diversified and comprehensive two-year postsecondary education to residents of a large, rural area without a postsecondary institution. The Center is sponsored by the Delaware Valley School District and operated through a contract with Northampton County Area Community College (NCACC), the nearest community college. The policies, procedures, programs and courses of NCACC apply to the Center and its director is responsible to the NCACC president, but the Center retains local control and initiative through its own Operating Board. Funding is provided by the school district, student tuition and state reimbursement. The Center has no facilities of its own but provides a wide range of associate degree and certificate programs in liberal arts and occupational areas and non-credit adult education courses utilizing leased and borrowed facilities and part-time faculty. The Center's Cooperative Commuting College Division makes available specialized high-cost career programs through contractual arrangements with neighboring colleges in New York State. The Center is not offered as a model, but components may serve as a guide to be adapted by other rural areas. (JDS)

This paper defines student development education as a concept which refers to professional roles of administrators, instructors, and counselors in a competency-based learning system designed to enable students to become more of what they want to be. A student development model is delineated whose essential components include student goal setting in collaboration with institutional professionals, assessment of position relative to goals, use of change strategies (instruction, consultation, milieu management) to bring about development toward goals, and evaluation to determine the extent to which goals are met and whether new goals are necessary. A taxonomy of behaviors of the well-developed student is outlined, based on three categories of student development needs: the development of knowledge, skills, and attitudes, of self-determination, and of the ability to control one's environment. The specific professional role responsibilities of administrators, instructors, and counselors in relation to each behavior are illustrated, and the implications and applications of the student development concept for each of these professionals are reviewed. Implementation of student development education requires review and possible revision of course objectives, program objectives, and professional objectives, as well as competency development of professionals. Possible strategies to be used in initiating these changes are suggested. (JDS)

In 2022, Maryland implemented a new initiative focused on removing degree requirements from state positions. This initiative opened over 19,000 jobs to more than 1.3 million individuals Skilled Through Alternative Routes (STARs)--such as community college, workforce training, or on-the-job experience--rather than through a bachelor's degree in the State of Maryland. Skills-based/skills-first hiring has since branched across the U.S., with 22 states opening more than 467,000 jobs to STARs across the nation. Following Maryland's announcement to remove degree requirements from state positions, the Association of Community College Trustees (ACCT) launched the Skills-Based Hiring Initiative in 2023. The focus of ACCT's initiative is to facilitate a pilot program in Maryland dedicated to increasing the effectiveness of skills-based hiring. ACCT partnered with Opportunity@Work, the State of Maryland, and four Maryland Community Colleges (Carroll Community College, Community College of Baltimore County, Frederick Community College, and Howard Community College). This brief serves as a review of lessons learned and recommendations from the Maryland pilot program for institutions, organizations, and state/local government agencies looking to partner to create pathways for STARs. This brief outlines the initial scope of the project and how ACCT had to pivot, along with challenges that were encountered, lessons learned along the way, and it highlights the project that has resulted in improved collaboration with a community college and a state agency that has had significant vacancy rates. [Opportunity@Work partnered with the Association of Community College Trustees (ACCT) to produce this report.]

There is substantial variation in the returns to a college degree. One determinant is whether a worker's employment is "matched" with their education. With a novel education-industry crosswalk and panel data on 295,000 graduates, we provide the first estimates of an education-industry match premium leveraging within-person variation in earnings. We document which majors have the most and least matching, how earnings premia vary across fields and gender, and how premia evolve over time. With robust estimators, we show that workers in industries "matched" with their degree experience an average earnings premium of 7-11%, with variation by degree level and major.

Using data from the Quarterly Workforce Indicators, this brief explores changes in the Los Angeles County labor market and in the working-age population as a plausible explanation for some of the enrollment decline at the county's community college campuses.

In this brief, the authors examine changes in enrollments at the Los Angeles Community College District between fall 2017 and summer 2023 to document the extent of pandemic-era enrollment declines overall and across student populations.

Get A Skill, Get A Job, Get Ahead (G3) is a state-funded last-dollar scholarship program for students enrolling in eligible associate degree, certificate, and noncredit occupational training programs in the Virginia Community College System (VCCS) in five high-demand fields: early childhood education, healthcare, information technology, public safety, and skilled trades (construction and manufacturing). Launched in the 2021-22 academic year, the G3 initiative aims to increase enrollment, persistence, completion, and labor market success for low-to-middle-income learners. G3 has evolved over the past two years along with VCCS priorities to include a specific focus on boosting college enrollment and success of adult, Black and Hispanic, and low-income learners. In this brief, the authors highlight early insights from a study of G3 implementation and outcomes. Early analysis by VCCS shows that colleges are making progress in increasing enrollment in the five high-demand fields listed above. The authors draw on published enrollment and outcome data from VCCS and interview data collected from eight of the 23 community colleges implementing the G3 program to examine college-level G3 outreach, recruitment, and enrollment strategies and the process for awarding G3 aid.

Along with changing industry market conditions and emerging technologies, federal investments in new energy and transportation infrastructure targeted at limiting the effects of climate change are predicted to dramatically reshape the workforce. In the next ten years, as many as 9 million high-quality jobs will be created to implement new energy infrastructure and help communities adapt to and mitigate the effects of climate change. Notably, these will include new jobs (e.g., in wind turbine manufacturing) and existing jobs with new skill components (e.g., automotive technician). What is the role of the nation's community and technical colleges in preparing for this workforce transition? To begin to answer this question, the CCRC hosted a symposium in April 2024 that brought together community colleges, workforce development organizations, funders, policymakers, and others to discuss the opportunities and challenges of starting, expanding, and sustaining green workforce programs. In this Call to Action, whose goal is to support work currently underway and galvanize further efforts at community colleges to prepare workers for the green economy, CCRC shares five insights from the symposium: (1) Community colleges are uniquely positioned to address challenges posed by climate change and to prepare students for jobs in the green economy; (2) Green jobs are already here; (3) Green jobs appeal to people across the political spectrum; (4) Green jobs have the potential to advance racial and economic equity; and (5) This is an optimal time for colleges to invest in green workforce training programs.

Pursuant to California Education Code provisions 17201(i)(1)(B)(C), 17203.5, and 66014.6, the California Community Colleges Student Housing 2024 report provides the following information: (1) the 2024 Annual Progress on California Community Colleges Affordable Student Housing; (2) the 2024 California Community Colleges Housing Insecurity; and (3) the 2024 Annual Progress on California Community Colleges Housing Stock.

This study explores the underrepresentation of Black and Latinx students in California's community college Dual Enrollment (DE) programs. The study investigates how DE staff describe an understanding and commitment towards equity for Black and Latinx students in DE programs and how staff engage in equitably aimed praxis to serve Black and Latinx students through practices and collaborations between feeder high schools. Using a Critical Policy Analysis lens, the research highlights how Black and Latinx students are prioritized through equitable practices focused in advising and outreach. However, not all DE staff prioritize Black and Latinx through practices. Despite this, scant instances reveal that collaborative efforts between DE programs, high schools, and districts improve DE services and outcomes, though majority of K-12 partners are absent from collaborative efforts led by DE programs. The study emphasizes the need for increased collaboration between K-12 partners and integrating equitable approaches to DE outreach and advising to engage and recruit Black and Latinx students. This research advances the conversation of equity in DE programs and offers insights for addressing participation gaps among Black and Latinx students.

In this paper we present the Advancing Racial Equity in Community College Model which maps out the organizational conditions shaping institutional transformation. Focused on two dimensions, the level of "organizational support" and "shared responsibility" to enact equity, we describe four quadrants with distinct organizational conditions that shape how equity advocates design, build, and sustain equity efforts. With well-documented racial inequities and renewed calls for racial justice across higher education, it demands new ways of exploring and understanding how institutional actors leading equity efforts are nested within differing organizational contexts that can enable as well as restrict the enactment and success of racial equity efforts. Our model helps equity advocates gain an "awareness" of known barriers to implementation in higher education, assess the readiness of their campus for racialized change, and take action to build the necessary institutional support and capacity to move the work forward.

An ongoing debate in K-12 education policy has been between the "reform" agenda, including charter schools and school vouchers, and advocates of traditional public schools, led by educator unions. A similar split has emerged in higher education, particularly community colleges. Using California as an example, this paper: 1) summarizes the evolution of the current political divide between advocates of the "completion and success" agenda and faculty-led opponents, including the major reforms involved, 2) discusses the claims that leading organizations on each side have made, including their policy priorities, and 3) argues that the two sides share do share some areas of mutual agreement. The paper concludes by noting future policy considerations that could complicate reform efforts.

Research for Action (RFA) in partnership with the University of Texas at Austin is engaged in a five-year mixed-methods study of the reforms associated with California AB 705. Over the course of the study, our team will assess the implementation, impact, and cost effectiveness of reforms associated with the law. This second interim report, presented at the conclusion of year three of the study, focuses on gaining a deeper understanding of on-campus implementation through a faculty survey administered to math and English departments across our study sample, an Interrupted Time Series analysis with nine cohorts of FTIC student data, and preliminary data collection for our cost effectiveness study. Collectively, these data highlight significant changes that colleges have made on campus regarding shifting enrollments from developmental education into transfer-level coursework in both English and math, and providing additional supports to students to promote retention and completion. We find that AB 705 has demonstrated notable successes in improving enrollment and completion rates in transfer-level courses, particularly in math, among FTIC students in California's community colleges. While our survey results suggest that faculty believe additional resources and supports would be helpful, most faculty report that implementation supports have been adequate.

In order to assist higher education institutions and their students during the pandemic, the federal government established the Higher Education Emergency Relief (HEER) Fund, which directed over $75 billion to institutions of higher education--including nearly $25 billion to community colleges--over a three-year period. The U.S. Department of Education worked on a rapid timeline to distribute these funds to institutions, which they could use to provide direct aid to students facing financial challenges and cover institutional costs related to the pandemic. Drawing on a survey of community colleges in six states--California, Michigan, New York (State University of New York [SUNY] colleges), Ohio, Tennessee, and Texas--this report provides insight into the specific pandemic recovery activities colleges implemented, colleges' perceptions of how successful HEER funds were in addressing student and institutional needs during the pandemic, and colleges' views of unmet needs. The institutional survey was completed by 170 out of a total of 265 community colleges in the six states. Key findings from the report: (1) Colleges spent nearly all the HEER funds they received. Given the large amount of HEER funding and the fact that colleges did not need to submit a proposal and budget for how they would use the funds, it should not be assumed that colleges would have spent all the money they received. Yet colleges spent nearly all the funds they received by the time the HEER program ended in June 2023; (2) HEER funds met a variety of student and institutional needs during the pandemic. Colleges had relatively few problems using the funds and felt that the aid was successful in mitigating student and institutional hardships; (3) Colleges focused on retaining existing students; they employed a variety of methods to support students in need. Colleges used HEER funds to support and retain existing (pre-pandemic) students rather than to recruit new students. They focused on supporting students with financial exigencies, including those experiencing food and housing insecurity. They used institutional aid to forgive debt owed to the college and to provide food, housing, and childcare assistance; (4) Spending patterns suggest that colleges experienced similar challenges during the pandemic and often prioritized the same objectives. Despite differences in state contexts and institutional settings, colleges tended to allocate funds in similar ways. For example, most colleges used aid for campus safety and technology hardware. Expenditure patterns also shifted over time in similar ways, indicating that colleges were responsive to evolving needs; (5) Expenditures related to campus safety and technology remained strong but decreased in frequency over time; expenditures to support students' mental health increased in frequency. Mental health services was the only expenditure category that increased in frequency in each of the three years of funding, likely reflecting the toll the pandemic took on students' mental health; (6) Comparing pre- and post-pandemic spending, HEER funds had the most impact on increasing support for technology hardware, high-speed internet, and housing assistance. Colleges used HEER funds both to fund existing services and to begin offering new ones. Fewer than a third of colleges had services in place to provide technology hardware, high-speed internet, and housing assistance before the pandemic; many more did so afterward; (7) Concerns about the end of HEER funding and priorities for future funding expose a need for continued flexible resources to address students' financial needs. Colleges' main concern about the end of HEER funding was that it would limit their ability to support students during an emergency. Their top priority for using future funding was additional student aid; and (8) Rural and vocational/technical colleges (as defined by the Carnegie Classification) may have had fewer resources prior to the pandemic and may be in greater need of additional support. Colleges in towns and rural areas and colleges focused on technical training were less likely to offer a number of supports both pre- and post-pandemic. Rural colleges were also less likely to report having received additional funding for pandemic recovery from sources other than HEER funds. Overall, while the survey findings suggest that HEER largely met the goals for which it was intended, they also point to the importance of addressing systemic challenges facing community college students and the institutions that serve them. Now that the immediate crisis of the pandemic has passed and HEER funding has ended, there is an opportunity to think strategically about the investments that are needed to promote student success over the long term, particularly for underserved and financially vulnerable students who are the most at risk of stopping out or not enrolling in the first place.

The Campaign for College Opportunity has always been a champion of ensuring equal and equitable treatment of all students in higher education. The Campaign for College Opportunity recognizes the value and necessity of understanding the experience of diverse learners by disaggregating data to explore trends, opportunities, and challenges. More importantly, it seeks to bring attention to the expertise, assets, and strengths of Americans from all backgrounds, while ensuring that solutions are targeted to support these same students. This is the first of four briefs within the Campaign for College Opportunity's national initiative that highlight specific practices to support American Indian/Alaska Native (AIAN), Latinx, Black, Asian American and Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (NHPI) students more equitably. This brief is tailored and informed by experts, best practices, and an authentic commitment to ensure that all American Indian and Alaska Native students can go to college and succeed without sacrificing or leaving their cultural assets behind. [Additional funding for this series of briefs was provided by Eileen and Harold Brown.]

West central Georgia has become a burgeoning center for advanced manufacturing and logistics. With facilities for global brands across automotive, agriculture, tech, and biotech industries, the region (which includes Carroll, Coweta, Douglas, Haralson, Heard, Meriwether, and Troup counties) has experienced a 100+ percent surge in job demand for manufacturing engineers, machine operators, and material assembly shift technicians alone. This case study explores a cross-sector response to upskilling and reskilling talent in the region through West Georgia Technical College's establishment of a Regional Workforce Training Center, which has fostered impactful employer partnerships to drive skill acquisition for entry-level talent and incumbent workforces, enhance workforce diversity, and meet the evolving needs of both businesses and the community at large.

Drawing on qualitative data collected in a sample of colleges as part of a larger study on the implementation and impact of Assembly Bill 705 in California, this paper explores the rollout of corequisite reforms, focusing on the use of embedded tutors in introductory math and English courses as a strategy to meet to the needs of students. This paper highlights promising practices identified through extant research and fieldwork at study institutions, provides additional evidence on the value of the reform, discusses challenges, and makes recommendations for the field.

Most students who begin at a community college do not complete their desired credential. Many former students fail to graduate due to various barriers rather than their academic performance. To encourage previously successful non-completers to re-enroll and eventually graduate, a growing number of community colleges have implemented re-enrollment campaigns focused on former students who have already made substantial progress toward graduation. In this study, we randomly assigned over 27,000 former community college students to a control group, "information-only" treatment group, or "information and one-course waiver" treatment group to examine whether re-enrollment campaigns can improve their likelihood of long-term persistence and credential completion. Although we showed in earlier work that the "information and one-course waiver" treatment had a positive impact on former students' likelihood of re-enrollment, our findings reveal the re-enrollment intervention has no effect on students' likelihood of long-term persistence or credential completion for the pooled sample or any subgroup of interest, including low-income students, racially minoritized students, or adult students. Simply put, this particular re-enrollment intervention including one-time, one-course tuition waivers increased former students' likelihood of re-enrollment but was not an effective lever to increase "long-term" academic outcomes among previously successful community college students who departed early without earning a credential.

One major challenge that institutions face when launching transformation efforts is that they operate in "silos," meaning that they have separate departments--for example, student services, financial aid, and advising--that operate independently with little communication or coordination. Many successful transformation efforts include a core group of people who are working together to influence outcomes on a specific issue. The decentralized nature of most colleges can create challenges to implementing a shared vision and making progress that students can see. Siloed teams may not have access to all the information needed to address a problem adequately, and multiple teams may implement contradictory solutions. Cross-functional teams (CFTs) are one potential response to the problem of silos. CFTs are defined as staff members from different functional areas working together to achieve common institutional goals. Bringing together members with different specialties can lead to faster transfers of knowledge, fewer redundancies, and higher-quality decisions. But CFTs do not always work effectively: they may have unclear governance, a lack of accountability, or unclear goals. However there has been little research on CFTs in the context of higher education. Launched in 2021, this project explores how institutions are assembling and using CFTs to advance their transformation efforts. MDRC partnered with three community colleges and one state agency overseeing higher education to explore their efforts to create these cross-functional teams. The researchers set out to document the interpersonal dynamics of these teams and to pilot test a tool at one institution to address barriers to CFTs' smooth operation. This brief shares descriptive findings and recommendations, with the goal of providing funders, researchers, and practitioners suggestions for future research.

Across the country, as technology continues to advance rapidly, the labor market exhibits a growing need for workers who receive frequent and ongoing skill development. Employers in many fields struggle to find adequately trained workers to meet their needs. Community college noncredit career and technical education (CTE) programs are an important contributor to skill and workforce development and help to close this "skills gap." This brief summarizes early findings from a study of FastForward, which uses a pay-for-performance model to fund noncredit CTE programs at the 23 colleges in the Virginia Community College System. FastForward aims to increase the supply of workers who receive credentials for high-demand occupations in Virginia. The FastForward study is focused on identifying institutional and programmatic factors that may influence learners' academic and labor market outcomes. This brief presents findings on the different approaches used by colleges and programs to deliver training, student and staff experiences in these CTE programs, and students' academic and labor market outcomes.

The Institutional Effectiveness Partnership Initiative (IEPI) launched in 2014 as a collaborative effort to help districts promote student success and improve their fiscal and operational effectiveness. The initiative focuses on four major aspects of institutional effectiveness: 1) student performance and outcomes; 2) accreditation status; 3) fiscal viability; and 4) programmatic compliance with state and federal guidelines. IEPI works in alignment with all California Community Colleges Chancellor's Office (Chancellor's Office) divisions and supports several statewide priorities, including currently and formerly incarcerated education and the California Conservation Corps. Thanks to the state investments in IEPI, the Chancellor's Office is able to support college efforts as they contribute to statewide goals, including but not limited to: (1) Reducing and erasing equity gaps in student completion and retention; (2) Reducing regional gaps; (3) Hastening equitable placement in Math and English, accelerating faculty, staff and administrative diversity; (4) Cultivating opportunities for courageous leadership that prioritizes equity in mindset and practice and/or fostering innovations in cultivating a more equitable, inclusive and transformative teaching and learning ecosystem; and (5) Diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility (DEIA) implementation on college campuses. This report includes activities funded pursuant to Section 194 of the State Budget Act of 2022 and progress toward college and district institutional effectiveness indicator goals. This report reflects the period from July 01, 2022, through June 30, 2023.

Many public workforce training programs lead to industry-recognized, third-party awarded credentials, but little research has been conducted on the economic benefits of these credentials in the labor market. This paper provides quasi-experimental evidence on the labor market returns to industry-recognized credentials connected to community college workforce noncredit training programs. Based on novel data that includes approximately 24,000 working-age adults enrolled in noncredit workforce training programs at the Virginia Community College System, we employ a comparative individual-level fixed effects model to estimate earnings premia net of fixed attributes and earnings time-trends. Our results indicate that earning an industry-recognized credential, on average, increases quarterly earnings by approximately $1,000 and the probability of being employed by 2.4 percentage points, although there is substantial heterogeneity in economic return across different program fields. Back-of-the-envelope calculations suggest that the earnings gains associated with the industry credential obtained through the noncredit workforce training would exceed program costs in just over half a year on average.

This Postsecondary Teaching with Technology Collaborative (the Collaborative) report examines how faculty and staff at seven community colleges and two broad-access universities reconsidered students' online learning needs in the midst of the pandemic. The report focuses on a set of interconnected student mindsets and competencies that the authors call self-directed learning (SDL) skills; in their framing, SDL skills include motivational processes (e.g., building self-efficacy and sense of belonging), metacognitive processes (e.g., identifying and adjusting learning strategies and reflecting), and applied learning processes (e.g., managing time and seeking help). The authors explore whether and how the colleges offered supports for students to strengthen their SDL skills and the extent to which SDL skill supports were offered within online courses versus outside of class. Findings from interview data and secondary sources show that most institutions made changes to improve conditions for online teaching and learning, including improved use of learning management systems, increased professional development for instructors, improved physical technology infrastructure and expanded software licenses, and the development of student-facing online orientation materials. At the same time, increased use of online courses continued to present challenges, including poorer student performance in online course sections, lack of meaningful communication and engagement, lower likelihood for online students to seek help when they need it, and increased demands for students to apply SDL skills such as time and task management. Moreover, many SDL supports occurred at the institution level and therefore were not tailored to particular content areas or course types. These supports provided students with valuable and needed resources to help them succeed in college but also had some limitations. Finally, while most faculty and staff the authors interviewed expressed that SDL skills are important and should be supported by the institution, explicit instructional support for SDL skills inside classrooms appeared to be limited and uneven; faculty may not know how to teach these skills, may not think that they have the time or resources to do so, or may not see it as their responsibility. The report concludes with three recommendations for institutions to promote SDL skill development. "Teaching and Designing Online STEM Courses to Support Self-Directed Learning Skills" which focuses on teaching and designing online STEM courses to support SDL skills is a collaborative report.

The California Community Colleges Chancellor's Office (Chancellor's Office) Rising Scholars Network was established to make college accessible to currently and formerly incarcerated community college students. Key partnerships with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) and the Foundation for California Community Colleges have helped expand educational programs and support services in correctional facilities and on community college campuses throughout the state, serving nearly 30,000 justice involved students a year. The 2018 higher education trailer bill, Assembly Bill (AB) 1809 established a one-time funding commitment of $5 million for community colleges to establish or scale programs serving currently and formerly incarcerated students, with a focus on community reentry. The program is referred to as the reentry grant program but the services are interconnected to the Rising Scholars program. Additionally, pursuant to Education Code Section 78075, the Chancellor's Office is required to submit a biennial report to the Legislature describing its efforts to serve justice-involved students. The purpose of this report is to provide the Legislature with an overview of the reentry program and a summary of our services to support justice-involved students. Included in this report are the findings and recommendations, along with an analysis of the challenges and barriers encountered by colleges offering and students enrolled in the program. The results of this study demonstrate students' resiliency and capacity to succeed in spite of academic and personal challenges, and the ability of Rising Scholars programs to improve access to higher education for incarcerated individuals, ease the path to community reentry, and strengthen academic outcomes by providing students with a multitude of supports and services. The report provides insights and perspectives to support program implementation and long-term sustainability and offers future considerations for improving outcomes for Rising Scholars students.

Research for Action (RFA) in partnership with the University of Texas at Austin is engaged in a five-year mixed-methods study of the reforms associated with California AB 705. Over the course of the study, our team will assess the implementation, impact, and cost effectiveness of reforms associated with the law. This report first offers a descriptive quantitative analysis of short-term outcome (enrollment and completion) trends in math and English at the state level. This descriptive analysis examines the relationship between AB 705 and course enrollment and completion, which will serve as the basis for the quasi-experimental study in subsequent project years. The second part of the report presents findings from institutional site visits aimed at understanding how institutions have implemented the reforms, who is involved in implementation, and how implementation is experienced by students.

The Higher Education Emergency Relief (HEER) Fund had two main purposes: (1) to ensure that colleges could continue to provide education to students in the wake of the pandemic and (2) to provide emergency financial assistance through colleges directly to students. Four years after the onset of the pandemic, this ARCC Network brief uses college financial data--including data recently released for fiscal year 2022--to look at what happened to college finances and to assess the importance of HEER funding for the financial solvency of community colleges over the course of the pandemic. The authors find that during the peak years of the pandemic (2020-2022), community colleges lost huge numbers of students: On average, colleges lost 580 full-time-equivalent (FTE) students or 15% of pre-pandemic year-on-year enrollment, whereas college enrollments typically fluctuate by +/-2% each year. The authors also find that federal HEER funding saved community colleges from massive losses in tuition revenue during the pandemic. Instead of losing revenue, HEER funding increased total revenue per college from $81 million to $84 million, covering lost tuition and offsetting new costs associated with the pandemic. HEER funding also provided $4 million in student aid per college, on average, making up for lost resources students experienced during the pandemic. The authors--who also wrote an associated blog post that includes an interactive dashboard on this topic--contend that community colleges are confronting new fiscal challenges post-pandemic. As HEER funding has ended, many community colleges are faced with a difficult fiscal outlook, with increased costs due to inflation and decreased overall enrollments relative to pre-pandemic levels. Navigating these new fiscal realities will be extremely challenging for community colleges, raising new concerns about the viability of many colleges in the post-pandemic era. [This report was written with the Accelerating Recovery in Community Colleges (ARCC) Network.]

The guided pathways model, comprising 14 different practices, is a framework for comprehensive, whole-college reform undertaken by community colleges to help all students choose, enter, progress through, and complete a program of study that enables them to secure sustaining-wage employment or transfer with junior standing in a major. Since its introduction in 2015, it has been adopted by hundreds of community colleges across the United States. This paper asks whether guided pathways practices implemented at 62 community and technical colleges in three states--Tennessee, Ohio, and Washington--are associated with improvements in student outcomes during the first year of college. Specifically, using institutional survey and rich administrative data, we construct measures of adoption of guided pathways reforms to examine the association between guided pathways practices and fall-to-fall persistence, college credits earned, college math credits earned, and STEM credits earned. Our study reveals substantial variation in the adoption of guided pathways reforms across the states and across community colleges within the states over time. While we cannot establish a causal relationship between guided pathways adoption and student outcomes, we find significant positive associations between the statewide adoption of guided pathways reforms and early student outcomes in Tennessee. The observed improvements in that state are likely the result of concurrent reforms--guided pathways and others--implemented simultaneously, rather than of guided pathways reforms alone. We do not find evidence of improved student outcomes in either Ohio or Washington following the launch of statewide guided pathways initiatives. Our findings suggest that complementarities among adopted practices within and across areas of practice--rather than the adoption of individual practices or the intensity of adoption--seem to drive larger improvements in early academic success across the three states. Our study is the first of its kind to explore the potential of guided pathways reforms in contributing to improved early academic success, representing a significant descriptive contribution given that whole-college reforms in higher education are understudied.

CCRC recently conducted two major studies to shed light on the feasibility of implementing guided pathways reforms at scale and on the association between implementation and improvements in student outcomes. The first is an evaluation of the AACC Pathways Project, which involved 30 colleges from around the country that were committed to making guided pathways reforms, and the second is an evaluation of guided pathways implementation in three states--Ohio, Tennessee, and Washington State--that launched initiatives to assist colleges across their systems--70 institutions in total--to adopt reforms. This brief summarizes the results of these studies. One of the main findings is that whole-college reform is feasible but takes time--at least five years--to carry out. The authors also find that there is a positive relationship between the scaled implementation of complementary sets of guided pathways practices and some measures of early student momentum in AACC Pathways colleges that made the most progress in implementing guided pathways reforms and in one state (Tennessee) that got an early start on reforms and made good progress; in places that made less progress, the association is weak or not evident. A third major finding is that while students from all backgrounds may benefit from guided pathways reforms, these reforms are not sufficient to close equity gaps between racial and ethnic groups. The authors conclude with five recommendations for community colleges undertaking guided pathways reforms: (1) Offer ongoing case-managed advising by field, predictable schedules, and other supports to help students complete their plans; (2) Remove the obstacle to student success created by prerequisite remediation, particularly in math, and integrate support for students to master college-level courses in their field of study; (3) Take steps to strengthen teaching and learning in program gateway courses, not just math and English composition; (4) Extend tailored guided pathways supports for students from underserved groups; and (5) Build on-ramps to career-path college degree programs for underserved K-12 students after high school.

Efforts to strengthen the pipeline to college degree completion have focused on improving college access and providing academic, social, and financial supports to students post-enrollment. This paper explores one facet of postsecondary education that has served as a barrier to both college access and success--developmental education--which has proven to exacerbate racial inequities in academic progress in higher education and has effectively decreased college access for low-income students and students of color. After more than a decade of trying to tackle the developmental education problem indirectly through basic skills-related initiatives, task forces, and success initiatives, the California state legislature passed Assembly Bill 705 (AB705) in 2017, which directed colleges to replace standardized placement tests with multiple measures of high school performance to determine college readiness. In this paper, the authors describe the research that prompted developmental education reform approaches nationally and in California, describe the efforts in California that led to the passing of AB705, and summarize research on its implementation and outcomes. Building on analysis of the research, the paper concludes with five key practice and policy recommendations for California community college leaders as they move toward realizing a civil rights agenda for college access and success in the next 25 years: (1) Address faculty and practitioners' beliefs; (2) Move from structural to instructional reform; (3) Improve data accessibility, reporting, and accountability; (4) Expand equitable college access opportunities for students in high school; and (5) Address barriers facing English learners.

Informed by interviews with administrators, faculty, and students at LaGuardia Community College, this case study explores how a vibrant two-year institution and designated Minority-Serving Institution (MSI), centers the needs of a diverse student body to achieve their academic and professional goals. The case study delves into LaGuardia's innovative practices to create an inclusive and supportive learning environment for all students. These insights offer key strategies for institutions nationwide dedicated to equitable access, success, and postsecondary value: (1) Prioritize a student-centered culture: Building and maintaining a student-centered culture requires leaders who explicitly commit to and embody this mindset in every facet of their work. Where an institution invests its money, time, and energy shapes students' experiences. Leaders at LaGuardia encourage collaboration between administrators, faculty, and staff to explore the impact of policies and practices through a student lens. (2) Leverage data to drive change and innovation: LaGuardia utilizes data analytics to identify areas for improvement and implement targeted interventions. As one example, data on enrollment trends helped pinpoint students in nondegree programs who were potential candidates for degree programs and provide the students with additional support. (3) Proactively identify barriers and take opportunities to smooth student pathways: At LaGuardia, this includes establishing connections between nondegree and academic programs, developing articulation agreements with four-year institutions, and ensuring that students have targeted supports before, during, and after transition points.

From 2016-2023, College Futures Foundation supported several California State University (CSU) campuses to partner with California community colleges in their regions to increase the number of students transferring from community colleges and completing bachelor's degrees at the CSU. In an effort to learn more about this work, College Futures Foundation partnered with Education Insights Center (EdInsights) to engage key constituents in a retrospective learning engagement about these transfer partnership efforts. This report serves to both document and share these learnings, and to provide relevant information to those interested in forming intersegmental transfer partnerships, potential funders, law and policymakers, and researchers. College Futures Foundation identified five intersegmental partnerships for the authors to invite into this learning engagement. Through this process, the authors sought to answer the following questions: (1) What compelled partners to work together on transfer?; (2) What did partners undertake during their grant periods?; and (3) What attributes foster a successful intersegmental transfer partnership?

To help the nation respond to the pandemic, Congress injected about $4.6 trillion into the U.S. economy through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act and subsequent legislation. Of this amount, over $75 billion was directed to institutions of higher education through the Higher Education Emergency Relief (HEER) Fund, including nearly $25 billion to community colleges. Using data from the U.S. Department of Education's Education Stabilization Fund Transparency Portal and the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System, this ARCC Network report examines how HEER funds were distributed to community colleges and the extent to which the colleges spent those funds. It also explores how HEER funding and spending patterns differed by institutional and student characteristics. HEER funding was based mostly on particular kinds of enrollments: States and community colleges with higher enrollments received more funds, and those with higher percentages of Pell recipients and full-time students tended to receive larger awards. The majority of HEER funds were intended to aid in the transition to distance learning, support faculty and staff training, and maintain core instruction and services at colleges. A substantial portion of HEER funding also went to students in the form of emergency aid, and some colleges received "other" HEER funding based on institutional characteristics to address additional unmet needs. Community colleges spent nearly all the HEER funding they received: Collectively, 976 community colleges spent 95% of funds, and nearly half the colleges (484) spent virtually all of their HEER funds. Colleges that spent less of their HEER funding tended to have received larger per-student awards. [This report was written with the Accelerating Recovery in Community Colleges (ARCC) Network.]

The Maine Community College System provides this letter in accordance with 20-A MRSA §10013. This law requires the Maine Community College System (MCCS), University of Maine System (UMS), and Maine Maritime Academy (MMA) to provide the following information about first-generation college students by January 15th of each year: (1) Data regarding enrollment of first-generation college students and educational outcomes, including graduation rates for first-generation college students compared with other college students; (2) A summary of strategies used, and activities undertaken to increase enrollment and graduation rates of first-generation college students and any available data indicating the effect of those strategies and activities; and (3) Plans for or recommendations regarding new strategies or actions designed to increase enrollment and graduation rates of first-generation college students. To meet the requirements of the legislation, MCCS worked with the University of Maine System and Maine Maritime Academy to coordinate data collection and reporting to promote a common framework for determining enrollment and educational outcomes of first-generation college students. Additionally, the three institutions agreed that for the purpose of this report, a first-generation student would be defined as one with neither parent having completed a college degree. Each institution determined the level of college completion appropriate to its mission. For MCCS, a student is first-generation if neither parent has earned an associate degree. For UMS and MMA, a student is first-generation if neither parent has earned a bachelor's degree. For consistency, data on MCCS students with neither parent having earned a bachelor's degree is provided.

College costs and persistent workforce shortages have prompted educators, policymakers, and employers to shift the conversation on the transition from school from a narrow "college for all" emphasis to a broader "postsecondary education" and "career pathways" perspective. This paper describes an innovative effort to address these challenges in New Hampshire, focusing on a set of programs that follow a "hyperlocal" approach to career pathway development. Seeking to expose participants to careers in high-demand areas, the programs simultaneously address specific, local industry, community, and individual needs. Their purpose is to increase the likelihood of social mobility by using career exposure and hands-on involvement to spur interest and motivation toward additional education and training in promising fields. The research reported focused on programs that target youth approaching the secondary-postsecondary transition. The paper begins by briefly describing New Hampshire's unique demographic characteristics as they relate to the state's approach to education and workforce development. The characteristics help to understand the challenges involved in helping individuals make the transition from secondary education to postsecondary roles. The study's main findings focus on key elements of career pathway programs that align with the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation's (NHCF) hyperlocal model. Excerpts from participant interviews across six programs help to show what works in different career pathway sites, in terms of realizing effective collaboration among partners and providing learners with a positive experience. The paper concludes with a discussion about areas of ongoing need both within and outside of individual pathway programs.

The CAEL (Council for Adult and Experiential Learning) and the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE) announce the inaugural winners of the Credit for Prior Learning (CPL) Equity Awards, recognizing strategies that have been proven to put CPL in reach of key adult learner populations and/or increase their CPL credit-earning. Equity means different things in different contexts. For the purposes of the 2024 CPL Equity Awards, CAEL and WICHE identified the following populations that are of particular interest: (1) Black or African American adult learners; (2) Native American or Alaska Native adult learners; (3) Latino/a adult learners (of any race); (4) Low-income adult learners; and (5) Adult learners at community colleges. The diverse range of nominations submitted offered a range of CPL approaches designed to serve one or more of these important student populations. A panel of experts reviewed the nominations and selected a CPL Equity Champion, two CPL Equity Rising Stars, and four Honorable Mentions. (All received national recognition and a cash prize.) The report that follows distills key takeaways from all nominees that can be used across contexts and highlights the unique approaches of the award-winning institutions.