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The Primordial Inflation Explorer (PIXIE) is an Explorer-class mission concept to measure the energy spectrum and linear polarization of the cosmic microwave background (CMB). A single cryogenic Fourier transform spectrometer compares the sky to an external blackbody calibration target, measuring the Stokes I, Q, U parameters to levels ~200 Jy/sr in each 2.65 degree diameter beam over the full sky, in each of 300 frequency channels from 28 GHz to 6 THz. With sensitivity over 1000 times greater than COBE/FIRAS, PIXIE opens a broad discovery space for the origin, contents, and evolution of the universe. Measurements of small distortions from a CMB blackbody spectrum provide a robust determination of the mean electron pressure and temperature in the universe while constraining processes including dissipation of primordial density perturbations, black holes, and the decay or annihilation of dark matter. Full-sky maps of linear polarization measure the optical depth to reionization at nearly the cosmic variance limit and constrain models of primordial inflation. Spectra with sub-percent absolute calibration spanning microwave to far-IR wavelengths provide a legacy data set for analyses including line intensity mapping of extragalactic emission and the cosmic infrared background amplitude and anisotropy. We describe the PIXIE instrument sensitivity, foreground subtraction, and anticipated science return from both the baseline 2-year mission and a potential extended mission., Comment: 44 pages with 18 figures and 4 tables, including full sensitivity curves. Sensitivity curves are available for download at https://lambda.gsfc.nasa.gov/product/pixie/pixie_baseline_noise_get.html

Community colleges in the United States, which serve a disproportionate number of students from low-income backgrounds, can provide a valuable pathway toward well-paying careers. However, graduation rates at community colleges are very low--among first-time, full-time, degree-seeking students who enter public two-year schools, only 29 percent graduate within three years. Seeking to address this challenge, three community colleges in Ohio implemented a new comprehensive program model that was based closely on the City University of New York's (CUNY's) proven Accelerated Study in Associate Programs (ASAP). In 2015, the three Ohio colleges began implementing their programs and experienced similar successes as CUNY; the first phase of MDRC's study found large impacts on graduation rates and transfer to four-year institutions after three years. This brief extends the follow-up period for the Ohio programs to six years and provides earnings and employment impacts for the first time. After six years, the program continued to have an impact on graduation: 44 percent of students in the program group earned a degree, compared with 29 percent in the control group. Notably, these improvements in academic achievement have led to increased earnings, on average, for the students in the program group. In Year 6, students in the program group earned an additional $1,948 over the control group average of $17,626, an increase of 11 percent. These findings represent a new and important contribution to the growing body of evidence on comprehensive approaches (especially those modeled after CUNY ASAP) to improve the educational--and now economic--outcomes of students from low-income backgrounds. Future briefs will extend the follow-up period for academic outcomes to eight years and labor market outcomes to ten years. [For the supplement to this report, see ED627556.]

National college completion rates for men of color at open- and broad-access postsecondary institutions (including community colleges) lag behind completion rates for White students and for female students of any race or ethnicity. Research points to several broad factors to explain these unequal outcomes, including precollege environments that do not sufficiently prepare men of color for college, nonacademic barriers that compete for students' time and attention, and inadequate college campus support. Other scholarship challenges postsecondary education professionals to think critically about how discriminatory policies and practices and structural racism perpetuate this inequality nationwide. Since the early 2000s, many colleges have tailored campus programs to provide academic and social support specific to the interests and needs of male students of color to overcome gaps in success rates. The Male Student Success Initiative (MSSI) at the Community College of Baltimore County (CCBC) in Maryland is one such program, and MDRC is evaluating it through the Men of Color College Achievement (MoCCA) Project. MSSI's program model includes an ambitious set of services to support male students of color, including a culturally contextualized first-year student success course, assigned mentors (who are also men of color), connections with student support services on campus, leadership and professional development opportunities, and a focus on community building through activities that reflect racial and ethnic identities. While the student success course is one semester, the MSSI program is intended to keep students engaged beyond their first semester at CCBC. This report presents findings on how the MSSI program was implemented in 2019 -- the first year of the MoCCA study. Important insights from this early period of program implementation are: (1) The resources supporting the program in 2019 were limited and its leadership had little available time and capacity for effective oversight; (2) The MSSI program was not yet implemented fully, a common characteristic of newly formed or redesigned programs. Program components were implemented inconsistently and student attendance in program activities was lower than expected; and (3) There were promising indications of program improvements in 2019. For example, the college increased support for MSSI over time, and program staff members made notable efforts to strengthen the delivery of its components. The time frame covered by this report predates the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and the latest high-profile examples of racial injustice in this country, so their specific effects on the college and the MSSI program are not described here. However, CCBC was deeply affected by the pandemic, like most other colleges nationwide. The pandemic will likely exacerbate equity gaps for male students of color given its disproportionate effect on communities of color nationwide. At the same time, CCBC has reoriented its framework for equity and inclusion considering the struggle to address the ongoing marginalization of communities of color on a national scale. Those events and their impact on MSSI and the students participating in the study will be addressed in future reports.