When College Students Start Behind

Almost two thirds of students who enter community colleges 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 bulk of the evidence, however, suggests that the $4 billion annual investment in services to help underprepared students is having little positive impact on the success of those students in community colleges. This report for The Century Foundation's College Completion Series reviews that research, describes findings from studies on four types of reforms underway at various colleges, and concludes with the argument that a wholesale redesign of the student experience at community colleges is needed to make a real difference in the outcomes of underprepared students

Effectiveness of Fully Online Courses for College Students: Response to a Department of Education Meta-Analysis

Proponents of postsecondary online education were recently buoyed by a meta-analysis sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education suggesting that, in many cases, student learning outcomes in online courses are superior to those in traditional face-to-face courses. This finding does not hold, however, for the studies included in the meta-analysis that pertain to fully online, semester-length college courses; among these studies, there is no trend in favor of the online course mode. What is more, these studies consider courses that were taken by relatively well-prepared university students, so their results may not generalize to traditionally underserved populations. Therefore, while advocates argue that online learning is a promising means to increase access to college and to improve student progression through higher education programs, the Department of Education report does not present evidence that fully online delivery produces superior learning outcomes for typical college courses, particularly among low-income and academically underprepared students. Indeed some evidence beyond the meta-analysis suggests that, without additional supports, online learning may even undercut progression among low-income and academically underprepared students

Acceleration Through a Holistic Support Model: An Implementation and Outcomes Analysis of FastStart@CCD

Originally designed for students who test into at least two levels of developmental education in a particular subject area, FastStart is a compressed course program model launched in 2005 at the Community College of Denver (CCD). The program combines multiple semester-length courses into a single intensive semester, while providing case management, career exploration, and educational planning services. This report discusses the development of FastStart, its program features, and student perspectives, and it presents findings from a quantitative analysis of the FastStart math program. The authors find that participation is associated with higher rates of enrolling in and passing college-level math courses but not with increased persistence or with increased accumulation of college-level credits. The analysis suggests that FastStart makes it possible for students to complete the developmental math sequence and required gatekeeper math course more quickly than would otherwise be possible, without harming other long-term academic outcomes. The report also analyzes pedagogical features of FastStart drawn from classroom observations and interviews

Introduction to the CCRC Assessment of Evidence Series

Community colleges play an important role in the U.S. economy, providing access to higher education for low-income young people, a path to higher-earning employment for low-income workers, and a supply of well-trained employees for local industry. In order to remain competitive with other major economies, however, the U.S. must sharply increase its supply of educated workers over the coming decade. Accordingly, policymakers and private foundations have set ambitious goals for improving the rate at which Americans earn college credentials. To meet these goals, community colleges will have to increase both the number of students they serve and the rate at which those students graduate. Improving student graduation rates will not be an easy task, particularly for community colleges, which disproportionately serve low-income, first-generation, and academically underprepared students. These students struggle with a variety of challenges, including job and child care responsibilities, transportation difficulties, financial limitations, poor high school academic preparation, and a lack of information about how to successfully navigate college. The goal of the CCRC Assessment of Evidence Series is to help community colleges identify concrete strategies that have the potential to improve student success on a scale needed to meet national goals for increased postsecondary attainment

Characterizing the Effectiveness of Developmental Education: A Response to Recent Criticism

Over the past several years, the Community College Research Center (CCRC) has conducted several research studies on developmental education and has produced reviews synthesizing the results of our own work together with that of colleagues from other research organizations. In a recent issue of the Journal of Developmental Education, Alexandros Goudas and Hunter Boylan (2012) aimed several criticisms at this body of work, with the key claims being that: (1) we unfairly portray developmental education as ineffective because it does not lead to outcomes better than those of college-ready students; (2) we ignore several studies showing positive results; and (3) we overgeneralize from results that are only valid for students near the developmental cutoff scores. These three claims are woven into a broader critique that we have “cherry-picked” negative results, neglected methodological problems with the studies yielding such results, and ignored positive results in order to advance our own reform agenda and, in particular, to support the notion of co-requisite developmental education. In this essay, we address each of the claims advanced by Goudas and Boylan (2012). We disagree with their portrayal of our research as biased and flawed, yet we also believe that their comments may reflect some widespread confusion in the field about research on developmental education—so our response has significance beyond our particular disagreements with these authors

Implementing Guided Pathways: Tips and Tools

This guide, part three of a practitioner packet designed to help community college leaders and staff who are considering guided pathways reforms at their college, offers practical advice on how to get started on reforms following the guided pathways model

What We Know About Guided Pathways

This report, part one of a practitioner packet designed to help community college leaders and staff who are considering guided pathways reforms at their college, describes the reform model and summarizes evidence supporting its design principles

Implementing Guided Pathways at Miami Dade College: A Case Study

This case study, part two of a practitioner packet designed to help community college leaders and staff who are considering guided pathways reforms at their college, describes how one college went about implementing guided pathways reforms