For the past decade, MDRC has evaluated a number of interventions designed to improve the outcomes of community college students, including enhanced counseling, learning communities, and financial incentives. Encouragingly, many of these strategies have produced positive effects, affirming that changes in institutional practices and policies can…

Enrollment is rising across the nation's community colleges, but completion rates remain untenably low. Reformers are focusing on the importance of using comprehensive, high-quality data on student progress and completion to bring about change. A core tenet of Achieving the Dream: Community Colleges Count has been to embed a culture of…

For the past decade, MDRC has evaluated a number of interventions designed to improve the outcomes of community college students, including enhanced counseling, learning communities, and financial incentives. Encouragingly, many of these strategies have produced positive effects, affirming that changes in institutional practices and policies can…

Discussions of the barriers to completion in community colleges have largely focused on student success in introductory college-level math and English courses, and rightfully so, since these courses are typically required for degrees. However, there is a much broader range of courses that also serve as "gatekeepers" in the sense that they are…

Describes a study to determine the correspondence between community values about education/school and the nature of the actual structures that exist in the Catholic schools in the suburban Midwest community that was surveyed. Compares community attitudes and school structures concerning educational goals, curriculum content, educational support,…

Describes a study conducted in southeastern Washington to determine public opinion regarding several educational options. Compares study results obtained through structured interviews with adult residents at a randomly selected sample of households with results obtained by mailing questionnaires to all remaining households in the area. (AYC)

Prepared for college officials considering the development of marketing programs, this paper examines the distinctive marketing practices for four geographically separated, public community college districts: Coastline Community College (CCC), California; Metropolitan Community College District (MCCD), Missouri; Triton College (TC), Illinois; and…

For over 30 years, arts education has been a low priority in the nation's public schools. Arts teaching positions were cut, and arts education in schools has dwindled as schools try to increase test scores in mathematics and reading within the time constraints of the school day. Some communities have responded with initiatives aimed at…

Three intermountain communities in Colorado and Utah were studied to determine the impact of rapid development on residents of rural communities, especially on their views of the world and their personal well-being, and to assess the degree to which energy boomtowns experience the social disruption suggested in the classical boomtown studies. Two…

In early 1990, Prince George's Community College (PGCC), in response to declining enrollments, developed an affordable and locally effective geo-demographic cluster system for meeting the college's research and marketing needs. The system, dubbed "PG-TRAK," is based on a model developed 15 years ago as a corporate marketing tool, and involves…

Examined differences between university students and permanent residents of an Appalachian community in their attitudes toward the environment and toward proposed local energy-related developments. Data show that townspeople were somewhat more supportive than students of proposed energy developments, which may be due to economic factors rather…

Compares the Schools Reaching Out programs at two elementary schools in Roxbury (MA) and New York City with four similar projects elsewhere. Describes how an intervenor not involved with the ordinary operation of the school can help design, direct, motivate, and assess a school outreach program. (DM)

For 10 years or more, teachers at the City Colleges of Chicago have used mastery learning, a teaching technique that focuses on the use of a corrective/feedback process to improve student learning. Early studies of mastery learning at the colleges comparing student grades in mastery learning classes to control classes in which these techniques…

This study identified patterns among small schools in rural communities across a seven-state area. Perceptions of high school seniors, counselors, and graduates were gathered about their rural schools in districts with grade 7 to 12 enrollments of less than 500. Factual information about programs and local schools was obtained from school…

A study investigated how long it takes Frostburg State University (Maryland) (FSU) commuter students to drive to courses and how long they were willing to commute to pursue their educational goals. Students and graduates of two local two-year colleges, potential matriculants at FSU, were also asked how long they were willing to drive. Little…