The purpose of this qualitative descriptive study was to describe how first-year college students describe the academic benefits and effectiveness of participating in a developmental education program in preparing them for academic success. The theoretical frameworks supporting this study were Bandura's theory of self-efficacy and Tinto's theory…

The Community College Pathways initiative consists of two pathways, Statway® and Quantway®, that accelerate post-secondary students' progress through their developmental mathematics sequence and a college-level course for credit. Launched in 2011, the Pathways have been remarkably successful, helping thousands of students achieve success in…

The researcher for this evaluative study investigated the efficacy and impact of the iStartSmart college success course by examining the first-term retention, fall-to-fall persistence, and three-year completion rates of community college students who enrolled in the one- or three-credit course at a community college in Arizona and the rates of…

When Valencia College became the first recipient of the Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence last month, an unsung sector earned uncommon recognition. Now that the speeches are over and the prize money has been awarded, the Aspen Institute is sharing early lessons from its yearlong effort to determine the top community college in the…

Chaffey College, a three campus college with approximately 20,000 students located California's Inland Empire, has become the destination of many community college practitioners from around the country. The reason why? Over the past ten years, the college has become nationally-known as an institution with a "risk tolerant change-oriented…

As an open-access institution and a tribal college, Salish Kootenai College (SKC, Pablo, Montana) accepts all students who walk through the doors. Part of SKC's mission is to provide educational opportunities and access for students who are historically underrepresented in higher education. In recent years, national attention has focused on the…

Using data from Achieving the Dream: Community Colleges Count, this issue of "Data Notes" investigates the number of attempts it takes students to complete all developmental education courses to which they are referred. Subsequent gateway course completion and overall persistence are also examined. Three-year outcomes were analyzed and…

"Data Notes" is a bimonthly publication that examines data to illuminate the challenges facing Achieving the Dream colleges and to chart their progress over time. Gateway courses generally include the first college-level English and math courses students are required to take. Increasing the number of students who attempt gateway classes…

Using data from Achieving the Dream: Community Colleges Count, this issue of "Data Notes" highlights some of the differences that exist between states. In addition to Achieving the Dream data, this report includes data from the U.S. Department of Education's Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) for the 2008-09 academic year to…

Using data from Achieving the Dream: Community Colleges Count, this issue of "Data Notes" looks at three-year enrollment and attainment outcomes of students who persist through their first year. Additionally, first-year persisters (FYPs) were grouped based on the interaction of several student characteristics; analysis was conducted to…

Using the data from Achieving the Dream: Community Colleges Count, this issue of "Data Notes" is the second of a two-part series investigating the characteristics of late stop-outs--students who accumulate at least 30 credits within the first two years, only to stop out without completing credentials or transferring. The data show that male…

Using data from Achieving the Dream: Community Colleges Count, this issue of "Data Notes" looks at student developmental education and gateway course outcomes by gender. The data show that more than half of students were referred to developmental math, with female students being more likely to be referred than male students. Females were more…

Developmental Education programs are designed to provide assistance to students who are academically under-prepared for college-level coursework. Previous issues of "Data Notes" compared the outcomes of developmental students completing all of their required developmental courses to those not requiring developmental education. Using data…

Nearly one-quarter of students in community colleges leave school during the first year of enrollment for reasons other than transfer or credential completion. Generally, nontraditional community college students drop out within their first year at higher rates than do traditional students. Using data from Achieving the Dream: Community Colleges…

Using data from Achieving the Dream: Community Colleges Count, this issue looks at changes in cohort composition. The analysis addresses the changing composition of the Achieving the Dream student cohorts from 2002 to 2005. The data show that at Achieving the Dream colleges, the percentage of Hispanic students increased over the four cohorts…