Many community college students in the U.S. do not complete a credential or degree, thus facing dramatically reduced earning potential (Levesque, 2018). The purpose of this study was to understand and examine why students drop out with the intent of developing practical and feasible solutions to prevent them from dropping out. This Action Research…

This study investigates community college skills builders--students who enroll for a short time, take courses concentrated in career and technical education (CTE), are highly successful in their coursework, but typically leave college without a postsecondary credential. Drawing on administrative data from Colorado, Ohio, Michigan, and California,…

Many youth in America are not on track for labor market success. One factor that increases the risk of poor labor market outcomes among these youth is dropping out of school (Rumberger 2020). Youth who drop out of school are at greater risk for job instability and for lower longterm earnings (Hair et al. 2009). They are also more likely to…

Increasing numbers of student veterans in the United States are transitioning into a higher education culture that reflects major differences from the military culture. Higher education leaders need to understand what these students require and what will help them transition smoothly into higher education. The purpose of this quantitative case…

Of the copious research on the labor market returns to college, very little has adequately modeled the pathways of non-completers or compared their outcomes with those of award holders. In this paper, we present a novel method for linking non-completers with completers according to their program of study. This method allows us to calculate the…

Concerned about the phenomena of early school leaving in our region, we are two teachers who initiated and developed a new school from the "ground up" to re-engage young people disenfranchised with schooling back into formalised learning. Using critical action research methodology over a three and a half year developmental period, this…

Due in large part to their open access and affordability, community colleges have long played a central role in providing students with immigrant backgrounds who are English language learners (ELLs) with access to postsecondary education. Researchers have noted that English as a second language (ESL) courses have been the primary form of support…

This report explores the demographics of community college students and how they compare to those in other sectors of higher education. Next, it reviews the common reasons undergraduate students stop their studies or drop out. The report then examines technology-enhanced education in community colleges and presents several case studies showing how…

Three teacher educators worked at a US community college with two adult education staff on a grant-supported project bridging high school dropouts from adult education to employment. The teacher educators' apparently simple task of facilitating grant participants' engagement with action research became confusingly challenging. The consultants…

In this Carnegie essay by Anthony Bryk, Louis Gomez and Alicia Grunow, the authors argue that the social organization of the research enterprise is badly broken and a very different alternative is needed. They instead support a science of improvement research and introduce the idea of a networked improvement community that creates the purposeful…

Institutions--even entire sectors of the education system--too often operate independently of each other, maintaining discrete student-record systems. This makes it difficult to trace a student's progress through higher education and into the workforce--and that disconnection hampers efforts to improve the system. Only by systematically collecting…

A majority of the studies conducted regarding transfer students is in conjunction with their academic performance and academic attainment at the four-year institution. However, minimal study has been done to identify what their other needs are once they reach the four-year institutions and how these needs influence persistence and success. Many…

Historically, first-generation, low-income, and students with disabilities have had very high attrition rates at California Community Colleges and institutions of higher education in general. Based on figures compiled by the National Center for Educational Statistics in 2004, 4.5 million low-income, first-generation college students comprise…

The Black College and University Act defined an historically black college and university (HBCU) as one that existed before 1964 with a historic and contemporary mission of educating blacks while being open to all. An HBCU must either have earned accreditation from a nationally recognized accrediting agency or association or be making reasonable…

This bulletin is a compilation of significant statistical material pertaining to American education. It contains information on a variety of subjects within the broad field of educational statistics, including schools, enrollments, teachers, graduates, educational attainment, finances, Federal programs in the field of education, libraries,…