Over the past three decades policymakers have been seeking new ways to secure improved performance from higher education institutions. One popular approach has been performance funding, which involves use of a formula to tie funding to institutional performance on specified indicators. This report reviews findings from studies on performance…

Most students who enter higher education through a community college fail to earn a postsecondary credential. One reason for this that has not received enough attention is that many students do not enter a college-level program of study. Many new students arrive at community colleges without clear goals for college and careers. Community colleges…

Amid growing signs of America's weakening position in the global economy, federal and state policymakers and major foundations have set ambitious goals for increasing postsecondary attainment in the United States. Given changing U.S. demographics, it has become clear that these national goals are attainable only with vastly improved outcomes among…

In 2006, six community and technical colleges in Washington State joined the innovative national reform initiative called Achieving the Dream (ATD). This report describes the progress each college made in implementing ATD's "culture of evidence" principles for institutional improvement, examines strategies implemented by the colleges to…

In January 2001, the Virginia Community College System (VCCS) released a distance learning strategic plan that endorsed taking a student-centered approach to online learning as well as providing support services to promote faculty development and student success. The current study was commissioned by VCCS to investigate student outcomes for the…

This guide is designed for community colleges and community college state agencies that are interested in analyzing the labor market outcomes of their programs and identifying opportunities for improving employment outcomes of their students. Community college agencies in several states have expressed interest in conducting tipping point studies…

Longitudinal student unit record (SUR) data can be used to answer many important questions about student progression. This guide shows researchers how to use longitudinal SUR data to identify different student groups among first-time community college students, calculate rates of attainment of milestones and momentum points for each group, and…

Dual enrollment programs enable students to take college courses and earn college credit while in high school. Once limited to high-achieving students, these programs are now seen as a means to support the postsecondary preparation of average-achieving students. Moreover, though dual enrollment programs typically have been reserved for…

This report describes how Miami Dade College (MDC) has begun to develop a systematic and data-informed method for assessing and improving student outcomes across its large eight-campus college. Told from the point of view of MDC's Office of Institutional Effectiveness, the report recounts how the college has responded to the problem of poor…

This report describes a study conducted by the Community College Research Center (CC RC) that explores the overarching issues affecting community college noncredit workforce education. Following an introduction, the next section explains the methodology of the study, presenting the research questions, the data collection methods, and the analytic…

In this study, we examine the role of academic preparation in the transition from community colleges to four-year institutions. We address two specific questions: To what extent do academically unprepared students transfer to four-year institutions? And, can positive experiences in community colleges diminish the role of inadequate academic…

The expansion of the American community college has not been matched by the rapid, or even consistent, progress of all entering students toward postsecondary credentials. Instead, a significant proportion of students enrolled in community colleges appear "stuck" on the road to completion. This lack of progress is due to the complex ways in which…

Over the last decade, policymakers, educators, and researchers have increasingly sought to understand community college policies and practices that promote students' success. This effort has been partly driven by an increased emphasis on outcome accountability, but it has also promoted a productive discussion about improving institutional…