Increasingly, colleges and universities are being compared and evaluated based on the outcomes that their students experience. While both self-evaluation and accountability are valuable, one should be careful that the right outcomes are measured. Using data from 21 community colleges, we find that traditional measures often ignore key positive…

Objective: Performance funding (PF) policies allocate a portion of state funding to colleges based on student outcomes. This study is the first to account for policy type and design differences, and explores the impact of performance funding on three levels of credential completions: short-term certificates, medium-term certificates, and…

Education reformers have spent decades doggedly working to improve student outcomes in K-12 education by championing policies spanning federal, state, and local jurisdictions. Higher education is a much different story. Policy ideas at the federal level are plentiful; however, state- or institution-level policies are examined and implemented far…

Career technical education plays an important part in the mission of community colleges--providing educational opportunities needed by members of their communities. Career technical programs prepare students for entry into the workforce. Accountability standards for career technical programs, from local, state, and federal bodies, monitor…

Community colleges are vital to the states and the nation. The importance of community colleges as providers of postsecondary education and training is well documented. Fulfilling both economic and social roles, these institutions have successfully created new markets and empowered new populations through educational opportunity. This report…

Community colleges are essential to achieving state goals--increasing the educational attainment of the population, increasing access and completion, eliminating achievement gaps, closing opportunity gaps, and addressing workforce and economic development objectives. These institutions are flexible, adaptable, affordable, community-based,…

In 2007, Washington adopted the Student Achievement Initiative, a statewide performance accountability system designed to improve retention rates and degree productivity among community colleges. Using difference-in-differences analysis, we found that the policy change has had little immediate effect on retention rates or associate's degree…

In 2016, 42 states carried out a total of 139 policy actions relevant to CTE, including laws, executive orders, board of education actions, budget provisions and ballot initiatives. This represents an increase over 2015 activity. Several states passed packages of legislation impacting multiple elements of CTE programming, such as…

In the 2017 calendar year, 49 states and Washington, D.C., carried out a total of 241 policy actions related to CTE and career readiness, including legislation, executive orders, board of education actions and budget provisions. This is a marked increase from 2016, one that reflects the priorities of state leaders. According to the Education…

West Virginia Code §18B-1D-8 statutorily mandates the West Virginia Higher Education Report Card. This annual accountability report provides year-end higher education statistics for both of the state's higher education systems, the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission (Commission) and West Virginia Council for Community and Technical…

A commonly held belief is that formal education has a strong positive association with earnings (Sanchez, 1998). The motivation for individuals to pursue and complete an education beyond high school is likely founded in the hopes of higher paying jobs or a higher position. The "economic benefits" of a community college education can be…

In the summer of 2011, the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) launched a new 21st-Century Initiative. The overall goal of the initiative is to educate an additional 5 million students with degrees, certificates, or other credentials by 2020. Grounded in the enduring commitment of community colleges to improving the lives of students…

In 2010, the College Board's Advocacy & Policy Center, with financial support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, initiated a project to identify ways of improving the efficiency of the transfer pathway, a century-old mechanism that provides community college students with an opportunity to earn the baccalaureate degree at four-year…

California's community colleges are key to resolving the shortage of educated workers that is threatening the competitive position of the state's economy. Tremendous potential for addressing this challenge resides in the system's career technical education (CTE) mission which, with appropriate structures and support, could help many more students…

The California Community Colleges are vital to closing the projected shortfall of Californians with a postsecondary credential and sustaining the state's economic competitiveness. Increasing the number of students who pursue and earn certificates and associate degrees in career technical education (CTE) fields is an important component of the…