This chapter describes the role microcredentials can play within the context of guided pathways and degree completion, illustrated through three case studies of community colleges and systems.

Student Success Centers (SSC) belong to a national network dedicated to increasing the number of students earning postsecondary credentials. SSCs use a variety of methods and strategies to help states within the network achieve these goals. This chapter focuses on practical ways for student success centers to help colleges navigate the…

Adult students without a high school credential are consistently denied access to programs offered by community colleges and four-year institutions. With a workforce that is in need of employees, employers have identified soft skills that are necessary for success in the workplace. Alabama offers a free program for students that includes these…

Risk management and insurance (RMI) is facing a talent gap that is exacerbated by an increasing employer demand for technology-based skills. This research explores whether an undergraduate curriculum-based professional certificate influences college students' RMI career choices. Using a mixed-methods research approach, the researcher surveyed a…

Based on an ecological approach, the study examines the types of matriculation credentials that students achieved in four social contexts defined by the socio-economic status (SES) of the schools and the urban localities in which they are situated while comparing between Jewish and Arab educational sectors in Israel. About 23,726, 12th grade…

This study examined the long-term impact of a special education residency program in high-need urban schools on the recruitment, program completion, and hiring and retention of graduates. Findings from this study, expanding research to special education teacher preparation, are consistent with a growing body of research that suggests that a…

Entering the middle of the 21st Century, Texas has the ninth-largest economy in the world, whose success is powered by the increasingly educated workforce. Texans have earned more degrees, certificates, and credentials over the past decade than at any time in history, and Texas has outpaced every other state in growing undergraduate and graduate…

This resource provides a national comparison of state policies and activities related to secondary career and technical education (CTE). It includes data for all 50 states in seven categories: (1) state CTE Directors; (2) funding secondary CTE; (3) CTE program establishment or approval; (4) career clusters; (5) CTE diploma and diploma…

When making study choices, students often find it challenging to identify their interests and strengths. Higher education (HE) systems that do not offer opportunities for reorientation and transfer run the risk of some students never completing their studies. This policy brief examines the different flexible pathways institutions can choose to…

This report provides state-level projections of postsecondary enrollment, credential production, and the college-educated population in order to inform the Illinois P-20 Council's strategy for creating and meeting attainment equity goals. [This report was created with the Illinois P-20 Council, College & Career Readiness Committee.]

Student retention has garnered increased attentions in higher education. Drawing from various theoretical perspectives, researchers have developed multiple theoretical models to explain or predict student retention. Most models, however, were intended for traditional aged, full-time students at 4-year colleges or universities. The rapid growth of…

Relationships between community colleges and the public workforce system might have an important role in promoting students' success in the labor market and in college. In particular, the co-location of American Job Centers (AJC) on community college campuses is a particularly strong form of relationship that might benefit students. Yet little is…

Overall, too few students are completing two-year college. Those who complete are still starting off unequally. About one-third of students earning academic degrees do not transfer, but rather go directly to work and find their degree has little value in the labor market. Research suggests they could have benefitted from having marketable skills…

This paper was the keynote address at the June 6, 2012 Occidental College completion ceremony for new teachers completing their teacher credential program. This occasion was momentous because it was the final new teacher graduation that Occidental College would hold, due to the previously announced closure of the teacher preparation program by the…

In 2010, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the College Board 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 institutions. Both organizations understand that the…