"As educators, we have to make the commitment to a very simple proposition: if we admit students to college, we should do everything possible to make sure they succeed. These remarks are not an indictment but a rallying call. We can do much better." With these words, Dr. Raymund Paredes, Texas commissioner of higher education, opened the…

The purpose of this research is to understand the perceptions of baccalaureate-seeking, community college students regarding their academic preparation as they transfer to university courses. The literature supports both the need to help students persist to baccalaureate degrees and the difficulty transfer students face in this process. However,…

This chapter discusses Washington State's Student Achievement Initiative, a new performance funding system for community and technical colleges. Its purposes are to improve public accountability by more accurately describing what students achieve from enrolling in state colleges each year and provide incentives through financial rewards to…

This article describes Washington State's Student Achievement Initiative, an accountability system implemented in 2005-06 that measures students' gains in college readiness, college credits earned, and degree or certificate completion. The goal of the initiative is to increase educational attainment by focusing on the critical momentum points…

The first year of college constitutes a time of substantial transition for incoming students. Clearly, students vary greatly in their ability to cope with and adjust to these new challenges, and some students face far more challenges than others. A potentially important resource for successfully accomplishing this life transition is positive…

The period 1995 to 2005 was one of significant turbulence for Ontario colleges, marked by increasing globalization, immigration, disruptions in the labour market, new technologies and dramatic reductions in government operating grants. This study examines how colleges and their leaders responded to those strategic challenges in their official…

The orders of presentation of pre-calculus and calculus topics, and the notation used, deserve careful study as they affect clarity and ultimately students' level of understanding. We introduce an alternate approach to some of the topics included in this sequence. The suggested alternative is based on years of teaching in colleges within and…

This chapter presents findings from two recent Pell Institute studies, which explored the characteristics and experiences of low-income, first-generation community college transfer students in Texas and two-year and four-year institutional approaches to facilitating transfer student degree completion. Specifically, the first study asked the…

The objective of this study was to investigate the importance of Agriculture Science course sequencing in high schools, as a preparatory factor for students enrolled in collegiate agriculture classes. With the variety of courses listed in the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) for Agriculture Science, it has been possible for counselors,…

Each fall, the Iowa Department of Education collects enrollment data from Iowa's community colleges on the 10th business day of the semester. The fall data collection contains data on the 2009-10 academic year (fiscal year 2010). This report is the only report on fiscal year 2010 until next year's "Annual Condition of Iowa's Community…

Colleges and universities throughout the country are increasingly coming under pressure from accrediting institutions and legislative bodies to implement comprehensive outcomes assessment initiatives designed to measure and document student performance. Over the past ten years pressure has been directed towards colleges to reshape their current…

Community colleges are usually considered a low-cost college option, but the sticker price is only part of the real story--students often struggle to cover a range of related costs and living expenses. Financial aid can be a big help, but many community college students have a harder time paying for college than their peers at four-year schools.…

As the number of online distance education (DE) courses mushrooms in the California community college system, the need to address the accessibility of these courses becomes more and more urgent. With this in mind, the California Community College System Office (CCCSO) retained MPR Associates, Inc. to complete a needs assessment to help determine…

In November of 2009, Noel-Levitz conducted a Web-based poll of accredited postsecondary institutions across the U.S. to compare their spending on undergraduate student recruitment. To provide context, the 2009 costs were then compared to the findings of previous Noel-Levitz polls conducted in fall 2007 and fall 2005. This report provides…