Although default rates have decreased in recent years, community colleges still struggle to keep their rates in check: 18.5 percent of borrowers from public two-year colleges default within three years compared to the national average rate of 11.3 percent. In 2015, the Association of Community College Trustees (ACCT) published "A Closer Look…

This document includes two technical appendices that accompany the full report, "English as a Second Language in California's Community Colleges." The two appendixes include: (1) Key terms, data and methods; and (2) Figures and tables. [These appendices were written with research support from Sergio Sanchez and Stephanie Pulles. For the…

The State of Student Aid and Higher Education in Texas (SOSA) annual report from Trellis Research provides information helpful in informing policy and programs for higher education student financial aid. The report serves as a reference for colleges, universities, and policymakers, and provides a comparison of Texas state and federal student aid…

The "2019 Fall Enrollment Report" contains the following tables, charts, and figures: (1) System Duplicated and Institutional Headcount Enrollments; (2) Full Time and Part Time Headcount Enrollment; (3) High School Students Enrolled in College Courses, Beginning Freshmen and Transfer Students, Developmental and Collaborative Course…

The "IDRA Newsletter" serves as a vehicle for communication with educators, school board members, decision-makers, parents, and the general public concerning the educational needs of all children across the United States. The focus of this issue is "School Holding Power." Contents include: (1) Texas Higher Education Law Aims to…

This article describes the effectiveness of open note quizzes in improving student outcomes in an introductory Human Anatomy and Physiology course. Results are discussed within the context of a teaching strategy called LETME (Link, Extract, Transform, Monitor and Extend), which was specifically developed for at risk community college students. The…

This study assessed the plausibility of using Ajzen's (1991) theory of planned behavior (TPB) to identify the factors that motivate adults to participate in Adult Basic Education (ABE) classes at a Southeast Wisconsin Community College. The original TPB (Ajzen, 1991) attests that planned behaviors are determined by behavioral intentions which are…

"Reclaiming the American Dream" is the cornerstone of American Association of Community Colleges's (AACC) 21st-Century Initiative, launched in 2011 with the goal of outfitting an additional 5 million students with degrees, certificates, or other credentials by 2020. In Phase 1 of the initiative, featured was a nationwide "listening…

Community colleges enroll nearly half of the students enrolled in public undergraduate programs and a disproportionate number of first-generation, low-income, underprepared and minority students. The new national completion agenda has brought both visibility and pressure to these open-access institutions, which have completion rates of less than…

The purpose of this study is to provide evidence that students may be doing comparison shopping when it comes to community college placement in English and mathematics courses. Comparisons may occur because of the difference in the placement process across campuses and the variation in the levels of developmental education offered. The…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between first-semester mathematics performance and fall-to-fall retention for first-time-in-college, degree-seeking community college students. The study further refined the investigation by seeking to determine if the significance of this relationship was affected by student readiness…

Across New England, an increasing share of jobs will require some postsecondary education by 2020. Yet, the National Student Clearinghouse findings demonstrate that student pathways to a degree or credential are not always straightforward. In New England, approximately 25% of all students who earned a bachelor's degree had previously attended a…

This study examined the career decision self-efficacy (CDSE) and career maturity of 268 first-generation baccalaureate and community college student participants. Three independent variables were analyzed, including generational status (first generation and nonfirst generation), college type (baccalaureate, community college), and socioeconomic…

Anecdotal observations reveal that most students with strong arithmetic skills will succeed in the Beginning Algebra course even if they have no previous experience with algebra. In trying to quantify this with an initial teacher-created survey of arithmetic skills, it was observed, for three consecutive semesters, that students who scored in the…

The purpose of this short article is to review the findings from an instrumental case study that examines how a college president used what this article refers to as "frame alignment processes" to mobilize internal and external support for a college initiative--one that achieved success under the current president. Specifically, I…