Carnegie’s Pathways instructional model addresses not just the structural and curricular problems of traditional developmental math courses, but also the substantial socio-emotional and psychological hurdles many students face. The courses are designed to challenge certain beliefs that many developmental math students share: that they are not “math people,” that “people like me don’t belong here,” and that the class is really not about or for them.
Must-Reads
There is a great deal of breaking research and new reports in the higher education reform space, and Achieving the Dream staff recommend the following as a short list of must-reads in 2013. These publications feature some of the most up-to-date research concerning community college student success and completion.
This list will be updated as new reports are released. So, be sure to check back occasionally!
Less than 25 percent of college students who take any developmental education courses earn a credential within eight years. Over the past three years, the six states in the Developmental Education Initiative have developed and enacted unprecedented changes in policy and practice in an effort to improve outcomes in developmental classes.
This guide is designed to help colleges consider the current challenges on their campuses, and to help faculty and staff realize that better policies and practices are attainable. The Delphi Project has produced resources that allow colleges to draw upon the experience of other campuses and research to initiate a process of change on their own campuses.
For years, colleges have used placement exams to determine whether to deem incoming students “college ready” or assign them to developmental education. But emerging information reveals the tests have little correlation to students’ future success, casting doubt on their use even as the high stakes for students of taking remedial courses become clear. Educators are rethinking whether the tests are fair and wondering if their traditional use constitutes a barrier to college completion. This report explores these issues.
One of the planned products from the NSF ATE Employment Outcome Study was a guide for college practitioners who are interested in acquiring and using the UI wage data to examine employment and earnings outcomes for students. The guide is intended to draw from the experiences gained in conducting the project and provide practical suggestions for action steps that colleges could take to negotiate their own data sharing agreements, acquire and analyze the data, and interpret the results.
Higher education has always been a pathway to opportunity. For generations of Americans of all backgrounds, an education beyond high school has led to upward mobility in our society. This role for higher education is more important today than ever before.
Never before has the link between a college education and postgraduate job prospects been more important. College graduates are employed more often and, on average, earn significantly more than those without college degrees. During recent years, as students have moved into a challenging job market, a college education has remained the most reliable defense against unemployment.
This guide aims to advance colleges’ understanding of how to access and use labor market data to improve student success. The three sections that follow provide:
Most students who enter higher education through a community college fail to earn a postsecondary credential. One reason this 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 offer a wide array of programs but typically provide little guidance to help students choose and successfully enter a program of study.
Connection by Design is the second of two reports based on student focus group discussions conducted in spring 2012 by staff from WestEd and Public Agenda. Across focus groups consisting of current and former community college students in four states (Florida, North Carolina, Ohio, and Texas), a consistent message from students was heard. Students want to be more connected to their colleges, faculty, staff, and peers.
Community colleges play a vital role in advancing educational and economic opportunity for many Americans, especially low-income students and students of color. Without these institutions, our higher education system would be inaccessible to a large portion of our citizenry.
The question, as we slowly dig out from under the wreckage left by the Great Recession, is unavoidable: “Is college worth it?” The answer of these researchers is: “Yes, extensive research, ours included, finds that a college degree is still worth it.” A Bachelor’s degree is one of the best weapons a job seeker can wield in the fight for employment and earnings, and staying on campus to earn a graduate degree provides safe shelter from the immediate economic storm, and will pay off with greater employability and earnings once the graduate enters the labor market
In America, the postsecondary certificate has become a cost-effective tool for increasing postsecondary educational attainment and gainful employment. Certificates are a homegrown American invention and are expanding rapidly in response to a wide range of educational and labor market demands.
Getting a Bachelor's degree is the best way for most workers to make middle-class wages. In this report, however, the authors show there are 29 million jobs (21% of all jobs) for workers without Bachelor's degrees. The report also details five major sub-baccalaureate, career and technical education (CTE) pathways: employer-based training, industry-based certifications, apprenticeships, postsecondary certificates, and associate's degrees.
This MDC report examines the experiences of community colleges across the United States, ranging from California to Connecticut, which are implementing the Center for Working Families (CWF) approach to help low-income families attain financial stability and move up the economic ladder. The approach combines what community colleges do so well—provide individuals with training that connects them to dynamic careers—with the financial support necessary to complete education and connect with a career path.
