Community College: Bridge to the Baccalaureate

Community colleges play a major role in postsecondary education in the United States. An American Association of Community Colleges study, En Route to the Baccalaureate: Community College Student Outcomes, finds that almost half of the students who obtained a baccalaureate degree in 1999-2000 attended a community college at some point in their undergraduate career. The study examines how students incorporated community college attendance or courses into their undergraduate studies, and how the outcomes of community college students differed from or were similar to those who attended four-year institutions.

Community College Management Practices

What Community College Management Practices Are Effective in Promoting Student Success? is a Community College Resource Center (CCRC) study about community college management practices that promote full-time and part-time student success. Utilizing a rich set of longitudinal student unit record data to control for individual characteristics of students, the study compares colleges that have a high impact on student success with those that have a less positive impact, and student persistence in addition to completion and transfer. The study finds clear differences between high- and low-impact colleges in the area of ‘targeted support for minority students’, specifically ‘minority-inclusive campus environment’ and ‘specialized retention services for minority students’.

Community College Enrollment Rising

According to a National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) report, many more people are going to college now than 40 years ago. Enrollment at four-year institutions has grown steadily over the years, showing a 126 percent increase from 1965 to 2004. In comparison, community college enrollment has swelled by nearly 433 percent in the same period. Why such high enrollment numbers for a community college? Dr. Cathy Morris, district director of institutional research at Miami Dade College (MDC), notes that, like many other community colleges, MDC is a “multi-campus college in an urban environment with many low-income and second-language residents. We are accessible, affordable, and offer opportunity to many residents who would not otherwise be able to pursue an education."

A Culture of Evidence

Our knowledge about the effectiveness of a college education is limited because postsecondary education is not currently driven by hard evidence. The Educational Testing Service’s (ETS) paper, A Culture of Evidence: Postsecondary Assessment and Learning Outcomes, outlines accountability models and metrics for measuring the performance of colleges and universities, proposes a comprehensive national system to determine the nature and extent of college learning, and reviews principles of fair and valid testing. The proposed data-driven approach to understanding the quality of two-year and four-year college education includes the use of direct, valid and reliable measures of student learning, and is mindful of the need for a simple, clear system and a common language.

Teachers and At-Risk Schools

Teacher preparation programs that address the diversity and the challenges that teachers may face in high-poverty, low-performing schools are crucial to improving teacher effectiveness in the classroom and increasing student learning. This edition of the TQ Research and Policy Update , from the National Comprehensive Center for Teacher Quality, addresses the topic of preparing teachers to teach students in at-risk schools. In-depth articles explore how teachers currently are prepared and offer strategies for preparing and supporting teachers differently for the realities they will face in the nation's most challenging schools.

More Students Aspire to Continue Education

Using questionnaire and test data collected in 1980, 1992, and 2002, a report by the National Center for Education Statistics reports information on similarities and differences between U.S. high school sophomores over time, with a focus on cohort demographics, academic programs and performance, extracurricular activities, life values and educational/occupational aspirations. The report found that the percentage of high school sophomores expecting to obtain a four-year college or postgraduate degree increased from 41 percent to 80 percent. Simultaneously, those who identified English as their native language declined from 95 percent to 86 percent. Math and reading scores over time are also presented.