Addressing the Student Success Center Network's newly adopted statement on racial equity and economic recovery, this chapter describes actions the student success centers and their affiliated college networks are taking to address policies and practices that perpetuate systemic inequalities and recommends additional steps to enhance educational…

Community and technical colleges in Washington state were early adopters in the growing trend to offer bachelor's degrees, actively expanding these degrees over the last 15 years. This study describes the evolving state policy landscape on community college baccalaureate (CCB) degrees in Washington in certain programs previously classified as…

As part of our research on the community college baccalaureate (CCB), we studied the prospects of adopting and scaling CCB degrees in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin. Higher education leaders in these six Great Lakes states recognized the potential for CCB degrees to increase academic, geographic and financial access to…

When linked to program review and improvement, program evaluation can help practitioners to ensure that career-technical education (CTE) and science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) programs offer equitable access and outcomes for underserved student groups.

This study examines the employment and earnings of Washington Bachelor's of Applied Science (BAS) graduates in business, computer and information sciences, healthcare, and visual and performing arts. Complimenting research by Kaikkonen (2020), we report results of two studies that find high employment match rates and increasing annualized earnings…

This data note presents results from qualitative interviews with Community College Baccalaureate (CCB) students in Washington state. We use in-depth, longitudinal interview data to describe three CCB students' experiences prior to CCB-program enrollment and through their programs to graduation and employment. The three students we profile credit…

This brief focuses on coaching for more equitable student outcomes to bring about student success. It builds on the work of the Coaching for Change project conducted by the Community College Research Initiatives (CCRI) at the University of Washington. The authors emphasize the importance of equity in comprehensive college reform, including the…

This chapter presents research and evaluation results on the SAGE 2YC project's intentional focus on a cycle of change rooted in modeling evidence-based pedagogies and facilitating change in teaching and leadership among faculty peers on multiple levels. Based on five years of qualitative and quantitative data involving 40 community colleges and…

At a time when the nation is focusing so much attention on college completion, what do we know about how students are completing their community college programs? Does the open-access mission of community colleges translate into equitable outcomes? Pathways to Results (PTR) engages practitioners in using data to close equity gaps for student…

The Breaking Through (BT) initiative promotes an expanded and enhanced role for community colleges in providing access to college for low-skilled adults. BT is uniquely important in its systematic integration of adult education, developmental/remedial education, professional-technical education (PTE), and career planning and preparation in…

Because K-12 teacher preparation is enormously important to the future of the nation, university teacher education programs are being joined by programs at other educational institutions to address the teacher shortage. Community colleges are one of the most eager and entrepreneurial new providers. In addition to providing the first 2 years of…

This study examined differences in the awareness, use, and perceived impact of educators, employers, and workforce training providers toward skills standards implementation in the State of Illinois. Group differences were revealed on the use of skills standards, with educators displaying significantly higher levels of use than employers or…

This article examines the emergence of high school-to-college transition models, referred to as academic pathways, that regard community colleges as a primary partner for higher learning. It explores three academic pathways that deliberately partner secondary schools with community colleges. They are dual credit and dual enrollment, tech prep and…

This report provides initial results of Illinois' Shifting Gears Initiative that operated between July 1, 2007 and June 30, 2009. This mixed method (qualitative and quantitative) evaluation sought to accomplish three goals: (1) to assess program and student outcomes for two models (adult education and developmental education) for two target groups…

This brief summarizes results of a recently published study that examined the effects of career and technical education (CTE) transition programs on student matriculation from secondary to postsecondary education. The study was divided into two components. One focused on secondary institutions' CTE transition programs and their effects on…