Learning communities have been a part of the higher educational landscape since the 1980s. Despite their widespread use, research regarding their effectiveness with enhancing retention is sparse. This study describes a freshmen curricular learning community linking courses required for all business majors. Retention for students taking courses in…

This research study was specifically designed to examine the relationship of a learning communities program, as a standard treatment effect, on the academic performance and retention of college freshmen during the Fall 2008 through Fall 2011 academic semesters, and specifically for a university comprised of higher levels of underrepresented…

At the college level, the effectiveness of active-learning interventions is typically measured at the broadest scales: the achievement or retention of all students in a course. Coarse-grained measures like these cannot inform instructors about an intervention's relative effectiveness for the different student populations in their classrooms or…

This study examined the effects of two types of course delivery systems (learning community classroom environments versus stand-alone classroom environments) on the achievement of students who were simultaneously enrolled in remedial and college-level social science courses at an inner city open-enrollment public community college. This study was…

This paper presents the findings from a follow-up quantitative analysis of the Community College of Baltimore County's Accelerated Learning Program (ALP). The results suggest that among students who enroll in the highest level developmental writing course, participation in ALP is associated with substantially better outcomes in terms of English…

The purpose of this mixed-methods participatory action research study was to explore the impact of learning communities on students enrolled in the lowest level of developmental math at a two-year college. The learning community consisted of twenty-three students who were enrolled in both a student success course (GEN102) and a developmental math…

This study focused on the impact of Supplemental Instruction (SI) on student achievement in first semester Calculus for transfer students over a three-year period. Transfer students participating in SI achieved dramatically higher passing rates and course grades than did non-SI transfer students, despite no significant differences in academic…

In contrast to the increase in college enrollment rates of youth with learning disabilities (LD), graduation rates have remained stagnant and low. Using propensity methods, this study examined the effect of disability-specific and universally available support receipt on the college perseverance and completion of students with LD. Based on…

This report examines outcomes for grade-12 students in academic years (AY) 2010-11, 2011-12, and 2012-13 who were enrolled in a Linked Learning certified pathway (LLCP) in California. Outcomes include student engagement in learning, measured by high school attendance and discipline events, as well as college readiness and postsecondary enrollment.…

To test whether a growth mindset intervention could improve the academic performance of adolescents, the National Study of Learning Mindsets (NSLM) implemented a low-cost growth mindset intervention specifically designed for ninth-graders in a nationally representative sample of regular high schools during the 2015-2016 school year. The national…

This study evaluates if persistence and completion rates increased after (a) establishing a centralized advising center for entering freshmen, (b) developing a mandatory new student orientation program, and (c) revising the curriculum for the college's student success course. For this study, persistence is defined as the percentage of first-time…

Wesley College secured a five-year National Science Foundation (NSF) S-STEM (scholarships in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) grant (1355554) to provide affordability and access to its robust STEM programs. With these funds, the college initiated a freshman to senior level, mixed-cohort, Cannon Scholar (CS) learning community…

Utilizing data from the national administration of a Cooperative Institutional Research Program (CIRP) baseline and follow-up survey of the first-year experience during the 2002-2003 academic year, this study explores the relationship between three curricular interventions--first-year seminars, service-learning, and learning communities--and the…

This study examined the impact of basic skills curricular learning communities on academically underprepared community college students to determine if participation in such programs significantly contributed to student persistence from year one to year two. The conceptual framework that informed this study was Tinto's (1993) longitudinal model of…

Prior Learning Assessment, or PLA, is an important and often overlooked strategy for helping adults progress towards a degree. PLA is the process by which many colleges evaluate for academic credit the college-level knowledge and skills an individual has gained outside of the classroom (or from non-college instructional programs), including…