The recent expansion of 7-week course offerings at Tennessee's community colleges prompted an in-depth, mixed-methods examination of the impact of these courses. This third policy brief delves deeper into the impact of 7-week courses by using qualitative research methods to investigate how these courses shape the experiences of students, faculty,…

TBR--The College System of Tennessee received a grant from Ascendium Education Group to conduct a mixed methods study on the impact of 7-week courses on colleges with a team of academic researchers. This executive summary provides high-level overview of Policy Brief #2, which presents results from quantitative analyses that estimate relationships…

Each year from 2018 to 2020, roughly 16,000 students participated in Tennessee Reconnect at community colleges across the state. However, fewer than half of those Reconnect students persisted to the following year as grant participants. To promote Reconnect students' reapplication and persistence, Nashville State and Southwest Tennessee Community…

Over the past decade, Tennessee has invested in several policies addressing the educational attainment of adult learners. One of these policies, Tennessee Reconnect, is a last-dollar scholarship for eligible adults to attend community college free of tuition and mandatory fees. In 2021, two community colleges participated in a year-long pilot…

We investigate whether student participation in undergraduate research--a high impact practice at TBR community colleges--has an effect on (1) academic performance; (2) probability of graduation, university transfer, and student departure; and (3) time to completion, transfer, and departure. Using enrollment, graduation, and course-taking data on…

More than 100,000 adults with some college but no degree (SCND) have reconnected with higher education at Tennessee community colleges over the past decade. However, only 21% graduated within three years of reconnecting. In Pathways to Success for Students with Some College, No Degree, the Tennessee Board of Regents (TBR) seeks to build a body of…

Motivation for the study: The Tennessee Board of Regents (TBR) is implementing and expanding a suite of high impact practices (HIP) in its community colleges. Service learning, one of such HIPs, is incorporated into general education or degree programs' requirements via credit-bearing service learning components of different durations. While…

Over the last decade, community colleges in Tennessee have reimagined remediation. More than half of first-time students at Tennessee community colleges require remediation upon enrolling. Colleges provide these students with "learning support" in key gateway courses. To meet the needs of each student, Tennessee community colleges have…

This is the technical appendix for the report "Gaining Momentum: Refining Corequisite Learning Support to Boost Student Success in the First Year and Beyond" which seeks to develop a body of actionable information about how to refine learning support, close equity gaps, and promote strong momentum toward success for community college…

Tennessee's community colleges are committed to reducing equity gaps. According to the Tennessee Board of Regents' (TBR) equity policy, this commitment means "ensuring that each student has access to a high-quality education and that each student receives what they need to be successful through the intentional design of the college…

The closure of equity gaps is a foundational component of the work of Tennessee community colleges. According to the Tennessee Board of Regents' (TBR) equity policy, this commitment means "ensuring that each student has access to a high-quality education and that each student receives what they need to be successful through the intentional…

The COVID-19 pandemic prompted several states to adopt or scale new placement methods, since many test-based placement metrics were unavailable. In April 2020, the Tennessee Board of Regents (TBR) approved a pilot to add high school GPA as a placement method at Tennessee community colleges alongside other measures included in TBR's learning…

Each year, nearly 17,000 community college students participate in Tennessee Reconnect (TNR), which allows adults to attend eligible colleges free of tuition and mandatory fees. However, many adult students face obstacles to persistence. In 2019, fewer than half of Reconnect students persisted as Reconnect students the following year. This paper…

This study examines the relationships between student perception of college experiences and student characteristics, and their key educational outcomes--cumulative GPA, completion, and university transfer--for two years of CCSSE administration at Tennessee community colleges. It models the outcomes via Tobit and logistic regression and event…

While statewide initiatives like Tennessee Reconnect have lowered the barriers to higher education access for many some college experience but no degree (SCND) adults, these efforts alone may be insufficient to ensure adults' success. The Pathways to Success for Students with Some College, No Degree project seeks to build a body of evidence about…