About MDRC
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MDRC Publications
Issue FocusLessons from Growth Sector’s STEM Core Program
July, 2021Millions of community college students, particularly students of color and women, don’t complete the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics courses critical to succeeding in the modern economy. This brief examines one program that combines increased academic support, out-of-classroom activities, accelerated coursework, and other components to help improve student outcomes.
BriefPerspectives and Considerations for Supporting Movement Across Workforce and Academic Programs in Community Colleges
February, 2021Living-wage jobs increasingly require postsecondary education, though nonacademic career and technical education can also boost earning potential. But noncredit program benefits can be limited, so some community colleges are bridging the academic-nonacademic divide. This brief describes methods and strategies for connecting and promoting noncredit and credit pathways for students.
BriefJanuary, 2021This brief from the Center for the Analysis of Postsecondary Readiness, a project of the Community College Research Center and MDRC, presents four case studies on how community college state systems changed course placement policies and supported new placement practices in the midst of the pandemic.
ReportA Study of a Transition Program Serving Students with Low Math Skills at a Community College
March, 2020A four-week course to prepare students for developmental-level math did not attract many students who were referred to it. While some participants gained needed skills, most did not complete the course or move on to developmental math, and communication about the course among staff, faculty, advisors, and students was inconsistent.
ReportFindings from a National Survey and Interviews with Postsecondary Institutions
November, 2019This report, based on a national survey of two- and four-year colleges, examines the current state of practices in developmental education assessment, placement, instruction, and support services offered to students. Reform efforts have accelerated, but new practices still reach less than half of students.
ReportFindings from the Dana Center Mathematics Pathways Impact Study
November, 2019This instructional reform diversifies math course content so that it better aligns with students’ career interests. After three semesters, the reform increased developmental math students’ rates of taking and passing college-level math and accumulating math credits. Few effects have yet emerged on overall credit accumulation, degree receipt, or transfer to a four-year college.
ReportIntegrating Workforce and College-Readiness Training into California’s Adult Basic Skills Programs
July, 2019New models for adult education that integrate basic skills education with workforce and college-readiness training are catching on across the country. In this report, MDRC examines the development of these programs in California and suggests ways to expand these integrated models in adult basic skills programs across the state.
ReportFindings from a Study of the Career Readiness Internship Program
June, 2019Work-based learning opportunities vary widely across colleges and are rarely evaluated. Through the Career Readiness Internship (CRI) program, 33 colleges provided large numbers of low-income students with valuable career-focused internship experiences, and employers generally viewed the program positively. Nevertheless, CRI was difficult to maintain after its grant period ended.
BriefInterim Findings on Developmental Students’ Progress to College Math with the Dana Center Mathematics Pathways
July, 2018This community college reform directs remedial math students into accelerated course sequences focused on statistics or quantitative reasoning, depending on their programs of study. In a random assignment evaluation, students in the pathways group are enrolling in and passing college-level math at a higher rate than students in traditional courses.
BriefFebruary, 2018In an effort to help students whose academic careers stall in remedial courses, community colleges are addressing both their approaches to placement and their traditional course structure. The use of multiple measures to assess college readiness is increasing, and several instructional reforms are gaining traction.
ReportLessons on Increasing College Completion from Six Talent Dividend Cities
December, 2017The Talent Dividend competition encouraged major metro areas to find ways to boost their proportions of college graduates. The effort suggests that cross-sector partnerships and interventions that ease students’ transitions to the next level of education hold promise in aiding credit attainment and narrowing achievement gaps between groups of students.
BriefNew Approaches to Serving the Lowest-Skilled Students at Community Colleges in Texas and Beyond
October, 2017Faced with many applicants with very low math skills, community colleges are responding with a variety of reforms, including restricting developmental courses to students with high-school-level skills. This brief provides context for the policy changes and describes the alternatives two colleges offer to those who don’t make the cut.
Issue FocusSeptember, 2017This grant program funds semester-long paid internships for college juniors and seniors with financial needs. These part-time opportunities, typically with hourly wages of $10-$14, are intended to provide meaningful experiences connected to students’ career interests. Despite some difficulties, many students had highly positive impressions of the program overall.
BriefEarly Findings from a Study of the Dana Center Mathematics Pathways
May, 2017A promising new community college intervention involves a revised developmental math course that emphasizes statistical and quantitative reasoning skills to align with students’ fields of study. In a random assignment evaluation at four schools in Texas, students report a qualitatively different experience with math instruction.
ReportEarly Findings from the New Mathways Project
April, 2015Developmental math is too often an obstacle to community college students’ success. By shifting the emphasis from “algebra for all” to math skills with broader career relevance — such as quantitative literacy and statistics — and revising course structure and sequence, this Texas-wide education reform is off to a promising start.
ReportFinal Report
September, 2014This report discusses a pilot project to prepare adult education students in New York City for the new more rigorous GED exam. Revised writing and math curricula were offered to thousands of students, but attendance was erratic. Shorter lesson sequences and support outside the classroom might allow more students to benefit.
ReportLessons from the First Round of Achieving the Dream Community Colleges
April, 2014Launched in 2004, Achieving the Dream is designed to help community colleges collect and analyze student performance data and apply the results to help students succeed. This report offers lessons from the first 26 colleges to join the national initiative, which now includes more than 200 institutions.
ReportPromising Models for Moving High School Dropouts to College
January, 2014This report examines interventions that make adult education and GED standards more rigorous, that combine academic preparation with supports for transitioning to college, or that allow students to enroll in college while earning their GED. The most promising reforms integrate basic skills and GED instruction within specific career fields and support students’ entry into college.
ReportAn Impact Study of a Student Success Course at Guilford Technical Community College
April, 2012A random assignment study of a student success course for developmental students finds positive effects on students’ self-management, self-awareness, and engagement in college. The program had few overall effects on students’ academic achievement, although there were some positive impacts for the first group of students to enter the study.
ReportWhat We Know About Improving Developmental Education
June, 2011One of the greatest challenges that community colleges face in their efforts to increase graduation rates is improving the success of students in their developmental, or remedial, education programs. Emphasizing results from experimental and quasi-experimental studies, this literature review identifies the most promising approaches for revising the structure, curriculum, or delivery of developmental education and suggests areas for future innovations in developmental education practice and research.
ReportFive Years of Achieving the Dream in Community Colleges
February, 2011This interim report examines the experiences of the first 26 colleges to join the ambitious Achieving the Dream initiative. Launched by Lumina Foundation for Education in 2004, Achieving the Dream helps community colleges collect and analyze student performance data in order to build a “culture of evidence,” enabling the colleges to use that knowledge to develop programs to increase students’ academic success.
ReportHow Much Do Achieving the Dream Colleges Spend — and from What Resources — to Become Data-Driven Institutions?
June, 2010This report analyzes the experiences of five community colleges that participate in Lumina Foundation’s Achieving the Dream initiative and the investments they made in implementing an institutional improvement process aimed at increasing students’ success. The report examines how, where, and with what resources these colleges supported their reforms, as well as the key activities driving their overall expenditures.
ReportA Case Study of an Achieving the Dream College
September, 2009Achieving the Dream teaches community colleges to use student data to improve programming and student success. Since participating, Guilford Technical Community College in North Carolina has become a data-driven, success-oriented institution and has seen promising trends in student achievement. This study offers lessons for other colleges undertaking similar institutional reform.
ReportA Case Study of Three Achieving the Dream Colleges
December, 2008This report examines the experiences of three of the 83 colleges currently involved in the Achieving the Dream: Community Colleges Count project, an initiative of Lumina Foundation for Education, and their efforts to improve instruction in developmental education classrooms.
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Other Publications
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Projects
Frieda Molina, Rachel Rosen, Sonia Drohojowska, William Corrin, Gloriela Iguina-Colón, Erika B. Lewy, Hannah Dalporto, Elizabeth Zachry RutschowMotivated by a desire to address both education and wage disparities, policymakers, educators, employers, and philanthropists have increasingly begun to invest in new models of career and technical education ( CTE ) that are based on the premise that all students need postsecondary credentials to adapt to an increasingly complex labor market. No longer simply a stand-...
Melissa Boynton, Elizabeth Zachry RutschowPostsecondary education has become a centerpiece strategy for improving America’s labor market. It is estimated that 60 percent of American jobs will require some form of postsecondary education by 2018, and those who have not earned a college degree are 55 percent more likely to be unemployed than those who have. As a result, stakeholders ranging from the White House...
Alexander Mayer, Dan Cullinan, Evan Weissman, Michael J. Weiss, John Diamond, Rashida Welbeck, Dominique Dukes, Elizabeth Zachry RutschowThe Center for the Analysis of Postsecondary Readiness ( CAPR ) conducts research to document current practices in developmental English and math education across the United States and to rigorously evaluate innovative assessment and instructional practices. CAPR , led by MDRC and the Community College Research Center, is funded by the federal Institute of Education Sciences.
Dan Cullinan, Amanda Grossman, Elizabeth Zachry RutschowToo many of the nation’s young adults struggle to obtain the educational credentials needed to be successful, productive members of society. When this study was under way, 39 million adults in the United States lacked a high school diploma or its equivalent; moreover, every year, more than 1.3 million students dropped out of high school. Roughly two-thirds of them...
Evan Weissman, Alexander Mayer, Amanda Grossman, John Diamond, Susan Sepanik, Dorota Biedzio, Elizabeth Zachry RutschowAs community colleges try to increase graduation rates, one of the greatest challenges they face is improving the success of students in their developmental, or remedial, education programs. The Dana Center Mathematics Pathways ( DCMP ), formerly known as the New Mathways Project, was developed by the Charles A. Dana Center at the University of Texas at Austin, in...
Community colleges enroll almost half of all U.S. undergraduate students, yet the majority of these students leave without earning a degree or certificate or transferring to another institution to continue their studies. As a result, they risk losing the opportunity to learn and to earn a livable wage.
Achieving the Dream: Community Colleges Count was a...