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Reports and Briefs

Pathways to Success: Lessons from the Literature on Career Technical Education

by Colleen Moore, Nancy Shulock and Jeremy Offenstein | Dec 2009 | Career and Technical Education, Reports and Briefs

This literature review analyzes evidence on the effectiveness of career-oriented education in high schools and community colleges and discusses the factors that promote successful educational outcomes for students enrolled in career-technical programs. It finds the literature scarce on career-technical education (CTE) student success and suggests that further research would help us better understand and strengthen CTE student and program outcomes to better meet the needs of the workforce.

Steps to Success: Analyzing Milestone Achievement to Improve Community College Student Outcomes

by Colleen Moore, Nancy Shulock and Jeremy Offenstein | Oct 2009 | College and Career Readiness and Success, Reports and Briefs, State and System Policy

This report offers a framework, based on the research literature, for guiding educators in using available knowledge and tools to improve student outcomes. Using data for the California Community Colleges, the report illustrates the framework, which consists of milestones, or intermediate educational achievements that students reach along the path to degree completion, and indicators of success, or academic patterns students follow including remediation, gateway courses, and credit accumulation. The report shows how the framework can be used to diagnose where and why students fall off the path to success, to suggest appropriate interventions, and to improve accountability in community colleges.

Student Flow Analysis: CSU Student Progress Toward Graduation

by Nancy Shulock | Sep 2009 | Reports and Briefs, State and System Policy

This report is an excerpt of a report to the California State University done as part of its one-year planning grant from the Lumina Foundation’s Making Opportunity Affordable project. The report studies the 23-campus system’s efforts to improve graduation rates, analyzes systemwide data on student progress toward degrees, and makes recommendations for future steps.

Student Progress Toward Degree Completion: Lessons from the Research Literature

by Colleen Moore and Nancy Shulock | Sep 2009 | College and Career Readiness and Success, Reports and Briefs, State and System Policy

This report reviews the research literature on student success to identify intermediate outcomes, sometimes called “milestones,” along the college pathway that give students momentum toward degree completion. It points to academic behaviors and patterns that can be tracked to identify where and why student progress stalls and how changes to policies and practices might increase degree completion.

Crafting a Student-Centered Transfer Process in California: Lessons from Other States

by Colleen Moore and Nancy Shulock | Aug 2009 | College and Career Readiness and Success, Reports and Briefs, State and System Policy

his report tackles the difficult challenge of making transfer more comprehensible and less frustrating for California’s community college students. The study examines transfer policies of eight states, identifies some key dimensions of emerging policies, and offers recommendations for more student-centered transfer policies that would increase transfer success.

Retaining Latino and Non- Latino College Students: Key Similarities and Differences

by Dr. Edward L. Lascher | Aug 2009 | College and Career Readiness and Success, Reports and Briefs

This research brief by Dr. Edward L. Lascher, Sacramento State Associate Dean, College of Social Sciences and Interdisciplinary Studies, is a summary of a critical review of the literature about retaining Latino and non-Latino college students. The brief highlights those findings that are best supported by earlier studies, emphasizes where further research is needed and offers recommendations.

Technical Difficulties: Meeting California’s Workforce Needs in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) Fields

by Jeremy Offenstein and Nancy Shulock | Jun 2009 | Career and Technical Education, College and Career Readiness and Success, Reports and Briefs, State and System Policy

This report draws attention to California’s looming shortage of educated workers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields, as the demand for such workers increases and the state is producing too few graduates to meet the demand. The report offers recommendations to meet workforce needs and maintain the economic benefits that have resulted from the state’s historical strength in STEM employment.

Moving Forward: Increasing Latino Enrollment in California’s Public Universities

by Colleen Moore and Nancy Shulock | Nov 2007 | College and Career Readiness and Success, Reports and Briefs, State and System Policy

This report examines issues of UC/CSU eligibility among under-represented minority high school students, with a specific focus on the growing Latino population. The report describes a simple model that can be used to estimate the impact of eligibility increases among Latinos. (click here to see the model).

Facing Reality: California Needs a Statewide Agenda to Improve Higher Education Outcomes

by Nancy Shulock and Colleen Moore | Oct 2007 | College and Career Readiness and Success, Reports and Briefs, State and System Policy

This report examines seven states that share California’s high rates of growth and demographic change to see what California can learn about how to improve access to and success in postsecondary education.

Invest in Success: How Finance Policy Can Increase Student Success at California’s Community Colleges

by Nancy Shulock and Colleen Moore | Oct 2007 | College and Career Readiness and Success, Reports and Briefs

(click here for Executive Summary)

This report analyzes the degree to which state finance policies for the community colleges align with state priorities – such as access, completion and affordability. It concludes that there is considerable misalignment; therefore, funds are not invested as well as they might be to accomplish state goals. Alternative approaches to finance are explored, and a new approach is suggested to replace traditional (and ineffective) performance funding with “investing in success.”

Beyond the Open Door: Increasing Student Success in the California Community Colleges

by Colleen Moore and Nancy Shulock | Aug 2007 | College and Career Readiness and Success, Reports and Briefs, State and System Policy

This report provides detailed analyses of factors related to student success, connects those factors to state and institutional policies, and offers recommendations for policy reforms. It includes a qualitative analysis of the California Community Colleges’ assessment and placement process.

Rules of the Game: How State Policy Creates Barriers to Degree Completion and Impedes Student Success in the California Community Colleges

by Nancy Shulock and Colleen Moore | Feb 2007 | College and Career Readiness and Success, Reports and Briefs, State and System Policy

This report finds low completion rates among degree-seeking students and identifies several areas of state policy that inadvertently create barriers to student success. It offers general recommendations for how changes to state policy in these areas can increase student success.

Diminished Access to the Baccalaureate for Low-income and Minority Students in California: The Impact of Budget and Capacity Constraints on the Transfer Function

by Nancy Shulock and Colleen Moore | May 2005 | College and Career Readiness and Success, Reports and Briefs

This article was published in the journal Educational Policy (vol. 19, no. 2)

Effect of Racial/Ethnic Composition on Transfer Rates in Community Colleges: Implications for Policy and Practice

by Robert Wassmer, Colleen Moore, and Nancy Shulock | Sep 2004 | College and Career Readiness and Success, Reports and Briefs

This article was published in the journal Research in Higher Education (vol. 45, no. 6).

Ensuring Access with Quality to California Community Colleges

by Gerald C. Hayward, Dennis P. Jones, Aims C. McGuinness, Jr., and Allene Timar Postscript by Nancy Shulock | May 2004 | Reports and Briefs, State and System Policy

IHELP was a contributing author to this report published by the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education. The report integrates enrollment projections for community colleges with in-depth interviews with educators, analyzes the scope of current access problems, and makes recommendations aimed at avoiding even greater problems over the next decade.

Diminishing Access to the Baccalaureate through Transfer: The Impact of State Policies and Implications for California

by Nancy Shulock and Colleen Moore | Apr 2004 | College and Career Readiness and Success, Reports and Briefs, State and System Policy

This report discusses the reasons behind a narrowing transfer pathway from community colleges to universities in California. It raises questions policymakers should consider in targeting scarce resources to generate the best educational outcomes for Californians.