Education Research

Education Research of Interest

A Community College Effect on Educational and Career Plans

According to authors Sueuk Park (University of Notre Dame) and Ernest T. Pascarella, (University of Iowa) “Much existing research has examined the negative influence of attending a community college on educational attainment in the U.S.” [pg. 705] Their paper, 'Community College Attendance and Socioeconomic Plans,' takes this research one step further and examines the net impact of attending a two-year college (versus a four-year institution) on students’ educational and occupational plans.

 

Divided We Fail: Improving Completion and Closing Racial Gaps in California's Community Colleges

Divided We Fail: San Francisco Bay Regional Profile

The future of California depends heavily on increasing numbers of Californians with certificates, associate degrees, and bachelor’s degrees. Educational attainment in California has been declining with each younger generation - a statistic that bodes poorly for the state’s economic competitiveness. It is essential to increase educational attainment among the Latino population, as current levels are relatively low and the Latino share of the working age population in California is projected to grow from 34% currently to 50% by 2040.

 

First Year Experience Survey

Several California Community Colleges have implemented First Year Experience (FYE) programs in the past few years as a means to achieve greater student retention and success. To this end, the Merced College Office of Grants and Institutional Research conducted a survey through Survey Monkey to gain insight from California Community Colleges that have these programs, and have shared their results.

 

Knocking at the College Door

This report helps to quantify the major changes in the size of our student population and its demographic makeup for the years ahead by projecting the number of high school graduates for each state and the nation.

 

The Road Less Traveled: Realizing the Potential of Career Technical Education in the California Community Colleges

This research examines four high-wage, high-need career pathways in the California community colleges as a basis for exploring the Career Technical Education (CTE) mission and its role in the college completion agenda.

The study found that the potential of CTE to help meet the state’s completion, workforce, and equity goals is not fully realized due to a lack of priority on awarding technical certificates and degrees and an absence of clear pathways for students to follow in pursuing those credentials.

 

Time is the Enemy

A report released in late September 2011 by a group seeking to raise college graduation rates shows that despite decades of steadily climbing enrollment rates, the percentage of students making it to the finish line is barely budging.

The group, Complete College America, is a nonprofit founded two years ago with financing from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Lumina Foundation and others. Its report, which had the cooperation of 33 governors, showed how many of the students in states completed their degrees, broken down into different categories, including whether enrollment is full- or part-time, or at a two- or four-year institution.

 

Using Student Voices to Redefine Support: What Community College Students Say Institutions, Instructors and Others Can Do To Help Them Succeed

Provides a detailed discussion of students’ perspectives on how “six success factors”—directed, focused, nurtured, engaged, connected and valued—contribute to their achievement; incorporates discussion questions to stimulate dialog about these findings and provides several suggestions for action—offered by students in the study—that can be used by different constituent groups to support their success.

 

What Students Say They Need to Succeed: Key Themes from a Study of Student Support

Presents five key themes that synthesize what students say about the six success factors and share specific strategies that students suggest may improve their achievement; includes discussion questions for practitioners to facilitate college-level reflection and planning.

 

You Can Grow Your Intelligence

Many people think of the brain as a mystery. They don't know much about intelligence and how it works. When they do think about what intelligence is, many people believe that a person is born either smart, average, or dumb — and stays that way for life.

But new research shows that the brain is more like a muscle — it changes and gets stronger when you use it. And scientists have been able to show just how the brain grows and gets stronger when you learn.