Publications

It Could Happen: Unleashing the Potential of California's Community Colleges to Help Students Succeed and California Thrive, February, 2008
(click here for foldout insert)
This report integrates our work over the last year on how to increase student success. It proposes a specific agenda for policy change that could lead to significant and lasting increases in student success.

Moving Forward: Increasing Latino Enrollment in California's Public Universities, November, 2007
This report examines issues of UC/CSU eligibility among under-represented minoroity 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)

Invest in Success: How Finance Policy Can Increase Student Success at California's Community Colleges, October, 2007. (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, August 2007. (click here for Executive Summary)
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 CCC assessment and placement process. (To receive a hard copy of the report, e-mail your address to ihe@csus.edu)

Buying the Right Thing: Using a Policy Audit to Align Community College Finance with State Policy Goals.
This article, co-authored with Steve Boilard of the Legislative Analyst's Office, was published in the April-June 2007 issue of Planning for Higher Education (vol. 35, no. 3). It summarizes the results of a policy audit of California's finance policies for community colleges.

Rules of the Game: How State Policy Creates Barriers to Degree Completion and Impedes Student Success in the California Community Colleges, February 2007.
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. (See an important note about comparison of the completion rate in this report to CCC accountability measures)

State of Decline? Gaps in College Access and Achievement Call for Renewed Commitment to Educating Californians, October 2006.
This report is the second in a series of reports analyzing the performance of California higher education in the areas of preparation, participation, completion, affordability and benefits. It presents data related to these categories of performance by region and by race/ethnicity.

Improving Facility Planning for California Higher Education, August 2006.
This report projects future demand for higher education capital facilities, assesses various alternatives for maximizing the efficient use of physical capacity, and evaluates the state's capital outlay decision-making process.

A Strengthened Community College Role in Teacher Preparation: Improving Outcomes for California's Minority Students, 2006.
This book chapter is included in Expanding Opportunity in Higher Education: Leveraging Promise by Patricia Gandara, Gary Orfield, and Catherine Horn (Eds.)

Shared Solutions: A Framework for Discussing California Higher Education Finance, June 2005.
This report proposes a new framework for understanding California's challenge to finance higher education for its residents over the next decade. The report presents alternative enrollment scenarios, estimates the cost of each scenario, and analyzes the prospects of meeting the cost through (1) state appropriations, (2) student fee revenues and (3) efficiency gains.

Variations on a Theme: Higher Education Performance in California by Region and Race, June 2005.
This report analyzes California's performance on the 50-state report card called Measuring Up. It includes discussion of the state's score in each of the five categories of performance, and presents a breakdown of related data by region and by race/ethnicity.

Diminished Access to the Baccalaureate for Low-income and Minority Students in California: The Impact of Budget and Capacity Constraints on the Transfer Function, May 2005
This article was published in the journal Educational Policy (vol. 19, no. 2).

A Framework for Incorporating Public Trust Issues in States' Higher Education Accountability Plans, April 2005.
This report explores the relationship between public trust and public accountability. It offers a framework for incorporating the concept of public trust into state accountability initiatives in higher education.

Facing Reality: California Needs a Statewide Agenda to Improve Higher Education Outcomes, October 2004.
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.

Effect of Racial/Ethnic Composition on Transfer Rates in Community Colleges: Implications for Policy and Practice, September 2004
This article was published in the journal Research in Higher Education (vol. 45, no. 6).

Ensuring Access with Quality to California Community Colleges, May 2004.
The Institute 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, April 2004.
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.

On the Durability of The Master Plan in the 21st Century, or "If it's breaking, why isn't anyone fixing it?", February 2004.
This article analyzes the reasons why the Master Plan, adopted in 1960, has largely resisted attempts at revision in spite of numerous calls for some substantive changes.

Funding Adult Education: Does California Put the Money Where the Needs Are?, January 2004.
This report examines the investment of adult education funds across the state's 58 counties in relation to the need for adult education services in each county.

Envisioning a State of Learning: Conference Summary and Observations on the California Master Plan for Higher Education, November 2003.
These Proceedings of the 14th annual Envisioning California Conference were edited by Nancy Shulock, and includes her chapter summarizing lessons of the conference.

A Fundamentally New Approach to Accountability: Putting State Policy Issues First, October 2003
This report was prepared for the Forum on Public Policy of the Association for the Study of Higher Education.

Improving Outcomes for California's Minority Students: Can an Increased Role for Community Colleges in Teacher Preparation be Part of the Answer?, September 2003.
This report envisions a four-step pipeline for teacher development in which the community colleges can play a vital role.

Capacity Constraints in California's Public Universities: A Factor Impeding Transfer?, September 2003.
This report examines the issue of capacity constraints in California's public universities, and whether limited capacity is a factor impeding the success of the community college transfer function.

California Community College Transfer Rates:  Policy Implications and a Future Research Agenda, February 2003.
This statistical study identifies factors that explain observed differences in transfer rates among California's community colleges.

An Accountability Framework for California Higher Education: Informing Public Policy and Improving Outcomes, November 2002.
This report responded to a request by the state Senate to begin developing an accountability system for higher education to measure progress toward definable state policy goals. The report formed the foundation for legislative efforts still underway to establish a state accountability system.

The Cal Grant Entitlement: Increasing Access to Financial Aid, May 2002.
This report describes changes made to the Cal Grant program in 2000 legislation, and analyzes reasons fewer awards than expected were granted in the first year after the changes.

California Community Colleges' Leadership Challenge: A View From the Field, April 2002.
This report discusses the growing leadership challenge in the California Community Colleges, based on interviews with current administrators, trustees, and faculty leaders.