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Institute Reports
Steps to Success: Analyzing Milestone Achievement to Improve Community College Student Outcomes
October, 2009
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 Progress Toward Degree Completion: Lessons from the Research Literature
September, 2009
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 have been found to predict student progress and success that can, therefore, be tracked to identify where and why student progress stalls and how changes to policies and practices might increase degree completion. The report was prepared as background for upcoming reports on milestone achievement among community college and university students.
Community College Student Outcomes: Limitations of the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) and Recommendations for Improvement.
August 2009
IHELP’s report on the IPEDS analyzes the value and effectiveness of the system for understanding student outcomes in community colleges. The report discusses the system’s shortcomings such as the limitation of the graduation rate data to full-time students, the difficulty in discerning student intent in order to report on the appropriate outcomes, and the limitations for using the data to make comparisons across colleges. Recommendations are made for improving the data collected and for better use of the data.
Crafting a Student-Centered Transfer Process in California: Lessons from other states
August, 2009
This 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 and lead to more college educated Californians to help meet workforce needs.
Technical Difficulties: Meeting California's Workforce Needs in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) Fields
June, 2009
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. Click here for executive summary.
The Grades are In - 2008: Is California Higher Education Measuring Up? February, 2009
This report is the third 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, and discusses key issues and policy recommendations for each category. It also describes California's performance relative to other states as presented in the National Center's Measuring Up 2008 report card. See the regional performance profiles.
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 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)
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)
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)
The Grades are In - 2006: Is California Higher Education Measuring Up? 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.
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.
The Grades are In - 2004: Is California Higher Education Measuring Up? 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Newsletters
October 2009
September 2009
August 2009
July 2009
Other Publications
Retaining Latino College Students: Conclusions from the Literature
This research brief by Dr. Ted 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. This brief highlights those findings that are best supported by earlier studies, emphasizes where further research is needed and offers recommendations. View the full report.
Draft Case Studies on P-16/P-20 Councils:
Arizona Case Study
Kentucky Case Study
Rhode Island Case Study
Cross-State Analysis
April, 2009
These papers examine the experiences of several states that have used P-16 /P-20 Councils as a means of bridging the governance divide between K-12 and postsecondary education.
Buying the Right Thing: Using a Policy Audit to Align Community College Finance with State Policy Goals
April-June, 2007
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.
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.)
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).
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.
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.
Envisioning a State of Learning: Conference Summary and Observations on the California Master Plan for Higher Education
November, 2003
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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.