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Policy Framework
A postsecondary credential has become increasingly important in the labor market, and college attendance has become more widespread. Unfortunately, college completion remains less common, particularly in community colleges, which serve many low-income students. Finding ways to increase the rates of persistence in school and of degree attainment among community college students is critical to improving their long-term economic prospects.
Recent research on student persistence has highlighted the importance of student “involvement,” namely in a college’s academic and social life — particularly during a student’s first year. ”Learning communities,” which emerged in the 1970s, are viewed by many practitioners and researchers as a promising strategy to promote student involvement and retention. Learning communities bring together small groups of students who take two or more linked courses that have mutually reinforcing themes and assignments. The learning communities seek to encourage peer relationships, intensify personal connections to faculty, and foster a deeper understanding of coursework.
Studies on learning communities have found that involved students and faculty had positive views of their experiences. Moreover, results from a learning communities evaluation at Kingsborough Community College in Brooklyn, NY — part of MDRC’s Opening Doors demonstration — show that, relative to a control group of students in regular classes, students in the learning community moved more quickly through developmental English requirements, took and passed more courses, and earned more credits in their first semester. Two years later, they were also somewhat more likely to be enrolled in college.
As part of five-year grant from the Institute of Education Sciences of the U.S. Department of Education to the National Center for Postsecondary Research (NCPR), MDRC and other NCPR research partners are planning a multi-college demonstration of learning communities. The demonstration will build on the experiences of Kingsborough Community College, by testing variations of learning communities that have different foci (including math and occupational instruction) and levels of curriculum integration.
Agenda, Scope, and Goals
Learning communities can be structured in a wide variety of ways. During the demonstration’s planning phase, MDRC built linkages with organizations and individuals knowledgeable about learning communities, explored various configurations of learning communities, visited learning community programs at two- and four-year colleges, and refined the evaluation design. The project will evaluate the effectiveness of learning communities as a strategy to improve a broad range of educational outcomes for low-income students, with a particular emphasis on completion of developmental (remedial) education requirements and persistence in school.
Design, Sites, and Data Sources
The demonstration is using a random assignment research design to compare the experiences and outcomes of students in the learning communities to those of students not participating in the programs. MDRC and its partners are using a variety of data sources, including students’ academic and wage records and surveys of participants, to determine the effects of the programs. Six community colleges are participating in the demonstration:
- Community College of Baltimore County (Baltimore, Maryland)
- Hillsborough Community College (Tampa, Florida)
- Houston Community College (Houston, Texas)
- Kingsborough Community College (Brooklyn, New York)
- Merced College (Merced, California)
- Queensborough Community College (Queens, New York)
The demonstration includes an implementation study to understand how the learning communities programs are designed and operated and to describe the classroom experience from the perspective of teachers and students in the learning communities and regular college programs. MDRC will also assess the cost of learning communities and compare it to the cost of regular college programs in which courses are not intentionally linked.
What's Next
In spring 2007, three sites began randomly assigning students for the fall 2007 semester; the remaining three began random assignment in fall 2007 for the spring 2008 semester. The demonstration will be conducted until 2010. A final report will be published in 2011.
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