MDRC has embarked on a research agenda aimed at discovering how to dramatically increase the success of low-income young adults in school, the labor market, and life. Reflecting the importance of community colleges for low-income individuals, MDRC’s work to date focuses on initiatives that are designed to increase persistence and academic achievement among students at these institutions.
In a major initiative, Opening Doors, MDRC is working with six community colleges to test the effects of enhanced student services, instructional reforms, and performance-based scholarships on student grades, retention, graduation, and other outcomes. Positive findings from the Opening Doors project about two particular interventions have led to additional demonstrations: (1) the Learning Communities Demonstration, which is testing variations of programs that place college students into small groups that take coordinated classes together, and (2) the Performance-Based Scholarship Demonstration, which is testing different forms of a scholarship model that increased academic achievement and persistence in Louisiana.
In Achieving the Dream, MDRC is collaborating with a group of national organizations and funders on an initiative to improve student success in 58 schools in nine states. The initiative helps colleges gather and analyze data to understand factors that may be impeding student success and then use this information to change educational practices. Short-term financial setbacks sometimes force students to leave college. MDRC is evaluating the Dreamkeepers and Angel Fund Emergency Financial Aid initiative, an emergency scholarship program for community college and tribal college students. Finally, The Irvine Foundation has asked MDRC to develop the Student Support Partnership Integrating Resources and Education (SSPIRE) that would help a group of colleges in California effectively integrate traditional student support services with intensive academic instruction and supports.
MDRC is also a partner in the National Center for Postsecondary Research (NCPR), which is housed at the Community College Research Center, Teachers College, Columbia University, in New York City. Other partners include the Curry School of Education at the University of Virginia and professors at Harvard University and Princeton University. Supported by the Institute of Education Sciences of the U.S. Department of Education, NCPR is focused on studying the effects of programs designed to help students make the transition to college and master basic skills needed to advance to a degree.
Key Documents on Community Colleges
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