For low-income people, community colleges offer an important pathway out of poverty and into better jobs. But a host of factors, including inadequate financial aid or student services and poor developmental classes, can keep them from enrolling in and completing postsecondary education.  more

Paying for Persistence: A Unique Scholarship Program to Increase Student Success at Community Colleges In this seven-minute video, MDRC researcher Lashawn Richburg-Hayes summarizes promising findings about a performance-based scholarship that boosted academic achievement and retention rates at two New Orleans-area community colleges. Alternate QuickTime Version Does Education Increase Economic Mobility? MDRC Receives Grant from The Kresge Foundation to Support Preschool and Community College Research, Enhanced Communication Efforts Opening Doors Report Featured in Education Trade Press MDRC Researchers Presenting at American Association of Community Colleges Conference, April 5-8

A Good Start Two-Year Effects of a Freshmen Learning Community Program at Kingsborough Community College Freshmen in a “learning community” at Kingsborough Community College in Brooklyn, NY, moved more quickly through developmental English requirements, took and passed more courses, and earned more credits in their first semester than students in a control group. Two years later, they were also somewhat more likely to be enrolled in college. Helping Low-Wage Workers Persist in Education Programs Lessons from Research on Welfare Training Programs and Two Promising Community College Strategies Building a Culture of Evidence for Community College Student Success Early Progress in the Achieving the Dream Initiative Early Results from the Opening Doors Demonstration in Ohio