Issues: Higher Education

Institutional Reform

MDRC is evaluating efforts by community colleges to increase student success through institution-wide reforms, including using information about students’ progress over time to make better-informed programming decisions and developing well-structured, well-supported pathways for students from entry to degree completion.

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Brief

Improving Outcomes for Men of Color in College: Recommendations for Advancing Success in the “Dual Pandemics”

The combination of the COVID-19 pandemic and racial unrest over the last few years has been referred to as the “dual pandemics.” These challenges have contributed to startling college enrollment declines for men of color. This brief shares four strategies that colleges and universities can employ to better support them.

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Report

User-Informed Principles

This document outlines design parameters for child assessment solutions that meet outstanding needs of the early childhood education field. It prioritizes the experiences, strengths, and needs of pre-K educators, families, and children whose perspectives are less often elevated in the design, creation, and validation of measurement and assessment tools.

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Key Documents

Report

Bringing Developmental Education to Scale

Lessons from the Developmental Education Initiative

This report examines the efforts of 15 community colleges that expanded preexisting interventions or put in place new ones directed toward helping students move through developmental coursework more quickly and more successfully.

Turning the Tide

Five Years of Achieving the Dream in Community Colleges

This interim report examines the experiences of the first 26 colleges to join the ambitious Achieving the Dream initiative. Launched by Lumina Foundation for Education in 2004, Achieving the Dream helps community colleges collect and analyze student performance data in order to build a “culture of evidence,” enabling the colleges to use that knowledge to develop programs to increase students’ academic success.

Promising Instructional Reforms in Developmental Education

A Case Study of Three Achieving the Dream Colleges

This report examines the experiences of three of the 83 colleges currently involved in the Achieving the Dream: Community Colleges Count project, an initiative of Lumina Foundation for Education, and their efforts to improve instruction in developmental education classrooms.

College Completion Fund Project Focus Area: Developmental Education Financial Aid Institutional Reform Student Services Instruction and Curricula Population: Young Adults Populations with Barriers to Employment Populations with Low Incomes	An Experienced School Support Organization at Scale: A Study of The Urban Assembly Network Focus Area: High School Institutional Reform Transition to Postsecondary Population: Children and Schools Locations: New York	Evidence to Action Focus Area: Developmental Education Financial Aid Student Services Institutional Reform Population: Young Adults Locations: Indiana, Montana, Virginia
Rural Higher Education Initiative Focus Area: Institutional Reform Financial Aid Student Services Population: Young Adults Intervention: Student Services, Career & Technical Education, Counseling/Advising, Financial Aid	Multiple Measures Assessment Project Focus Area: Developmental Education Institutional Reform Population: Young Adults Intervention: Curricular/Instructional Reforms, Developmental Education Locations: Minnesota, Wisconsin	The Finish Line: Graduation by Design Focus Area: Institutional Reform Instruction and Curricula Population: Young Adults Intervention: Behavioral Interventions
P-TECH 9-14 Evaluation Focus Area: High School Transition to Postsecondary Instruction and Curricula Institutional Reform Youth Employment Population: Children and Schools Intervention: Classroom Services, Comprehensive School Reform, Career & Technical Education, Curricular/Instructional Reforms, Dual-Enrollment/Bridge Programs, Accelerated Programs Locations: New York	Evaluating the Impact of Integrated Planning and Advising for Student Success (iPASS) Focus Area: Institutional Reform Student Services Population: Young Adults Intervention: Student Services, Counseling/Advising Locations: California, North Carolina, Pennsylvania	Comparative Case Study of Winning Talent Dividend Cities Focus Area: Institutional Reform Financial Aid Student Services Population: Young Adults Intervention: Student Services, Counseling/Advising, Financial Aid, Developmental Education, Accelerated Programs Locations: Florida, Nebraska, Ohio, Oregon, South Carolina, Virginia
Strengthening Nonprofit Financial Management Focus Area: Institutional Reform Population: Young Adults Intervention: Professional Development/ Teacher Training Locations: Illinois	PACE Center for Girls Focus Area: Foster Care and Juvenile Justice Youth and Juvenile Justice Elementary and Middle School High School Institutional Reform Transition to Postsecondary Population: Young Adults Children and Schools Intervention: Student Services, Classroom Services, Case Management, Counseling/Advising Locations: Florida	The SEED Foundation Focus Area: Elementary and Middle School High School Institutional Reform Transition to Postsecondary Population: Children and Schools Intervention: Classroom Services, Residential Youth Programs, School Readiness, Student Services Locations: Dist. of Columbia, Maryland
New York City Small Schools of Choice Evaluation Focus Area: High School Institutional Reform Transition to Postsecondary Population: Children and Schools Intervention: Small Schools, Career & Technical Education Locations: New York

Developmental Education Initiative Focus Area: Developmental Education Institutional Reform Population: Young Adults Intervention: Student Services, Curricular/Instructional Reforms, Developmental Education, Accelerated Programs Locations: Connecticut, Florida, North Carolina, Ohio, Texas, Virginia	Completion by Design Evaluation Focus Area: Institutional Reform Population: Young Adults Locations: Florida, North Carolina, Ohio	Foundations for Success Focus Area: Institutional Reform Population: Children and Schools Locations: California, New York, North Carolina, Texas
Bay Area School Reform Collaborative Focus Area: Institutional Reform Population: Children and Schools Intervention: Professional Development/ Teacher Training Locations: California	Instructional Leadership Study Focus Area: Institutional Reform Population: Children and Schools Intervention: Professional Development/ Teacher Training Locations: Minnesota, New York, Texas	Achieving the Dream Focus Area: Developmental Education Institutional Reform Population: Young Adults Intervention: Student Services, Learning Communities, Counseling/Advising, Curricular/Instructional Reforms, Developmental Education Locations: Florida, Massachusetts, New Mexico, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia, Washington
Learning Communities Demonstration Focus Area: Instruction and Curricula Institutional Reform Developmental Education Population: Young Adults Intervention: Student Services, Learning Communities, Curricular/Instructional Reforms, Developmental Education Locations: California, Florida, Maryland, New York, Texas	Student Support Partnership Integrating Resources and Education (SSPIRE) Focus Area: Institutional Reform Student Services Population: Young Adults Intervention: Case Management, Dual-Enrollment/Bridge Programs, Learning Communities, Student Services Locations: California

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