Thinking and Linking by Joanne Jacobs
Forty-five percent of four-year graduates studied — at least for awhile — at a community college, reports a new study. Forty percent were enrolled only for one or two terms.
Also on Community College Spotlight: The wine industry has saved Walla Walla, Washington — with the help of the local community college, which trains new wine workers.
More than 470,000 California community college students are on wait lists to get into the classes they need as the fall semester starts. Colleges will cut more classes in January, if voters reject a tax hike on the November ballot.
Those who make it to an associate degree may discover there’s no space for them at state universities.
Community colleges graduate or transfer about 30 percent of students. Batting .300 is fine in baseball. Can community colleges do better?
Colleges are adding veterans’ programs — except for community colleges, which attract the most GI Bill users.
California community college students still have trouble transferring credits to state universities, despite a plan to streamline transfers.
Earning credits is a challenge, complains an honors student who hopes to transfer to Berkeley to earn a neuroscience degree. She can’t get into the science classes she needs at her community college.
Some students graduate with too many credits, paying in time and money for poor advising, poorly structured programs and unclear transfer policies.
More community college students are transferring to selective colleges eager to boost diversity numbers, reports the New York Times.
One third of college students transfer before earning a degree, often going from a four-year to a two-year school. Federal data counts transfers as dropouts.
California community colleges have cut 20,000 courses this year, making it hard for students to complete a degree or vocational certificate, but still offer Playing the Ukulele for Older Adults and Reclaiming Joy: Meeting Your Inner Child.
President Obama wants community colleges to train 2 million “21st-century workers” for skilled technical jobs in the next three years — but most community college students don’t have the math and reading skills these jobs require.
California’s high-minority community colleges have low transfer rates. Graduates of low-performing high schools who enroll in community college have little chance of completing a bachelor’s degree.
Low-income black males admitted by lottery to better schools were more likely to stay in school and less likely to be arrested compared to similar students who lost the transfer lottery. So concludes a study in Charlotte-Mecklenburg, North Carolina by David Deming, a Harvard education professor, in Education Next.
In general, high-risk students commit about 50 percent less crime as a result of winning a school choice lottery. Among male high school students at high risk of criminal activity, winning admission to a first-choice school reduced felony arrests from 77 to 43 per 100 students over the study period (2002-2009). The attendant social cost of crimes committed decreased by more than 35 percent. Among high-risk middle school students, admittance by lottery to a preferred school reduced the average social cost of crimes committed by 63 percent (due chiefly to a reduction in violent crime), and reduced the total expected sentence of crimes committed by 31 months (64 percent).
The highest risk group was identified based on test scores, demographics, behavior, and neighborhood characteristics.
The study finds that the overall reductions in criminal activity are concentrated among the top 20 percent of high-risk students, who are disproportionately African American, eligible for free lunch, with more days of absence and suspensions than the average student.
All students had applied to transfer from their low-performing neighborhood school. Lottery winners moved to schools of average quality as measured by test scores, teacher experience and other factors.
California’s three-part higher-education system is a disaster, writes Kevin Carey. While the national media focuses on Berkeley’s problems — larger classes, fewer janitors — non-elite students are being denied a chance to pursue education and job training.
The state’s community colleges are considering a series of reforms to improve graduation and transfer rates.
Community college success rates will rise, under a new definition that includes transfer students who go on to a four-year institution before earning an associate degree.
Nearly 80 percent of male black and Latino college students in California enroll in community college. Six years later, 80 percent have failed to complete a certificate or degree or transfer to a university. Women do somewhat better.
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