How should colleges determine whether students are placed into developmental or college-level courses? Each year, colleges place millions of students into developmental math and English courses upon enrollment. To do so, colleges most often use a high-stakes placement test, which numerous research studies have shown to be highly inaccurate in…

In a flipped classroom, an increasingly popular pedagogical model, students view a video lecture at home and work on exercises with the instructor during class time. Advocates of the flipped classroom claim the practice not only improves student achievement but also ameliorates the achievement gap. We conduct a randomized controlled trial at West…

Increasing 4-year graduation rates among US students, particularly those historically disadvantaged in higher education, is a national imperative. The purpose of this study is to test the efficacy of the multifaceted Research Aligned Mentorship Program in advancing the academic success of low income, first generation college, and minority students…

This paper uses the credits-attempted perspective--in the context of how many credits a student attempts in their first year of college--and reports on several related projects all intended to evaluate potential interventions to raise academic momentum among first-year community college students. The presentation contrasts non-experimental…

Professional development workshops enable educators to increase their knowledge in an academic subject. With the publication of The Next Generation Science Standards, teachers are expected to be cognizant in science content and inquiry-based learning. This research study looked at workshops offered by New York Project Learning Tree®, an…

A big challenge facing colleges and university programs across the United States is retaining students to graduation. This is especially the case for Native American students, who have had one of the highest dropout rates over the past several decades. Using data from a large university that implemented a self-regulated learning course for…

The Information Science doctoral program at the University at Albany, State University of New York, faces many of the same challenges found in highly interdisciplinary programs across educational institutions worldwide such as complex curricula development, abundant discipline languages and cultures, and stakeholders clinging to the traditional,…

This article discusses new evidence on the effectiveness of dual enrollment in increasing college achievement in New York City (NYC). After reviewing existing research on the effectiveness of dual enrollment programs, the authors discuss the results of a recent evaluation of College Now, the dual enrollment program of The City University of New…

Policy Studies Associates (PSA) is conducting a five-year evaluation of the implementation and impact of the national demonstration of a model for expanded learning time developed by "The After-School Corporation" (TASC). This model, called "ExpandED Schools," aims to transform the educational experiences of students in ways…

The objective of this study was to examine quality of life of children with profound disabilities from the perspective of special education staff. Due to the nature of profound level cognitive disabilities, children with these issues are unable to respond to traditional paper and pencil quality of life assessments. Therefore, the perspectives of…

Despite enrolling almost half of all undergraduate students in the United States, community colleges have struggled for decades with low degree-completion rates. CUNY community colleges struggle with the challenge of low completion rates even when the degree timetable is expanded. According to the CUNY Office of Institutional Research and…

The Wallace Foundation is funding a multiyear demonstration project to determine whether voluntary, district summer learning programs can stem summer learning loss for low-income students. Six districts--Boston, Cincinnati, Dallas, Duval County (Florida), Pittsburgh, and Rochester, New York--were selected for the demonstration project and…

In recent years, there has been unprecedented national focus on the importance of increasing graduation rates for community college students. Many reforms have been tried, but college completion rates remain stubbornly low: Only one-third of entering students graduate with a degree or certificate within five years. Reforms are often short-term,…

In recent years, there has been unprecedented national focus on the importance of increasing the stubbornly low graduation rates of community college students. Most reforms that have been tried are short-term and address one or only a few barriers to student success. The City University of New York's (CUNY's) Accelerated Study in Associate…

Employers point to a large and growing "skills gap," saying thousands of jobs are already going unfilled because applicants lack the skills and knowledge they need. Forecasters say that, by the end of this decade, two-thirds of all jobs will require some form of high-quality postsecondary credential such as a degree or certificate. The…