Using research focused on best practices, focus group information, and data analytics, the Title V: Focus on Student Success (FOSS) Grant created a model for the development, implementation, and evaluation of a summer bridge program. Results included increased academic performance indicators in first-year Hispanic college students. Validation for…

Community colleges are the pathways for millions of Americans to gain valuable education and to access career opportunities leading to family-sustaining wages. Faculty, student services staff, and administrators must share in the responsibility for student success if we are to meet national completion goals and reach even more students. During a…

Designing effective student retention programs is of critical importance from both a completion and a monetary standpoint. However, oftentimes colleges attempt to use nationally developed models rather than institutional-specific data to identify potential factors involved in student attrition. At a Midwestern community college, research…

Summer bridge programs support post-secondary success by providing intensive, short-term academic and social resources while introducing college expectations and the cultural contexts of the institution. They typically are offered in the summer between high school graduation and the first term of college and vary in content, program size and…

Few quantitative studies exist on veteran success in postsecondary education, and existing qualitative research has also not accurately identified factors related to veteran achievement or pathways to success in postsecondary education. In this article, the Community College Survey of Men (CCSM) evaluates predictors of student success for…

National studies reveal that 50 percent to 70 percent of community college students are required to take developmental, or remedial, math courses upon enrollment, and only 20 percent of developmental math students ever successfully complete a college-level math course. Taking up the challenge is the "New Mathways Project" (NMP),…

Community colleges face struggles in helping students meet their academic, career, and personal goals. Student affairs practitioners can be innovators by creating initiatives to engage students. Practitioners can act as a bridge between student and academic affairs. This article explores how a group of counselors redefined their roles by designing…

High school students with disabilities who drop out are costly to society. Compared to those who graduate, they are more likely to be unemployed, dependent on public services, and involved in the criminal justice system. Consequently, helping students with disabilities graduate has become a prominent national concern. Students with disabilities…

This report combines syntheses of prior research with new analyses of previously collected data to address trends for minority group participation in higher education over the past 25 years. Two chapters focus on the aggregate impact of individual choices and behaviors in college attendance. Chapter 1 describes trends in minority enrollment and…