1. Thomas Brock Director, Community College Research Center
Emerging Lessons and New Directions for Community College Research CUNY Community College Faculty Development Workshop January 10, 2019
Thomas Brock
Director, Community College Research Center

2. Today’s Outline
About CCRC
Guided Pathways
New Directions for Research

4. The Community College Paradox
Many benefits to a community college education:
Low-cost
Boost to earnings
Path to four-year colleges and universities
And yet:
Most degree-seeking students do not complete any credential within six years of enrollment

5. Why the Poor Outcomes? Student factors: Institutional factors:
Low-income
Poor academic preparation
Institutional factors:
Low-cost, but not free
Challenges of developmental education
Self-service, “cafeteria” model is not well-suited to the students served

6. Guided Pathways: A Comprehensive Reform
Focus on the entire college experience – from initial connection through graduation
Provide much more structure and support to students
Make sure all students benefit from reforms

7. Guided Pathways Principles
Map program pathways with students’ end goals in mind
Help students choose and enter a program pathway
Keep students on a path
Ensure students are learning

8. Creating Program Maps

9. Cleveland State is using their career communities, or meta majors, to organize more than just their programs of study. Students’ exploration of potential programs and careers is framed by the college’s meta-majors: the college’s website shows what careers programs lead to, the college organizes orientation by career community, has a first-year experience course for each career community (and all students make their completion plan within the course), has an assigned success coach for each career community that works with faculty advisors and responds to early alerts, and the college organizes career fairs and commencement by career community.
Career communities at Cleveland State can offer a “college within the college” experience and the college is beginning to build deliberate learning communities in a few course sections that are common to a career community.

10. Rethinking Student Onboarding

11. New Approaches to Teaching College Math

12. Rethinking Student Advising

13. Example of an Online Dashboard

14. Rethinking Teaching and Learning

15. Project-Based and Employer-Based Learning

16. A National Movement: Colleges Implementing Guided Pathways

17. Does the Guided Pathways Approach Sound Familiar?
ASAP has much in common with Guided Pathways, but:
Is more specified as a model
Includes extra supports, such as Metro Cards
Is undergoing a rigorous evaluation

18. Source: CCRC Analysis of TBR Data

19. Source: CCRC Analysis of TBR Data

20. Guided Pathways in Tennessee: Credits Completed by Age and Race/Ethnicity
Source: CCRC Analysis of TBR Data

21. New Questions and Directions for CCRC Research
Equity
Why do achievement gaps persist? How can they be addressed?
Technology and Changes in the Labor Market
How should community colleges adapt?
Teaching and Pedagogy
What practices most benefit students?
How can colleges better support instructors?

22. Proposed Policy Lab with CUNY
Initial focus: Transition to the workforce and economic mobility
May also address student loans, financial aid

23. What are your main questions and interests?