Upcoming Presentations

2025 COABE National Conference

March 30–April 2, 2025
Dallas, TX

The Opportunities and Challenges of Community Colleges as Providers of Adult Education ESL

April 1, Time TBD

This session explores national research and practices in adult education (AE) English as a Second Language (ESL). Researchers from the Migration Policy Institute (MPI) and the Community College Research Center (CCRC) will discuss the impact of federal and state AE policies on community colleges providing AE ESL. Drawing from new CCRC research, attendees will learn about opportunities, challenges, and innovative programming strategies that support multilingual learners’ academic and career success within current federal policy constraints.

Presenters

Julia Raufman, Research Associate, CCRC

Jacob Hofstetter, Research Analyst, Migration Policy Institute's National Center on Immigrant Integration Policy

RP Conference 2025

April 2–4, 2025
Burlingame, CA

Understanding the Support Networks of First-Generation College Students: Research Findings and Implications for Institutional Research

April 3, 10:00–11:00 AM

In this session, presenters will share findings from a four-year mixed methods social network analysis of the personal support networks of first-generation college students in their first year at two California community colleges and two universities in the California State system. The session will be structured and designed to inform efforts of institutional research professionals in gathering data about first-generation college students on their respective campuses that can inform the design and delivery of services intended to improve outcomes among this subgroup of students. Attendees can expect to take away lessons learned about who first-generation college students turn to for support and how these relationships shape their postsecondary pathway. Attendees can also expect to take away survey questions that they can modify and use at their institutions to collect more precise information about first-generation students and, in doing so, better position their colleagues to serve these students.

Presenters

Hoori Kalamkarian, Senior Research Associate, CCRC

Alex Adams, Senior Director, Institutional Research, Planning, and Effectiveness, Student Learning Support Services, Fresno City College

AAC&U's Conference on Learning and Student Success (CLASS)

Bringing SDL Theories Into Postsecondary Online Learning Contexts

Date & Time TBA | Puerto Rico Convention Center

Self-directed learning (SDL) refers to 3 mutually reinforcing cognitive and behavioral processes (motivation, metacognition, applied learning) that are shown to improve postsecondary outcomes. But faculty report uncertainty about how to foster them in content area courses, especially online. Presenters will share research underpinning the framework and describe an ongoing empirical study of SDL support in online courses at community colleges and broad-access universities, including teaching strategies to improve self-efficacy and belonging (motivation), reflection (metacognition), and help-seeking (applied learning). Participants will explore how to implement teaching practices in online/hybrid courses aligned with an evidence-based, self-directed learning framework and will engage in interactive activities to identify opportunities to bolster SDL support across course types.

Presenters

Amy E. Brown, Research Associate, CCRC

Ellen Wasserman, Research Associate, CCRC

Meghan McIntyre, Senior Professor of Mathematics, Wake Technical Community College

2025 AERA Annual Meeting

April 23–27, 2025
Denver, CO

Adult Learners: Policy and Practice

April 24, 9:50–11:20 AM | Four Seasons Ballroom 1

As part of a roundtable discussion, the authors will present on a paper that presents findings on federal and state adult education English as a second language (AE ESL) policies, including the opportunities and challenges that these policies present for the delivery of AE ESL services within community colleges (CCs). CCs provide access to free or low-cost AE ESL courses and supportive services and have transformative potential for creating pathways to postsecondary education and occupational training for a wide range of multilingual learners (MLs). However, like other providers, CCs can struggle to fully meet this population’s needs, due to structural constraints, including limitations within the policies governing AE programming.

Presenters

Julia Raufman, Research Associate, CCRC

Nikki Edgecombe, Senior Research Scholar, CCRC

George C. Bunch, Professor of Education and Department Chair, UC Santa Cruz

CCRC Cost Study Webinar

November 19, 2020

CCRC's new research on guided pathways tackles two big questions: How much will guided pathways cost, and how can colleges fund and sustain the large-scale changes involved? This webinar provided insights into these questions from research, practice, and policy perspectives.

CCRC Senior Research Scholar Davis Jenkins discussed findings from CCRC's new research on the cost of guided pathways. Bill Seymour, president of Cleveland State Community College in Tennessee, and Diane Snyder, vice chancellor of finance and administration for the Alamo Colleges, shared how their institutions have approached financing whole-college reform. Charles Ansell, vice president of research, policy, and advocacy at Complete College America and former chief financial officer and associate vice chancellor of strategic planning for the Community College System of New Hampshire, discussed the implications of this research for college and system leaders who are advancing and supporting institutional change efforts.

Associated Papers

Participants

Senior Research Scholar
Community College Research Center
William Seymour
President
Cleveland State Community College
Diane Snyder
Vice Chancellor for Finance and Administration
Alamo Colleges District
Charles Ansell
Vice President of Research, Policy & Advocacy
Complete College America

Associated Project(s)