Redesigning America’s Community Colleges: A Clearer Path to Student Success

Level
State
Institution
Process Stage
Planning
Role
Institutional Leadership
Math Department

Thomas Bailey, Shanna Smith Jaggars, & Davis Jenkins Synthesizing findings from CCRC's intensive study of community colleges over the past eight years, the authors argue that improving developmental education, instruction, student supports, and the overall student experience is necessary but not sufficient; targeted reforms must be implemented as part of a broader institutional restructuring of mathematics pathways. The authors delineate a set of research-based design principles and strategies to help colleges achieve this challenging goal, and lay out a path for community colleges working to achieve greater success for their students, and for our nation as a whole.