Research and Policy (Archived Content)

Student Success Initiative

The Student Success Task Force (California Community College Chancellor’s Office) recommended 22 specific policy changes to improve educational achievement in the California Community Colleges.

Basic Skills Initiative Effective Practices

“Effective practices” refer to organizational, administrative, instructional, or support activities engaged in by highly successful programs, as validated by research and literature sources relating to developmental education. Over 250 references, spanning more than 30 years, were reviewed, making this the most comprehensive review of literature in the area of basic skills conducted in California community colleges to date. Study after study by a multitude of researchers confirms a consistent set of elements that commonly characterize effective developmental education programs.

California Acceleration Project

The California Acceleration Project, a project of 3CSN (California Community College Success Network), supports the state’s 112 community colleges to redesign their developmental English and Math curricula and increase student completion. A great link to effective practices, resources, and professional development opportunities.

Toward a Vision of Accelerated Curriculum and PedagogyHigh Challenge, High Support Classrooms for Underprepared Students

Addressing an important gap in the dialogue about college completion, a new report commissioned by LearningWorks, Toward a Vision of Accelerated Curriculum and Pedagogy, goes beyond discussions of curricular structure to focus on how faculty teach.  The report offers a set of core instructional principles and practices for redesigning remediation in English and Math, and illustrates how faculty can support students with widely varying backgrounds and skill levels to be successful in an accelerated environment.

ERIC

ERIC – the Education Resources Information Center – is an online digital library of education research and information. ERIC is sponsored by the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) of the U.S. Department of Education. ERIC provides ready access to education literature to support the use of educational research and information to improve practice in learning, teaching, educational decision-making, and research. The link is to the Berkeley City College Library’s database; for off-campus access, you’ll need to log in with your employee or student ID number.

Professional Development Collection

Designed for professional educators, this database provides a highly specialized collection of nearly 520 high quality education journals, including more than 350 peer-reviewed titles. This database also contains more than 200 educational reports. The link is to the Berkeley City College Library’s database; for off-campus access, you’ll need to log in with your employee or student ID number.

Peralta Colleges Institutional Research Website

The Peralta Office of Institutional Research is responsible for the analysis and delivery of data for planning and reporting purposes. In the course of these activities, Institutional Research generates reports and statistical analyses that inform management, faculty, staff, government agencies, and the general public, about Peralta’s academic programs, students, personnel, and services. The Office serves as the District liaison to colleges and government agencies involved in issues of educational research.

Focus on Quality: A Model for Data-Driven Inquiry

In the latest email blast from The Chronicle of Higher Education, the article “Community Colleges Must Focus on Quality, Report Says,” draws an example from Lone Star College that uses inquiry in the classroom to research issues they have found in their work. They’ve paired teachers with a data analyst who helps them create a context for their research. Click the link for a great list of their topics and reports.

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