What We Don’t Know about Community College Students: The Case for a Better Understanding of Student Pathways

February 06, 2013

The Changing Ecology of Higher Education is pleased to announce the third installment of its policy brief series:

What We Don’t Know about Community College Students: The Case for a Better Understanding of Student Pathways
By Peter Riley Bahr, Ph.D., Center for the Study of Higher and Postsecondary Education, University of Michigan

Policymakers, administrators, and faculty would benefit from a richer understanding of the variety of pathways students take through community colleges. In accordance, this brief advocates for a “deconstructive approach” to the study of community college student pathways. Such an approach draws upon both quantitative and qualitative data to deconstruct student pathways and elaborate the relationships between various pathways and outcomes of interest, such as successful remediation of skill deficiencies, credential completion, and transfer to a four-year institution.

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