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Structural Solutions for Student Success: The Impact of Alternative Course Models at Community Colleges

Friday, November 14, 1:45 to 3:15pm, Property: Hyatt Regency Seattle, Floor: 5th Floor, Room: 505 - Queets

Session Submission Type: Panel

Abstract

The landscape of community college education continues to evolve as institutions seek innovative approaches to improve student outcomes while maintaining academic rigor and addressing the unique needs of their diverse student populations. This panel brings together three research studies that examine structural course design elements and their impacts on student success metrics within community college contexts. With national community college six-year graduation rates remaining around 40% (National Student Clearinghouse, 2024), identifying effective structural interventions has become increasingly urgent for two-year institutions. By exploring co-requisite support models, course length variations, and compressed course formats, these papers collectively contribute to our understanding of how course structure modifications can influence completion rates, persistence, and academic achievement at two-year institutions. Together, these studies offer evidence-based insights that can inform community college decision-making and course design strategies to enhance student success across diverse educational pathways that serve the broad mission of open-access institutions. 


This panel presents three studies examining structural interventions in community college course design. The first study, by Federick Ngo, evaluates Nevada's transition from prerequisite to corequisite remediation implemented in Fall 2021. This reform allows students to enroll directly in college-level courses while receiving concurrent support, potentially reducing remediation time, costs, and improving gateway course completion. Ngo's research examines impacts on college-level math and English completion, persistence, credit accumulation, and academic performance. The subsequent two studies investigate course compression as another promising intervention. Researchers from The Wheelhouse Center for Community College Leadership and Research present a California-wide analysis of how course length influences completion rates across the state's community college system. Complementing this broad perspective, the Belk Center highlights Isothermal Community College's "Be Great in 8" initiative, which converted most 16-week courses to 8-week formats in Fall 2023 to create more flexible pathways aligned with students' external commitments. This study assesses the impacts of “Be Great in 8” on pass rates, withdrawals, and term-to-term persistence. Together, these investigations illuminate how thoughtful course restructuring can enhance community college student success and progression toward completion. 


The proposed panel will consist of researchers seeking to elevate emerging findings and engage in discussions with audience members about course design policy at community colleges. To this end, the session is designed to include a series of short presentations from each panelist, followed by a panel discussion facilitated by the chair. The discussant, Tom Brock is Director of the Community College Research Center at Teachers College, Columbia University and has significant experience in evaluating policies and programs at community colleges. Symposium attendees will be encouraged to interact with panelists by asking questions, discussing points raised, and considering unanswered topics ripe for future research. 

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