Report Online Learning and Student Outcomes in Community Colleges By Hans Johnson, Marisol Cuellar Mejia May 14, 2014 Online course enrollment has increased dramatically at California’s community colleges. Students are less likely to successfully complete an online course than a traditional course. But many use online courses to achieve their long-term goals. This research was supported with funding from the Donald Bren Foundation.
Report From Community College to University: Expectations for California’s New Transfer Degrees By Nancy Shulock, Colleen Moore Mar 19, 2014 A California community college degree designed to streamline students’ admission to the California State University is leading to clearer pathways for transfer. But efforts to fully implement this reform still face a number of challenges.
Report Student Debt and the Value of a College Degree By Hans Johnson, Marisol Cuellar Mejia, David Ezekiel, Betsey Zeiger Jun 3, 2013 Student debt in California has increased dramatically in recent years, but college is still a good investment. Californians with college degrees are more likely to be employed than those with high school diplomas, and they earn higher wages. Policymakers can do a lot to help make higher education more affordable—for example, by developing tuition savings programs and improving pathways from community colleges to four-year schools. Providing additional funding is essential, but finding ways keep costs down should also be pursued. This research was supported with funding from the Donald Bren Foundation.
Policy Brief College Readiness as a Graduation Requirement: An Assessment of San Diego’s Challenges, Summary Apr 24, 2013
Report College Readiness as a Graduation Requirement: An Assessment of San Diego’s Challenges By Julian Betts, Andrew C. Zau, Karen Bachofer Apr 24, 2013 Four large California school districts—Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, and Oakland—recently adopted ambitious new graduation standards designed to increase college readiness. Evidence from San Diego indicates a need for major interventions to help students succeed under the new policies. In conjunction with this report, the authors developed the a–g On Track Model, which can help districts identify middle-school students who will have difficulty completing the new requirements. This research was supported with funding from the Donald Bren Foundation.
Report Higher Education in California: New Goals for the Master Plan By Hans Johnson Apr 23, 2010 California’s Master Plan for Higher Education defined a strategy to meet the state’s needs in 1960—but today, California faces new challenges. By 2025, the state will have one million fewer college-educated workers than the economy will require, according to PPIC projections. Updating the Master Plan is crucial to closing this skills gap. This report proposes that the plan set explicit new goals in several key areas, including UC and CSU eligibility levels, community college transfers to four-year institutions, and college completion rates. Supported with funding from The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation as part of the California 2025 project on the state's future challenges and opportunities.
Report Educating California: Choices for the Future By Hans Johnson Jun 2, 2009 The bad news is that California is facing a "skills gap” - a shortage of college graduates - that threatens its economic future. But the good news is that modest improvements in college enrollment, community college transfers, and the college completion rate, particularly in the California State University system, could help to narrow that gap substantially. These improvements will not only help California’s young adults succeed in an increasingly high-skill economy but will also benefit the state by increasing tax revenues and allowing for greater economic growth.
Report Closing the Gap: Meeting California’s Need for College Graduates By Hans Johnson, Ria Sengupta Bhatt Apr 16, 2009 California faces a shortage of almost a million college-educated workers by 2025. Taking a practical approach, this report finds that this education-skills gap could be cut in half by modest investments in programs aimed at expanding college attendance rates, increasing transfer rates from community colleges to four-year institutions, and boosting graduation rates at four-year institutions. As the state’s economy becomes increasingly reliant on highly skilled workers, a confluence of trends—the retirement of baby boomers, and demographic shifts toward groups with historically low rates of college attendance—makes these investments all the more crucial to the state’s continued economic success.
California Counts, Report California’s Community College Students By Christopher Jepsen, Ria Sengupta Bhatt Nov 15, 2006 California's community college system is the largest postsecondary education system in the country—with more than 2.5 million mostly part-time students enrolled in more than 100 campuses. This issue of California Counts takes an in-depth look at this population. It finds an extremely diverse student body in terms of race/ethnicity, age, educational level, and academic goals in school. However, few students accomplish their goals, such as transferring to a four-year institution or earning an associate's degree. This is a major challenge for the system and the state because community colleges enroll over 70 percent of all public higher education students in California.
