CEL Projects

Current Projects

Overview

College and Career Readiness Among California High School Students

In partnership with the California Department of Education, the California State University Chancellor’s Office, and the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office, our work examines the college and career readiness patterns across the state following the adoption of the Common Core Standards and their aligned assessments. Topics include, but are not limited to, dual enrollment, A-G course requirements, high school math course-taking, the role of assessment, defining college readiness, and college-going patterns.

Current and Past Funders
Institute of Educational Sciences, U.S. Department of Education
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
College Futures Foundation
Stuart Foundation
Stupski Family Foundation
Tipping Point Community

Community College Policy and Practice

In partnership with the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office, our research explores and describes the enrollment, persistence, certificate/degree completion, and transfer patterns of the nearly 2 million community college students in California, including specific student subgroups (e.g., parenting students, Latinx students). Our work in this area also examines the extensive and ongoing impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on student enrollment and outcomes, and how this varies by subgroup. 

Current and Past Funders
College Futures Foundation
Lumina Foundation
Tipping Point Community

Career Technical Education

In collaboration with the California Department of Education and the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office, these projects investigate the outcomes of high school and community college students enrolled in Career Technical Education (CTE) courses and programs. Specifically, this work aims to establish and refine how to best identify CTE students, understand their course-taking patterns, and examine the outcomes—college enrollment, certificate or degree completion, and earnings—of students who participate in CTE.

Current and Past Funders
Center for Analysis of Postsecondary Education and Employment
Institute of Educational Sciences, U.S. Department of Education
The James Irvine Foundation

Student Financial Aid

In collaboration with the California Student Aid Commission and the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office, this work examines how college students in California are financing their postsecondary education. Specifically, we explore student take-up of financial aid across aid programs and various student subgroups, the relationship between financial aid and enrollment, as well as institutional policies/practices and differences by campus. Additionally, we evaluate the impact of changes in the state Cal Grant program on eligibility and award amounts and long-term student outcomes. Since the pandemic, this work has expanded to consider how COVID-19 has impacted students’ financial constraints, well-being, and college plans.

Funders
Institute of Educational Sciences, U.S. Department of Education
College Futures Foundation

California’s Public School Students & Schools

Through this research, we describe the landscape of California’s public schools (including traditional, charter, alternative, and community schools) and their students statewide, with a close lens on specific geographic locales and demographic characteristics.

Funders
Stuart Foundation
Ball/Frost Group

Student Success and Persistence in College: The Role of Faculty 

Along with partners at California State University, our work examines the role of faculty on student outcomes, including the frequency and personalization of faculty engagement with students on the impact of interactions between faculty and students in a postsecondary setting.

Funders
College Futures Foundation

Intersegmental Partnerships and Alignment

Our research in this area aims to deepen understanding on intersegmental partnerships by surveying community and education leaders across the state to identify best practices. As these partnerships include the collaborative efforts of stakeholders from educational, workforce, and community sectors to improve student outcomes, we examine partnerships’ goals, data use practices, and capacity in key areas as well as detail additional resources to support the development of similar partnerships. Presently, we continue to interrogate the role of such partnerships in supporting students’ pathways to college through our work with the Regional K-16 Education Collaboratives on behalf of UC Davis. 

Funders
College Futures Foundation
State of California through K-16 Regional Partnerships

Online Instruction in Community Colleges 

The purpose of this project is to understand how comprehensive professional development training focused on online pedagogy affects student engagement and outcomes in California community colleges. 

 Specifically, we seek to answer the following research questions: 

How do instructor practices in online courses change as a result of taking comprehensive PD Programs?

Does that PD experience translate into changes in online student engagement and outcomes? 

Read more about this project here.

Funder

Institute of Educational Sciences 

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