Learning Communities for Students in Developmental English: Impact Studies at Merced College and the Community College of Baltimore County. Executive Summary.

The National Center for Postsecondary Research is a partnership of the Community College Research Center, Teachers College, Columbia University; MDRC; the Curry School of Education at the University of Virginia; and faculty at Harvard University. Across the United States, community colleges offer millions of students an open-access, low-cost postsecondary education. Many students take advantage of the opportunities made available by the community college system, and each year over one third of the country’s postsecondary enrollees attend community colleges (Knapp, Kelly-Reid, & Ginder, 2009). However, of the students who enroll in community college hoping to earn a credential or transfer to a four-year institution, within six years only about half achieve their goal (Radford, Berkner, Wheeless, & Shepherd, 2010). While the rates of degree or certificate attainment are low in general, rates are even lower for the many students who enter college having been assessed as needing developmental education in reading, writing, or math (Adelman, 2004; Attewell, Lavin, Domina, & Levey, 2006; Duke & Strawn, 2008).