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Office of Community College Research and Leadership (OCCRL)
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UPDATE on Research and Leadership

This bi-annual publication features articles highlighting policies, programs, and practices that enhance community college education and transition to college for diverse learners at the state, national, and international levels.

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Summer 2024 UPDATE on Research and Leadership
Fall 2023 UPDATE on Research and Leadership issue

UPDATE on Research and Leadership - Spring 2023


Winter 2023 UPDATE on Research and Leadership


Fall 2021 UPDATE on Research and Leadership

 

UPDATE on Research and Leadership - Fall 2020

 

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Update-OCCRL_Fall2018

Fall 2017 UPDATE cover

Spring 2017

Fall 2016

Update on Research and Leadership Spring 2016

Spring 2015

Spring 2015 UPDATE

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  • The Importance of Linking Policy Intent to Policy Outcome: An Interview with Mark Mitsui
  • Pathways to What?: The Implications of Learning Outcomes Paradigms forPathways to Results
  • Perspectives on Opportunity Generating Pathways at OCCRL’s Scaling Up Conference
  • Building Illinois’ Green Workforce through Career Pathways
  • Strengthening Career Pathways in Manufacturing Education
  • Guiding Principles for Scaling Transformative Change
  • Strategies for Transformative Change

Fall 2014

Fall 2014 UPDATE

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  • Charting Pathways in Challenging Times: An Interview with Eboni Zamani-Gallaher
  • Dual Credit Funding Policies in Illinois: Understanding How State and Local Funding Relates to Student Access and Participation
  • PRC Spotlight Briefs Highlight Promising Practices
  • The Path to Revised Guiding Principles for the Transformative Change Initiative
  • The Alliance for Quality Career Pathways (AQCP) Framework: Building Momentum to Individual Prosperity and Regional Economic Competitiveness
  • Upskill America: U.S. Department of Education Launches the Career Pathways Exchange
  • Pathways to Results: Helping Practitioners Improve Pathways and Programs of Study

Spring 2014

Spring 2014 UPDATE

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  • Letter from Director Debra Bragg on OCCRL’s 25th Anniversary
  • An Interview with Adrianna Kezar: Opportunities and Challenges for Scaling Up Innovation in Higher Education
  • Pathways to Results Conference Highlight: Examining the Context for Scaling Up in Higher Education with Marcy Drummond
  • An Interview with Health Professions Pathway (H2P) Consortium Director Marianne Krismer
  • Guiding Principles from Transformative Change Initiative about Scaling Up
  • Reverse Transfer Initiative Credit When It’s Due Expands: Three New States Join Initiative
  • Scaling Career Pathways: Insights and Experience from the Field —20 Featured Presentation from the 2014 Pathways to Results Conference
  • Executive Summary of Jobs for the Future’s Thinking Big: A Framework for States on Scaling Up Community College Innovation

Fall 2013

Fall 2013 UPDATE

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  • Community Colleges and the Increasing Importance of Data: An Interview with David Baime
  • The Illinois Longitudinal Data System (ILDS) Research Agenda
  • Potential Models for Using State Longitudinal Data System (SLDS) Data to Improve Student Learning
  • Education Lessons Learned with Longitudinal Data Systems and Quasi-Experimental Design
  • State Longitudinal Data System (SLDS) Research Agendas: National Context and Instructive Models

Spring 2013

Spring 2013 UPDATE

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  • Valuing Credentials: An Interview with Anthony Carnevale
  • The Value of Progressing Along the Continuum of Educational Attainment
  • The Potential Value of a Reverse Transfer Associate Degree: Diverse Values and Perspectives
  • Rethinking Asian American Students’ Educational Pathways
  • Barriers to Retention and Degree Completion of African American Males in Illinois
  • Recent Doctoral Research on Community Colleges

Fall 2012

Fall 2012 UPDATE

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  • Educational Equity: An Interview with Dr. Eboni Zamani-Gallaher
  • Rethinking College and Career Readiness: A Call for Understanding Context to Address Racial Inequality
  • How Policy Affects Access in the Context of the College Completion Agenda
  • Past Failure, Future Opportunity: Lessons Learned about the Experiences and Perceptions of Males of Color in College and Career Readiness Programs
  • Siguiendo Tu Sueno “Chasing Your Dream”: What Research Says about Barriers and Supports to Latino Student Community College Persistence
  • Pathways to Careers Network Supports College and Career Transitions for Adult Learners

Spring 2012

Spring 2012 UPDATE

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  • The Unsung Sector: An Interview with Under Secretary Martha J. Kanter about America’s College Completion Agenda and Community Colleges
  • Pathways to College Completion: Credentialing Models for Students who Stop Short of a Bachelor’s Degree
  • A Guide to Major U.S. College Completion Initiatives
  • TAFE DIRECTORS AUSTRALIA (TDA) Occasional Papers What the UK, US and Australia Can Learn from Each Other
  • Pathways to Results: Implementation of a Data-Driven Approach
  • High Schools Promoting Career and College Readiness: An Interview with Mr. Corey Tafoya of Woodstock High School
  • Contributions of Transfer Students and Structures to the College Completion Agenda

Fall 2011

Fall 2011 UPDATE

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  • Partnerships that Support High Schools That Work Reform: An Interview with Dr. Gene Bottoms
  • OCCRL Engages with High Schools in PTR Pilot
  • Bridges Across the P-16 Continuum: The Role of Educational Partnerships
  • College and Career Readiness in Illinois: What Illinois’ Pilot Projects Tell Us about the Challenges of Alignment
  • Accelerating Opportunity Initiative Awards Grants to Eleven States to Transform Adult Education
  • Developing and Leveraging Partnerships and Collaboration to Transition Adult Students into Postsecondary Education and Employment
  • Partnership Research for Advanced Technological Education (ATE)
  • Strategies for Involving Partners in Pathways to Results

Spring 2011

Spring 2011 UPDATE

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  • The Equity Scorecard(TM): An Interview with Dr. Estela Bensimon
  • Pathways to Results in Illinois
  • State Perspective on Student Transition
  • Pathways to Results Projects at Southwestern Illinois College
  • Lessons from the Frontlines of the PTR Process
  • STEM Learning exchanges
  • Significant Discussions: A Guide for Secondary and Postsecondary Curriculum Alignment
  • Book Review: Patton, M. Q. (2011). Developmental Evaluation: Applying Complexity Concepts to Enhance Innovation and Use. New York, NY: The Guilford Press.

Fall 2010

Fall 2010 UPDATE

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  • The College Fear Factor: An Interview with Rebecca Cox
  • What the Literature Tells Us about Bridge Programs
  • From Curiosity to Results: The Creation of a Summer Bridge Program
  • Illinois Connections in Engineering (ICE)
  • Making the “College Connection”: Colorado’s SUN (Success UNlimited) Initiative, an Intensive Transition Program
  • Results of the 2010 Illinois Bridge Status Survey
  • Bridge Resources

Spring 2010

Spring 2010 UPDATE

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  • The Lumina Perspective: A Conversation with Holly Zanville
  • The Applied Baccalaureate Degree: What We Have Learned So Far
  • Applied Baccalaureate Policy in Six States
  • Development of Washington’s Community and Technical College Applied Baccalaureate Degrees
  • Employer and Graduate Perspectives of the Community College Applied Baccalaureate: Meeting the College Mission

Fall 2009

Fall 2009 UPDATE

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  • Year Three of the Shifting Gears Initiative: An Interview with Whitney Smith from the Joyce Foundation
  • Basic Skills for College and Careers
  • Lessons from Illinois’ Evaluation of Shifting Gears 1.0
  • Inside the Black Box: Three Bridge Programs Involved in Illinois Shifting Gears
  • Shifting Gears Phase Two: Advancing Policy
  • Supporting Bridge Instruction through Title I of the Workforce Investment Act

Spring 2009

Spring 2009 UPDATE

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  • Moving Forward with College and Career Readiness
  • Evaluating the College and Career Readiness Act
  • The CCR Project at South Suburban College
  • Developing High School Partnerships
  • OCCRL Welcomes Dianne Bazell, New Deputy Director, Illinois Board of Higher Education
  • Kentucky’s P-16 Council as Agent of Change: Implications for College and Career Readiness in Illinois
  • Achieve and the American Diploma Project
  • Rethinking College Readiness
  • College and Career Readiness Resources
  • The Early College Movement: An Interview with Nancy Hoffman

Fall 2008

Fall 2008 UPDATE

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  • Implementing Programs of Study: An Interview with Rich Katt
  • Equity in Access and Opportunity for Bright Future
  • OCCRL’s Role in Implementation and Evaluation of Perkins IV Programs of Study
  • The College and Career Readiness Act Evaluation: Early Findings
  • What’s Unique About Programs of Study? Three CTE Experts Respond

Spring 2008

Spring 2008 UPDATE

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  • Perkins IV: An Interview with Kimberly Green
  • Perkins IV: An Interview with AACC’s Jim Hermes
  • State Secondary CTE Standards
  • Implementing Perkins IV: A Snapshot of Illinois’ Progress
  • Book Review
  • Perkins IV and Career Development: Considering Pathways for Students and their Parents

Spring 2007

Fall 2007 UPDATE

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  • Improving Access, Transition, and Success: Meeting the Challenges Facing College Students with Disabilities
  • The TEAM Project at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign: Increasing Access and Improving Transition of Illinois Community College Students
  • Illinois’ Shifting Gears Initiative: Helping Adult Students Transition to College and Careers
  • OCCRL Reports Released: New Research on Youth and Adult Transition
  • Credit-Based Transition Programs

Spring 2007

Spring 2007 UPDATE

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  • Right of Entry, College Access, and Controversy: Implications of the Spellings Report
  • Accountability in Community Colleges
  • The Zero-Sum of Higher Education Affordability
  • The Community College Response to Quality Issues and Recommendations from the Spellings Report
  • Book Review
  • The Future of Higher Education: A Conversation with Charlene Nunley

Fall 2006

Fall 2006 UPDATE

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  • Students’ Right to Know: Help Students Take Advantage of Illinois’ Strong Articulation Agreements
  • IS IAI IMPROVING TRANSFER?
  • Update on Articulation: A Conversation with Jan Ignash
  • Developing the Associate of Arts in Teaching: An Articulation Partnership in Illinois: An Interview with Dr. Charles Evans, Assistant Vice-President for Academic Affairs University of Illinois

Spring 2006

Spring 2006 UPDATE

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  • Working in a Data Mine or Coaching?–The Importance of Research in One Community College
  • How Does Community College Research Impact the Students’ Experience in the Community College?
  • Research That Matters to the Community College: An Interview with John Levin
  • Increased Needs for Community College Research in a “No Frill” World

Fall 2005

Fall 2005 UPDATE

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  • Online Learning: How to Engage the Milliennial Generation
  • Exemplary Professors: Factors Leading to the Development of Award Winning Teachers
  • Early Start on College Possible in 50 States, But Results Unclear
  • The Case for Learning Communities
  • The First-Year Experience: Supporting Student Learning, Student Development and Student Success
  • Giving a Little TLC: Providing Insights to Technology and the Learning College

Spring 2005

Spring 2005 UPDATE

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  • The Dance of Assessment and Accreditation
  • Assessment at Harold Washington College
  • Implementing Academic Assessment: Parkland College’s Journey
  • The Culture of Assessment
  • Assessment Conference and Course Announcement
  • Academic Assessment: An Interview with Peter Ewell

Fall 2004

Fall 2004 UPDATE

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  • Learning to Lead in Community Colleges
  • Leaders Are Not Born: Illinois Career and Technical Education Leadership Institute
  • Community College Executive Leadership Program
  • The Illinois Leadership Academy
  • Survey of “Grow Your Own” Leadership Opportunities in Illinois Community Colleges
  • Upcoming Conferences and Events of Interest for Those Interested in Leadership Development
  • Leading Forward: An Interview with Nan Ottenritter, AACC

Spring 2004

Spring 2004 UPDATE

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  • Illinois’ New Course Applicability System
  • Intrusive Advisement: A Model for Success at John A. Logan College
  • Developmental Writing and Student Success
  • Academic Pathways to Access and Student Success
  • Narrowing the Gaps in Educational Attainment: Assessing and Responding to Needs for Community College Services
  • Transfer in Illinois: Meeting the Needs of Different Racial/Ethnic Groups

Spring 2003