Narrowing the Education Gap with Lia Wetzstein, CCRI

UW Today shares Undergraduate Academic Affairs’ recent interview with CCRI director Lia Wetzstein to discuss critical details of the importance of transfer. Having recently attended the U.S. Department of Education’s first ever National Summit on Transfer, Lia examines the paramount issues surrounding transfer between two- and four- year institutions and their impacts. Lia also details the work CCRI contributes to building the necessary bridges for students across pathways, centering equity and student support within the processes of transfer for continually building student success.

Photo of attendees of Raise the Bar Summit.

Raise the Bar Transfer Summit

Today, November 9th, CCRI Director Lia Wetzstein joins fellow delegates selected to represent Washington state at the Raise the Bar Transfer Summit where over 200 higher education professionals are gathered. This summit brings together state, institution, and other leaders in the field and is part of the Raise the Bar: Attaining College Excellence & Equity series: Tackling Transfer to Increase Access, Improve Completion, and Prepare Today’s Workforce. https://lnkd.in/gQ7N3j-4

Literature shows that transfer disproportionately impacts students of color and other underserved students including those from low-income backgrounds. Despite the national statistic that 40% of students transfer at some point in their higher education journey, the barrier of credit loss has yet to be resolved. The impact on these students is that their degree will cost more, take more time, and for some not be able to earn the credential they sought in the first place.

To that end, the intention for this immersive summit is to make progress toward increasing access and completion for all transfer students.

The day-long summit will take place at Northern Virginia Community College in Annandale, Virginia.

STEM Transfer Partnership’s Convening 4

We are excited to share the great work being accomplished with this community of practice which is dedicated to improving transfer for STEM students from low-income backgrounds. The STEM Transfer Partnerships program convened for the 4th time last week and we experienced new connections being made for STEM pathways among 2- and 4-year institutions in WA state, sharing ideas on ways to continue growing and sustaining these partnerships, and new team members! We’ll be writing about what we’ve learned from this convening and look forward to sharing it with you. We invite you to read our previous 3 data notes on structuring STEM transfer partnerships, complex networks of community and learning from students.

CCRI Team Attending November Rural Learners Convening in Minneapolis!

In November, our CCRI team will be attending an in-person convening in advance of the Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE) conference in Minneapolis, Minnesota, hosted by Ascendium and the American Institutes of Research. We look forward to meeting with other grantees who are part of the Building Evidence to Increase Rural Learner Success Initiative! To learn more about fellow grantees and their projects, click here.

CCRI research scientist Mayra Nunez Martinez will also be presenting her work that examines how geography impacts transfer rates for rural Latinx students in California on Saturday, November 18th, at 2:00 p.m. Browse sessions by person via the ASHE Conference Portal or view the conference schedule.

CCRI at NISTS 2020

We’re looking forward to having some of our teammates attend the NISTS 2020 conference this February in Atlanta, Georgia. Check out the catalog for the conference below!

Lia Wetzstein, CCRI Associate Research Director (pages 22 & 45)

NISTS 2020 Catalog

ASHE Conference Presentations

Our team’s research was well-received at this year’s Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE) conference in Portland, November 13th – 16th, 2019. Learn more about each presentation CCRI was involved in below and click on the titles to open their respective slide deck:

>>Advancing Evidence-Based Policy: Meta-Analysis Findings from TAACCCT<<

Presented by Grant Blume, CCRI Affiliate Faculty; Elizabeth Apple Meza, CCRI Research Scientist; Ivy Love, New America Policy Analyst and Debra Bragg, CCRI Director. The United States Department of Labor’s (DOL) TAACCCT program represented an unprecedented federal investment in community colleges. This study leverages a meta-analysis framework to gauge the extent to which federal grants increased the likelihood of positive academic and employment outcomes at the nation’s community colleges.

>>A Spectrum of Partnerships: Intentional Collaborations to Improve Transfer Outcomes<<

Presented by Theresa Ling Yeh, CCRI Research Scientist and Lia Wetzstein, Associate Director of CCRI. Community college and four-year university partnerships that focus on improving transfer outcomes are critical to advancing equity, as many underserved populations pursue baccalaureate degrees through community colleges. This paper examines qualitative data from a mixed-methods study and proposes a typological continuum of ways in which transfer partnerships can be enacted.

>>An integrative framework for evaluating the impact of career pathways<<

Debra Bragg participated in a research symposium on career pathways policies and programs held at the ASHE conference on Saturday, November 16, titled Career Pathway Programs: Building Connections between College, Employers, and Careers. Sandra Staklis, RTI was chair, Matt Giani, UT-Austin was discussant. Other presenters were Lauren Eyster, The Urban Institute; Laura Foster and Sandra Staklis, RTI; and Myriam Sullivan and Deborah Kobes, Jobs for the Future (JFF).

Keynote on the Equity Imperative at the NWCCU Annual Conference

Bragg, D. D. (2019, November 20). The equity imperative for higher education. Keynote presented at the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities (NWCCU) annual conference, Seattle, WA.

Debra Bragg presented a distinguished lecture for the NWCCU annual conference. The keynote focused on systemic inequities in higher education that detrimentally impact students of color. She spoke about the ways in which higher education perpetuates wealth inequality and disparities in funding and status negatively impact student transfer from community colleges to universities. Her presentation offered insights into equity-minded, data-driven processes that colleges and universities need to adopt to engage in on-the-ground improvement work. She closed her keynote with Eldridge Cleaver, American Writer, and Political Activist (1935-1998) famous quote, “There is no more neutrality in the world. You either have to be part of the solution, or you’re going to be part of the problem” to emphasize the urgency with which higher education needs to address systemic racism to ensure upward mobility is a reality for underserved students.

View Slides

Upcoming conferences to hear from CCRI!

Competency-Based Education Network’s (C-BEN) CBExchange 2019 Conference, Palm Springs, CA, October 24, 2019. Learning and Leading Forward: Research-based Lessons to Enhance CBE 2.0 for Working Adults at Salt Lake Community College, Eric Heiser, Dean, Salt Lake Community College, Debra Bragg, President, Bragg & Associates, Inc.

This session presents evaluation results from a Department of Labor Trade Adjustment Act Community College and Career Training grant at Salt Lake Community College (SLCC). Drawing on the experiences of the SLCC leadership and the evaluation team, this session provides lessons learned on the conversion of over 20 programs to CBE. Implications for scaling CBE throughout SLCC are discussed, including highlighting how the CBEN Quality Framework is being as a blueprint for scaling CBE college-wide.

2019 Annual Applied Baccalaureate Conference at noon on Monday, November 4, Green River College. CCRI Director, Debra Bragg, will give a keynote titled Opening the Door to Baccalaureates: Results of a New National Study on Access, Equity, and Outcomes of Community College Baccalaureates.

ASHE – The 44th annual Association for the Study of Higher Education Conference, Portland, November 13-16, 2019. We’d love to see you at our sessions! View the program for presentation details.

Congratulations to Kandi Bauman, CCRI Graduate Research Assistant and UW PhD student! Kandi was selected to attend the Graduate Student Policy Seminar at ASHE 2019. The seminar provides graduate students with opportunities to interact with researchers, policy-shapers, and policymakers who are knowledgeable about critical public policy issues related to higher education. The seminar also offers participants an opportunity to engage other advanced graduate students with similar interests and ambitions from universities across the nation.

Advancing Evidenced-Based Policy: Meta-Analysis Findings from TAACCCT. Fri, November 15, 3:45 to 5:00pm, Hilton Portland Downtown, Floor: Ballroom, Grand Ballroom Parlor A. Grant Blume, CCRI Affiliate Faculty; Elizabeth Apple Meza, CCRI Research Scientist; Ivy Love, New America Policy Analyst and Debra Bragg, CCRI Director will present a paper on the United States Department of Labor’s (DOL) TAACCCT program, which represented an unprecedented federal investment in community colleges. This study reports results of a meta-analysis on the extent to which federal grants increased the likelihood of positive educational and employment outcomes at the nation’s community colleges.

A Spectrum of Partnerships: Intentional Collaborations to Improve Transfer Outcomes. Saturday, November 16, 1:30–2:45 pm, Hilton Portland Downtown, 3rd Forum: Exploring University Partnerships & Collaborations. Theresa Ling Yeh, CCRI Research Scientist, and Lia Wetzstein, CCRI Associate Director will be discussing how community college and four-year university partnerships that focus on improving transfer outcomes are critical to advancing equity, as many underserved populations pursue baccalaureate degrees through community colleges. This paper examines qualitative data from a mixed-methods study and proposes a typological continuum of ways in which transfer partnerships can be enacted.

Career Pathway Programs: Building Connections Between College, Employment, and Careers. Sat, November 16, 10:15 to 11:30 am, Hilton Portland Downtown, Floor: Plaza, Broadway I. As the number of career pathway programs in community colleges has grown, research has examined the effects of pathway models on higher education program development and student outcomes. Debra Bragg, CCRI Director presents this paper as part of a panel summarizing the findings of recent research on career pathways, including two case studies of career pathways programs.

2019 Northwest Commission for Colleges and Universities (NWCCU) Annual Conference at noon on Wednesday, November 20, Hyatt Regency, Seattle, WA. Debra Bragg, CCRI Director, to give a keynote focusing on The Equity Imperative for Higher Education.

CCRI at NISTS 2019

At the NISTS 2019 conference our very own Lia Wetzstein, Ling Yeh, and Debra Bragg led a session on understanding the multiple ways partnerships are enacted and what policy, practice, and cultural norms promote or inhibit these collaborations. Our team drew upon qualitative data from one of our larger multi-state, mixed-methods studies of two and four-year institutional pairs that outperform others in their state at transfer and completion. We interviewed faculty, staff, and students and will present findings on the various factors that influenced their partnerships.

If you find the below presentation of interest, please consider attending NISTS 2020 in February!