04/28/2016: Community Colleges Are New Gateways to Hot Cybersecurity Jobs, by George Lorenzo, EdSurge - For an effective, affordable and flexible educational pathway into a cybersecurity job, students of all ages and backgrounds are increasingly enrolling in community college degree and certificate cybersecurity programs across the country. Many of these programs got their start through the developmental support offered through five security technology centers and projects sponsored by the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Advanced Technology Education (ATE) initiative.

04/20/2016: When 16-Year-Olds Go to College, by Ruth Hammond, The Chronicle of Higher Education - We find that for many students, by the time they reach the end of 10th or 11th grade, they are ready for more. Many of our students have already exhausted the most challenging curriculum in their home school and their high school, and they're looking for something else. They don't always know what that something else is. - Ian Bickford, provost of Bard College at Simon's Rock.

04/20/2016: New Study Abroad Population, by Ashley A. Smith, Inside Higher Ed - There's pressure among community colleges to maintain their enrollments as well as retain students and find unique ways to get them to completion. A few two-year institutions have been promoting study abroad for years, but others are now considering these types of programs as a way to help boost their students' experiences.

04/19/2016: Indicators of Higher Education Equity: 2016 Historical Trend Report, by Margaret Cahalan, Laura Perna, Mika Yamashita, Roman Ruiz and Khadish Franklin, The Pell Institute - The 2015 Indicators Report focused on equity in higher education based on measures of family income, and this measure remains the primary focus of the 2016 edition. However, in recognition of the need to address inequity based on other demographic characteristics, the 2016 edition also includes selected tables that look at differences by race/ethnicity and family socioeconomic status (SES), an index comprised of income, education, and occupation developed by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) for use in the high school longitudinal studies.

04/2016: Pathways to New Accountability Through the Every Student Succeeds Act, by Linda Darling-Hammond, Soung Bae, Channa M. Cook-Harvey, Livia Lam, Charmaine Mercer, Anne Podolsky, and Elizabeth Leisy Stosich, Learning Policy Institute - This paper examines the options available to states to redefine their accountability systems as they begin to implement the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). The new law provides the possibility that states can create more balanced systems of support and accountability focused on educating young people so they can become productive, engaged citizens who are prepared for 21st century college and careers.  

04/2016: Looking Inside the Black Box of Performance Funding for Higher Education: Policy Instruments, Organizational Obstacles, and Intended and Unintended Impacts, by Kevin Dougherty, Sosanya Jones, Hana Lahr, Rebecca Natow, Lara Pheatt and Vikash Reddy, Community College Research Center (CCRC) - In recent years, performance funding - which directly connects state funding to an institution's performance on indicators such as student persistence, credit accrual, and college completion - has become a particularly attractive way of pursuing better college outcomes. But even as states have made an enormous investment in performance funding, troubling questions have been raised about whether performance funding has the effects intended and whether it also produces substantial negative side effects in the form of restrictions in access for underrepresented students and weakening of academic standards.

04/2016: Promising Practices, Workforce Strategies Initiative (WSI) - Promising Practices is a group of three briefing reports aimed at leaders in community colleges and the workforce development field. These reports highlight innovative capacity-development initiatives that increase the ability for students - especially low-income and traditionally underserved students - to access and succeed in programs offered by community colleges.

04/2016: Administrator Leadership and Faculty Support, Magna Publications - Being an academic leader is a tough job. It has gotten more challenging as budgets shrink, public scrutiny rises, and responsibilities continue to grow. One of your most important duties is supporting your faculty. This report features 13 articles that aims to provide guidance on how best to support those teaching your institution's students, day-in and day-out.

03/25/2016: Reflections on Communicating a Vision for iPASS Reforms, by Karen A. Stout, EducauseReview - Since the first round of iPASS reform work, MCCC and the community college field have learned that when implemented properly, iPASS is so much more than even a technology-mediated advising transformation. It is the glue that holds together all of an institution's efforts, so that it can achieve a holistic transformation of the student experience.

03/17/2016: The Cost of Being Decent to Adjuncts, by Colleen Flaherty, Inside Higher Ed - New paper argues that colleges can't afford to improve the pay and working conditions of those off the tenure track. Activists slam the analysis.