Reports and Publications

Increasing Dual Enrollment Access and Success

July 2024

MCCA convened a Dual Enrollment Workgroup in 2024 to identify policy recommendations to increase dual enrollment opportunities for high school students in Michigan. The workgroup was part of a larger policy and practice initiative supported in coordination with the Detroit Drives Degrees Community College Collaborative (D3C3), a regional initiative, hosted by the Detroit Regional Chamber, which supports the community college system in Southeast Michigan, and is funded by the Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Foundation and the Ballmer Group. This report summarizes the policy recommendations intended to better maximize dual enrollment opportunities for students.

Lessons Learned from Academic Catch-Up Programs

June 2024

Michigan’s Public Act 144 allocated $10 million in funds to address learning loss due to the pandemic by supporting summer educational programs at community colleges. Colleges that chose to apply for the funding, administered by the MCCA, committed to offering free summer programs focused on English and Mathematics, student success skills, campus resources, and career exploration. This report provides an in-depth look at the summer 2023 programs, including program components, case studies and emerging best practices.

Empowering Michigan's Workforce: How Michigan's Center for Student Success Connects Industry Credentials and Higher Education

November 2023

Over the past three years, the Michigan Center for Student Success (MCSS) at the MichiganCommunity College Association (MCCA) has focused on implementing the statewide StrengtheningMiWorkforce Pathways project with generous grant funding from the Ascendium Education Group.The workforce-focused initiative is one of many system-level efforts among states in the StudentSuccess Center Network that embrace and recognize learner agility and learning that happensoutside the traditional classroom. The explicit focus on credit for industry credentials provides aframework for state-level strategies supporting community colleges’ efforts to improve studentcompletion rates.

A Foundation and A Fire
Stregthening Humanities Education in Community Colleges

October 2023

In this report, the authors present findings from research on humanities coursetaking at Michigan community colleges conducted as part of the Strengthening Michigan Humanities (MiHumanities) project. The authors analyze quantitative data for students entering Michigan community colleges between academic years 2009-10 and 2017-18, and qualitative data from interviews and focus groups with faculty, administrators, and students at a number of Michigan community colleges. They find that while community college students and faculty identify benefits they associate with participation in humanities coursework, most Michigan community college students take relatively few humanities courses outside of English Composition, and the number of students taking non-composition humanities courses has declined modestly in recent years. The authors offer ideas on how states, intermediaries, and individual institutions can bolster humanities learning among community college students across all programs of study.

Leveraging the Coalition of the Willing for Student Success in Michigan

January 2023

With no formal higher education governing body to set policy or coordinate initiatives, the MCSS has relied on individual leaders and practitioners within institutions to create a coalition of the willing who have worked to move the student success agenda forward. The article (published in New Directions in Community Colleges) provides a political and historical context for the center’s founding, explores the center’s accomplishments, and concludes by discussing considerations for coalition leaders in other states.

2022 Developmental Education Scale of Adoption Assessment

September 2022

In winter 2022, MCSS launched a review of the state of developmental education reform at the 28 public community colleges in Michigan. This publication describes the scale of implementation of practices including corequisite delivery of developmental support for English composition, implementation of and support for mathematics pathways, and revised placement processes.

MI-BEST Publication Supporting the Whole Student: Growing Basic Need Supports at Michigan Community Colleges

September 2022

The MI-BEST initiative focuses on creating college systems that intentionally meet the holistic needs of students. This report  is a compilation of the work that had taken place over the two-year span of the project. Highlights of the contributing factors to Michigan community colleges establishing sustainable systems of practice that address the holistic needs of students is also shared.