What We're Learning

In a recent Education Week article, representatives from private and government organizations concerned with education research lined up behind the 90-day cycle model, developed by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) in Cambridge, Mass., as a way to accomplish “deep-dive, quick turnaround” education research.

Last year, Carnegie engaged Jennifer Zoltners Sherer from the University of Pittsburgh to work with a team of Carnegie staff to explore the potential of math intensive programs as a strategy for addressing the failure rates of developmental mathematics students in community colleges. These math intensive programs include boot camp programs, summer bridge programs and accelerated programs aimed at shortening the developmental math sequence or supporting students to test out of the sequence altogether.

The Jam (an online asynchronous facilitated discussion) on the Obama administration’s new American Graduation Initiative (AGI) was held in mid-September. It was sponsored by Knowledge in the Public Interest, convened by the Brookings Institution, the Education Commission of the States, and Jobs for the Future, with LaGuardia Community College as the lead college.

During a July convening at Carnegie with representatives from several organizations working on increasing success for community college students in developmental mathematics, participants came up with some tensions that need to be acknowledged and/or addressed.