OCCRL has just released two evaluation reports addressing the Illinois College and Career Readiness Pilot Program. The CCR Pilot was created through an act of the Illinois Legislature. Seven community colleges participated in the program. The two new reports pertain to the final year of the program and contain data and analyses from site visits, teleconference discussions, interviews, student test scores and surveys administered over the course of the past year.

The Academic Intervention Results report examines students participating in the interventions at all seven sites and provides an analysis of the institutions’ success in reducing remediation. An important aspect of the Year-Five Report is its conceptual model (see p. 12) for the College and Career Readiness programs. The dimensions of this model are based on the extensive discussions with each of the college program leaders. The model provides a theoretical framework around which the report analyzes the practical and localized contexts in which sites went about implementing their interventions.

What findings from these reports surprised you? Do you find the conceptual model helpful in understanding CCR?