Most community colleges students come from the bottom half of the socioeconomic ladder, and enter their college studies with hopes of social mobility. Yet these colleges receive much less federal and state funding and spend far less per student than four-year institutions. The effects of this underfunding can be seen in completion rates: Only 38 percent of the 9 million […]
The 43rd annual conference of the Association for the Study of Higher Education takes place Nov. 14-17, 2018, in Tampa, Fla. This year’s event is particularly special for the Pullias Center because Pullias Center co-director William G. Tierney will be honored with the Howard R. Bowen Distinguished Career Award! In addition, researchers from the Pullias Center will be presenting on a […]
Tatiana Melguizo will join a team of education researchers and practitioners to investigate students’ educational pathways from middle school to college. Are middle school students placed in honors math more likely to declare STEM majors in college? Do specific high school math courses help struggling students successfully transition to college-level math? Is a high school student who takes financial algebra […]
Recent works by Pullias researchers tackle complex issues in education, from engaging gang-associated youth in schools by valuing the knowledge and skills they already possess to effectively mentoring PhD students from historically excluded and marginalized groups. In addition, a new working paper explores how students from racial minority groups are more likely to be placed in developmental math courses due […]
Tatiana Melguizo, a faculty researcher at the USC Pullias Center for Higher Education, was recently interviewed about her research and equity-minded approaches to mathematics education by Vilma Mesa, Associate Professor of Education at the University of Michigan, on the Democracy’s College podcast on August 21, 2018. I want to say that it’s very important for researchers to really get insights […]
Are you passionate about education research that’s closely tied to real-life practice? Would you like to be part of a multi-campus team, collaborating with researchers at USC, UCLA and Claremont Graduate University—as well as practitioners at Los Angeles Unified School District and Los Angeles Community College District—to improve public education outcomes? Come work as a postdoctoral scholar at the Pullias Center […]
A timely report about community college funding co-written by Pullias faculty member Tatiana Melguizo received coverage in Inside Higher Ed on June 15, 2018: California’s move toward performance funding for its community colleges could work without harming colleges that enroll large numbers of underserved student groups, according to a new report published Thursday by the Century Foundation, but only if the formula adequately takes into […]
Should community colleges with higher graduation rates get rewarded with more state funding? Or would such a plan unfairly hurt schools that serve large populations of disadvantaged students? How can we balance efficiency — moving students speedily and successfully through their education goals — with equity — making sure all students are given the support they need to succeed in […]
Pullias Center researcher Tatiana Melguizo‘s research on the effect of affirmative action policies in higher education in Brazil was featured by Publica, a Portuguese-language agency of investigative journalism in Brazil, on Jan. 26, 2018: A outra pesquisa foi realizada pelo professor Wainer, da Unicamp, e por Tatiana Melguizo, professora associada da Escola de Educação Rossier, na Universidade do Sul da Califórnia. Ela também usa […]