The California College Data and Policy Project (CCDPP) is a new research initiative that brings together University of California researchers and government partners to advance equity and improve California’s world class higher education system. CCDPP will generate new insights and research on what works to better support California students and their families as they transition through the education system.
These insights will be made possible by a unique data linkage that brings together data from the California Community Colleges and the University of California, with the California State University coming soon, as well as data from the California Department of Education, the California Student Aid Commission, the California Department of Social Services, and the UC Consumer Credit Panel.
Initial CCDPP research will focus on:
1. College Admissions: College admission requirements can inequitably impact students based on socioeconomic and racial background. CCDPP will study college admission rate trends to reveal and address inequities, including how the information considered by admissions offices could be better used to reduce disparities and identify strong applicants.
2. Transfer Students: California has a unique three-segment system of public higher education, in which transfer from community colleges to four-year CSU and UC institutions plays a critical role. CCDPP will study transfer students and their outcomes, generating important insights to improve the functioning of this important but under-studied pipeline.
3. Student Supports: CPL’s work has shown that CalFresh benefits are crucial supports for California college students. CCDPP will extend and deepen that work, bringing in the CSU campuses and examining continuity in participation rates as students progress from high school to college, as well as seeing how CalFresh receipt impacts students in their adult lives.
If you are interested in learning more about the CCDPP, please reach out to Professor Jesse Rothstein: rothstein@berkeley.edu
Building on past research
The CCDPP will build on research by our affiliated experts, including:
- Regional Variation in California Community College Student Achievement
- Letters of Recommendation at UC Berkeley
- Increasing the Take-Up of Cal Grants
- Students Supports Initiative
- How Helpful Are Average Wage-By-Major Statistics In Choosing A Field Of Study?
- Affirmative Action, Mismatch, and Economic Mobility After California’s Proposition 209
- Eligibility for Admission to the University of California After the SAT/ACT: Toward a Redefinition of Eligibility
- College Major Restrictions and Student Stratification
Additional Background
Effective, equitable education systems are necessary to prepare California’s children for the economy and society of the future. California historically led the nation in the quality of elementary and secondary schools and in creating a world-class system of public higher education to serve all Californians who wanted to go to college. But both systems have fallen behind. There are large racial and economic gaps in both achievement and educational attainment.
Efforts to understand and improve educational outcomes are made more difficult in California by the lack of a longitudinal student-record data system that links students across elementary, secondary, and postsecondary education, such as exists in many other states. As a result, California has often flown “data-blind” when it comes to basic information about factors influencing student achievement or the effects of various reforms.
Working in partnership with various data providers, we have built a comprehensive database linking data on public elementary/secondary students to students at California’s public higher education institutions, along with other data (e.g., on participation in safety net programs). The linked data will open new opportunities for research.
CCDPP Affiliated Experts
The California College Data and Policy Project is led by Jesse Rothstein, Professor of Public Policy and Economics and faculty director of the California Policy Lab and Director of the Center for Studies on Higher Education.
