Wheelhouse publishes timely, readily understood and actionable briefs for decision-maker audiences statewide, including community college administrators and trustees, the California Community College Chancellor’s Office and Board of Governors, the Office of the Governor, the State Legislature and media covering higher education.

We serve as the hub for a statewide network of researchers whose work informs and connects to our mission. Our work is also informed and supported by a Research Collaboration Council of 12 community college CEOs. 

To cultivate the next generation of California Community Colleges-focused scholars, we engage undergraduates, graduate students and postdocs in our work and sponsor an annualsummer research fellowship for doctoral candidates whose work touches the CCCs. 

Financial Aid

California Community College Financial Aid: Recent Trends and Differences by Campus. (Friedmann, Linden, Kurlaender, Martorell, Carrell, 2025)

How did pandemic recovery funding support California community colleges? Rodriquez, Payares-Montoya, Cook, 2024)

Zero Textbook Cost: In California, a Community College President Leveraged Short-Term Funds for Long-Term Impact. ARCC Network Blog. (Cooper, S., 2024).

More than just money? Early outcomes of Lake Tahoe Community College (LTCC) College Promise Program in New Directions for Community Colleges. (Escobar, Friedmann, Tovar, 2023)

Financial Aid for California Community College Students. (Kurlaender, Martorell, Friedmann, 2021)

Why do Some Students Fail to Receive Pell Grants? (Friedmann, Martorell, 2019)

Money Left on the Table: An Analysis of Pell Grant Receipt Among Financially-Eligible Community College Students in California. (Martorell, Friedmann, 2018)

Text Me: The Promise of Strategic Nudging to Increase Student Awareness and Access to Financial Aid. (Rios-Aguilar, Martinez, Graves, Lopez, Deil-Amen, 2018)

Crisis Response and Innovation

The pandemic period presented both significant challenges and opportunities for the California Community Colleges system. We document how institutions and students adapted during this period of uncertainty and the impact of enrollment declines across colleges and student groups. We also evaluate how key pandemic-era reforms impact student success in college, including expanded online offerings, shortened courses (forthcoming), and emergency student grants (forthcoming).

The Geography of California Community College Enrollment: Course-Taking Trends in the Online Era. (Linden, Hart, and Kurlaender, 2025)

Early Alerts: How Two California Colleges Are Using Relief Funds to Keep Students Enrolled. ARCC Network Brief. (Linden, 2024) 

From the Disruption of the Pandemic, A Path Forward for Community Colleges. Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning. (Kurlaender, Cooper, Bush, Rodriguez, 2024)

Portraits of Resilience: Community College Students Navigating Challenges Amid the Pandemic. ARCC Network Brief. (Martinez, 2024)

Wheelhouse Research Collaboration Council: Shaping our Understanding of Pandemic Recovery. ARCC Network Blog. (Hurtt, 2024).

Pandemic-Period Enrollment and Persistence in California Community Colleges. (Linden, Kurlaender, Martorell, Carrell, 2022)

Everybody Pulling in the Same Direction: The COVID-19 Shift to Online Delivery of Instruction and Student Services. (Hart, Xu, Hill, Alonso, 2021)

Turning on a Dime: California Community College Transformation in Response to COVID-19. (Cooper, Hart, Kurlaender, Rios-Aguilar, Rodriguez and Sublett, 2020)

Community College Baccalaureate Degree

Smoothing the Path to the Bachelor’s Degree: Exploring Growth, Student Satisfaction, and Racial Equity in California’s Community College Baccalaureate Programs. (Vo, Fowles, Rios-Aguilar, 2026) 

Benefits and Opportunities: California’s Community College Baccalaureate Programs. (Hoang, Vo, Rios-Aguilar, 2022)

Pioneering The Community College Baccalaureate in California: The Experience of West Los Angeles College. (Aguiar, Dones, Quiñones, Rios-Aguilar, Chavac, Cruz, 2022)

A Missed Opportunity for Equity? Early Observations on CA’s Community College BA Pilot. (Cuellar, Gandara, 2017)

Community College Leadership

Focusing on Wins: California Community College Leaders Reflect on Pandemic-Era Innovations. ARCC Network Blog. (Kurlaender, M. & Bennett, S., 2024).

Leading as Myself: California Community College CEO Reflections on Personal and Institutional Growth Across a Year of Racial Reckoning. (Bush, Cooper, Escobar, Kurlaender, Rodriguez, 2021)

Toward a More Perfect Institution: Reflections from California Community College Leaders on Racism, Anti-Blackness and Implicit Bias. (Bush, Cooper, Kurlaender, Rodriguez, 2020)

Who’s on Line One? The Delicate Juggling Act of Community College CEOs. (Cooper, Benson, 2019)

Talk to Me: What California Community College Trustees Want from their CEOs. (Cooper, 2017)

Tough Job if You Can Keep It: What California Community College CEOs Say About Their Challenges and Longevity. (Cooper, 2016)

Dual Enrollment

A Strong Start for College and Career Dual Enrollment Participation from 9th to 12th Grade. (Dykeman, Reed, Friedmann, Kurlaender, 2024)

Growth Interrupted: An Update on Dual Enrollment Participation Among Public High School Graduates. (Dykeman, Reed, Friedmann, Kurlaender, 2024)

A Strong Start for College and Career: Dual Enrollment Participation from 9th to 12th Grade, Appendix of County and District Stats. (Friedmann, Reed, Kurlaender, Dykeman, 2024)

A Foot in the Door: Growth in Participation and Equity in Dual Enrollment in California. (Kurlaender, Reed, Grosz, Mathias, Hughes, 2021)

A Leg Up on College: The Scale and Distribution of Community College Participation Among California High School Students. (Friedmann, Kurlaender, Li, Rumberger, 2020)

A Rising Tide: Dual Enrollment is Growing Among California High School Students. (Wheelhouse, California Education Lab, PACE, 2020)

Student Access, Identity and Experience 

Supporting Black Student and Educator Success: Reimagining Higher Education Institutions Through an African-Centric Lens. (Graves, Hurtt, Cooper, Kurlaender, Lewis, Evans, Carter, 2025)

Enlace Comunitario Identifying Opportunities to Enhance Community College Outreach and Recruitment of Latinx/a/o Students. (Martinez, Cuellar,  Reed, Esposito-Noy, 2023)

Toward Belonging in the Community College Classroom: Lessons from the Learning for Equity Ascend Research Network. (LEARN) (Escobar, 2023)

A Portrait of Student Parents in the California Community Colleges: A New Analysis of Financial Aid Seekers with Dependent Children. (Reed, Grosz, Kurlaender, Cooper, 2021)

Higher Learning Inside: An Exploration of the Demographic Make-up of Incarcerated Persons Taking Postsecondary Courses in California. (Britton, Friedmann, Adan, 2021)

Like a Juggler: The Experiences of Racially Minoritized Student Parents in a California Community College. (Huerta, Rios-Aguilar, Ramirez, Muñoz, 2021

Developmental Education Reform 

Working as Designed: A Causal Analysis of AB 705 Shows Increased Rates of Transfer-Level Course Taking and Passage. (Li, 2023)

Navigators of Critical Reform: California Community College Counseling Faculty as Agents of Change in Implementing AB 705. (Acevedo, 2022)

Progress and Potential: Considering the Question of Racial Equity in CA AB705. (Melguizo, Cooper, Kurlaender, Bensimon, 2021

Student-Centered Funding Formula

Funding Incentives for CCCs: Impacts of the SCFF on Financial Aid Receipt. (Linden, 2022)

Understanding the Student-Centered Funding Formula. (Linden, 2022)

Associate Degree for Transfer

ADTs at Year 10. (Baker, Kurlaender, Friedmann, 2020)

Associate Degrees for Transfer: A Snapshot of Progress Across CA Community Colleges. (Baker, Kurlaender, Friedmann, 2018)

Other Impacts on Student Outcomes

Course Closed: Using Waitlists to Study the Effects of Course Shutouts on Community College Students. (Robles, Gross, Fairlie, 2021)

Starting off on the Wrong Foot: Math Misalignment and STEM Outcomes in California Community Colleges. (Park, Ngo, Melguizo, 2019)

College Quality: The Promises and Pitfalls of Measurement. (Kurlaender, Carrell, Jackson, 2018)