Nicole Edgecombe

About

Nikki Edgecombe, Ph.D., is a Senior Research Scholar at the Community College Research Center (CCRC) at Teachers College, Columbia University, and conducts research on developmental education, education equity, teaching and learning, English learners, faculty development, minority-serving institutions, and higher education finance, among other areas. She is the principal investigator for the Center for the Analysis of Postsecondary Readiness, an IES-funded research center on developmental education jointly run with MDRC. Dr. Edgecombe also leads IES studies on English learners in community colleges and on the adaptation of Lesson Study for community college mathematics instruction.

Dr. Edgecombe oversees CCRC's research portfolio on developmental education, which includes the Postsecondary Language and Literacy Learning project, a mixed-methods study of developmental English and English as a Second Language reform in three states, and the implementation portion of the MDRC-led IES study of CUNY Start, a prematriculation remediation program offered at the City University of New York. Previously, she led the Mathematics Pathways to Completion, Analysis of Statewide Developmental Education Reform, and Scaling Innovation studies, which examined the implementation and outcomes of developmental education reforms around the country. Additionally, Dr. Edgecombe studies and writes about education equity, most recently authoring "Demography as Opportunity," a chapter in the 2019 edited volume Thirteen Ideas That Are Transforming the Community College World.

Dr. Edgecombe joined CCRC from JPMorgan, where she studied the financial and organizational performance of publicly traded companies and made investment recommendations to institutional clients. Prior to her work in the private sector, she studied teacher learning and school-based professional development at the Urban Education Institute (formerly the Center for School Improvement) and Consortium on Chicago School Research at the University of Chicago. She holds a Ph.D. in Education from the University of Pennsylvania and a B.A. in Urban Studies–Economics from Columbia University.

Associated IES Content

Single-Session Panels FY2024

FY2024 Single-Session Peer Review Panel

Program Information

Welcome to the 2020 Annual Principal Investigators Meeting! Our theme this year, Closing the Gaps for All Learners, underscores IES’s objective to support research that improves equity in access to education and education outcomes.

About

2020 About Page - About IES, NCER, NCSER and Co-Chairs

FY2022

FY2022 Single-Session Peer Review Panel
Grant

Strengthening Virginia's Pandemic Recovery Efforts: Providing High-Quality Community College Workforce Education to Underserved Adults

The purpose of this Network project is to examine barriers to postsecondary enrollment, persistence, and completion for low-income, Black, and Hispanic students and generate knowledge that will lead to significant improvements in their progress through and completion of workforce training programs leading to high-demand occupations. To achieve these aims, researchers will partner with the Virginia Community College System (VCCS) to examine and improve Get A Skill, Get A Job, Get Ahead (G3), ...
Federal funding program:
Improving Pandemic Recovery Efforts in Education Agencies
Award number:
R305X220024

FY2021

FY2021 Single-Session Peer Review Panel
Grant

Postsecondary Teaching with Technology Collaborative

The growth of online learning means that college students must manage their studies more independently than ever before, making students' skills for navigating their own learning-such as finding sources of motivation, managing time and tasks, and reflecting on progress and making adjustments-even more critical to their success. Research has demonstrated the benefits of these self-directed learning skills and suggests that widely used technologies, such as learning management systems and adap...
Federal funding program:
Education Research and Development Centers
Award number:
R305C210003
Grant

Changing Policy and Practice in Developmental Education: Assessing the Evidence and Engaging the Field

The purpose of this project is to conduct a synthesis of research on developmental education reform, and to disseminate the findings to key stakeholders with the aim of supporting implementation and scaling of effective reform strategies. The research team will collect and analyze evaluation and implementation studies on developmental education from 2010 to 2020, a period during which policymakers and practitioners have worked to implement a host of reform strategies. The synthesis addresses...
Federal funding program:
Unsolicited
Award number:
R305U200010
Grant

Exploring the Experiences and Outcomes of English Learners in Community College

Multilingual learners (ML)-commonly referred to as English learners or ELs-constitute a large and growing segment of the postsecondary student population, yet research on their educational experiences is sparse, especially at the community college level. This study aimed to address this knowledge gap by exploring how community college institutional policies and practices influence the experiences and trajectories of MLs enrolled at the City Colleges of Chicago (CCC). The researchers focused ...
Federal funding program:
Education Research Grants
Award number:
R305A190495
Grant

Adapting Lesson Study for Developmental Mathematics Instruction

As community colleges make changes to curriculum and course structures to improve outcomes in development education, postsecondary instructors increasingly need professional development. Yet, most college faculty have limited access to professional development focused on teaching in their discipline. This project iteratively adapted a collaborative-learning model for teacher professional development that has evidence of improving math instruction in K-12 settings called "lesson study" for us...
Federal funding program:
Education Research Grants
Award number:
R305A170454
Grant

Center for the Analysis of Postsecondary Readiness

During the past 40 years, the United States has made major advances in expanding access to postsecondary education, but many students arrive at college without the requisite English and math skills to perform college-level work. Community colleges and other open-access institutions have traditionally responded by placing such students into sequential developmental (or remedial) education courses with outdated curricula and instructional practices. Unfortunately, research indicates that stude...
Federal funding program:
Education Research and Development Centers
Award number:
R305C140007
Grant

The Center for Analysis of Postsecondary Education and Employment

The Center for Analysis of Postsecondary Education and Employment (CAPSEE) conducts research and provides national leadership (in cooperation with IES) in order to advance knowledge regarding the link between postsecondary education and the labor market. The Center aims to clarify this link with attention to three key topics: (1) relatively short-term occupational degrees (occupational associate degrees and certificates or diplomas) that are designed to improve labor market outcomes; (2) th...
Federal funding program:
Education Research and Development Centers
Award number:
R305C110011