Can Students Find a ZTC Degree? Discoverability, Navigability, and Feasibility in California Community Colleges: Final Research Report

Le résumé fourni par la source

Can Students Find a ZTC Degree? Discoverability, Navigability, and Feasibility in California Community Colleges is an exploratory mixed-methods feasibility study led through Irvine Valley College in partnership with Coalinga College and funded by the Michelson 20MM Foundation Spark Grant. The study examines whether Zero Textbook Cost (ZTC) degree pathways are not only technically available or reportable, but meaningfully discoverable, navigable, trustworthy, and usable by students within the registration, advising, and educational-planning systems they actually use. The project began with design and planning in Summer 2025, followed by student researcher recruitment and training in Fall and Winter 2025. Data collection occurred primarily during Spring 2026, with survey distribution continuing through May 2026, followed by mixed-methods analysis, report development, and dissemination during Summer and Fall 2026. The overall Michelson 20MM Foundation grant period is May 12, 2025–October 31, 2026. The study draws on 1,644 student survey responses, six student focus group/feedback sessions, and 36 stakeholder interviews. The research used a collaborative model involving both librarian researchers and student researchers. Librarian researchers supported project design, recruitment, data collection, research coordination, analysis, writing, review, and dissemination. Student researchers participated at different stages in survey review, research training, focus groups and interviews, transcript review and de-identification, preliminary theme identification, analysis discussions, report development, visual design, and presentation preparation. Student researchers were supported by librarian researchers throughout the research process. The study produced three primary practical implementation resources for colleges: 1. Student-Ready ZTC Pathway Maturity Model and Rubric — a framework for assessing readiness across trust and label integrity, section-level data quality, systems integration, pathway stability, ambient discoverability, and student-ready feasibility. 2. ZTC Pathway Readiness Checklist — a practical institutional checklist for ZTC coordinators and cross-functional teams examining whether pathways are accurate, stable, visible, and sufficiently supported for student use. 3. Ambient Discoverability Guidelines for Student-Facing ZTC Registration, Planning, and Advising Systems — guidance and examples for making ZTC information visible, understandable, trustworthy, and actionable within the systems students already use. Together, the report and implementation framework shift the central question from whether a ZTC pathway technically exists to whether students can actually find it, understand it, trust it, plan with it, and realistically follow it.

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