IMPORTANCE OF PLANNING INSTITUTIONAL GOALS IN THE COMMUNITY COLLEGE AND EXTENT OF THEIR CONGRUENCE AMONG CONSTITUENTS

This research study emphasizes the importance of participative goal setting efforts in the community college. Early goal setting in the colleges involved an elite group of administrators who seemed to rely primarily upon subjective planning procedures. In this era of accountability with a more vocal public, the chief executive finds it extremely important to involve key people early in the planning process. Benefits from using a participative system may include not only additional data upon which to base decisions, but more importantly a sense of involvement in the future of the college. Findings from this study which included five key groups using the Community College Goals Inventory instrument concur with those of other community college studies in the goal choices selected. Some of the implications derived from this study on eight community college goals are cited along with recommendations which can be applied to community colleges in general.     

SUCCESSFUL INTERPERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS: THE KEY TO DYNAMIC COMMUNITY COLLEGE ADMINISTRATION

Community college administrators can achieve successful interpersonal relationships with their colleagues by exhibiting positive thoughts about their colleagues, developing openness in their relationships, using a team approach and a wide decision‐making base, and being concerned about the perceptions of others.     

LIFESTYLE VARIABLES RELATED TO COMMUNITY COLLEGE ATTENDANCE

This study investigated a set of variables – designated by marketing researchers as psychographic – and their relationship to non‐residential college students' concerns centering around commuting to class. A fourteen item instrument was developed and responded to by 425 students. A factor analysis revealed four factors and the dominant factor was comprised of items such as car security, parking, physical security and traffic. Other factors such as education quality items (i.e, library, faculty) accounted for a small percentage of the variance. A discriminant function analysis of the psycho‐graphic variables compared with six student time‐distance groups did not find differences among the groups by various class attendance times and commuting distances. Research limitations and future research directions are offered.     

TRANSITION COUNSELING IN THE COMMUNITY COLLEGE

According to the U.S. Department of Education, 44% of students entering American colleges and universities in 1995 were over age 25.As increasing numbers of students make changes to enter community college, it is imperative that counselors address the fundamental dilemmas facing this population. Addressing the transition concerns of these students as they navigate through community college may provide a counseling perspective that effectively enhances overall student development while simultaneously influencing future growth and success. This article outlines counseling considerations, from assessment to intervention, designed to help the community college counselor meet students' transition needs.     

ADMINISTRATIVE REORGANIZATION IN THE COMMUNITY COLLEGE

Reorganization within the administrative structure of community colleges is an activity that has been much indulged in but little written about during recent years. This study was undertaken to determine perceptions of the roles that community college presidents play when reorganization within the administrative structure takes place. Colleges used for collection of data were two Texas metroplitan community college districts. Collection of data was limited to administrative changes from the division level through the president's level at each college. No attempt was made to study the district level or the department or curriculum levels.     

ORIGINS OF THE COMPREHENSIVE COMMUNITY COLLEGE

A number of recent articles as well as speeches at national meetings have implied that some terrible plot to denigrate the mission of community colleges by including the function of occupational education (vocational and technical) has been perpetrated by the recent tendency on the part of some to downgrade the arts and humanities. There is no historical basis for this implication. The early leaders of the junior college movement gave appropriate emphasis to the development of a comprehensive institution. This article documentes these emphases and provides a basis for more rational analysis of the curriculum of the community colleges.     

THE EMERGING LOUISIANA COMMUNITY AND TECHNICAL COLLEGE SYSTEM: BACK TO BASICS AND DOWN TO BUSINESS

Online Student Service provides all Houston Community College (HCC) students and its surrounding community access to college information 24/7. Queries may be made regarding the admissions process, financial aid, testing, veterans' affairs, international admission, tuition costs, and programs and courses offered at each HCC location. Also available to system users are interactive online advising and access to a variety of general information.     

THE TEACHING THEORIES OF COMMUNITY COLLEGE FACULTY

The objectives of this study were to determine the percentage of students who felt they were weak in an academic skill and who took a college assistance program designed to correct that deficiency and to identify the reasons given by students weak in an academic skill for not using a college support service from which they could benefit. Analyses of survey data obtained from 268 instructors and 6,428 of their students enrolled in a cross section of courses in a large multicampus urban community college district showed the following: (1) of those students who did not feel confident in a skill, less than 30% took advantage of a support program designed to assist them in that skill; (2) more than 40% of the faculty felt that the primary reason students did not take advantage of a needed support service was that they were not willing to devote the extra time or effort required to avail themselves of the service; and (3) the main reasons most academically underprepared students gave for not using a support service were that they did not feel a need for the service or had no time for the service. Implications of these findings for educational policy are discussed.     

ETHNIC CONSCIOUSNESS IN THE COMMUNITY COLLEGE CLASSROOM

This article addresses the influence of White American ethnic consciousness on educators in the community college classroom. In the event that issues of a multicultural nature arise in this setting, educators may find themselves responding to the information with differing attitudes and behaviors. These varied stances may stem from the process of moving from an unresolved to a more integrative stage of ethnic consciousness. White identity stages are presented, and their implications for classroom instruction are discussed.     

THE HUMANITIES CURRICULUM IN THE COMMUNITY/JUNIOR COLLEGE

The purpose of this study was to examine the status of the humanities curriculum in the nation's community and junior colleges. Data on course offerings and enrollments in humanities’ courses (e.g., foreign languages, history, literature, philosophy) were obtained in spring 1975 and spring 1977 from a representative national sample of 178 two‐year colleges. Among the findings reported were: (1) during the same time period that two‐year colleges experienced a modest enrollment increase (7.4%), enrollments in 7 of the 12 humanities areas studied actually decreased; and (2) the humanities courses offered at most two‐year colleges were extremely limited both within and across subject areas. Recommendations on how humanities departments can increase their course enrollments are offered.     

COMMUNITY COLLEGE FUNDING

This article presents a practitioner's funding model indicative of the primary revenue streams of community colleges in Texas. Methodology is developed to identify internal and external processes for the comparison of these primary revenue streams on a per-contact-hour basis. Student tuition, ad valorem property tax, maintenance taxing district, and state appropriation revenues are analyzed to provide a framework for the subsequent development of methodologies to identify disparities in the Texas community college funding mechanism.     

COMMUNITY COLLEGE FACULTY: MAKING THE PARADIGM SHIFT

The author looks at contemporary research and surveys on community college faculty, administration, and students and diagnoses problems and obstacles for the shift from a goal of expanded access in the 1960s and 1970s to the 1990's goal of the community college: teaching and learning excellence. First the current state of teaching and teachers in the community college is examined. Problems are illustrated such as lack of support for new teachers in their vital first years and the many and growing responsibilities of faculty that take away from teaching. The article then identifies and defines three major challenges for the next decade: (1) facilitating and addressing the needs of a wider range of student ability and mastery; (2) conquering the high and accepted attrition rate; and (3) dealing with the differing and often contradicting perceptions of students, faculty, and administration. This particular disparity, or this "gap," among student, teacher, and administrator is discussed in detail. Aside from these three important challenges, however, the greatest challenge for community college faculty in the 1990s is stated as the diversity of student academic credentials and maturity. Several conditions are also cited, which seem to put two-year college faculty at risk. Factors such as increased enrollment, lack of funding, limited facilities and equipment, and lack of faculty involvement in change efforts. Finally, the author looks to research by Honeycutt in a search for solutions to the above challenges. Honeycutt suggests several guidelines that might help to minimize teachers at risk and maximize faculty motivation. If the shift is to be made successfully, suggests the author, then faculty, the administrator, and the student will have to collaboratively explore and adapt suggestions such as those by Honeycutt and pay close attention to, and try to eliminate, the gap that divides them.     

FROM DEVELOPMENTAL EDUCATION TO GRADUATION: A COMMUNITY COLLEGE EXPERIENCE

Using an ex post facto analysis of outcomes data, this paper tracks the academic performances of developmental and non-developmental students and examines the effects that developmental courses have on subsequent academic progress leading up to graduation. Three-year data on developmental students and graduates were analyzed to discern the characteristics of students graduating from the College, and to compare and contrast the characteristics of developmental and non-developmental students who graduated. The College graduates were categorized into four groups with respect to their academic preparation as suggested by their placement scores. During the three-year period considered, over 61% of the College's graduates took one or more developmental courses. This study shows that there is a positive link between the number of developmental courses taken and time to graduation. Consistent with prior studies, it is remarkable that developmental students perform equally well in college level courses as non-developmental students, depending on the number of pre-college level courses taken. As higher education institutions are facing increasing demands for accountability and performance requirements, accurate assessment and placement of students needing interventions become more imperative. However, accountability measures linked to retention, graduation rates, and federal student financial aid may disadvantage community colleges, especially because roughly two-thirds of community college students attend part-time and require remediation.     

INTERPERSONAL BEHAVIOR AND THE COMMUNITY COLLEGE DEPARTMENT CHAIRPERSON

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between department/division chairpersons' interpersonal behavior and their perceived leadership effectiveness. The Departmental Evaluation of Chairperson Activities for Development (DECAD) system was used to determine the department chairpersons' administrative effectiveness. Element B, developed by Will Schutz, was used to assess the chairpersons' interpersonal behavioral characteristics. The participants were department/division chairpersons and full-time faculty members from 15 of the 17 public and private community colleges in a southern state. Survey packets were mailed to faculty members and department/ division chairpersons in the humanities and social sciences divisions. Sixty-seven percent of the faculty responded and 93% of the chairpersons responded. Statistical analyses revealed significant differences in the dependent variables of received inclusion, perceived inclusion, and wanted inclusion interpersonal behaviors between the ineffective and effective chairs. These findings suggest that effective department chairpersons possess a need to maintain and establish interaction with others. Also, effective chairpersons were perceived to be, and want to be, included by others.     

A PROFILE OF THE COMMUNITY COLLEGE LITERATURE INSTRUCTOR

Data from a national survey sponsored by the Center for the Study of Community Colleges formed the basis for this study of the course aims and instructional practices of the two‐year college literature instructor. Lecture and discussion are the two most used teaching strategies, and nontraditional teaching strategies are nearly nonexistent. Approximately 60% of the literature teachers have between 3 and 10 years of classroom experience, but nearly 31% have taught more than 10 years. A majority of respondents indicated that aesthetic appreciation is their primary course aim. Type of degree held by respondents affected their answers on four items: (1) those with doctorates and 3 to 10 years of teaching experience lecture more than their nondoctorate‐holding counterparts, p = .0125; (2) nondoctorate holders with more than 10 years of experience use audiovisual aids more often than their doctorate‐holding colleagues, p = .0005; (3) nondoctorate holders with more than 10 years of experience use student oral presentations more often than their doctorate‐holding colleagues, p = .0008; and (4) doctorate holders with more than 10 years of experience think that critical thinking ability is more important than do their nondoctorate holding counterparts, p = .002.     

PURSUING EXCELLENCE: THE COMMUNITY COLLEGE OF DENVER

This article is based on an in-depth, yearlong qualitative case study focusing on the Community College of Denver and a comprehensive review of research examining developmental education and institutional effectiveness issues in higher education. The authors identify critical issues, discuss implications, and suggest recommendations for improving accountability of practices; (b) increasing student success, with an emphasis on valuing diversity; and (c) implementing a new developmental program of strategically improving an existing one. Recommendations include (a) being knowledgeable about accountability mandates required of others and initiating self-imposed action; (b) establishing a commitment to quality results and sharing results with internal and external constituents; (c) creating an internal grassroots process that regularly provides for open discussion, planning, promoting and supporting student performance, and celebrating success; (d) cultivating informal leadership; (e) recruiting and hiring the best faculty members available then monitoring, mentoring, and training them; (f) creating a centralized developmental education model; (g) integrating technology into all college services and instructional plans; (h) seeking external funding to support retention and achievement initiatives; and (i) being committed to and taking steps toward leveling the educational playing field. Study results suggest that, when implemented as a combined effort by an institution committed to student learning, these actions can contribute to significantly higher levels of student success.