MATHEMATICS IN COMMUNITY COLLEGES

The research reported in this article used regression analyses to examine the factors explaining the variation in instructional costs per full‐time equivalent (FTE) student at 592 public community colleges during the 1991‐92 academic year. The results suggests that instructional costs per FTE student tend to increase with the full‐time faculty‐to‐FTE student ratio, the part‐time faculty‐to‐FTE student ratio, faculty salaries, and the ratio of degree completions to total FTE enrollment in agricultural, skilled trade, and health‐related programs. Community colleges with total FTE enrollments between 1,000 and 1,499, between 2,000 and 2,499, and between 4,000 and 4,499 students tend to have lower instructional costs per FTE student than community colleges having total FTE enrollment less than 500 students.     

A Participative/Bureaucratic Model of Administration as Perceived by Directors of Occupational Education

Abstract

This study was designed and undertaken to ascertain the administrative models (participative versus bureaucratic) operating within the nation's public community colleges, as perceived by those charged with occupational education. The research design viewed the community college as a dichotomy of administration and faculty. Questions concerning the perceived degree of administration and faculty involvement in major educational issues were solicited from directors of occupational education.

Data for the research were obtained via a questionnaire that gathered biographical and attitudinal information. The usable sample consisted of 282 colleges selected at random from a population of nearly 1,000 public community colleges. Various influence patterns of key functions (curriculum, budget, facilities, and governance) were assessed to determine the role and involvement of faculty and administration. An argument was made to suggest a participative model of administration as a viable mode of administering the public community college. The findings of the research suggested, however, that faculty and administration had different and varying roles of responsibility. The faculty were more involved in departmental and nonbudgetary matters, whereas monetary, governance, and planning issues were functions of the college administration.     

IMPACT OF TENNESSEE'S REMEDIAL/DEVELOPMENTAL STUDIES PROGRAM ON THE ACADEMIC PROGRESS OF MINORITY STUDENTS

This paper examines the impact of a state‐wide mandatory testing and placement program operating in Tennessee's community college system as it relates to retention and academic progress of minority students. Utilizing the Board of Regents' data base, the records of 5,139 first‐time 1986 freshmen enrollees at Tennessee's ten public community colleges were examined and tracked through three successive academic quarters. Analysis suggests that of this group, only 22% were actually enrolled in college level programs, as the balance (78%) were in the developmental studies program. The constriction of college placement for minorities is especially severe, since developmental program requirements must be satisfied before they can proceed to earn college level credits. Of the 5,139 first time freshmen, only 56 black students were enrolled in college level courses, and of these, only 26 remained enrolled in Regents' institutions after three quarters. Analysis of attrition by ACT cohort suggests that attrition is higher for those enrolled in developmental studies programs, and 13% higher for minorities than for white students. These findings suggest that public officials may wish to assess if the testing and placement program as it is currently operating is achieving stated goals of improved retention and graduation of minority students     

The Differential Impact of Wealth Versus Income in the College-Going Process

College is increasingly essential for economic and social mobility. Current research and public policy devotes significant attention to race, income, and socioeconomic factors in college access. Yet, wealth’s role, as differentiated from income, is largely unexplored. This paper examines the differences between wealth and income in the college-going process, specifically applying to college, attending college, and what type of college attended (2-year, 4-year, and more or less selective). To examine these relationships, the National Longitudinal Study of Youth (1997) is linked to the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System to create a nationally representative dataset. Binary and multinomial logistic regressions reveal that wealth is consistently more significant in the college choice process than income. Wealth’s significance as a predictor for college application and attending a 2-year college versus no college disappears when controls for human capital, habitus, social capital, and cultural capital are added. However, wealth’s significance persists for less selective and more selective 4-year college attendance, even after including these controls. K-12 and postsecondary institutions and policymakers, looking to level the playing field and make college more accessible, must address wealth’s impact on the college-going process.     

IMPROVING STUDENT AND ORGANIZATIONAL LEARNING THROUGH INNOVATIVE STRATEGIC PLANNING PROCESSES

Public two - year colleges in the United States were founded historically from the bottom up or from the top down. The former were two - year extensions of high schools maintained in public school districts or in separate districts consisting of multiple contiguous public school districts. In 1928, Ohio Attorney General Edward C. Turner, apparently unaware that over 200 public junior colleges had already been established in a number of Midwest states and California, responded to a request about the legality of a junior college as part of a public school district in Ohio. He said in part, ''The term 'junior college' has no special significance so far as our statutory law is concerned; nor is it in current use as a designation of any particular class of schools'' (Turner, 1928, p. 1014). This opinion ended the possibility of local bottom - up development of two - year colleges supported by common school districts. Bills allowing for the establishment of public two - year colleges failed to pass the Ohio General Assembly in 1929, 1931, 1949, 1951, and 1953. Conversely, by 1954, 26 states had already passed legislation enabling establishment of public junior colleges. Ohio's history of failed legislation during the first six decades of the 1900s gave the state a relatively late start in establishing public two - year colleges. This article identifies some of the key events that influenced the development of community colleges in Ohio. By including distinct time periods, synopsizing the historical and contemporary issues facing community colleges in the state, and identifying key individuals involved in the establishment of community colleges the reader should better understand the community college landscape in Ohio.     

Community College and Community Leader Expectations of the “Village”

A level of consistency between community college leaders and community leaders is necessary to demonstrate behaviors, actions, and beliefs that shape, represent, and support expected community values. Likewise, communities, which are collectives of suborganizations, play an important role in aiding individual development, especially related to educational attainment. This study sought to understand ways in which community college leaders and community leaders demonstrate behaviors, actions, and beliefs that shape, represent, and support community values, particularly the influence on an individual's acceptance of formalized education and continued education beyond compulsory schooling. Data were collected from 113 mayors and community college presidents/deans around the United States. Analysis of the data indicated five types of actions consistent among the two groups including the promotion of civic involvement, community growth and development, economic development, well-being of citizens, and value of education.     

Developing Service Area Indices for Community Colleges: California's Method and Experience

The economic, educational and social environments of the students served by a community college are important factors in college performance accountability, policy analysis, program evaluation, and strategic planning. For example, previous research shows that income per county is a significant predictor of transfer rates for community colleges. However, conditions for the actual geographic area of the students served by a community college may differ, for various reasons, from the economic conditions for the county in which the college is located. This article describes the development of institutional or college-level indices as an enhancement to county-level data, their use as adjustment variables for California's Accountability Reporting for the Community Colleges (ARCC), and their applicability to other research and planning studies. The service area indices are created by combining the enrollment patterns of students by ZIP Code of residence with ZCTA (ZIP Code Tabulation Area) level economic and educational data from Census 2000.     

2+2 Statewide Articulation Policy,Student Persistence,and Success in Florida Universities

The reported study in this paper examined the continuing viability of Florida's 2+2 articulation agreement by comparing academic success and persistence among Florida public community college graduates (n = 1,738) and native (n = 874) juniors at three universities. Discriminant analysis yielded statistically significant differences. Transfer students graduated with fewer lower level courses in upper division and fewer cumulative credit hours than native students. Discriminant analysis did not yield appreciable differences in the final grade point averages of student graduates, indicating that community college transfer students performed just as well academically as native students. Chi-square tests of independence indicated that a greater percentage of transfers dropped out prior to graduation. These findings support the conclusion that community college transfers are academically competitive, but they may benefit from retention services and programs that engender student engagement.     

COMMUNITY COLLEGE BOARDS OF EDUCATION: THE PUBLIC KNOWLEDGE GAP

This investigation was designed to determine the knowledge and opinion of the public about locally elected community college area boards of education. Research questions included the extent to which the public was aware of both composition and activities of the boards, how the public believes the board works, public's sources of information, general public opinion, and extent of public involvement. The population included adults living in a selected midwest state geographically divided into subpopulations for each technical community college area of the state.

The information indicated that community college boards need to take a serious look at their public image and do a much better job of communicating to their constituents.     

Community College Student Dropouts from Higher Education: Toward a Comprehensive Conceptual Model

ABSTRACT

Historically, higher education research has focused on traditional students (i.e., recent high school graduates at a residential, 4-year institutions), but community college students are quickly becoming the new traditional student (Jenkins, 2012). In the fall of 2011, more than one third (36%) of all students enrolled in postsecondary education and almost half (46.7%) of all students enrolled in a public postsecondary institution were enrolled at a community college (Knapp, Kelly-Reid, & Ginder, 2012). However, community colleges have struggled to match the persistence rates at other institutional types. The 2011 2-year public community college national 3-year persistence-to-degree rate was 26.9% (American College Testing [ACT], 2011). The purpose of this paper is to review the literature regarding the most prominent theoretical frameworks for community college student persistence and suggest a new theoretical construct. The resultant framework is termed the Collective Affiliation Model because it views the student’s sense of belonging with the college as only one of many senses of belonging in the student’s life (e.g., family, work). The Collective Affiliation Model does not view student dropout as the student’s inability to integrate into the life of the institution; rather, it views it as the institution’s inability to collectively affiliate with the student. This model’s strength is that it does not work from a student deficit model. Instead, it provides a new framework for researchers and practitioners to better understand and address student drop-out at community colleges.     

A National Survey of Community College Baccalaureate Institutions

This study utilized original survey data and a national sample of community college baccalaureate (CCB) institutions to examine how offering baccalaureate programs impacts these colleges and the students they serve. An increasing number of these colleges plan to offer their baccalaureate programs online, and programs in technology are projected to experience the greatest growth. The data suggest that student needs, and not institutional revenue or prestige, are the primary motivation for offering bachelor's degrees. The challenges experienced when establishing the CCB programs were more likely to come from external than internal factors. Collectively, thousands of students have already graduated from these programs. Results from this study can be used by policymakers and college administrators to make data-driven decisions regarding baccalaureate programming at the community college.     

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.     

Do expenditures other than instructional expenditures affect graduation and persistence rates in American higher education?

During the last two decades, median instructional spending per full-time equivalent (FTE) student at American 4-year colleges and universities has grown at a slower rate than median spending per FTE student in a number of other expenditure categories, including academic support, student services and research. Our paper uses institutional level panel data and a variety of econometric approaches, including unconditional quantile regression methods, to analyze whether these non-instructional expenditure categories influence graduation and first-year persistence rates of undergraduate students.     

Community Colleges,the Media,and the Rhetoric of Inevitability

Community college practitioners frequently bemoan negative or stereotypical representations of community college students and community college life in general in the popular media. Saturday Night Live skits and satirical news reports in The Onion enjoy poking fun at community colleges, while mainstream news outlets often fail to challenge stereotypes of community colleges as lacking academic rigor. Those frustrated by these portrayals should know that the press overwhelmingly lauded 2 year colleges during the early decades of the “junior college” movement. Such reporting celebrated the new institutions' missions, and praised their speedy growth as components of public education. In fact, the press often implied that these new campuses reflected an inevitable step in the evolution of American higher education. This paper analyzes media reports about public 2 year colleges (at the time called junior colleges) published during the 1920s and 1930s. The term junior college is used in this historical review since the term was common during the era in question.     

Testing Programs and Liberal Studies

Abstract. Do sustained induction programs increase participants' teaching efficacy? Data from a qualitative case study of new college faculty involved in a learning community at a small liberal arts college were compared with data from a college-sponsored mentoring project involving first-year teachers from five suburban school districts. Regardless of whether participants taught K-12 or in collegiate classrooms, two dominant themes emerged from first-year narratives: students were likely to overtly challenge the authority of new teachers, and there was a profound difference between novices' own experiences as students and those of the students now in their classrooms.     

The effect of community college enrollment on bachelor's degree completion

Rouse [Rouse, C. E. (1995). Democratization or diversion—the effect of community-colleges on educational-attainment. Journal of Business and Economic Statistics, 13(2), 217–224] finds that enrollment in a community college may divert students from attaining a bachelor's degree. However, this result may be due to selection bias, as the population of community college students should be quite different from those who attend 4-year institutions in terms of both observable and unobservable characteristics. This study uses propensity score matching to non-parametrically balance a data set from the 1996 Beginning Postsecondary Students survey in order to overcome issues associated with selection bias. Results from a Cox proportional hazards model indicate that attendance at a community college lowers the hazard rate for completing a bachelor's degree. The results are consistent with previous studies.     

REFLECTIONS ON VALUES,VISION, AND VITALITY: PERSPECTIVES FOR THE 21ST CENTURY

Participants at a recent Futures Assembly urged a reassessment of values when establishing perspectives for direction of community college development in the new century. The author affirms that there are five fundamental values that have given guidance in the past and can serve well in future decision-making: (1) People: This is the beginning point and the continuing point of reference. All aspects of what is done and how it is done derive from the people who are in the community; (2) Learning: The learning college will be part of a learning community. Learning must be perceived as an educational enterprise that extends beyond the schools and colleges to all people in the community during the span of their lives; (3) Connections: Community colleges do not do it alone. They need to connect in two ways. First with the conditions in the community that bear upon the lives of the people there, and second, when relating to other community organizations; (4) Opportunity: Former community college students declare that ''the college was the door to my future.'' The times in which we live require more than ever that colleges offer learning experiences described by students as essential to what they have become; and (5) Better lives: Better lives are what learners in community colleges are seeking and the way to what they want is through learning.     

Public Versus Private Colleges: Political Participation of College Graduates

Using data from the Baccalaureate and Beyond Longitudinal Study (B&B:93/03) of College Graduates, we use structural equation modeling to model the relationships between college major, values held in college, collegiate community service participation, and the post-college political participation of college graduates by public versus private institutions. We use Holland’s Theory of person-environment fit as lens to understand differences in political participation across majors and institutional contexts. Over a 10-year period immediately after receiving the baccalaureate, we find that choice of major and individual values are differentially associated with post-college political participation for private institution graduates when compared to the counterparts at public institutions. We relate our findings to extant literature that highlights the differences in institutional characteristics between public and private colleges and socialization patterns of undergraduates that may inform differences in post-college political participation. Implications for future research are also offered.     

Family Education and Community Power: New structures for new visions in the educational village

Noting that differences and inequality of education exist in the United States of America, this paper presents two model educational programs that address the iniquities in American public education. The first model is a collaborative effort of a public school in an urban northeast community, the Robert L. Ford Elementary School of Lynn, Massachusetts, USA and a public supported college of higher education, Salem State College, Salem, Massachusetts, USA, whose joint venture is known as The Partnership for the Educational Village Project. The second model utilizes technology to outreach families and child care providers through a televised distance learning project that was nationally presented by its producer, Mass Interactions, and a US Department of Education Star School Grant. The Ford School's principal (head teacher) forged the partnership with the college to create a 'full service school' that provides multiple avenues of support to the school's children, their families, and community. The distance learning programs, entitled 'Taking the First Steps: Parents as Teachers' and 'Building Bridges for Excellence in the Early Grades: Home/School Partnership', were conceived as two live and interactive television series that promoted literacy development in preschool and primary school-aged children in their homes. Both educational models recognize the paramount role families and communities play in the education of children. To compensate and overcome the plight of poverty and disenfranchisement, educational endeavors need to respect the parental role, offer new structures for engaging the family and community in the education of their youth, and provide options as a foundation for sound schooling practices. The two educational models in this paper face these challenges of contemporary society. The paper illustrates how the models define and exemplify initiatives that attempt to transform society to accept social responsibility for educating the whole 'village'.     

Economic Impact Studies: A Traditional Method and an Expanded Approach

Abstract

Two studies of the economic impact of the college on the community were conducted at two very different colleges in Alabama. The method employed at a private, predominantly black, four-year accredited liberal arts college also included an investigation of the human development impact of the college on the community, which was not investigated at the other college, a public, predominantly white, two-year accredited junior college. The findings from both studies suggest that the most meaningful impact studies should try to measure and consider human as well as economic factors.