THE LEVELS OF DECISION MAKING IN MULTI‐UNIT COMMUNITY COLLEGE SYSTEMS

This study advances a foundation for future exploration of applied understandings of factors that influence decision levels in multi‐unit community college systems. The purposes of the study were to examine the levels at which decisions were made in nine selected decision areas, and to determine the relationship between (a) the levels at which decisions were made in systems, (b) the factors of institutional size and history, and (c) the number of system‐level personnel. The data for analysis were collected from 26 community college systems that were responsible for only a portion of higher education in the state, had a system‐level president or chancellor as the chief executive officer, and had a central office separate from the campuses in the system. The Aston method of collecting data from formal organizations was utilized to identify the formal structure and context of the systems. The major findings are that faculty‐ and student‐related matters are generally decided at the campus level and that major managerial matters are generally decided at the central‐office level.     

THE COMMUNITY‐JUNIOR COLLEGE AND ITS ECONOMIC VALUE: A 3‐YEAR STUDY

As local governments tighten their budgets, community‐junior colleges are often caught in the squeeze. Economic impact studies are often appropriate to help explain the monetary benefits of a local community‐junior college. Temple Junior College evaluated its impact on the local Temple, Texas, economy over a 3‐year period. The results have been used as a meaningful public relations tool that has allowed the administration to explain the value of the college in quantitative terms.     

FUNCTIONS OF THE TWO‐YEAR COLLEGE CURRICULUM: FACULTY PERCEPTIONS

There are limited empirical data on curriculum in two‐year colleges; this study is designed to address that lack. A literature review is used to identify the functions served by credit courses: transfer, general education, preparation for work, and remediation. Secondary analysis is made of data gathered on a 1977 survey of science, social science, and science‐related technical courses. Instructor perceptions of course purpose(s) are used to determine if the identified functions are served. The findings indicate these functions are served, but predominately as combined functions rather than the discrete functions identified in the literature. Patterns of multiple course functions are identified by academic area and by course. Further, the methodology used is presented as a useful tool in developing empirical data about college curricula.     

FACULTY ATTITUDES TOWARD THE MIXED‐AGE COLLEGE CLASSROOM

With the number of nontraditional students on college campuses continuing to increase, college educators need to become aware of issues regarding the mixed‐age classroom. Part of this awareness should be an understanding of how faculty perceive different‐aged students and their mixed‐age classroom experiences. Through telephone interviews with approximately 100 faculty, we investigate attitudes about the professor‐student relationship, views toward teaching in a mixed‐age classroom, and beliefs about both older and younger students.     

PART‐TIME COMMUNITY COLLEGE FACULTY: THEIR NEEDS FOR INSTRUCTION‐RELATED ASSISTANCE

An aura of controversy surrounds the proliferation of part‐time faculty members on community college campuses. The related literature provides evidence that part‐timers have fewer advanced degrees and years of teaching experience than their full‐time counterparts. Nevertheless, the increasing trend toward their employment shows no sign of slowing. As part‐timers comprise a growing proportion of community college faculties, and as they are recruited from nonacademic sources, opportunities should be provided for them to hone their pedagogical skills. The findings of a study undertaken at Arizona State University's Department of Higher and Adult Education reveal part‐timers’ needs for assistance and information in instruction‐related areas such as evaluation, handling paperwork, teaching community college students and community college philosophy. An instructional resource manual developed for part‐time faculty was perceived to be a viable method of providing assistance to part‐timers.     

STATE OF PART‐TIME FACULTY SERVICES AT COMMUNITY COLLEGES IN A NINETEEN‐STATE REGION

The use of part‐time faculty by community colleges continues to grow. A study of 283 community colleges in the Midwestern states found a number of practices being used to assist part‐time faculty to become proficient teachers. Evaluation of these faculty revealed that there was much to be desired by over 40% of the colleges. Few merit recognition programs were found to exist. Most of the colleges in the study were planning to increase support services to their part‐time faculty in the future.     

EFFECTS OF TRANSFER ON ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF COMMUNITY COLLEGE STUDENTS AT THE FOUR‐YEAR INSTITUTION

This study presents an in‐depth meta‐analysis of transfer shock, the grade point average (GPA) drop experienced by many community college transfer students. The purpose of the study was to identify all possible studies dealing with transfer shock and to report the magnitude of GPA change from the last quarter or semester at the community college to the end of the first quarter or semester at the senior institution. The study also researched the amount of recovery of GPA obtained by the community college transfer students at the 4‐year institution.

The search revealed 62 studies that reported the magnitude of GPA change. The studies showed that although community college transfer students in 79% of the studies experienced transfer shock, the majority of the magnitude of GPA change was one half of a grade point or less.

Of the studies that showed that community college transfer students experienced transfer shock, 67% reported that students recover from transfer shock, usually within the first year after transfer. Significantly, 34% of these studies showed community college transfer students recovered completely from transfer shock, 34% showed nearly complete recovery, and 32% showed partial recovery.

Because admission criteria for community college transfer students are based almost solely on academic performance, it is important for admissions personnel to consider the GPA recovery phenomenon in the decision process, not just the transfer‐shock phenomenon.     

PRESIDENTS’ VIEWS ON CURRENT AND FUTURE ISSUES FACING THE COMMUNITY AND JUNIOR COLLEGE

This study provides a foundation for discussion of major issues facing community colleges in America. The purpose of the study was to ascertain how many community college presidents rank order issues facing their institutions, now and five years hence. Additionally, the study sought to more comprehensively examine recent literature about issues facing community colleges for purposes of comparison with the findings of the study, and for explication of issues identified. The data for analysis were collected from a population survey of all public and private community college presidents listed in the Education Directory of Colleges and Universities, 1981‐1982. Issues used in the survey were identified a priori, from a review of the literature, and were validated using a panel of community college presidents. The major findings were that both public and private community college presidents agree that the top issues facing their institutions five years hence are: financial support for institution, achieving institutional mission, and maintaining enrollments. Other major current issues include faculty and staff relations, planning and administering the budget, governing board relations, administrative team relations, state relations, public and community relations, and program development and evaluation. Additionally, questions were raised in the study regarding “presidential priority rankings of issues,” based upon directions suggested in the literature review about what issues seem most pressing in the decade of the 1980s.     

SELF‐DIRECTED LEARNING AMONG ADULTS ENROLLED IN A COMMUNITY COLLEGE

Relationships between self‐directed learning projects of adults and the directed learning activities comprising a community college curriculum need to be developed and clarified. Learning projects are defined as a series of related episodes where individuals intentionally spend seven or more hours to gain and retain fairly certain knowledge, information or skills. Trained interviewers used a structured interview format to investigate a total of 290 learning projects conducted by 41 males enrolled in a community college. During the 12 months preceeding the interview, subjects completed an average of 7 learning projects, devoting an average of 285 hours to each learning project. The learning projects were self‐directed (56%), for immediate or future use (57%), not motivated by academic credit (79%), acquired information from another person (57%), and resulted in a large amount of knowledge gained (63%). The results suggest that, even when adults are enrolled in a formal academic program, their learning projects are self‐directed, intrinsically motivated, and pragmatically oriented. The findings imply that: (a) procedures to utilize intrinsic motivation could be more widely employed in curricula design; and (b) the teacher of adults would best serve students as a facilitator who guides and supports learning.     

FACULTY PERCEPTIONS OF THE QUALITY OF OFF‐CAMPUS INSTRUCTION

Two‐year college faculty teaching credit courses off‐campus were surveyed to ascertain their perceptions regarding a variety of factors about these courses. In general, faculty cited a number of factors that lead to the conclusion that the quality of off‐campus courses may be less than comparable on‐campus courses. However, the summary question about the extent of learning indicated that 83% of two‐year faculty included in the survey reported their students learned as much or more than they would in a comparable on‐campus course. The information was based upon personal perceptions of the faculty included and was not correlated to other measures such as standardized test scores or grade point averages. The data from two‐year college faculty were compared to a larger data base from 322 faculty teaching at all levels of higher education and results were similar.     

AFFECTIVE RESPONSES OF COMMUNITY COLLEGE STUDENTS TO SELF‐SELECTED CRITERIA OF SUCCESS

This study examines changes in the academic self‐concepts of a group of community college students who succeeded or failed according to their own standards for success. Over a 16‐week semester, the students who did as well or better than they wanted or expected to showed increased academic self‐concepts and higher standards for success. Students who did not succeed showed no changes in academic self‐concept, but lowered their criteria for success.     

MINNESOTA COMMUNITY COLLEGE FACULTY ACTIVITIES AND ATTITUDES, 1956–1980

A six‐page questionnaire sent in 1980 to a 25% random sample of teachers in Minnesota's 18 public community colleges provides information that is compared with similar information collected in 1956 and 1968. The nature and extent of professional activities, sources of satisfaction and dissatisfaction with careers, attitudes toward collective bargaining, and some demographic variables of Minnesota community college teachers are described and compared.

Minnesota community college faculty members in 1980 were generally contented, as they were in 1956 and 1968. In all periods they spent most of their time on teaching‐related activities. Although the proportion involved in consulting with schools, business, and industry has doubled in the past 12 years, faculty involvement in off‐campus services is still limited. Research and scholarly writing is not a function of most of the faculty. About three‐fourths of the respondents supported collective bargaining in 1980. The most serious source of dissatisfaction, reported by 40% of the respondents in 1980 was inadequate salary. The chief source of satisfaction reported in all three periods was the opportunity to help college‐age students learn and develop. Implications of the results for a re‐examination of community college functions are discussed.

The pecking order in this state does not reflect the major contribution of this system to higher education. Working conditions, particularly in terms of load and support services are primitive. Financial rewards, the status and extra income of consulting fees are severely limited. I can no longer afford five percent salary increases and twenty percent inflation. I am currently looking for a position in private industry, which seems to have the resources education does not. (Sociology instructor)

I cannot remember a profession/job that could be more personally rewarding, spiritually constructive or totally satisfying as college teaching. (English/history instructor)     

THE SURVIVORS,THE EMERGENCE OF A NEW COMMUNITY AND A SYSTEM OF ZIONIST EDUCATION IN GERMANY 1945–1950

I — Reminiscences Deuteronomy 32:7

Back in 1925, upon graduation from the Teachers Institute of Yeshiva University, I started my career as teacher in the first and oldest Talmud Torah in the United States, the Machzikey TT on East Broadway in Manhattan. I recall with pleasure how boys and girls spent ten hours a week in Jewish studies: giving the 12-13 year olds intensive instruction in Torah, Neviim, Mishnah, Hebrew Grammar, Hebrew Literature and Yiddish. For many years the Machzikey TT had a school enrollment of one thousand students and more. When the '30s came and the enrollment fell considerably, it became necessary to consolidate the school with the National Hebrew School, especially when the Downtown TT closed it doors.     

COMMUNITY COLLEGE FACULTY ATTITUDES TOWARD CORRECTIONAL INMATES AND TOWARD TEACHING OFF‐CAMPUS COURSES AT CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTIONS

A total of 165 faculty from 8 of the 9 colleges in the Virginia Community College System that offer educational programs to prisoners were tested to investigate attitudes toward correctional inmates and willingness to participate in off‐campus programs at correctional institutions. Attitudes were defined operationally as scores on a 17‐item semantic differential with “correctional inmate” as the concept and a 12‐item Likert rating scale, both developed specifically for use in the study. Via an orientation program designed to provide contact among faculty, inmates, and the correctional environment, the attitudes of a portion of the sample were significantly altered. Generally faculty who consider their prior contact with inmates to be greater than average and those who have had experience teaching in correctional settings express more favorable attitudes. In addition, black faculty members and assistant professors score higher (more positively) on evaluative criteria than white faculty members and those of the other academic ranks. The age, sex, and years teaching experience of faculty were not found to be significant variables in their attitudes toward inmates.     

BAYESIAN m‐GROUP REGRESSION APPLIED IN A COMMUNITY COLLEGE DEVELOPMENTAL STUDIES PROGRAM

The purpose of the study was to compare classical multiple regression with Bayesian m‐group regression, complete with cross‐validation of both methods. The context of the study was to predict first‐quarter grade point average in various curricula in a comprehensive community college for those students who had completed developmental studies programs. The major findings were: (1) informal counselor prediction was the largest contributor to the final regression models, and (2) no difference was found between classical multiple regression and Bayesian m‐group regression.     

BETTER COLLEGE INFORMATION FOR STUDENTS: THE ROLE OF THE STATE TWO‐YEAR COLLEGE AGENCY

Prospective two‐year college students often lack adequate information on the range of educational alternatives available to them. Increasingly, state level agencies are playing a role in responding to that need. This article reports on a. national study of state two‐year college agencies to determine the extent and comprehensiveness of the postsecondary educational information they provide to students. Results indicate that most states have information they send to prospective students, but it varies widely in quality and often overlooks information students say they want to know. States with model information are identified.     

RESULTS OF THE VOCATIONAL EDUCATION DATA SYSTEM EMPLOYER FOLLOW‐UP SURVEY FOR MASSACHUSETTS COMMUNITY COLLEGES

This article presents the results of the Vocational Education Data System employer follow‐up (EFU) survey for graduates of 15 public community colleges who were employed full time between 1 and 2 years after graduation (N = 588). In general, these community college graduates were rated between good and very good on the quality of work and preparation EFU items. No correlations were found between EFU ratings and average hourly wage, even within program areas, indicating that the average hourly wage of community college graduates is a flawed index of program or graduate quality. No significant differences were found between female and male EFU ratings, but large significant differences in average hourly wage were found, even within program areas. This particular and direct finding tends to support current contentions that women are not receiving equal pay for equal quality or work in the marketplace.