A RESPONSE TO UNCERTAINTY: THE INCREASED UTILIZATION OF PART‐TIME INSTRUCTORS IN AMERICAN COMMUNITY COLLEGES

Financial uncertainty and projections of changing enrollment patterns of students are forcing community colleges into positions of maximum flexibility. As a result, they continue a trend of increased reliance on part‐time instructors to deliver their services. This trend is noted by full‐time faculty as cause for alarm. Allegations of poorer quality instruction provided by part‐time instructors cannot be documented. However, it is clear that part‐time employee practices in the areas of selection, orientation, evaluation, and development need dramatic improvement. Implications of this research point to the need for college administrators to reexamine management procedures with regard to part‐time faculty.     

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.     

COMPARISON OF INSTRUCTIONAL EFFECTIVENESS OF FULL‐ AND PART‐TIME FACULTY

This study was designed to compare full‐ and part‐time faculty on three instructional effectiveness dimensions. Student ratings of teaching, course retention ratios, and subsequent student achievement in advanced courses were used to compare the two teaching groups. Multianalysis of variance (MANOVA), z‐test and analysis of covariance were used to analyze the two groups on the dependent measures. No significant differences were found between the two teaching groups on the effectiveness dimensions. Limitations of the study and future research directions are also discussed.     

THE USE OF FACULTY RANK IN THE COMMUNITY‐JUNIOR COLLEGE SYSTEM OF FLORIDA

This investigation was undertaken to determine the extent to which academic ranking of faculty exists in the community‐junior college system of Florida and whether the use of academic rank is on the increase or decrease. A questionnaire was submitted to each of Florida's 28 two‐year colleges. Responses were received from all the institutions included in this study, which is a replication of an earlier study done in 1974. Eight of Florida's 28 community‐junior colleges use some form of academic rank. Most of these award the traditional rank of instructor, assistant professor, associate professor, and professor. In general, promotion is determined by degree, advanced graduate credit, experience, effective teaching, professional growth, and service. Six of the eight colleges have adopted a salary schedule related directly to the rank held.     

CORRECTIONAL POST‐SECONDARY EDUCATION: THE EXPANDING ROLE OF COMMUNITY COLLEGES

More than 75 percent of post‐secondary institutions offering education programs in prisons are community and vocational/ technical colleges. The predominance of community colleges among correctional education providers is a major change from the early 1970's when two‐thirds of such programs were provided by four‐year institutions.

Over 260 community colleges provide programs and services to the 26,000 inmates participating in higher education. Results of a survey on correctional post‐secondary education indicate that these programs are in many ways different from those educational institutions provide on their own campuses. For example, they generally, have different admission standards, are administered by part‐time staff, and rely upon part‐time and adjunct faculty.

Community and junior college administrators are urged to closely examine the operation and quality of their correctional programs and the need for evaluative research on the long‐term effects of these programs is also stressed.     

SATISFACTION WITH CAREER PLANNING AND JOB PLACEMENT SERVICES AT TWO‐YEAR PUBLIC COLLEGES

The purpose of this study was to examine 2‐year public college students'satisfaction with career planning and job placement services offered at their college by gender and job cluster. The 2,873 students included in this study attended 212‐year public colleges in 11 states, predominantely in the Midwest. The results revealed significant differences in students'satisfaction with career planningandjob placement services. Women were more satisfied with these services than were their male counterparts. Students in the Business Operations job cluster were significantly more satisfied with career planning and job placement than were students in other job clusters. Students were significantly more satisfied with career planning services they received than with job placement services.     

THE ATTITUDE OF PART‐TIME DAY. RELEASE STUDENTS

Matched groups of pupils from consecutive intakes of a recently opened boys’ grammar school were compared as to academic performance at GCE ‘O’ level and as to attitude to school, while the school, which began by being rigidly streamed, was gradually being unstreamed. The main conclusion has been that significantly more boys have done well at GCE ‘O’ level (gaining five or more passes) as a result of less streaming but slightly at the expense of the brightest pupils, not as to the number of passes these boys have obtained but as to the quality of those passes. There has also been social gain under conditions of less streaming: the behaviour of the boys has improved in general, although the overall attitude to school, as measured by analysis of questionnaires, has not altered.     

FULL‐TIME FACULTY ON FACULTY DEVELOPMENT: THEIR PERCEPTIONS OF WHAT IS AND WHAT SHOULD BE

This article focuses on faculty views toward programs for their own professional development. Significant contributions to existing research on the topic are (1) an attempt to have faculty respond to the broad range of ideas, both old and new, that have been suggested over the past several years of greatly increased dialogue, and (2) an attempt to map some of the systematic variation in faculty development interests among faculty members, based on selected individual characteristics. The article is based on a study conducted during spring and summer 1978. The study disclosed a preference for goals relating to the ongoing teaching performance of faculty and markedly less enthusiasm for goals relating to overall institutional concerns. Activities that could be pursued individually or independently were preferred over those conducted in groups and those involving evaluation of performance, attempts to serve personal needs, or attempts to facilitate interaction among individuals and departments. A comparison between faculty perceptions of “what should be” and “what is” revealed a number of marked discrepancies on goal and activity items.     

COMMUNITY COLLEGES IN THE POST‐13 ERA: INSTITUTIONAL RESPONSES TO TAX LIMITATION

The Jarvis‐Gann amendment to the California constitution cut property taxes by almost 60%. The state's community‐college system, the largest and among the oldest in the country, depends heavily on property taxes, and consequently faces a constrained future. This study sought some indication of the responses these constraints would bring. Based on six case studies, in the late summer of 1978, colleges’ major responses appear to have been general cuts across all programs and activities. Where these were insufficient, colleges often cut community‐service activities, eliminated weekend or evening classes, spent excess reserves, or deferred major expenditures for maintenance or compliance with legal obligations. The result, for the present, is roughly the same mix and level of services, although convenience and flexibility have been reduced. The future looks much bleaker: salaries, at first effectively frozen by state law, will have to increase; state support in lieu of property taxes will stabilize or decline; and enrollments will also stabilize or decline. In these circumstances colleges will either have to reduce the services they provide or, as the concluding analysis in this paper suggests, seek legislative permission to begin charging moderate tuition.     

JOB DUTIES OF INSTITUTIONAL RESEARCHERS IN SOUTHERN TWO‐YEAR COLLEGES

The objective of this study was to determine the types of duties being performed by institutional researchers in Southern two‐year colleges. Research was based on a mail survey submitted to all two‐year colleges accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. Of 326 colleges surveyed, a total of 301 (92 percent) responded. Respondents completed a survey designed with the assistance of a panel of experts. This included a section posing statements about institutional research tasks in a discrepancy model, and a second section consisting of statements about the overall research function organized in a five‐part, Likert‐type scale

The survey found that less than half of Southern two‐year colleges employed an institutional researcher on a half‐time or greater basis. It also identified a number of discrepancies in the job duties now being performed by institutional researchers and the duties those individuals felt they should be performing

Among those duties which should not be performed were external reporting, program supervision, grant development, and clerical functions. Tasks identified as needing to be performed included increased research project completion, academic program evaluation, planning studies, outcomes assessment, financial analysis, and policy development     

MINORITY COMMUNITY COLLEGE STUDENTS WHO TRANSFER TO FOUR‐YEAR COLLEGES: A STUDY OF A MATCHED SAMPLE OF B.A. RECIPIENTS AND NON‐RECIPIENTS

In order to study the factors promoting and inhibiting transfer and the attainment of the bachelors degree, we conducted telephone interviews with 48 minority students who had received Ford Foundation Upper Division Scholarships between 1971 and 1975 and who had transferred from a two‐year to a four‐year college. Each of the 24 pairs consisted of one bachelors degree recipient and one non‐recipient who were matched according to the following criteria: gender, race/ethnicity, age, parents education and occupation and initial community college major. In high school, the bachelors degree recipients had stronger academic backgrounds than the non‐recipients. In community colleges, the bachelors degree recipients were more likely to see their instructors and counselors as “helpful” and to be members of a campus organization than non‐recipients. In four‐year colleges, the bachelors degree recipients were less likely to have lost credits when they transferred and more likely to belong to student organizations and to see their classmates as “helpful” than non‐recipients. We relate these findings to previous research on the importance of social integration into college life.

     

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.     

DETERMINING OUTCOMES OF COLLECTIVE BARGAINING IN TWO‐YEAR INSTITUTIONS‐PART 1

This research is presented in a two part series. The first article sets forth the objectives of the study and the research methodology and design. Basic demographic and institutional data are also presented. The second article in this series discusses interrelations among research data and presents conclusions and implications for practice.

An attempt is made to assess the extent to which faculty associations have penetrated certain management functions or rights. A related and second objective was to determine the impact of faculty unions on the traditional professional prerogatives of the faculty. The sample studied was approximately 63 percent of all collective bargaining agreements in existence at two‐year institutions. The authors also sought to develop predictors (institutional and demographic variables) of contractual language. In part 1, characteristics of institutions where contracts are in existence are discussed. A statistically significant relationship was found to exist between the demographic and institutional variables and the relative strength of contractual clauses in the areas of appointment, promotion, nonrenewal, tenure, long range planning, retrenchment and management rights. A complete breakdown of all variables utilized in this study can be found in the appendices     

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 SOCIAL PATTERN OF THE LENGTH OF FULL‐TIME EDUCATION IN ESSEX

Based on the work of Barron (1966) and Hudson (1966), the hypothesis is set up that science pupils are more obsessional than arts pupils. This is confirmed on a substantial sample of sixth‐formers. However, it also appears that the possession of obsessional traits is a hindrance to performance in the sciences. The educational implications of these findings are discussed.     

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.     

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.