COURSE DROP PRACTICES IN TWO‐YEAR COLLEGES

Course drop practices among two‐year colleges were surveyed. Examined were deadlines by which courses were dropped, grades received when classes were dropped, who initiates drop procedures, and the extent to which policies related to the above stated practices have been recently changed. One fourth of the institutions reported a drop deadline of between four and six weeks from the end of the term. Almost that many (21.98 percent) used 10 days prior to the final exam as a deadline. More than two‐thirds of the colleges allowed students to drop prior to the deadline with a non‐punitive “W” grade. In the majority of instances, the official drop procedures may be initiated by either the student or the instructor. Community college administrators need to examine course drop policies in light of institutional statements of mission, philosophy, and objectives. Based upon dialogue among the staff, appropriate policy revisions should be developed in order to coordinate the rhetoric and the regulations of the college.     

PRINTED INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS USED IN TWO‐YEAR COLLEGES

The data for this report came from nationwide surveys sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Science Foundation. The questionnaires dealt with the instructional materials used by full‐ and part‐time instructors on the two‐year college level. First, cross‐tabulations of highest degree of full‐ and part‐time instructors and their amount of participation in the selection of textbooks revealed five correlations. In all three categories of humanities instructors, more full‐ than part‐time faculty selected texts, p < .05. In the category of science instructors holding a master's degree or a doctorate, the same correlation occurred. Second, humanities teachers with either a bachelor's degree or a doctorate assigned significantly more reading,p < .05, than did their part‐time counterparts in three different types of instructional materials. Science teachers with doctorates were also found to assign a greater number of pages of reading than did their part‐time counterparts but in two additional types of instructional materials. Last, data analysis indicated that overall, with increased years of experience, full‐time humanities instructors assign more extensive reading than do their part‐time counterparts.     

INSTITUTIONAL SELF‐EVALUATION IN ENGLISH HIGHER EDUCATION∗

The article explains the techniques and the use of institutional self‐assessments in the evaluation of higher education insitutions in England by the Higher Education Funding Council for England. It also evokes the use of performance indicators in such assessments. A strong link exists, in the United Kingdom, between the results of institutional evaluations and level of funding.

     

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     

PLANNED STRUCTURAL CHANGE IN TWO‐YEAR COLLEGES WITH TURBULENT CONTEXTS

The relationships among context, structure, and performance of two‐year colleges are explored in this article. The rationale for the ideas proposed is that the problems generated by rapidly changing environmental forces impinge on a college's internal structure and help shape the responses made by administrators. A model is proposed and a scheme explained for administrators to make intelligent modifications in policies, forms, and decision‐making methods. An abbreviated set of instruments is provided for measuring four key dimensions of structure: specialization, formaliza‐tion, standardization, and centralization. The purpose of the model and the set of instruments is to provide practitioners with tools to apply in adapting structure to maintain high level outcomes in turbulent times.     

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.     

ASSESSMENT OF STUDENT PERFORMANCE: AN IN‐SERVICE PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME

Assessment of student performance is a crucial professional responsibility of teachers. At the tertiary level in New Zealand there is no pre‐service training requirement and staff are ‘trained’ on the job. In New Zealand polytechnics, the academic staff (tutors) are entitled to 12 weeks induction training, but with the increasing use of internal assessment there is a recognised need for in‐service training and resources.

This paper describes the development and content of an in‐service professional development programme designed to meet the needs of part‐time staff as well as experienced staff. The principal sponsor of the project was an external examination body.     

REALIZATION OF EDUCATIONAL ASPIRATIONS AMONG BLACKS AND WHITES IN TWO‐AND FOUR‐YEAR COLLEGES

This paper looks at an aspect of the two‐year college: that it is the logical system for achieving educational equality in higher education. The authors find that low aptitude blacks are overrepresented at four‐year colleges, that blacks are less likely than whites to meet aspirations of attending four‐year colleges, and that attending a two‐year college is related to reduced probability that four‐year education will be realized.     

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.     

AN INSTRUMENT TO MEASURE SELF‐RESPONSIBILITY FOR WELLNESS IN OLDER ADULTS

Literature relating to the well‐being of older adults was reviewed to identify indicators relevant to the construct of self‐responsibility for wellness. The wellness model proposed by Travis (1981) has produced a variety of concepts which can be useful in improving the quality of life for older adults. The purpose of this study was to develop an instrument which would assess an individual's self‐responsibility for wellness. A 47‐item instrument developed for this purpose was evaluated by experts in gerontology and psychology. After revision and reevaluation it was field‐tested on a sample of 180 older adults (60 years of age and over). In order to take preliminary steps in establishing the validity and reliability of this instrument, the data were evaluated and an item analysis conducted to identify poor items. Cronbach's coefficient alpha was also computed (α = .90). A test‐retest correlation coefficient was computed, and an analysis of variance was performed to test for the relationship between self‐responsibility for wellness and demographic variables obtained during the field test.

The field testing of the instrument served as an educational needs assessment study. Evidence has been provided that there is a significant need for education programs which can provide training in the wellness skills as assessed by the instrument.     

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.