Community Colleges: The Preferred Provider of Career and Technology Education and Training

Community colleges are recognized by business and industry as the prime provider of career and technology education. This recognition has been earned by the strong links formed between these entities and the responsiveness of community/junior colleges to workforce needs. An important consideration in maintaining this preferred provider status is the recent emphasis on the development and adoption of industry validated skill standards and the strengthening of partnerships between educational institutions and industry. Collaborative efforts between education and industry stakeholders–facilitated by established skill standards organizations–strive to assure quality workforce development. Such efforts guide and promote the development, validation, and voluntary adoption of critical standards as a model for workforce training and development programs in community/junior colleges.     

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 Order of Things: Ethical Foundations for Community College Leaders

This article calls attention to the need for community college leaders to develop a deeper understanding of ethics in preparation for addressing ethical issues that arise in the administration of their institutions. It discusses briefly the nature of ethics and the ethical theories of some modern and postmodern authors. The article is concerned with how students in a doctoral program of study in community college leadership can incorporate ethics into their study of leadership, and it describes briefly the manner in which this is done at Mississippi State University.     

CARPE DIEM: OVERCOME MISCONCEPTIONS IN COMMUNITY COLLEGE DISTANCE LEARNING

ABSTRACT

This paper makes note of the vast opportunities for growth and expansion available to community colleges through online distance education. While many community colleges have taken advantage of these opportunities, continued success may be in jeopardy because of the high drop-out rates in online courses of study relative to courses offered as traditional, face-to-face classroom instruction. The reason for this may be that the “digital divide” still exists between students of the 21st century and faculty who were educated long ago in the 20th century, including even those faculty who have stepped forward to offer online courses. Perception of up-to-date concepts of distance learning is a major issue, and only when the gap is bridged between distance learner and instructor will online learning reach its potential. The literature available on distance learning has numerous suggestions for bridging this gap between students and faculty. The authors of this article recommend that community colleges make the institutional commitment to equip and train Internet-ready faculty to appropriately advise and teach 21st-century students. However, taking such a step may have significant implications for the immediate future in the allocation of financial resources.     

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.     

Community College Faculty Competencies

Much has been written about the characteristics of effective college teachers. However, skill sets have not yet been defined with any level of specificity. Also, instructors at community colleges have unique working conditions and challenges that influence how they teach. This paper illustrates the use of three studies conducted to build and validate a framework for defining the competencies of effective community college faculty. The project's culmination was a set of skills used to redesign one university's master's in education (MAEd) program in two-year college teaching. Although participants in all three studies identified subject matter expertise as an important competency, they emphasized several other skill sets as being important for meaningful student learning. Those skills are related to the use of authentic activities and multiple instructional delivery models, multiple ways of assessing student learning, and skills that are necessary outside the classroom in their teaching roles. Participants also emphasized interpersonal and affective components of effective teaching.     

Measuring teacher perceptions of the “how” and “why” of student motivation

In the field of educational psychology, there is diverse and active research in motivation for learning and achievement. Many instruments exist for assessing students' motivation, primarily as self-report. Fewer instruments are available for assessing teachers' perceptions of their students' motivation, and fewer still for assessing teachers' perceptions of reasons for students' lack of motivation. Teachers' intervention strategies for motivation are linked to their causal perceptions. Therefore, it is important to assess those causal perceptions. In this paper, we offer evidence for the Perceptions of Student Motivation questionnaire, a new measure that offers evidence of validity and reliability for this purpose among high school teachers. It offers potential to increase efficiency and clarity of findings regarding teachers' perceptions of students' motivation.     

Translating Knowledge into Action at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences (UMB)

Abstract

Purpose: This article explores the impacts of action learning on graduates’ abilities to use interdisciplinary knowledge to solve problems, practice teamwork on the job and become change agents through study in two MSc programmes at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences (UMB).

Design/methodology/approach: Electronic questionnaires were sent to students who had graduated from the Agroecology and Management of Natural Resources and Sustainable Agriculture (MNRSA) MSc programmes between 2000 and 2007.

Findings: Both study programmes encouraged students to become change agents promoting sustainable practices through application of knowledge and methods from natural and social sciences. Agroecology graduates applied a greater range of creative research methods, and improved their capacity for holistic and systems thinking more than MNRSA graduates, while the latter were more skilled in building consensus. Graduates from both programmes increased their abilities to create a positive team environment, bring people together to express their views and take multiple views into consideration when making decisions.

Practical implications: This survey documents how action learning develops students’ skills and knowledge to handle complex social and environmental challenges and become change agents.

Originality/value: In the context of increasing challenges in agroecology and natural resource management the findings on how to translate knowledge into action are important for teaching/learning institutions dealing with education for sustainable development.     

Remembering Nina Lenček, 18 January 1924–25 November 2014

Columbia University Libraries’ longtime Slavic & East European Studies Librarian Nina Len?ek passed away on November 25, 2014, at the age of 90. On January 22, 2015, a large group of her friends, family, and colleagues gathered at Butler Library to remember, honor, and celebrate her remarkable life and legacy.     

Music and Recording

Roger D. Kinkle's The Complete Encyclopedia of Popular Music and Jazz: 1900-1950 (New Rochelle, N.Y.: Arlington House, 1974—$75.00 for set of four volumes)

Clive Davis and James Willwerth, Clive: Inside Inside the Record Business (New York: Morrow, 1974—$8.95)

Studies in Jazz Discography I (Institute of Jazz Studies University Extension Division, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, N.J.—$3.25, paper)

Walter E. Hurst and William Storm Hale's Your Introduction to Music/Record Copyright, Contracts and other Business and Law (Seven Arts Press, Inc., 6605 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood, Calif. 90028—$10.00/5.00)