Redesigning America’s Community Colleges

Redesigning America’s Community Colleges
Author: Thomas R. Bailey
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Total Pages: 301
Release: 2015-04-09
Genre: Education
ISBN: 0674368282

In the United States, 1,200 community colleges enroll over ten million students each year—nearly half of the nation’s undergraduates. Yet fewer than 40 percent of entrants complete an undergraduate degree within six years. This fact has put pressure on community colleges to improve academic outcomes for their students. Redesigning America’s Community Colleges is a concise, evidence-based guide for educational leaders whose institutions typically receive short shrift in academic and policy discussions. It makes a compelling case that two-year colleges can substantially increase their rates of student success, if they are willing to rethink the ways in which they organize programs of study, support services, and instruction. Community colleges were originally designed to expand college enrollments at low cost, not to maximize completion of high-quality programs of study. The result was a cafeteria-style model in which students pick courses from a bewildering array of choices, with little guidance. The authors urge administrators and faculty to reject this traditional model in favor of “guided pathways”—clearer, more educationally coherent programs of study that simplify students’ choices without limiting their options and that enable them to complete credentials and advance to further education and the labor market more quickly and at less cost. Distilling a wealth of data amassed from the Community College Research Center (Teachers College, Columbia University), Redesigning America’s Community Colleges offers a fundamental redesign of the way two-year colleges operate, stressing the integration of services and instruction into more clearly structured programs of study that support every student’s goals.

Understanding Community Colleges

Understanding Community Colleges
Author: John S. Levin
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 290
Release: 2012
Genre: Education
ISBN: 0415881269

Understanding Community Colleges provides a comprehensive review of the community college landscape--management and governance, finance, student demographics and development, teaching and learning, policy, faculty, and workforce development--and bridges the gap between research and practice. This contributed volume brings together highly respected scholars in the field who rely upon substantial theoretical perspectives--critical theory, social theory, institutional theory, and organizational theory--for a rich and expansive analysis of community colleges. The latest text to publish in the Core Concepts in Higher Education series, this exciting new text fills a gap in the higher education literature available for students enrolled in Higher Education and Community College graduate programs. This text provides students with: A review of salient research related to the community college field. Critical theoretical perspectives underlying current policies. An understanding of how theory links to practice, including focused end-of-chapter discussion questions. A fresh examination of emerging issues and insight into contemporary community college practices and policy.

Community College Models

Community College Models
Author: Rosalind Latiner Raby
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 639
Release: 2009-03-22
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1402094779

Increasingly, students worldwide are seeking post-secondary education to acquire new skill-sets and credentials. There is an explosion of community college models that provide educational opportunities and alternative pathways for students who do not fit the traditional higher educational profile. This book focuses on economic models to help local and national economies develop strong workforce training, humanitarian models to bring about social mobility and peace, transformative models to help institutions expand and keep up with societal needs, and newly created models that respond to the educational and training needs of a constantly changing world. These models seek to capture the imagination of those who are committed to learning about what works in higher education and in particular, the impact community college models are having on the changing nature of world social, political and economic landscapes. With contributors representing 30 countries, this book presents an international perspective.

International Students at US Community Colleges

International Students at US Community Colleges
Author: Gregory Malveaux
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 267
Release: 2021-07-22
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1000417174

This volume documents the experiences of international students and recent international initiatives at US community colleges to better understand how to support and nurture students’ potential. Offering a range of case studies, empirical and conceptual chapters, the collection showcases the unique curricula and diverse opportunities for career development that colleges can offer international students. International Students at US Community Colleges addresses issues of student access, enrolment barriers, college choice, and challenges relating to integration in academic and professional networks. Ultimately, the book unpacks institutional factors which inhibit or promote the success of international students at US community colleges to inform faculty, student affairs, administration, and institutional policy. With international students’ declining enrollment, this book considers the measures being taken by community college officials to bring continued access and equity to international students. Offering insights from a range of international scholars as well as on-the-ground case studies, this text will benefit researchers, academics, and educators with an interest in multicultural education, international and comparative education, and higher education management. Those specifically interested in educational policy and the sociology of education will also benefit from this book.

Creating Community on College Campuses

Creating Community on College Campuses
Author: Irving J. Spitzberg
Publisher: SUNY Press
Total Pages: 264
Release: 1992-01-01
Genre: Education
ISBN: 9780791410059

Creating Community on College Campuses addresses the most critical and difficult issues facing higher education in the 1990s: improving the quality of teaching and learning, raising academic standards, protecting freedom of expression, and simultaneously enhancing community of the whole and community of the parts. This book offers an understanding of community as a complex concept, one that incorporates the values of a democratic society and encourages learning and participation by all citizens of the campus, and discusses topics such as race and ethnicity, the climate for women, harassment and free speech, alcohol, crime, Greek life, and interaction among faculty and students. The authors conclude with concrete recommendations to support the implementation of pluralistic learning communities on our nation's campuses.

Community Colleges and STEM

Community Colleges and STEM
Author: Robert T. Palmer
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 248
Release: 2013-07-18
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1136743235

As United States policymakers and national leaders are increasing their attention to producing workers skilled in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), community colleges are being called on to address persistence of minorities in these disciplines. In this important volume, contributors discuss the role of community colleges in facilitating access and success to racial and ethnic minority students in STEM. Chapters explore how community colleges can and do facilitate the STEM pipeline, as well as the experiences of these students in community college, including how psychological factors, developmental coursework, expertiential learning, and motivation affect student success. Community Colleges and STEM ultimately provides recommendations to help increase retention and persistence. This important book is a crucial resource for higher education institutions and community colleges as they work to advance success among racial and ethnic minorities in STEM education.

Community Colleges as Economic Engines

Community Colleges as Economic Engines
Author: Kjell A. Christophersen
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 227
Release: 2019-12-05
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1475845898

Over the past 19 years, Economic Modeling Specialists International (Emsi) has responded to the demand for credible and affordable economic impact studies by completing over 2000 such studies for colleges in the US, UK, Canada, and Australia. The book chronicles the lessons learned over this time period and highlights what an economic impact study is, is not, what the results mean, and why they are important. It also discusses how presidents and governing boards can leverage the impact results to address other issues they deal with on a daily basis. Few college presidents are fully aware of this opportunity, however, and thus do not fully exploit the richness of the study. A strong case is also made that the college leadership should play a much stronger leadership roles in regional economic development of their region in addition to their roles as advocates for their colleges only.

Social Justice and Community College Education

Social Justice and Community College Education
Author: Bryan Reece
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 287
Release: 2021-07-05
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1000389634

This book explores the central role community colleges play in American social justice. The United States has long-standing social and cultural structures that perpetuate inequality along race, ethnicity, and income lines. The primary role of American community colleges is to disrupt these structures on behalf of the students we serve. In this sense, community colleges are called to play a subversive role in contemporary society, but it is a good kind of subversion. Social Justice and Community College Education makes four very important contributions to this conversation: First, the book helps us quantify and understand the size and dimension of the equity gaps in higher education by tracking ten specific student groups from historically underserved communities. Second, the book summarizes best practices research and literature with regard to pedagogy, services, programs, and leadership in community colleges, presenting practical strategies for implementation. Third, through a national survey of community college personnel, the book covers significant new territory in the discussion of work we need to do collaboratively as community colleges. Fourth, this book captures the unique and special mission of American community colleges. Our work is the work of social justice, and we carry this work out in society at a greater volume, with greater intentionality, and through greater expertise than any other sector of higher education. In this arena, community colleges should lead.

Community Colleges and the Access Effect

Community Colleges and the Access Effect
Author: J. Scherer
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 455
Release: 2014-04-02
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1137331003

Taking on the cherished principle that community colleges should be open to all students with a high school education, Scherer and Anson argue that open access policies and lenient federal financial aid laws harm students and present the case for raising the minimum requirements for community college entry.

The Community College Library

The Community College Library
Author: Janet Pinkley
Publisher: Assoc of College & Research Libraries
Total Pages: 214
Release: 2022-04-13
Genre:
ISBN: 9780838939017

Community colleges are a cornerstone of higher education and serve the unique needs of the communities in which they reside. In 2019, community colleges accounted for 41 percent of all undergraduate students in the United States. Community college librarians are engaged in meaningful work designing and delivering library programs and services that meet the needs of their diverse populations and support student learning. The Community College Library series is meant to lift the voices of community college librarians and highlight their creativity, tenacity, and commitment to students. The Community College Library: Assessment explores the research, comprehensive plans, and new approaches to assessment being created by community college librarians around the U.S. Chapters include sample activities and materials and cover topics including assessing student learning while shifting from Standards to Framework; investigating and communicating library instruction's relationship to student retention; and building librarian assessment confidence through communities of research practice. This book demonstrates the innovative and replicable ways community college librarians are measuring, evaluating, and reflecting on the services they provide, and how to use these assessments to demonstrate the value and impact of library services and advocate for resources.