American Association Of Community Colleges Research Articles

Addressing Wicked Problems (SDGs) Through Community Colleges: Leveraging Entrepreneurial Leadership for Economic Development Post-COVID

AbstractThis qualitative case study aims to explore community colleges’ role in addressing wicked problems of economic development post-COVID through entrepreneurial leadership. The key research question is, “How do entrepreneurial leaders describe the role of community colleges in addressing wicked problems of economic development post-COVID.” The study interviewed 28 entrepreneurial leaders regarding the role(s) of community colleges in addressing wicked problems of economic development. The study addresses a critical gap in the literature. Researchers have yet to explore the role of associate degree-granting institutions, namely community colleges. Notably, the over 1200 U.S. community colleges serve nearly 12 million or half of America’s students (American Association of Community Colleges, 2011). From a theoretical perspective, the study leverages complexity science, complex adaptive systems, and systemic innovation to address wicked problems of economic development. Future researchers can build on these theoretical insights for future studies across many disciplines.The results provide ten key roles community colleges can potentially take on as economic development partners, making them ideal institutions to serve as incubators of post-COVID recovery. They include revitalizing communities post-COVID, performing post-COVID business triage, modeling sustainability, creating jobs, championing entrepreneurship-led economic development, increasing tax revenue, pipelining talent, supporting talent retention, supporting main street businesses, and reducing entrepreneurial risks. Researchers recommend that policymakers and other funders allocate funding to help community colleges address wicked problems through systemic innovation labs (I-Labs). Interestingly, the roles identified appear to be moderated by proximity and trust.

Yes, Developmental Students Can Thrive in Integrated Courses and Compressed Terms

Developmental educators in higher education are caught in a crossfire. On one side, researchers, organizations, companies, non-profits, practitioners, and to some extent, the public, are clamoring for massive reform in developmental coursework in higher education (American Association of Community Colleges, 2018; Edgecombe et al., 2014; Complete College America, 2012). One such reform is the push for integrated reading and writing (IRW) courses. According to Armstrong et al. (2019), this is the promise of IRW: “Integration is an approach that values literacy-based academic communication processes equally and that coordinates those processes purposefully for new-to-college learners.” All of these groups present a compelling argument, but that argument is founded upon a small body of research and practices that work in some situations and with some populations when implemented with fidelity. In spite of that lack of research, some states have forced colleges to develop and implement IRW courses, but Maryland has not.
 On the other side, researchers and organizations that have been the backbone of developmental education paint a different picture (Goudas, 2023; Goudas & Boylan, 2012; Saxon et al., 2016a & 2016b). They argue that change and evolution are needed, but not such dramatic, massive reforms, which may sound like quick and easy fixes, but actually create new barriers and disservice to students, and moreover make a good deal of money for those researchers, speakers, and organizers.
 The pressure for redesign of developmental reading and writing programs is intense, but other transformations in higher education are also shaping the future of developmental education. For example, as a result of joining Achieving the Dream’s core program in 2019, the College of Southern Maryland (CSM) made a commitment to shift the majority of courses to a compressed 7-week format by fall term of 2021. Part of the Achieving the Dream (2023) mindset is that “Before we can help your institution transform, we have to understand where you’ve been,” which begins with exploring, “your student demographics; your legislative environment; mission and theory of change; past initiatives and student success efforts; and more.” Thus in 2020, the time was ripe to take a deep dive into CSM’s past practices and data and to cull promising practices from the published literature. This dive was the beginning of an 18-month redesign process.

Community college discourses of sustainability in an academic and professional corpus

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to identify discourses of sustainability of community colleges and how they related to sustainability imaginaries.Design/methodology/approachThis study used a combination of research strategies associated with corpus linguistics and critical discourse analysis. Data included 57 issues of Community College Journal, a professional magazine published by the American Association of Community Colleges, and 2,972 abstracts of dissertations about community colleges. Publication dates ranged from 2010 to 2020.FindingsCommunity college discourse of sustainability coheres around six themes: careers and fields of study; curriculum and credentialing; campus ecological sustainability; administrative roles and processes; external organizations, partnerships and processes; and fiscal sustainability. There is little evidence of a sustainable living imaginary found.Research limitations/implicationsThe analysis is limited to a specific set of professional and academic texts about community colleges. Future researchers should explore discourses of sustainability in other contexts.Originality/valueThere has been no research associated with critical discourse analysis and corpus linguistics to explore community college discourses of sustainability, specifically in the field of community college leadership. The findings of this study situate the community college within contests over sustainability competencies in the practice of community college leadership development.

Dr. Uri Treisman: Five Decades of Postsecondary Innovation

Philip Uri Treisman is a University Distinguished Teaching Professor, professor of mathematics, and professor of public affairs at The University of Texas at Austin. He is the founder and executive director of the Charles A. Dana Center, an organized research unit in the College of Natural Sciences that works to ensure that all students, regardless of their life circumstances, can access—and succeed—in rigorous mathematics and science education. Dr. Treisman is active in numerous organizations working to improve American mathematics education. He is a founder and member of the governing board of Transforming Post-Secondary Education in Mathematics (also known as TPSE-Math). He is a representative of the American Mathematical Society to the American Association for the Advancement of Science (Education, Section Q) and is a senior advisor to the Conference Board of the Mathematical Sciences Research Advisory Group. In addition, he is a member of the Roundtable on Data Science Postsecondary Education with the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Dr. Treisman has served as a Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Education Commission of the States since 2013. He is also chairman of the Strong Start to Finish Campaign (and its expert advisory board), a joint initiative of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, The Kresge Foundation, and Ascendium Education Group that works nationally to ensure that all students get a strong start in their first year of college and finish with the skills they need to thrive. Treisman has served on the STEM working group of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, the 21st-Century Commission on the Future of Community Colleges of the American Association of Community Colleges, and the Commission on Mathematics and Science Education of the Carnegie Corporation of New York and the Institute for Advanced Study. Treisman’s research and professional interests span mathematics and science education, education policy, social and developmental psychology, community service, and volunteerism.

Celebrating the Last 10 Years of Community College Internationalization

Celebrating the Last 10 Years of Community College Internationalization

Filling the Leadership Pipeline: A Qualitative Study Examining Leadership Development Practices and Challenges Facing Community College Presidents in Illinois

ABSTRACT This qualitative phenomenological study examines the leadership development activities of Illinois community college presidents and sought to understand not only how presidents prepare for their leadership roles, but what challenges presidents are currently facing, what advice they have for emerging leaders about effective leadership practices, and what competencies they identify as important to lead a community college in Illinois today. Utilizing the core competencies defined by the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) as a framework for the study, the researcher sought to understand the lived experiences of these leaders to help inform a leadership development model for emerging leaders, community college boards, and current community college administrators. Results of the study revealed that a combination of mentorship, progressive job responsibilities, and earning a doctorate were important in the preparation of the participant. Challenges they identified included institutional finances, enrollment management, working with elected boards and unions, and dealing with unfunded legal mandates and legislation. Presidents identified the importance of ongoing professional development, reading and understanding current trends facing community colleges, and building a team as essential leadership practices for community college presidents. The findings from the study align with the AACC’s core leadership competencies. Implications and recommendations for practice and future research are included.

Data-Driven Decision Making Literacy among Rural Community College Leaders in Iowa: The Role of Leadership Competencies

ABSTRACTThis quantitative study explored the statistical relationship between American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) leadership competencies and data-driven decision making (DDDM) literacy among rural community college leaders in the Midwest. Specifically, the authors examined how AACC community college leadership competencies may predict the level of DDDM literacy. Based on analyzing survey data of more than 200 community college leaders, the author discovered and tested three DDDM literacy constructs and three AACC leadership competencies constructs. In the subsequent regression analysis, one AACC leadership competency area “Community College Advocacy” and one demographic variable “years in current role” were proved as positive and significant predictors for all three DDDM literacy constructs (i.e., “Culture and Process”, “Governance and Infrastructure”, and “Human Resources”). Another leadership competency area “Organization Strategies” was found to significantly predict two out of the three DDDM literacy constructs (i.e., “Culture and Process” and “Human Resources”). Findings contributed to the literature by filling the research gaps of DDDM in community college context, highlighting the significance of AACC leadership competencies in creating DDDM culture, and providing valid and reliable measures for future studies.

Building community by serving the community.

Building community by serving the community.

Follow this advice for an effective guided pathways program

NEW ORLEANS — Guided pathways have led to increased completion numbers for community colleges that have implemented them. The pathways provide students with a clear map to completion. But just providing a list of courses for students to take is not enough. Effective guided pathways require “long‐term, large‐scale institutional change,” said Kay McClenney, senior advisor to the president and chief executive officer at the American Association of Community Colleges.

Follow this advice for an effective guided pathways program

NEW ORLEANS — Guided pathways have led to increased completion numbers for community colleges that have implemented them. The pathways provide students with a clear map to completion. But just providing a list of courses for students to take is not enough. Effective guided pathways require “long-term, large-scale institutional change,” said Kay McClenney, senior advisor to the president and chief executive officer at the American Association of Community Colleges.

Follow this advice for an effective guided pathways program

NEW ORLEANS — Guided pathways have led to increased completion numbers for community colleges that have implemented them. The pathways provide students with a clear map to completion. But just providing a list of courses for students to take is not enough. Effective guided pathways require “long‐term, large‐scale institutional change,” said Kay McClenney, senior advisor to the president and chief executive officer at the American Association of Community Colleges.

A National Analysis of Noncredit Community College Education: Enrollment, Funding, Accountability, and Contextual Issues

ABSTRACTNoncredit community college enrollment accounts for approximately 40% of all enrollment in the two-year sector, or five million students (American Association of Community Colleges, 2016). Yet, this population is seldom discussed in the higher education literature due to inconsistent definitions, funding, and data reporting at the state level. Many of the structural elements (e.g., funding, enrollment) have not been documented recently or completely. This study used data from the 2015 Survey of Access and Finance Issues, administered annually to the National Council of State Directors of Community Colleges. The authors calculated noncredit enrollment by function and frequencies on funding mechanisms, funding by function, noncredit data reporting, and the measures captured at the state level. The study also employed polychoric and polyserial correlations examining the relationships among structural, contextual, and perspective-based items. This was done to capture the national landscape on this important community college function through the lens of state-level community college leaders.

Two-year colleges teach physics to widening range of students

Increasingly, partnerships ease the way to transfer to universities.Increasingly, partnerships ease the way to transfer to universities.

Public and tribal community college institutional review boards: A national descriptive analysis

ABSTRACTIt is currently unknown how many Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) exist at community colleges. This study investigates the percentage of public and Tribal community colleges that have active IRBs. It also examines the potential relationships between states that allow community colleges to confer baccalaureate degrees, or that have articulation agreements, and community college IRBs. Data were drawn from the United States Department of Health and Human Services in conjunction with the American Association of Community Colleges and state department of education websites in order to create a national snapshot of active and deactivated IRBs at these institutions. It was most common for a state to have at least one IRB at public community colleges. Conversely, the majority of states with Tribal community colleges did not have IRBs. Further, while no association was found between states that allow community colleges to confer baccalaureate degrees, states with an articulation agreement were more likely to have an active IRB at their community colleges. Trends potentially unique to community college IRB implementation appeared evident, including one IRB to oversee a district or state of community colleges. Future research is needed to clarify the rationales behind these decisions. Creating an IRB is one way in which community colleges might claim a more active leadership role in being both subject and producer of scholarship in the literature.

Book Review: Service-learning at the American Community College: Theoretical and empirical perspectives by Traver, A. E., & Katz, Z. P. (Eds.)

Traver, A. E., & Katz, Z. P. (Eds.). (2014). Service-learning at the American Community College: Theoretical and empirical perspectives. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan. 352 pp. US$130 (hardcover). ISBN 978-1-137-36170-7 (eBook, ePub). ISBN 978-1-137-35574-4 (eBook, PDF). ISBN 978-1-137-35573-7.The practice of service learning in community colleges has been promoted nationwide since the 1990s (Robinson, 2000). In general, service learning emphasizes student learning, community service, and civic/democratic engagement. The book ServiceLearning at the American Community College provides a focused review of servicelearning implementation, evaluation, and research across community colleges in the United States.The editors, Traver and Katz, organized 22 chapters into six parts with each part highlighting a particular aspect of service learning in community colleges. Part One sets up the theoretical and contextual foundation for the book with a systematic review of the history and theory of service learning and a contextualization of service learning in the community college setting. Part Two emphasizes service-learning practice in terms of engaging diverse learners. The chapters particularly highlight service-learning programs that serve underrepresented minority students, immigrant students, and nontraditional students. Part Three consists of five chapters that focus on the relationship between student outcomes and service-learning participation: academic performance, student engagement, retention and persistence, and student transfer. The chapters in Part Three are more researcher/evaluator orientated, and each reports evidence-based findings of how service learning affects students learning outcomes. One chapter in particular summarizes longitudinal evaluation results of American Association of Community Colleges (AACC)-funded service-learning practice across the country. Another chapter offers an in-depth literature review and concludes with a service-learning model to facilitate transfer students' success. Part Four introduces broad impacts that service learning might bring to the campus and the community, including the civic engagement focus of service learning through a national perspective, the social capital acquisition function of service learning for community college students, the pedagogical use of service learning for career and technical education (CTE), and a successful example of how a service-learning program involved students in community governance. Part Five provides recommendations for future research and practice on service learning in community colleges. Authors emphasize the involvement of part-time faculty and nontraditional students and present research design and methodology issues related to service-learning inquiry and evaluation. Part Six concludes this book by providing four community college presidents' reflections on service-learning practice.The editors of this book are two community college faculty members who have been dedicated to developing and sustaining service-learning courses. The contributing authors represent a diverse group of community college faculty members, administrators, institutional researchers, and presidents who have experienced directly the development, implementation, administration, and evaluation of service learning. There are also university professors, evaluators, and scholars in-training with expertise in researching and evaluating service-learning practice.Due to its comprehensiveness, this book can serve as a great resource for servicelearning practitioners, evaluators, and researchers; however, this book might have different benefits to different audiences. …

The Role of Community Colleges in Strengthening Access to Employment for Individuals With Disabilities

AbstractCommunity colleges have a mission to provide access to postsecondary education. As such, they enroll nearly half of all U.S. undergraduates, with 12% of enrollees indicating that they are students with disabilities (American Association of Community Colleges, 2015). This article describes Onondaga Pathways to Careers (OPC), a pilot project which will research, develop, test, and evaluate innovative systems models for providing inclusive integrated education and career development services to youth and young adults with disabilities, including those with significant disabilities. OPC will implement a model program to improve transition planning for youth and young adults with disabilities through secondary education, into and through supportive community college pathways, and ultimately into skilled employment for which they have trained and which will offer living wages, benefits, and opportunities for advancement. OPC fully embraces what the Americans With Disabilities Act declared in 1990: that “the Nation's proper goals regarding individuals with disabilities are to assure equality of opportunity, full participation, independent living, and economic self-sufficiency….” This article will provide an overview of OPC while also discussing the importance of interagency collaborations to improve outcomes for youth and young adults with disabilities.

How Are 2-Year US Colleges Addressing Student Alcohol Use and Related Problems?

A considerable amount of attention and research has been dedicated to addressing alcohol use and related problems among students at 4-year colleges; however, less attention has been given to alcohol-related issues among students at 2-year technical/ community colleges. Total enrollment at US public 2-year colleges is approximately 10 million nationwide, which is about equal to undergraduate enrollment at public 4-year institutions (National Center for Education Statistics, 2013) In addition, many 2-year college students are young adults (American Association of Community Colleges, 2013), an age where alcohol use rates tend to be high (Maggs & Schulenberg, 2004), increasing the risk of alcohol-related problems such as poor academic performance (Singleton, 2007), relationship and legal issues (Sheffield, Darkes, Del Boca, & Goldman, 2005), and injuries and violence (Chen & Paschall, 2003). Two recent studies of college students across Minnesota (VanKim, Laska, Ehlinger, Lust, & Story, 2010; Velazquez et al., 2011) found that about two thirds of 2-year college students drank alcohol in the past month and at least one third reported binge drinking. Although these rates were somewhat lower than those among students at 4-year colleges, the differences were generally not statistically significant in adjusted analyses. A few earlier studies assessed prevalence of alcohol use among students at a single community college, finding somewhat lower rates of alcohol use than the more recent studies (Chen & Paschall, 2003; Sheffield et al., 2005). We identified only one peer-reviewed scientific study that examined what 2-year colleges are doing to address alcohol-related issues among their students. Chiauzzi and colleagues (2011) surveyed leaders at 100 community colleges in the United States (one respondent per college) regarding alcohol and other drug (AOD) prevention and programming efforts on their campuses. Respondents reported a high level of concern for underage drinking and binge drinking among students. About half of the respondents reported that their college had a staff person who devoted part of his or her time to AOD issues, and nearly all reported health awareness campaigns and counseling services that addressed AOD issues. Few respondents ( < 10%) reported implementation of alcohol screening and intervention services on their campus. Barriers to offering student health programs were funding (82%) and staffing (73%), as well as lack of time that students spend on campus.

The completion agenda, community colleges, and civic capacity

In this article, we present a new critique of the Completion Agenda as inscribed in Reclaiming the American dream, a policy document published in April 2012 by the American Association of Community Colleges. Our critique is grounded on the premise that community colleges should improve completion rates, but this should be motivated by a desire to empower students and prepare them for a richer life in an evolving democracy and not simply satisfy the national economic objectives commonly offered to justify the Completion Agenda. Accordingly, following our critique, we outline an alternative vision based on a text in the literature of democracy as problem solving, a body of work that remains largely unacknowledged in higher education research and scholarship. We specifically focus on Briggs (2008) who found that six different global communities were successful in addressing serious social and economic problems through an organic process grounded in a nontraditional view of democracy. Using Briggs’ work as a model, we propose that community colleges adopt a new vision that prioritizes the empowerment of students and their communities.

Hire an exceptional president with Aspen toolkit

“There's a looming leadership void across all of higher education,” said Josh Wyner, vice president and executive director of the College Excellence Program at The Aspen Institute. Nearly 50 percent of community college presidents are predicted to retire over the next five years, according to research by the American Association of Community Colleges.

The AACC Leadership Competencies: Pennsylvania's Views and Experiences

Community colleges in the United States are facing a shortage of leaders because many current leaders will retire within the next 10 years (Weisman & Vaughn, 2007). Student diversity, technological advancement, and increased accountability have expanded the required skill-set of community college leaders. To aid the next generation of leaders in meeting these various institutional challenges, the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) has developed a competency framework for community college leaders (AACC, 2005). The present study investigated how community college presidents, vice presidents, and deans working in Pennsylvania viewed the leadership competencies identified by AACC as important for effective community college leadership. In addition, the community college leaders were asked to identify experiences that they found supportive in developing the AACC leadership competencies. According to the results, participants most valued the communication competency and least valued the professionalism competency. Results also revealed that on-the-job experience is one of the most effective development activities of the AACC leadership competencies.