Community College Education Research Articles

The Impact of Community College Attributes on the Earnings of Their Students

ABSTRACT As the cost of higher education has continued to rise, public interest in the proportional economic return on investment in higher education has also grown. While research associating the quality of education and institutional attributes with graduate earning potentials exists in the university sector, fewer studies have focused on earning potentials of community college graduates. This study investigates the relationship between community college attributes, including fixed, compositional, and financial characteristics, and the mean earnings of former community college students. Of 53 variables, 12 had a significant impact on mean earnings including the socio-economic conditions surrounding the institutions, student demographics, percentage of students who complete within 2 years, net tuition, and share of students who receive either a Pell Grant or a federal loan. Changing demographics of community college students, the increased cost of a community college education, and the need for additional support for two-year degrees/certifications will continue to be a challenge to the overall mission of community colleges.

Instructional Behaviors Affecting Student Attitudes Towards Science

ABSTRACT Community colleges are viewed as essential in the preparation of skilled science professionals in the U.S., and research regarding instructor impacts on student attitudes toward science are timely and relevant. This study explored specific instructor characteristics and pedagogical behaviors and their influence student engagement, confidence, and motivation to study science. A phenomenological approach was employed with elements of grounded theory. Data were collected from 12 community college students through semi-structured interviews. An explanatory framework for instructor characteristics that affected students’ academic attitudes focused upon engagement and confidence. Students’ impressions of instructors’ behaviors and attitudes reinforced the complexity of factors that affected their motivation. Instructors played a crucial role in building confidence, making disciplinary relevance explicit, and maintaining interest in science. Students valued instructors who were knowledgeable, caring, accessible, encouraging, and democratic. Students appreciated those who promoted a growth mind-set and autonomy, yet were still available as a supportive individuals. Future interventions should be implemented to address issues with the science course interest of community college students, and impacts on confidence and persistence. Informing instructors and policy makers that improvements in community college teaching techniques and support structures can enhance science attitudes is essential in students persisting in the pipeline, joining the STEM workforce, or transferring to four-year colleges. Understanding community college student characteristics can lead to customization of methods, objectives, and supportive policies to meet student needs, which may provide a well-equipped talent resource for participation in STEM careers.

Community College Faculty Perspectives Regarding Quantway

ABSTRACT Community colleges have been under increasing pressure to devise alternate math pathways to the traditional sequence of developmental math classes. Considering the important role faculty play in student success, this qualitative study focuses on faculty perspectives regarding Quantway, a novel alternate pathway for community college students who are not majoring in a math-related field. The following research question guided this study: Based on their experiences, both positive and challenging, what are the faculty perspectives regarding teaching Quantway? Data were gathered, using structured interviews, from 10 community college instructors at four community colleges. Positive aspects of teaching Quantway are improved student attitude and motivation, student engagement and support, sustainability, certain aspects of the single-semester quantitative reasoning [QR] course with the co-requisite, and faculty fulfillment. Challenges that faculty reported were mandated pedagogy and certain facets (other than those experienced as positive) of the single-semester QR course with the co-requisite. There were other aspects on which faculty perspectives were mixed, including the support system for faculty when teaching Quantway as well as the appropriate level of academic rigor in a QR course. The pedagogical approach of Quantway courses should be less prescriptive and more flexible. Continued communication among Quantway faculty is also imperative. Future research should focus on effective pedagogical practices as well as incoming skill level for the single-semester QR course with the pre-requisite. Overall, the findings from this study suggest that Quantway positively impacts faculty and students.

Understanding Inclusion and Equity in Community College Education Abroad

This study explores the extent to which community college study abroad is exclusive, meaning that opportunities are restricted only to certain students, or inclusive, meaning that education abroad is available to all that express interest. We administered a survey collecting both quantitative and qualitative data to leaders in community college education abroad to gain insight into inclusion in education abroad programming at their institutions. This survey was designed with an eye towards understanding how access is realized and the ways in which diversity in education abroad is supported (or not). Our results indicate that community college study abroad is neither entirely inclusive nor entirely exclusive. We conclude with a call to action for community college leaders to build a new, inclusive narrative surrounding education abroad.

Roundtable on economics education in community colleges

Community colleges (often called two-year colleges) are an important part of the USA tertiary education system. Despite the sector's significance, relatively little research on economics instruction in the community colleges has occurred. This constrains the sector's capacity to understand its own needs, unique contributions, considerable strengths, and strong potential. It also adds to the risk - and often, the reality - of the sector being misunderstood, undervalued, and under-supported by the economics profession and by policymakers. To help address this research shortfall, we conducted a roundtable on community colleges during mid-2019. Participants were invited on the basis of either their extensive experience in the sector, previous research on community colleges, or their expertise on US economics education in general. Issues discussed include recent developments in the sector, the level of support and recognition provided, the content economics curriculum, and how economics instruction in community colleges could be better supported.

Student Self-Determination following Developmental Education Reform in Florida's Community Colleges

BackgroundThis multiple case study explores the self-determination needs of academically underprepared students. The context for our study was a sweeping redesign of developmental education (DE) in Florida's community colleges, state-level legislation Senate Bill 1720 (SB 1720), which made DE optional for many students.Purpose of StudyThe research questions for this study are: (1) How did a policy change in Florida's state colleges influence underprepared students’ feelings of autonomy, competence, and relatedness with campus personnel? (2) In their interactions with underprepared students in Florida's state colleges, what did campus personnel regard as the influence of a policy change on students’ feelings of autonomy, competence, and relatedness with staff?Research DesignThis study employs a multiple case study research design. The three cases represent nonexempt students in DE (the remainers), exempt students in DE (the compliers), and exempt students in first-level credit-bearing courses (the defiers). Over a four-year period, 36 two-day site visits to 21 institutions were completed. The research team conducted 13 individual interviews and 179 semistructured focus groups with 239 administrators, 284 faculty, 215 advisors, 23 support staff, and 378 students, resulting in data from 1,139 total participants. We developed an evolving coding framework with a priori and emergent codes. Initial propositions were developed during a within-case analysis, and then a cross-case analysis was performed to summarize patterns across all three cases. The trustworthiness of the qualitative interpretations was established through triangulation, member checking, and peer debriefing.ConclusionsOur findings suggest that students eligible to bypass DE enjoyed the autonomy of choosing their own course level, whereas those still required to take DE were stigmatized by their placement. For students able to enter directly into college-level coursework, feelings of competence and relatedness with campus personnel were closely tied to their academic performance in the more rigorous coursework. Three potential areas for institutional improvement were identified to support the self-determination needs of underprepared students: curriculum, professional development for campus personnel, and out-of-class interaction between staff and students. When students perform poorly in coursework, informational feedback that gives students specific hints about where and how to improve are far more effective than evaluative feedback alone. Professional development for faculty, advisors, and other campus personnel can help those who interact frequently with academically underprepared students better fulfill their self-determination needs. Students suggested that out-of-class interactions fostered stronger feelings of relatedness with campus personnel.

Community College Instructors’ Perceptions of Constraints and Affordances Related to Teaching Quantitative Biology Skills and Concepts

Quantitative skills are an important competency for undergraduate biology students and should be incorporated early and frequently in an undergraduate’s career. Community colleges (CCs) are responsible for teaching introductory biology to a large proportion of biology and prehealth students, and quantitative skills are critical for their careers. However, we know little about the challenges and affordances that CC instructors encounter when incorporating quantitative skills into their courses. To explore this, we interviewed CC biology instructors (n = 20) about incorporating quantitative biology (QB) instruction into their classes. We used a purposeful sampling approach to recruit instructors who were likely to have tried evidence-based pedagogies and were likely aware of the importance of QB instruction. We used open coding to identify themes related to the affordances to and constraints on teaching QB. Overall, our study participants met with challenges typical of incorporating new material or techniques into any college-level class, including perceptions of student deficits, tension between time to teach quantitative skills and cover biology content, and gaps in teacher professional knowledge (e.g., content and pedagogical content knowledge). We analyze these challenges and offer potential solutions and recommendations for professional development to support QB instruction at CCs.

An Examination of Instructional Approaches in Online Technical Education in Community Colleges

Technical education programs in community colleges prepare students for many science and engineering-based jobs in the United States. An increasing number of technical education programs in community colleges are using online learning tools to teach courses. However, little is currently known about the ways these programs are integrating online learning in their coursework. This study examined fifteen National Science Foundation funded technical education programs that use online learning to partially or entirely deliver their courses. We conducted semi-structured interviews with key personnel from each project. Through analysis of this data, we found that technical education programs used a variety of instructional delivery approaches that can be categorized as follows: (a) a hybrid or blended course with asynchronous online lectures; (b) a hybrid or blended course with synchronous lectures; (c) a hybrid or blended course with a combination of asynchronous and synchronous lectures and discussions; or (d) a course that is fully online. We also found that online or hybrid technical education programs used a variety of different methods to give students experience in their field of study that can be categorized as follows: (a) pre-recorded video; (b) live video; (c) simulations; (d) equipment at home; (e) equipment in lab; and (f) professional site experience. We recommend that future research examine how well these approaches are working, incorporate student perceptions, and incorporate the views of employers of these programs’ graduates.

The Labor Market Returns to For-Profit Higher Education: Evidence for Transfer Students

Objective: This study examines the labor market gains for students who enrolled at for-profit colleges after beginning their postsecondary education in community college. Method: We use student-level administrative record data from college transcripts, unemployment insurance earnings data, and progression data from the National Student Clearinghouse across full entry cohorts of community college students in two statewide systems between 2001 and 2006. Using regression analysis and fixed effect methods, we calculate the wage gains to attainment across different student transfer patterns. Results: We find significant wage penalties to transfer to a for-profit college instead of to a public or private nonprofit college. For some student groups, earnings are higher if they drop out of community college instead of transferring to a for-profit college. Conclusion: Students in for-profit colleges do have lower opportunity costs in terms of foregone earnings while enrolled in college. However, these do not sufficiently compensate for lower earnings growth after college.

Noncredit Education in Community College: Students, Course Enrollments, and Academic Outcomes

Objective: This study examines the characteristics, course enrollment patterns, and academic outcomes of students who started their college careers in noncredit courses. Method: Drawing upon a rich...

Noncredit Education in Community College: Students, Course Enrollments, and Academic Outcomes

Objective: This study examines the characteristics, course enrollment patterns, and academic outcomes of students who started their college careers in noncredit courses. Method: Drawing upon a rich dataset that includes transcript and demographic information on both for-credit and noncredit students in multiple institutions, this study explores the demographic and academic profiles of students enrolled in various fields of noncredit education, their course performance in noncredit programs, their educational intent upon initial enrollment, and their transition to the for-credit sector among degree-seeking students. Results: Our results support recent evidence from qualitative studies and studies from a single institution that students enrolled in noncredit programs tend to be adult learners and are typically from a lower socioeconomic background than credit students at community colleges. Yet, more than half of the noncredit students drop out of college after their initial term, even among students who expressed intent to transition to credit-bearing programs. The idiosyncratic patterns of course enrollment and transition to credential programs seem to suggest that there is no general structured pathway or institutional support for credential-seeking noncredit students. Contributions: This article is among one of the first attempts that use student transcript data from multiple institutions to provide a comprehensive understanding of noncredit students and their academic outcomes. Results from this study highlight the importance of future research in exploring institutional services and structures that may effectively facilitate the academic progression and success of noncredit students.

Reflections on infusing evidenced-based inclusion practices in early childhood community college programs through a collaborative professional development model

ABSTRACTInclusion means that students with disabilities have access to high-quality and effective instruction, as well as specialized services as needed, within least restrictive environments. We believe there are no limits on who can or should participate in and benefit from inclusion and we were interested in perceptions resulting from professional development designed to support including young children with disabilities in classrooms with their natural neighbors and peers. We present reflections from application of a community of practice model in which university-based faculty worked closely and collaboratively with community college instructors to infuse ideas, concepts, and content from the field of special education into associate degree early childhood education coursework.

Teaching Case— Applications of culturally relevant pedagogy in a community college classroom

Diverse learners are a key part of the student population in community colleges and many other educational settings. Culturally relevant pedagogy, incorporating varied cultural perspectives and tools in teaching practice, can result in a deeper knowledge of self and others. This teaching case presents the opportunity to consider applications of culturally relevant pedagogy to community college and other teaching contexts and in the light of the many roles educators fill in their practices.

Community College Degrees and Occupational Prestige Differences

ABSTRACT There has been growing national political interest in promoting community college education as a way of improving economic opportunities for disadvantages members of local workforces. Recent work mainly focuses on human capital gains, but few studies have investigated how community college credentials can affect the level of job prestige associated with mid-level employment opportunities. This research uses data from the 2002 Educational Longitudinal Study and weighted least squares regression to investigate the job prestige returns of respondents eight years after high school based on the top educational credential they received. The most common occupation for all respondents was office and administrative support. Of the associate degree holders, only a third were in positions that required such a degree. The results indicate that job prestige scores improve overall with increased educational credentials, though the benefit for community college credentials are small. Institutional and personal factors are also significantly related to job prestige outcomes. The findings of this study suggest that it is important to broaden the political discussion on promoting community college education beyond just calls for increasing student attendance to investigating ways to get people into better jobs.

The Impact of Professional Development Grounded in Social Learning on Community College Faculty Efficacy

ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of professional development modeled upon social learning theory on community college teacher efficacy. A pre-experimental, one-group pre- and post-test research design using the Teacher’s Sense of Efficacy Scale was used to measure the effectiveness of a faculty development treatment on teacher efficacy beliefs in the constructs of classroom management, student engagement, and instructional strategies. This method enabled a comparison of efficacy levels prior to and after participation in faculty professional development to determine any potential influence. Data were analyzed by employing dependent and independent sample t-tests to determine differences in teacher efficacy mean scores over time. Findings indicated no significant differences in pre- and post-test scores for overall teacher efficacy and efficacy in the constructs of classroom management, student engagement, and instructional strategies. However, there was a significant difference in overall teacher efficacy scores after participating in the faculty development treatment between new and experienced faculty. From these findings, three themes were drawn that provide specific recommendations for community college faculty development program design.

Publishing Graduate Students’ Research About Community Colleges

ABSTRACTUnlike many graduate education disciplines such as science and engineering, graduate education programs specializing in the study of community colleges have not focused their efforts on preparing future faculty. Rather, these programs focused on the scholarly and practical study of community college education and leadership, education, and programs with research requirements for doctoral degrees, but with little emphasis on publishing works. That is changing, however, as more graduate students and faculty alike value the processes and benefits of students learning how to publish their research, often with the guidance and mentorship of faculty advisors.

Baccalaureate Nursing Education Experiences of African-Born Nurses in the United States.

African-born nurses are valuable members of the U.S. nursing workforce. The majority begin their nursing education in community colleges and practice as licensed practical nurses/vocational nurses (LPN/VNs) and RNs before obtaining their Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) degree. For African-born nursing students, the environment of 4-year institutions, although exciting and promising, may be overwhelming and challenging. In this qualitative descriptive study, 25 African-born nurses who graduated from accredited RN-to-BSN programs over a period of 5 years were interviewed. Qualitative content analysis was used to analyze the data. Several factors including flexible curricular designs and helpful campus resources supported students' educational experiences. Factors such as financial difficulties and difficult work-family-school balances challenged them. The BSN curriculum is especially rigorous and demanding for foreign-born minority students. Such programs must provide appropriate resources to support students who are new to U.S. education system. [J Nurs Educ. 2019;58(5):281-289.].

Community College Anatomy and Physiology Education Research (CAPER): Can Educational Research Drive Pedagogical Change?

Human Anatomy and Physiology (A&P) is a required course for many community college (CC) students aiming for careers in health sciences. CC instructors face heavy workloads and few opportunities for professional development. Students face heightened academic and non‐academic challenges which can lead to debilitating anxiety. Traditional instructor‐centered teaching strategies predominate. The result is predictable: an environment where there is high instructor burnout and high student attrition rates. Transitioning to more evidence‐based instructional practices (EBIPs) has been shown to promote student learning. Despite the potential positive impact of this change on CC institutions and their students, widespread adoption of student‐centered strategies remains elusive. Evidence shows change requires more than reading journal articles or attending workshops. The Community College Anatomy and Physiology Education Research (CAPER) project takes an evidence‐based teaching approach to fostering transformation. In each year of the two year project, six CC A&P instructors (two from each of three schools) combine a professional development course with the design, implementation, and dissemination of a small‐scale educational research project investigating the impact of a student‐centered teaching strategy on learning and anxiety.We are currently in year 1, and six CC instructors have completed the professional development course and project proposals and are implementing their research projects. Participants often assumed that they were required to develop a novel and innovative project using gold‐standard experimental designs and quantitative analyses, and were skeptical about the utility of qualitative measures and experimental designs not involving control groups. In addition to providing access to external experts in qualitative and quantitative analysis, we emphasized that participants could make a contribution to the field by following one of two approaches. First, they could look at less well‐understood impacts of an established EBIP, such as science anxiety, or attempt to validate the effectiveness of an EBIP in on the community college student population. Alternatively, they could investigate a newly developed teaching practice using well‐established data collection methods with the intent of possibly identifying a new EBIP.While an important goal of CAPER is to produce publishable data regarding the efficacy of EBIPs in CCs, an equally important goal is pedagogical transformation. Thus, softening the rigor of experimental design for our target audience of community college instructors may actually promote scholarly teaching. Data that has a larger noise‐signal ratio than what would be acceptable in traditional research domains may still have a place in educational research, by providing an achievable target for potential novice educational researchers.Support or Funding InformationThis grant is supported by NSF grant #1829157.This abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2019 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.

Practical Lessons in Public Health Program Implementation: Perspectives from the Field

ABSTRACTOver the past 15 years, significant advances have been made in public health education in the United States, creating new opportunities for community colleges, especially in terms of clarifying career and general transfer pathways for students. In 2014, a national taskforce published two curricular models for public health education in community colleges. One model was an associate degree for academic transfer to a baccalaureate program and the other an applied degree or applied certificate for entry into the workforce. This paper provides perspectives from eight diverse institutions that have developed public health programming based on these curricular models.

Poetry across the Curriculum: New Methods of Writing Intensive Pedagogy for U.S. Community College and Undergraduate Education: A Book Review

This book review presents the basic premise of the book, which is use of poetry to teach undergraduate courses. The author of the review shares her own experiences with using poetry to teach college courses and highlights the beginning chapters. The editors of the book, Frank Jacobs, Shannon Kincaid and Amy. E. Traver, and other authors share their experiences from a workshop on the use of poetry in college. Empirical and anecdotal examples do well to underscore the need for more arts-based education and particularly poetry in teaching college courses.