Education Commons^™

Listening To Their Voices: Factors That Inhibit Or Enhance Postsecondary Outcomes For Students' With Disabilities, Dorothy Garrison-Wade

Dorothy Garrison-Wade

Although an increasing number of students with disabilities are considering postsecondary educational opportunities, many of these students find the challenges daunting as compared to their secondary educational experiences. The purpose of the qualitative case study reported herein was to learn more about students' perceptions of services received in college in order to develop a clearer understand of how to better ensure positive outcomes. Fifty nine students with various disabilities and six disability resource coordinators from five two year community colleges and three four-year universities participated in the study. Three major themes emerged from the data, including: (a) capitalizing on student …

A Conceptual Framework For Understanding Students' With Disabilities Transition To Community College, Dorothy Garrison-Wade, Jean Lehmann

Dorothy Garrison-Wade

Students with disabilities are significantly underrepresented in the nation's community college population for multiple reasons. These include low expectations, poor high school preparation and transition planning, lack of communication or support services, and ineffective or poor support from school services personnel and faculty. This paper presents a literature synthesis. Its purpose is to inform an initial framework for building towards a conceptual framework for understanding the transition to community college by students with disabilities. The framework was developed from an earlier mixed methods study involving 100 college students with disabilities and 10 disability resource counselors in eight universities and colleges, …

Race For Completion: Success Courses Components Fostering Successful Community College Completion, Brenda Roland

Dissertations

The purpose of this research was to identify the components of first-year first semester college success courses specifically designed to foster student success in single campus Illinois community colleges. The study provides a historical background of community colleges as it develops a context for the need for college success courses. A qualitative case study approach was used. The research conceptual framework encompassed Alexander Astin’s Theory of Student Involvement (IEO), Stufflebeam’s Theory of Course and Program Evaluation (CIPP), and The Center for Community College Student Engagement (CCCSE) seven key principles for student success to analyze the findings.

To generate qualitative data …

Faculty As Institutional Agents For Students Enrolled In Developmental Education, Jennifer Jane Swartout

Theses and Dissertations

Using focus groups, this study sought to understand whether instructors at community colleges who teach developmental education perceive that they act as institutional agents. Institutional agents are instructors who go beyond classroom instruction to advocate for students, provide regular advice and guidance, or act as a "bridge" to resources for the purposes of helping the student build social capital within the institution. The findings of this study suggest that faculty are committed to helping students in developmental education adapt to and be successful in college. However, the conditions under which most instructors work can make it difficult for them to …

Faculty And Student Interactions At The Community College: An Examination Of The Interaction Order, Amber Archuleta-Lucero

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Community college students represent 46% of all incoming freshman undergraduate students (American Association of Community Colleges, 2013). Increasingly, research on community colleges is focused on student success and in particular student engagement. One area of student engagement is faculty and student interactions which are an essential part of the collegiate experience.

The purpose of this study is to examine faculty and student interactions at the community college, in particular, the type of interactions, the nature of the interactions as well as how students interpret their interactions with faculty members. With an ever growing emphasis on accountability via student success outcomes …