Education Commons^™

Transfer Articulation And Transfer Agreement Success: Student Transfer From Community College To Locally Governed, Public, 4-Year Universities In Tennessee, Kathi Horne

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this quantitative nonexperimental study was to investigate the success of students who use transfer articulation agreements to transfer from any of the 13 community colleges in Tennessee to one of the state’s public, four-year, locally governed institutions to complete a bachelor's degree. Data were collected from five 4-year public universities across the state of Tennessee. The Tennessee Promise initiative was created to allow students the opportunity to begin postsecondary college careers at little to no cost. When combined with either the Tennessee Transfer Pathways or transfer articulation agreements, the goal was to create a seamless transition from …

Esl To Composition Transitions: Investigating The Differences In Disciplinary Values Among Two-Year College Faculty, Amy M. Flessert

English Theses & Dissertations

In this qualitative methods study, I draw on Paul Kei Matsuda’s 1999 article “Composition Studies and ESL Writing: A Disciplinary Division of Labor” to examine if, more than 20 years after its publication, there is still a significant disciplinary division between ESL writing and first-year college composition. I surveyed writing instructors from both ESL and ENG at Mid-Atlantic Community College (MACC) regarding what they value as “good” writing. I also worked with three faculty members – one in ENG, one in ESL, and a third who teaches in both departments, serving, in this study and the department, as a “bridge” …

Natural History Of Discourse Of Missouri House Bill 1042: Bringing A Critical Perspective To Policy Engagement In Two-Year Contexts, Mary Casey Reid

English Theses & Dissertations

In this autoethnographically-infused natural history of discourse (NHD) (Silverstein and Urban, 1996; Slembrouck, 2001), I use methods from critical discourse studies (CDS) to trace 10 years of changes in “remediation” discourses within a corpus of texts associated with Missouri HB 1042, a piece of legislation passed in 2012 that requires higher education institutions to “replicate best practices in remediation” (CBHE, 2013). After providing national and state context related to HB 1042 and the discourses circulating within the HB 1042 corpus of texts, I describe what I call the “higher ed’s remediation problem” discourse, focusing on three discourse features that I …

Cultural Intelligence Practices Community College Presidents Use To Lead Their Organization, Jennifer Marta

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this qualitative multicase study was to discover and describe the cultural intelligence practices California community college presidents use to lead their organization through the four dimensions of Ang et al. (2007) cultural intelligence (CQ) framework. Lastly, this study will examine the CQ practices of California community college presidents through the four dimensions of Ang et al.’s (2007) CQ framework.

Methodology: This qualitative multicase study was conducted through semistructured interviews of four California community college presidents to discover their use of CQ practices. Artifact collection and review was used to further describe how they use CQ practices …

Supporting Reverse Transfer Students: From Trauma To Transition And Triumph, Stephanie Burga

M.A. in Higher Education Leadership: Action Research Projects

This study explores the reverse transfer student identity, a population or group that transfers from a four-year college or university to a two-year community college. The research utilizes a San Diego two-year community college as the sample institute to discover more about a sample of the reverse transfer student identity. The theoretical framework includes a combination of intersectional stigma and the ethic of care that is implemented throughout the transition process for the student. The purpose of this study is to seek and uncover patterns as to why students reverse transfer and what support looks like for them. How does …

A Comparative Exploration Into First Time In College Student Academic Performance In Face-To-Face Versus Remote Learning Environments, Ashley Click

Theses & Dissertations

In spring 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic forced educational systems to transition into an emergency remote learning modality. This quantitative study compared retention and productive grade rates of two 16-week academic semesters and compared face-to-face (fall 2019) and remote (fall 2020) emergency remote instruction. The study sample was drawn from the core courses of History, English, and Speech at San Antonio College. Those courses were selected in part due to the high proportion of first time in college students who were considered a vulnerable population regarding performance and persistence. Additional variables (i.e., gender, veteran status, first-generation status, and socio-economic status) were …

Active Military Student Persistence In Online Courses At California Community Colleges, Stephanie E. Gernert

Educational Foundations & Leadership Theses & Dissertations

The diversity of higher education institutions is changing, and more post-traditional students, including those associated with the military, are engaging in higher education. Almost every post-secondary institution in the United States has military students. In 2020, $11.5 billion was spent on over 875,000 eligible military students. Military students often prefer online courses at community colleges due to flexibility around their military career, open-access, and affordability.

Yet, few studies examine active military servicemembers alone and, when research is performed, a lack of thorough data collection exists. Therefore, this study focused on active military students in online education in California Community Colleges. …

Text Nudges: Proactive Communication By An Urban Community College, Ann L. Hall

Teacher Education, Educational Leadership & Policy ETDs

The landscape of higher education has shifted over the last ten years. Student needs have changed. Educational institutions have begun to change the way they conduct business to support student needs more fully including just-in-time communications that are focused and customized to the individual student. Higher education institutions are using text nudges to support student outcomes from enrollment to graduation. This study evaluated the impact of text nudges on retention at a large, urban community college in the southwest region of the United States. The study found a small, negative relationship between the number of text nudges received and fall …

Latina/O Students In Community College: Institutional Actions And Persistence, Yvette V. Huerta

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to examine the institutional actions related to Latina/o student success at a two-year institution in the southwest on the United States-Mexico border. Research has shown that institutional actions play a role in student persistence and completion and thus contribute to student success outcomes. Determining the institutional actions that contribute to student success will add to the limited higher education Latina/o research on institutional factors and provide information to community college leaders to improve student outcomes. The study examines three institutional actions and their relationship with three student persistence and achievement efforts.

Metacognitive Supports In Online Community College Learners, Bethany L. Emory

STEMPS Theses & Dissertations

Community colleges provide educational, social and professional lifelines for students. Community college students are often characterized by their need to balance school amidst conflicting life needs, such as employment and family. As a result, many community college students struggle to find time to commit to on campus classes. Asynchronous online courses offer these students flexibility. Without the ability to self-regulate their learning, this mode of learning has been shown to be more challenging, resulting in students who succeed and persist in coursework less consistently.

This quantitative, quasi experimental study involving 92 asynchronous online community college participants from the southeast, explores …

Organizational Communication In Community Colleges: Staff Members’ Perspectives, Sinthea Reynolds

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this research was to determine if there was a significant relationship between scores on the Communication Satisfaction Questionnaire (CSQ) scale of effective managerial communication and scores on the Job Descriptive Index (JDI) scale of job satisfaction for non-faculty staff members at the participating community college.

A total of 75 non-faculty staff members from three separate community colleges in East Tennessee participated in the study. A modified version of the Communication Satisfaction Questionnaire (CSQ) developed by Downs and Hazen (1977) was used to collect data. The instrument used a Likert-type scale with a 7-point scale with eight dimensions …

Embracing Familismo Within The Latinx Population At Community Colleges, Elle E. Bowman

Culminating Experience Projects

Research indicates Latinx students are disproportionality attending community colleges, yet graduation and transfer rates for Latinx students attending this institution type are dismal. Literature indicates that Latinx students' sense of belonging in the higher education setting can be cultivated by feeling connected to peers and family, feeling connected to their culture, and minimizing the number of academic and cultural stress factors. Latinx students arrive on campus equipped with strengths and experiences that have given them the ability to persist and survive in the face of oppression and racial hostility. Community college orientations and programming can be designed to celebrate and …

Communicating Change During A College Merger Process: A Grounded Theory Approach, Jessalyn Sabin

Dissertations, Theses, and Projects

Merger is rapidly becoming an approach to addressing the enrollment and financial challenges posed to higher education in the wake of recent demographic shifts and funding changes in the United States. This study focuses on a district of rural community colleges in a Midwest, unionized state college system that is in the process of merging into a single institution. The main locus of the study is on the communication perspectives of leaders during this merger and the changes that it engendered. Eight leaders were interviewed to examine the following questions: Q1) Which communication strategies do leaders at five different public …

Learning To Navigate The Unknown: The Importance Of Critical Reflection And Collaboration For Community College Faculty During A Pandemic, Karen Ann Ladley

Education Doctorate Dissertations

The COVID-19 pandemic caused sudden and dramatic shifts in educational systems worldwide, including colleges and universities. Students, faculty, and service staff found themselves navigating uncertain times and addressing challenges they had not faced previously. The use of critical reflection and collaboration became crucial for faculty as they struggled to engage students in different ways. Understanding students’ needs and addressing them effectively became priorities with reflection and collaboration both cost-effective and convenient methods. Following this time of uncertainty, faculty can continue using reflection and collaborative learning communities to address new challenges and obstacles, especially at community colleges where money, time, and …

Perceptions Of Race, Status, And Instructional Modality As Predictors Of Degree Attainment For African American Male Community College Students, Roderick C. Lewis Sr.

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Given the large number of students who begin their college education yet never graduate, it is essential that, as higher education leaders and policymakers develop student success strategies, they consider the persistence and degree attainment dynamics of all populations. This study focuses on the problem of degree attainment from the perspective of male, second-year, African American, community college students. A qualitative narrative case study approach was used to ascertain their perception of race, status attainment, and instructional learning modalities as predictors of degree attainment. Accordingly, those perceptions were then evaluated to determine their utility as predictors of degree attainment. Six …

Completion And Success Of Community College Developmental Students Enrolled In Online Mathematics Coursework, Mary Monica Ryder

Theses and Dissertations

As online education gains popularity among both learners and postsecondary institutions, there is a movement toward identifying ways to promote student success. Over half of all higher education institutions offer online classes, due in part to the ease of offering and scheduling (Hoffman, 2006); educators seek ways to identify any demographic or academic characteristics that lead to success (Jaggars & Bailey, 2010). With the growth and popularity of online learning, postsecondary institutions must continue to develop best practices in the areas of online teaching pedagogies to promote student success. Within community colleges there is a growing acceptance of online courses …

Tuition-Free College And Retention: A Quantitative Analysis Of The New York State Excelsior Scholarship Program, Maria P. Conzatti

Theses and Dissertations

Although the community college’s original intent was to fulfill a mission dedicated to offering a low-cost, high-quality education to its community, fulfilling its mission is has become more difficult based on ever-increasing financial stresses being placed upon it by various constituent groups. As such, a growing piece of the community college funding model is student tuition. In an attempt to offset the ever-increasing student financial burden, many states have initiated their own form of scholarship aid, such as the new Excelsior Scholarship Program now offered in New York State. The continued decrease in community college funding has motivated additional research …

Autism Spectrum Disorder: Community College Faculty Awareness, Practices, And Professional Development, Kristyn Sacrestano

Theses and Dissertations

Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) are increasingly selecting to participate in postsecondary education. These individuals often face a number of challenges and barriers to success resulting in poor persistence and completion rates. For institutions of higher education, it is imperative that appropriate supports be put in place and faculty are prepared to support learners with ASD to allow for positive student experiences and successful completion. The purpose of this study was to examine disability awareness and faculty preparedness for working with students with ASD in order to move towards creating welcoming campuses which appropriately support and retain learners with …

Cracking The Code To Effective Marketing In Higher Education: A Case Study Of Recruitment And Retention Of First-Generation, Latinx Community College Students, Manuel L. Romero

Theses and Dissertations

Marketing strategy involves selecting a target market and determining the desired product positioning to attract the desired customers (Silk, 2006). Recently, community colleges have seen a decrease in student enrollment. In some cases, this was brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic; in other cases budget constraints have posed challenges to community colleges and their recruitment marketing efforts. Successful advertising involves a marketing strategy where the student is considered the customer (Guilbault, 2017) and creative “edvertising” (DiMartino & Jessen, 2018) campaigns entice students to select one college above other competitors. With a growing Latinx population in the United States, college recruitment …

Leadership Practices, Self-Efficacy, And Role Expectations Of Community College Academic Leaders During Change, Elizabeth Kristen Gandt Spagnola

Theses and Dissertations

Higher education institutions in the United States currently face ongoing challenges and difficulties beginning in 2008 with the fiscal crisis which created a need for education and retraining for man, demand for greater accountability by institutions and a fundamental shift in the perceived value of higher education. Academic leaders of post-secondary institutions, in particular community colleges, have encountered this shift in society's view of the value of a college degree, and now see a demand for greater skills and employability within the workforce. For academic leaders to meet these new expectations, an understanding of leadership styles, focused on the characterization …

Agency And Self-Efficacy In Corequisite Math Courses, Silvia Reyes

Theses and Dissertations

Students identified as unprepared for college work face considerable barriers to performance and college completion. To improve underprepared student outcomes, community colleges where most underprepared students enroll are using different models of developmental education. A recently implemented model in mathematics is a corequisite course designed to increase students’ chances of success by using different methods of instruction to decrease student time to completion. This corequisite course accelerates students placed in developmental math classes and offers students the opportunity to complete their developmental requirements while taking college-level work and earning college credit. As developmental mathematics poses the biggest barrier for underprepared …

Restructuring The Role Of Faculty In The Advising Process At A Community College, Michael Wayne Mabe

Education Projects

My goal in this project was to restructure the faculty’s role in student advising by developing a faculty-student mentorship program. I focused on three areas within the study: determining the role of faculty as mentors, describing how students would be assigned to faculty, and determining how to train faculty in the new role. I conducted a mixed methods study to gauge faculty views on advising and mentoring. Results showed that faculty supported mentoring of students, which has been shown to improve student academic performance. I recommended that faculty meet with their mentees three times throughout the academic year. Faculty and …

Using Reflection To Promote Success In Community College Mathematics, Sherilin Ruth Heise

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Community college mathematics faculty have instituted changes to address inadequate preparation of incoming students to learn college-level mathematics. However, they could do more to develop student cognitive capabilities to enable underprepared students to successfully learn college mathematics. This basic qualitative study examined the perceptions of community college mathematics instructors who made their classrooms more reflective, including using reflection as an instruction activity for students entering college underprepared to learn college-level mathematics. The conceptual framework consisted of Baxter Magolda’s epistemological reflection model of college student development and Schoenfeld’s theoretical model for teaching mathematics. Open coding of interviews with 10 community college …

Effect Of Developmental English Faculty Instructors’ Employment Status On College Student Performance In A Freshman Composition Course, Kauscha Howard

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

This research attempted to determine whether faculty instructors’ employment status played a role in the success of students who are not college ready. The purpose of this study was to determine whether developmental English faculty instructors’ employment status had an effect on grades in a freshman composition course (English 101) among community college students while using functional role theory as the theoretical foundation. The quantitative study utilized two-way analysis of covariance. The research used archival data for 2,364 community college students to determine if employment status and gender differences among developmental English faculty instructors had an effect on subsequent grades …

Influence Of Student Evaluations On College Instructors’ Professional Practice, Veronda Hutchinson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Many post-secondary institutions make significant use of student evaluations of teachers (SETs) to evaluate teacher effectiveness and students’ perceptions of their learning experiences in the course. However, it is unclear how teachers use SETs to inform their professional practice. Hence, the purpose of this basic qualitative study was to explore how SETs influenced instructors’ professional practice at a local community college from the perspective of the instructors, which the research question was centered on. The conceptual framework for the study was the cognitive dissonance theory, because it explains the changes in the individual’s behavior through the need to reduce mental …

“It Takes A Village”: Student Mothers’ Experiences With Barriers And Support While Navigating Community College, Jeanine Mcmillen

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Student parents may feel invisible on college campuses, especially student mothers, who often feel ignored and overlooked when institutional policies and practices are not tailored to their needs and challenges. These students are especially vulnerable to withdrawing from college, even in institutional contexts that boast a positive and welcoming climate for underrepresented students. Using validation theory with a critical lens as the guiding theoretical framework, this qualitative case study examined how student mothers at one community college navigate barriers and supports within and outside of the institution. Findings revealed three themes, indicating that student mothers must cobble together a village …

A Phenomenological Examination Of African American Men’S Experiences In Community College, Abdulhalim Faruq

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

AbstractThe community college, given its accessibility and affordability, has become the institution of choice for many African American men pursuing academic, vocational, and technical advancement. However, African American men attending community colleges are less likely to graduate and persist than their European American male and female peers. Limited research exists on academic persistence among African American men attending community colleges and their academic self-efficacy. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore the lived experiences of African American male community college students regarding their academic persistence, formal and informal interactions with their instructors, and self-efficacy. Bandura’s theory of self-efficacy …

Exploring The Effects Of Creativity And Student Success On Community College Stem Students Taking Fine Arts Courses, Jimmy Leduc

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

This study examined overall success and creativity in students taking STEM courses at a Midwestern community college. There were four hypotheses in this study. The first was that STEM majors who had taken one or more fine arts courses would report a higher GPA than STEM majors who have not taken fine arts courses. The second was that there would be a positive correlation among STEM majors between the number of fine arts courses taken and grade point average. The third is that STEM majors who had taken one or more fine arts courses would demonstrate greater creativity than STEM …

Pathways Towards An Engineering Baccalaureate Degree - Critical Incidents And Factors Leading Students To Choose Community College: A Phenomenological Study, Joan Zitur Carter

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Women and underrepresented minorities can help fill the ever-growing demand for engineers in the United States. Quality teaching methods, an understanding of the cognitive aspects of learning, and faculty addressing biases help ensure student success in engineering majors. Accordingly, the community college engineering pathway can help fill the national need for engineers. This phenomenological study sought to describe the experience of students who choose the community college pathway toward a Bachelor of Science degree in Engineering. Thirteen participants were interviewed; all took engineering courses at the same community college, transferred to a four-year engineering university (10 to a R1), and …

The Chemistry Laboratory Experience Of El Camino Students While In Emergency Remote Teaching Due To The Covid-19 Pandemic, Shaun A. Cook

Theses and Dissertations

Future college environments, including those in chemistry, will entail flexible formats. The pandemic spurred appreciation of the need, and though it has largely passed, adaptability to multiple formats in the future has been a critical part of planning for a rapidly changing future. Experiences during the pandemic will guide pedagogical changes and practices in the future. At El Camino College in Southern California, the chemistry department provided varied laboratory instruction to students during Emergency Remote Teaching. Understanding the experience students had during this extraordinary time is essential. Students who took courses that had an online laboratory course completed a mixed-methods …