Education Commons^™

Critical Components Of Community College Enrollment Management Planning, Karen Hart Bucher

Educational Foundations & Leadership Theses & Dissertations

Enrollment management has become a common practice at four-year institutions, but has not been extensively explored at community colleges. As students have more educational options available to them, community colleges have begun to explore ways to grow their enrollment, improve student retention and increase graduation rates. This study explored the critical components necessary for implementing a successful enrollment management initiative at three community colleges across the U.S.

To determine the critical components at community colleges, a case study was conducted. Each case was evaluated individually and then the three cases were compared with each other to determine thematic similarities and …

Perceptions Of Virginia Community College System Faculty And Administrators On The Purposes For And Composition Of A Comprehensive Evaluation System For Teaching Faculty Members, William H. Hightower Jr.

Educational Foundations & Leadership Theses & Dissertations

A survey instrument was developed to measure community college faculty and administrator views on the faculty evaluation process. Responses were then compared based on demographic characteristics such as primary area of instruction, supervisory responsibility, years of experience, and gender. Open-ended survey questions asked respondents to identify the strengths, limitations and changes needed for their current faculty evaluation plans.

A total of 404 faculty members and 67 administrators completed the survey. Significant differences were found between faculty and administrator responses with respect to the reasons for conducting faculty evaluations, the relative importance of including certain elements in the evaluation process, and …

Moderator Effect Of Financial Aid On Predictors Of Community College Graduation Rate, Richard Wilt

Educational Foundations & Leadership Theses & Dissertations

This study examined the resource allocation decisions community colleges make in order to gain insight into the relationship of those decisions to graduation rate and whether those relationships were influenced by the percentage of students at the college receiving financial aid. Much of the literature on persistence and graduation rate in higher education is based on student characteristics such as SAT scores, high school GPA, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status, or on college selectivity. This study switches the focus to the characteristics of the college rather than the student.

The relative lack of literature on community college graduation rates and the …

A Utilization-Focused Evaluation Of A Community College Adjunct Faculty Professional Development Program, Gordon Edenfield

Educational Foundations & Leadership Theses & Dissertations

Nationally adjunct faculty comprise almost 70% of all two-year institution faculty while in the Virginia Community College System (VCCS) adjunct faculty teach 60% of the community college courses, and should past trends continue, the number of adjunct faculty members is expected to grow 10% within the next fifteen years (Caliber, 2007; Phillipe & Sullivan, 2005). Research conducted regarding adjunct faculty in the community colleges (Gappa & Leslie, 1993; Rouche et al., 1995) has tended to focus on descriptive characteristics and attitudes of adjunct faculty (Valadez & Anthony, 2001) and on quality of life issues (Rhoades, 1996). While these national studies …

Internationalization Efforts In United States Community Colleges: A Comparative Analysis Of Urban, Suburban, And Rural Institutions, Natalie Jean Harder

Educational Foundations & Leadership Theses & Dissertations

Research demonstrates employers value international experiences when hiring employees. Community college students who do not have global or international experience risk being less valuable to employers than students who have such experience. With community colleges educating up to one-half of all U.S. undergraduates, more focus on internationalization is warranted in order to ensure student competitiveness in today's global labor pool. This ex post facto study of 2006 survey data from the American Council on Education (ACE) found a low level of internationalization occurring at most community colleges. Delineating community colleges according to their urban, suburban, or rural Carnegie classification found …

Noncognitive Predictors Of Academic Performance And Persistence In Horizontal And Vertical Transfer Students By Academic Level, Christopher A. Davis

Educational Foundations & Leadership Theses & Dissertations

College students increasingly are transferring among institutions of higher education in pursuit of their educational goals. The existing research on transfer students, however, does not adequately explore the unique characteristics of this heterogeneous population. The literature on transfer students suggests that transfer students are at-risk for experiencing academic difficulty and attrition. Research indicates that degree attainment is associated with the success of the student and their parents. Furthermore, attrition negatively impacts higher education finances, so colleges and universities that focus on helping students be successful and persist to graduation maintain revenue streams.

Many studies have focused on cognitive measures of …