Community College Leadership Commons^™

Student Experiences Of The Community College Developmental Writing Classroom, Janet Kirchner

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The low success rate of students in community college developmental education classes has caused not only institutions and their instructors but also those outside of the classroom to search for alternative programs and delivery methods to improve student outcomes. As college completion rates become increasingly tied to state funding, many community colleges are re-thinking their programs, considering acceleration of coursework, learning communities, and supplemental instruction as replacements for the traditional developmental sequence. While these programs have shown success in some community colleges, much of the research is quantitative in nature and based on completion rates. The purpose of this study …

Effects Of Learning Communities On Community College Students' Success: A Meta-Analysis, Keith Allen Wurtz

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Low graduation rates are a significant issue for colleges. The majority of higher education institutions in the United States offer learning communities (LCs), which have been found to be effective for improving course success and persisting to the next semester. However, there is a gap in the literature regarding the effectiveness of LCs with different types of populations and different types of LCs. The purpose of this meta-analysis was to identify the most effective types of LCs. Research questions addressed the effects of different types of LCs on different student success outcomes for community colleges. The study was based on …

The Neglected Minority: Interviews With Successful Community College Students From Poverty, Heather Hollifield-Hoyle

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Poverty in the US is growing at an alarming rate. The current economic climate demands higher education to embrace the economic diversity of all students and to prepare them, regardless of economic class, for a globally competitive workplace. Unfortunately, the higher education community is not as adept at serving low-income students, as it is middle- and upper- income students. Low-income students are less likely than their more affluent peers to enroll in college or graduate. Employing qualitative narrative methods, this dissertation explores the factors that contributed to the persistence and success of 18, low-income, community college students. This study addresses …

Developmental Education Repeaters: Stories About Repetition, Jade J. O'Dell

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Developmental education students make up almost half of the community college population in the United States (Bettinger & Long, 2005). Approximately 42% of first-time freshmen at community colleges must enroll in at least one developmental education course in English, reading and/or math (NCES, 2010). Many developmental education students are unsuccessful in passing a developmental education course in their first and second attempts and retake the course sometimes five times before passing. There is substantial research on persistence among college students, but the research fails to link persistence to developmental education repeaters. My study sought to explore community college developmental education …

Promoting And Preserving Scholarly And Creative Work At Parkland College, Sherry Cmiel, Erika Hackman

Library Scholarship

What is the role of scholarship at a community college? The process of identifying, sharing, showcasing, and using the scholarly and creative work of a community college can lay the groundwork for cross-curricular collaborations and encourage students to demonstrate learning at a higher level. At Parkland College, the institutional repository (SPARK) has played a key role in this process.

A Guest In Someone's House: Exploring The Role Of African-American Student-Faculty/Staff Interactions In A Community College Setting, Yolanda Isaacs

College of Education Theses and Dissertations

African-American students are enrolling in four-year universities and community colleges in the hope of receiving a degree; however, their rate of degree attainment at the latter institutions in particular continues to be troubling. Although community colleges are making efforts to improve the graduation rates of African-American students, more institutional strategies are needed to address this concern. The purpose of the study was to explore how the role of African-American faculty and staff can affect the success of African-American students in a community college setting. The researcher investigated African-American students’ perceptions and experiences regarding how African-American faculty and staff members have …

Ua41 University College Connection, Dennis K. George, Dean, Wendi Kelley

UC Publications

No abstract provided.

Program Evaluation Of Developmental Math Instruction At The Community College Level, John M. Mchugh

Education Dissertations and Projects

This program evaluation case study examined the academic effectiveness of a developmental math program in the southeastern United States. The CIPP Evaluation Model (Fitzpatrick, Sanders, & Worthen, 2004) was used as the framework for this program evaluation. The research questions used to guide the research were (1) what are the conditions leading to the necessity of a developmental mathematics program at the college level; (2) what other attempts have been made to solve the problem; (3) how does the implementation of the developmental math program at this college align with recommendations for appropriate instruction of developmental math students; (4) how …

Ua41 University College Connection, Dennis K. George, Dean, Wendi Kelley

UC Publications

No abstract provided.

Helping Educators Foster A Growth Mindset In Community College Classrooms, Marianne Adams Auten

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Current research shows that students with a growth mindset are more motivated to learn, want to work harder, are less discouraged by difficulty, use more effective strategies for learning, and have higher academic performance in comparison to students without this mindset. Despite these promising findings, a growth mindset is sometimes not reinforced or is even refuted by classroom conditions. The purpose of this intrinsic case study was to explore how community college educators create classroom environments that foster a growth mindset. The conceptual framework for this study was a social constructivist approach where the interviewer and the participants co-constructed the …

Successful African American Community College Students Perceptions On Sense Of Belonging In Three California Community College Districts, Nicole Yvette Wise

Doctoral Dissertations

Roach (2009) indicates that "only 31 percent of public community college students go on to complete either an associate or bachelor's degree in six years" according to U.S. Education Department data (p. 14). In California the gap is even wider and the statistics more scarce for students of color. Whereas only 15 percent of African American students compared, to 26 percent of white students, complete their degree in six years of enrolling in a California Community College (Roach, 2009, p. 14). College retention as it pertains to success is a challenging issue in the United States, and the California Community …

Institutionalized Community College Service Learning To Promote Engagement, Velda Arnaud

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Community college graduation rates are low, and community colleges have been tasked with producing more graduates to meet workforce needs. Research has determined that engaged students remain at their institutions and complete their degrees. Service learning has been identified as a high-impact practice that engages students with their learning and builds connections between students and campus personnel. The majority of service-learning research, having been conducted with 4-year colleges and universities, may have limited applicability to the community college population. This qualitative descriptive case study describes how institutionalized service learning on 1 community college campus is structured, supported, and operated. The …

Background And Leadership Traits To Effectively Lead Faculty Senates In California Community Colleges, Julie Adams

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Although the major responsibility for community college governance falls to presidents and administrators, researchers have recognized the integral role of faculty in governing higher education institutions. Few studies, however, have explored the effectiveness of contributions of faculty elected to community college academic senates. The purpose of this research was to investigate the background traits and leadership skills of elected academic senate presidents in order to identify both their perceptions of themselves as leaders and the perceptions of other faculty senate members. This study was based in the theory of transformational leadership in organizations and its impact on the effectiveness of …

The Impact Of A First -Year Learning Community On Student Persistence: Perceptions Of Community College Students, David Gerkin

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

This descriptive case study explored the perceptions of former community college first year learning community participants on aspects of their learning community experience that affected their persistence in college using Astin's student involvement theory and Tinto's student persistence model as a conceptual framework. Learning communities have been shown to increase student persistence, but little is known about how they do so. A better understanding of how learning communities contribute to increased student persistence would improve learning community practice and gain administrative support for learning communities. This study used a mixed methods research design utilizing both qualitative and quantitative data. Qualitative …

Education For Sexual Harassment Prevention: Which Training Technique Works Best?, Amy Ramson

Touchstone

No abstract provided.

Understanding And Application Of Learning College Concepts Among Community College Support Staff Employees, Laura E. Weidner

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Research on the Learning College indicates that everyone in the college must support learning. There have not been previous studies that centered on whether or not support staff, a major constituency group in community colleges, participates in supporting learning. This adapted phenomenological study examined staff in a Learning College to determine their understanding and application of the Learning College concept. Three research questions addressed how these employees understand the concept, perceive their roles, and apply Learning College principles. The study was conducted in a theoretical framework combining Learning College, change, and organizational culture theories. Data were collected from a purposive …

Illinois Public Community College Department Chair Roles And Role Conflict, Kristine M. Young

Vice President for Academic Services Scholarship

This research had two purposes: to determine community college department chair roles and to determine whether role conflict exists for the status of Illinois public community college department chair. The research was divided into two phases. In Phase I, community college department chair role factors were determined. Using ratings of importance reported by a sample of Illinois public community college department chairs on a modified version of Carroll and Gmelch’s (1992) department chair duty questionnaire, principal components analysis was employed to determine an underlying factor structure. Five factors were determined and interpreted as department chair roles: Department Leader, Resource Manager, …

Teacher Leadership In Community Colleges: Transforming Teaching And Organizational Governance, Pamela Miller

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to describe and interpret the experiences of community college teachers in order to understand their perception of theirleadership role and the impact of teacher leadership on institutional governance and student success. This research addressed gaps in the teacher leadershipliterature by contributing a quantitative analysis of the leadership perceptions of community college faculty. The results of the study should be of interest tocommunity college faculty and administrators, teacher educators and teacher preparation institutions, and policy makers as they work to implement change efforts related to curriculum and instruction, professional development, institutional leadership, and governance.

Chapter …

Automotive Service Technology Intersectional Skills Proficiency Assessment, David L. Macquarrie

Dissertations

This dissertation focused on the creation and validation of a criterion referenced credentialing assessment of automotive service technicians' intersectional skills (ASTIS) proficiency. These intersectional skills are prerequisite and common to multiple job level tasks that an automotive service technician (AST) performs on the job. An assessment of the ASTIS was created to aid automotive technician employers in the evaluation of hiring prospective technician employees and is not duplicated by current certifications (e.g. ASE) as they do not uniquely assess these skills.

This dissertation focused on the ASTIS skills and the information an employer can obtain pertaining to a prospective employee's …