This handbook is designed to provide practical assistance to four-year institutions in their efforts to facilitate and increase the flow of students from two-year colleges into baccalaureate programs. The practical lessons offered are derived from a project of the Association of American Colleges (AAC) and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation involving…

Strong enrollments in career programs have led many to conclude that occupational training is, and should be, the premier function of a community college--a belief that is supported by the ways in which community colleges are funded. Though strong technical programs are an important part of what urban community colleges offer to their students,…

A study was conducted to review the major functions of a two-year college curriculum as identified in the literature; to relate these functions to specific academic areas within the sciences, social sciences, and science-related technologies; and to relate curriculum functions to specific courses within these academic areas. The literature on the…

Urges community colleges to view transfer as a matter of student and organizational behavior, and as a matter of academic practice. Argues that increased attention to these transfer issues will facilitate better descriptions and analyses of the transfer function as well as students' baccalaureate attainment. (DMM)

The public junior college was conceived with an "open door" to give the disadvantaged high school graduate another chance to break the poverty cycle and the minority student an opportunity to extend his/her skills and career options. Since its inception in the early 1900's, the mission of the junior college has changed. The initial focus on…

Designed as a call to community college faculty, administrators, and trustees to make a major investment in the collegiate function of their institutions, this book attempts to provide a strong conceptual foundation for vigorous renewal of the collegiate community college. Chapter 1 provides an overview of the community college as a collegiate…

This issue of a quarterly journal, concerned with community colleges focuses on relations between community colleges and four-year institutions, their perceived differences in status, and approaches to overcoming those differences. The issue contains seven articles beginning with "Tradition and Transformation: Academic Roots and the Community…

Discusses community colleges' multiple roles and the impact of declining elementary-secondary performance on higher education. Offers examples of changing relations with secondary education; community college programs for immigrants, minorities, and educationally disadvantaged; a continuum of occupational programs; diversity in transfer education;…

The renewed emphasis on the community college transfer function has both positive and negative aspects. On one hand, the creation of articulation agreements, transfer centers, consortia, and national centers promises to reduce the barriers between two- and four-year colleges, enhance the mobility of minority students, and improve teaching and…

This supplementary report presents testimony on the community college transfer function given to the California Postsecondary Education Commission's Ad Hoc Committee on Community College Transfer. First, Paul Elsner discusses developments related to transfer and articulation with four-year institutions within the Maricopa Community College…

Designed for use by college administrators and staff, as well as by boards of trustees and legislators, this seven-part report outlines an approach to assessing institutional effectiveness which utilizes mission-based, student-centered indicators of success. Resources to assist practitioners in conducting such an assessment are also identified.…

Community colleges serve more than half of all entering freshmen, half of all the women seeking higher education, and more minorities than all of the 4-year colleges and universities combined. Serving this population, the leaders and policy makers of community colleges must recognize the reasons for the underrepresentation of minorities in college…