Adult students constitute a large and increasing proportion of community college enrollment across the United States. For personal, economic, and sociological reasons, the success of these students is vital to the students themselves, the institutions they attend, and society as a whole. The purpose of this dissertation was to examine results from…

Discussions of the barriers to completion in community colleges have largely focused on student success in introductory college-level math and English courses, and rightfully so, since these courses are typically required for degrees. However, there is a much broader range of courses that also serve as "gatekeepers" in the sense that they are…

Although both the University of California and the California State University systems have the option to use plus or minus grades in student evaluations, the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges (CCC) does not allow the use of such a grading system. Since 1985, the CCC's Academic Senate has lobbied the Board to allow local…

Following a 1988-89 legislative mandate that required public four-year colleges and universities in Virginia to report the academic progress of community college transfer students, seven senior institutions submitted data to Piedmont Virginia Community College (PVCC) on the progress of PVCC transfer students. The data provided, however, were…

A study was conducted at Mount San Antonio College (MSAC), California, to analyze patterns in credit course retention between fall 1986 and spring 1989. The study investigated the development of course prerequisites based on faculty perceptions of the skills necessary for success and minimal skill levels associated with success; student assessment…

In 1989, a two-year study was completed comparing the academic progress of community college transfers, senior college transfers, and continuing juniors (natives) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). The study samples were comprised of 673 former community college students and 393 senior college transfers who entered UIUC in…

Data provided by the University of California (UC) and California State University and Colleges (CSUC) were analyzed to identify enrollment trends and assess academic performance among transfer students from Bakersfield College. Study findings included the following: (1) first-time transfers from Bakersfield College to CSUC decreased from 391 in…

This study examined effects of a Dalton Junior College (Georgia) student success course, Dalton College Studies 101 (DCS 101) since it was first offered in 1987. The course meets twice a week, is strictly elective, and carries institutional credit. All students were first-time students and since most students enroll during the Fall quarter, only…

Information is provided on the academic performance and program selections of students transferring from community colleges in British Columbia (BC) to the three BC universities during the 1985-86 academic year, with reference to information from preceding years. Data for college transfer students are compared to data for direct-entry students…

Designed as a means of communicating information related to students to faculty and staff at the College of the Sequoias (COS), in California, this collection of quarterly newsletters by the college's Office of Institutional Research summarizes recent research projects, highlights data on student demographics from state and local studies, and…

A study sponsored by the Bureau of Adult and Community Education, Florida Department of Education, was conducted by the Center for Needs Assessment and Planning at Florida State University to compare the success of General Educational Development (GED) and traditional high school graduates at Florida's community colleges. Registrars at each of…

In response to state guidelines which require senior institutions to provide two-year colleges with information on transfer students' academic performance, this report describes the procedures developed by James Madison University (JMU), in Virginia, to share information with the two-year colleges and presents results of a study of the academic…

In July 1988, Milwaukee Area Technical College (MATC) initiated the Systematic Assessment of Leavers (SAL), a 2-year, 2-phase research activity to develop and implement a monitoring process to identify the personal, demographic, institutional, and environmental factors associated with leaving the college. The target populations of the study were…

In 1987-88, the Commission on Athletics' Research Committee of the California Association of Community Colleges undertook a study of the effects of the requirement that college athletes maintain a 2.0 grade point average (GPA), the status of women's sports, the use of part-time coaches, and the types of courses used to satisfy transfer…

A study tested a conceptual model of attrition, the Tinto (1975) model, on a group of General Educational Development (GED) examinees and on a comparison group of traditional high school graduates from a single public community college. The sample consisted of 198 GED students and 201 traditional high school graduates who entered Queensborough…