Assessment, accountability, and transparency represent a greater focus than ever in higher education. Community colleges are not exempt from these requirements, though they are overlooked in the creation of state and national assessment instruments. Therefore, we designed and distributed the Perceptions of Community College Assessment (PCCA)…

This narrative research study was conducted to explore the experiences of full-time community college faculty members involved in student learning outcomes assessment. Prior research documented the need for more community college faculty involvement with assessment at the program and institutional levels (Grunwald & Peterson, 2003; Kinzie,…

In 2009, over 300 community colleges across the country adopted the Community College Student Survey of Engagement (CCSSE) in an effort to assess the campus environment through student perceptions. In addition, community colleges across the country are searching for ways to measure student learning. The Collegiate Assessment of Academic…

Discussions of workforce development emphasize stackable training, and assume linear advancement and alignment, through college and career paths. Stackable credentials have become a best practice for community colleges across the United States as they struggle to advance the college completion agenda and ensure that students graduate with the…

Since the initiation of performance funding in Tennessee in the late 1970s, approximately 30 states have, at some point, attempted a funding model that includes performance on a set of indicators. The purpose of the present study was to capture the current status of performance funding in public statewide community college systems and to assess…

To propose recommendations to implement outcomes-based assessment program review in a California Community College District, a grounded theory analysis was performed within the district. The findings generated were cross-referenced with findings from a multi-institutional case study analysis. A key finding from the cross-reference was the need for…

The $17.2 million Rural Community College Initiative (RCCI) demonstration grant program funded by the Ford Foundation which ran from 1994 to 2001 represents the largest philanthropic project specifically aimed at rural community colleges in United States history. While a good deal of literature has been published about this initiative, much was…

Research focusing on community college leadership programs and the needs of workforce development personnel shows that the primary knowledge and skills needed by professionals in the field include collaboration, teaching, community college context, effects of globalization, data usage, and skills related to leadership and team work. Program…

The paper uses the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data system (IPEDS) data to simulate the 2020 American Graduation Initiative (AGI) goal introduced by President Obama in the summer of 2009. We estimate community college graduation rates and completion numbers under different scenarios that include the following sets of variables: (a) internal…

Whether naturalized or native, a nation becomes stronger as individuals embrace opportunities for postsecondary education. President Obama's commitment to community college education through the American Graduation Initiative (AGI) will facilitate increased matriculation into community colleges, encourage students to transfer into four-year…

Pressures to increase accountability in basic skills education have encouraged policy makers and postsecondary institutions to focus on student achievement. Using the Washington State Student Achievement Initiative Database and two consecutive years of data, this study examines the academic progress of basic skills students at one community…

Neosho County Community College, is a small college in Kansas. It set out to measure outcomes in every course, program, and in general education. It wound up creating a simple, elegant, inexpensive, faculty-driven system that transformed the college culture from an emphasis on what was being taught to what was being learned.

The development of the U.S. community college concept for increasing access, success, and transition in both transfer and career programs has been well documented (Cohen & Brawer, 2003). With such success has come increased international interest in both the organizational model of the community college and the instructional approaches taken…

With an increasingly technological and competitive world economy, more jobs require employees to have achieved the advanced skills and knowledge gained only through postsecondary education. The data regarding the supply and demand between the workforce and higher education present a challenge for community college technical programs. These are the…

Students who graduated from a teacher education program at a large public university were contacted to determine if they were teaching. Those who were teaching were also asked if they were teaching in the communities where they lived prior to attending college. A comparison of the graduates who were community college transfer students and…