"Three Big Lessons in Six Years" is both a reflection on the past and a look ahead to the future at Charlestown (C-Town) High School (Boston, Massachusetts) and other early college programs across the country. The purpose of this series is to document essential design elements, operational structures, and critical support for students to…

Ethnic studies programs have recently been the target of positive and negative scrutiny in both the K-12 system and in 4-year institutions. There is a critical disconnect in the research on ethnic studies in community colleges, which serve a large proportion of racially minoritized students. Moreover, studies tend ignore how ethnic studies courses…

Sophia Graff, a beginning algebra teacher at Valencia College in Orlando, had an idea. The state of Florida had instituted a mandatory competency test that students needed to pass to enter intermediate algebra, but only a third of her students were succeeding. As part of an action-research project that was required for all professors seeking…

The American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) defines service learning as the combination of classroom instruction with community service, focusing on critical, reflective thinking as well as personal and civic responsibility. Service learning programs involve students in activities that address local, community-identified needs while…

High school students with disabilities who drop out are costly to society. Compared to those who graduate, they are more likely to be unemployed, dependent on public services, and involved in the criminal justice system. Consequently, helping students with disabilities graduate has become a prominent national concern. Students with disabilities…

To serve the various interests and needs of those in the West Valley Community College District, Mission College is planned as a responsive, humane, and open organization offering diverse programs and excellent services. The learning program will be based on postulates that involve: (1) student-faculty interaction; (2) teaching and community…

Before a general education (GE) program is initiated or assessed, a solid institutional foundation should exist, including a philosophy and definitions regarding GE. At Ohio's Sinclair Community College, the institutional foundation included a college-wide Assessment Steering Committee charged with developing a comprehensive assessment plan for…

In searching for ways to provide continuing education in the humanities, community colleges can look to the various state programs sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities which, since 1970, have taken humanities education out of the traditional library/classroom environment and into non-traditional settings, such as school…

Through a Beacon grant from the American Association of Community Colleges and the Kellogg Foundation, Rockland Community College, in association with nine other Mid-Atlantic community colleges, organized two conferences for student scholars at two-year colleges. Students were invited to submit papers in all disciplines (e.g., the humanities,…

Reviews the development and growing institutional acceptance of the general studies program at the Parkington campus of Mississippi Gulf Coast Junior College which offers remedial courses in English, mathematics, and reading to over one-fifth of the student body. (MB)

The rapid expansion of community college programs has at least seven implications for community college speech programs and speech instructors. (1) Since most community colleges are open-door institutions, many students are coming to these institutions ill-equipped to handle the oral and listening requirements of academic life, necessitating…

When will community college humanists recognize that their classrooms are diminished, their courses ignored, and their teaching fields assaulted by advocates of other curriculums, not because the humanities are less worthy, but because the advocates of career and medical education, to name but two, have stepped out of the classroom to take…

This plan is designed to serve during 1976-77 and 1977-78 as a general guide and framework for the administration of the cooperative education program of the Los Angeles Community College District. The plan sets forth the objectives of the program and the general requirements and responsibilities of the parties to the plan, including the college,…

There are several recommended strategies for speech communication departments to help ensure their central role in the developing general education programs at community colleges. Although based on the experiences of one community college, the suggestions are generic in nature and can apply to many different college circumstances. Department…

With focus on improving the effectiveness of the Mathematics Laboratory at Somerset County College, this paper provides background information on individualized instruction programs and learning centers, assesses the current status of the Math Lab, and offers a series of recommendations for immediate implementation. The first sections set forth a…