Purpose: This conceptual piece applies what we know about student success to introduce a faculty model of success called the Faculty Pathway to Excellence. The model elevates faculty voices in the conversation of student success in community colleges. Method: We collected qualitative data from interviews with faculty at two community colleges and…

With the increase of technology in day-to-day lives, online college education is sweeping the nation as numbers of students enrolling online is consistently on the rise. Unfortunately, because of the nature of open enrollment at the community college level, students often enroll without necessary skills to be successful at the college level,…

This chapter addresses key assessment issues that influence the success of assessment programs at community colleges. Suggestions for advancing general education assessment are included.

In this report, the authors use Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) data to classify the 1.425 million degrees and certificates that community colleges awarded in academic year 2022-23 by intent (i.e., whether the program is designed to enable students to enter the workforce, transfer to a bachelor's degree program, or explore…

To understand retention, evaluation of guided pathways implementation is an important tool. In an effort to help students succeed, colleges often give students a specified set of core courses and a specific or even prescribed pathway to complete their general education requirements. Retention efforts are always a topic with administrators at…

A 2002 report by the National Academy of Engineering and National Research Council proposed a model of technological literacy knowledge necessary for all citizens that could be integrated into the academic curriculum. The report recommended that career and technical education (CTE) and general education (GE) faculty include technology literacy…

This practice article describes the goals, strategies, and outcomes of a pilot project that grew out of the Purposeful Pathways: Faculty Planning for Curricular Coherence project, funded by the Teagle Foundation, at Community College of Philadelphia. Included are recommendations for creating and supporting sustainable multidisciplinary…

Wing (2010) says computational thinking (CT) is the "new literacy of the 21st century" (p. 3), but yet computational thinking does not have a widely accepted definition making it difficult to know what are its associated skills. Understanding what these skills are is important to be able to teach this new literacy. Various populations…

Research shows that enriching learning experiences such as learning communities, service-learning, undergraduate research, internships, and senior culminating experiences -- collectively known as High-Impact Practices (HIPs) -- are positively associated with student engagement; deep, and integrated learning; and personal and educational gains for…

Research indicates that significant numbers of community college students enroll in quantitative literacy (QL) courses, yet we know little about the quantitative experiences of these students after they complete QL coursework. This qualitative case study was designed to explore with a sample of community college students and science instructors…

In the 1960s, general education was at the forefront of innovative programs in American community colleges. Every community college designed a program of a common core of courses for the common person. General education was so popular it was included as one of the required components of a comprehensive community college along with university…

As part of a study (Armstrong, Stahl, & Kantner, 2015a, 2015b, 2016) of curricular alignment between developmental reading (DR) and introductory-level general education (GE) at one community college, we asked faculty participants about the DR coursework at their own institution. Throughout data analysis, we became interested in how non-DR…

Community colleges continue to grapple with low rates of degree completion and transfer issues, with a national three-year completion rate of 22 percent (Community College Research Center). However, through the implementation of high-impact practices, many schools and programs have found levels of success. The City University of New York's (CUNY)…

As community colleges increasingly embrace their vocational role at the expense of their general education mission, the author of this chapter argues that a curriculum centered on a "Great Books" canon as developed by Mortimer Adler in the 1920s would revitalize liberal education at community colleges and serve both the general education…

Guided pathways increases attention to individual student journeys through California's community colleges, intentionally addressing innovations to optimize student success in completing the students' educational goals. This report primarily concerns placement and success in English pathways, including reading, and mathematics pathways, including…