Background/Context: Community colleges are positioned as a cost-effective way for students to complete the first two years of a bachelor's degree, yet informational barriers to the transfer process are well documented. To transfer, students must overcome informational constraints, navigate bureaucratic hurdles, and resolve conflicting requirements…

This chapter discusses challenges to using data in a continuous improvement framework and describes the approaches some community colleges have used to overcome those challenges.

Throughout history, a disproportionate number of learners have been tracked into terminal vocational programs based on their race, income, gender and disability, leading to jobs with uncertain promise of economic growth and prosperity. While the quality of Career Technical Education (CTE) programs has significantly improved since then, many…

Brad C. Phillips and Jordan E. Horowitz offer a research-based model and actionable approach for using data strategically at community colleges to increase completion rates as well as other metrics linked to student success. They draw from the fields of psychology, neuroscience, and behavioral economics to show how leaders and administrators can…

This chapter presents various definitions of big data and examines some of the assumptions regarding the value and power of big data, especially as it relates to issues of equity in community colleges. Finally, this chapter ends with a discussion of the opportunities and challenges of using big data, critically, for institutional researchers.

This chapter provides a conceptual model that academic leaders can use to navigate the complex, and often contentious, organizational terrain of academic program development. The model includes concepts related to the institution's external environment, as well as internal organizational structures, cultures, and politics. Drawing from the…

Transitioning Learners to Calculus in Community Colleges (TLC3) is a research project aimed at transforming institutional approaches to matriculating underrepresented racial minority (URM) students into and through Calculus II in the nation's 1,023 public associate degree-granting institutions (community colleges). The broader goal of the TLC3…

This study explored the interplay of a community college's vision, its leaders' behaviors, strategic planning, and the use of data that contributed to an organizational culture that led to the improvement of student success. The researcher used a grounded theory approach to delve into the relationships and connections between these four…

The California Community Colleges serve more than 2.1 million students and is the largest system of higher education in the nation. The state's 112 colleges provide workforce training, teach basic math and English, and prepare students for transfer to four-year universities and colleges. Senate Bill 852 established the Career Technical Education…

Professional development is a lifelong learning process and technology has provided and will continue to provide new and different delivery methods. Regardless of the delivery method, the intention of professional development is to increase teacher knowledge, which in turn, increases student achievement. At a southeastern community college,…

Community colleges face many challenges in the face of demands for increased student success. Institutions continually seek scalable interventions and initiatives focused on improving student achievement. Effectively implementing sustainable change that moves the needle of student success remains elusive. Facilitating systemic, scalable change…

Several federal grants prioritized the role of community colleges in education and training in recent years, and one of the most substantial investments was the Trade Adjustment Act Community College and Career Training (TAACCCT) program of the United States Department of Labor (DOL). Beginning October 2011, these $2 billion capacity-building…

Community colleges are under pressure these days to produce graduates who can land jobs. But identifying which occupations and skills are in demand is often easier said than done. LaGuardia, a City University of New York campus in Long Island City, is one of 10 community colleges across six states experimenting with software that collects…

Achieving the Dream (ATD) is a national nonprofit organization dedicated to improving outcomes among community college students, especially low-income students and students of color. A central ATD strategy is to promote a "culture of evidence," in which colleges collect, analyze, and make decisions based on information about students in…

Embedded librarians in online courses provide a wealth of service and information to students. Though students indicate that these services are valuable, the librarians providing embedded services frequently note that these projects are very time consuming. This study examines the provision of a less time-intensive model of embedded librarianship…