This study examined a psychosocial mechanism of how general self-efficacy interacts with other key factors and influences degree aspiration for students enrolled in an urban diverse community college. Using general self-efficacy scales, the authors hypothesized the General Self-efficacy model for Community College students (the GSE-CC model). A…

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to conceptualize, validate and confirm a structural equation modeling (SEM) hypothesized model of strategic leadership practices of Malaysian vocational college educational leaders. Design/methodology/approach: The study used a quantitative survey approach. The data were collected from 500 educational leaders…

The purpose of this study was to determine what variables predict the use of instructional technology among community college instructors. Legislators, community college administrators, and students expect innovative lessons from instructors that use technology. This study addresses the problem of not knowing what predicts instructional technology…

Previous research has generally focused on understanding individual variation in either on-line processing or off-line comprehension even though some theories explicitly link difficulty in processing to comprehension problems. The goal of the current study was to examine individual variation in performance both during on-line and off-line reading…

Objective: This quantitative study constructed a statistical model to measure family social capital and college social capital among community college students. The authors also examined influences of these two types of social capital constructs on degree aspiration. Method: This study utilized the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and…

The purpose of this study was to develop a retention model specific to the 2-year college environment using factors not typically combined with the study of student retention. The study operationalized factors representing the basic psychological needs of autonomy, competence, and relatedness combined with elements of Bean and Metzner's…

International student enrollment in higher education has risen in the United States for the past several decades. Along with the increase within 4-year institutions, the number of international students at community colleges also continues to rise. Open Doors reports there were 91,648 total international students enrolled in community college for…

This quantitative study examined the effects of marijuana on academic and social involvement in undergraduates using a structural equation model. The study was conducted at a midsized comprehensive community college in the Midwest and was guided by Astin's (1985) theory of student involvement. A survey link was e-mailed to all 4,527 eligible…

Community colleges continue to experience high levels of student attrition and low degree/certificate completion rates. Given extant literature, there appears to be a need to reexamine how interactions between students and the institution, and students and institutional agents are taking place, with the aim of identifying institutional practices…

According to the U.S. Department of Education (2013), approximately 11% of undergraduate students reported having a disability in the 2007-2008 academic year. Of these students, veterans reported having disabilities more than their non-veteran counterparts (5% vs. 3%). This study investigates faculty members' attitudes and behaviors toward student…

Career identity development is salient in adolescence and young adulthood, but little research has assessed career identity in populations other than four-year college students. Context should be considered when examining career identity, and to address this gap in the literature, the current study examined the extent to which parental support for…

Research often focuses on how students fail to meet college expectations, but it rarely asks how colleges fail to meet students' expectations. This study examines students' expectations of college and their institutional confidence--their level of certainty that college will meet their expectations. Drawing on 65 pilot interviews and a survey of…

This study confirmed appropriate measurement model fit for a theoretical model, the STEM vocational choice (STEM-VC) model. This model identifies exogenous factors that successfully predicted, at a statistically significant level, a student's vocational choice decision to pursue a STEM degree at transfer. The student population examined for this…

Community colleges currently enroll over one-third of all undergraduates and serve as the gateway to postsecondary education for increasing numbers of Americans in the 21st century, especially students of color. A significant portion of community college students aspire to transfer to a four-year college or university, but only 23% to 40% make…

This dissertation empirically tested Tinto's student integration theory through structural equation modeling using a national sample of 2,847 first-time entering community college students. Tinto theorized that the more academically and socially integrated a student is to the college environment, the more likely the student will persist through…