Caring Campus-Faculty is a program that supports faculty as they develop and implement "behavioral commitments" designed to help students feel a sense of belonging and to support them in their educational journey. Developed by the Institute for Evidence-Based Change, Caring Campus was evaluated by the Community College Research Center…

This chapter illustrates the potential promise and complexities of free college initiatives from the perspective of administrators, faculty, staff, and students who are involved in a scholarship program at a small Midwestern community college. Based on two waves of interviews conducted in 2019 and 2021 respectively, we found that, while largely…

With just 43% of community college students graduating within six years (Causey et al., 2022b), low graduation rates have been the defining, animating issue for community colleges for over a decade (Cutler & White, 2022). Concurrently, high-impact practices (HIPs) have proven enormously successful in improving student outcomes at higher…

Hundreds of community colleges are attempting transformational pathway reform, also known as guided pathways, to improve student outcomes. This qualitative case study explored sensemaking and organizational learning, early processes of transformational change, among administrators, faculty, and staff implementing pathway reform in a California…

Research for Action (RFA) in partnership with the University of Texas at Austin is engaged in a five-year mixed-methods study of the reforms associated with California AB 705. Over the course of the study, our team will assess the implementation, impact, and cost effectiveness of reforms associated with the law. This second interim report,…

This qualitative case study examines, through an educational equity lens, the motivation, challenges, and assessment associated with international program development as appraised by the faculty and administrators in a district of multiple community colleges. To this end, semi-structured interviews were conducted with four faculty members and…

Adjunct faculty use in higher education has been on the rise since the 1970s, with adjuncts teaching 58% of United States community college classes. Yet, adjuncts are consistently excluded from the professional development opportunities offered to their full-time counterparts. For institutions to ensure their students are receiving the best…

To counter tuition and textbook costs for degree-seeking students, a specific pathway to a bachelor's degree in Leadership was developed. The pathway, comprised of partnerships with the high school Leadership Academy at a public high school, community college, and Old Dominion University (ODU), reduced tuition and textbook costs, allowing the…

Dual credit coursework has become a popular strategy to bolster the college completion agenda, yet research on program implementation is scarce. This qualitative interview study uses complexity theory to investigate how 103 teachers enacted dual credit at eight high schools partnered with a community college system in Texas. Findings demonstrate…

One of the most pressing concerns on college campuses today is student safety. To date, nine states have passed Campus Carry legislation and more states may follow. Texas was the eighth state to pass Campus Carry legislation. Specifically, in the 2015 Legislative session, the Texas Legislature voted to allow License to Carry (LTC) holders to carry…

The Pullias Center for Higher Education, as part of the USC-LACCD Research-Practice Partnership (RPP), is conducting a mixed-methods evaluation of Assembly Bill 705 (AB705) focused on how community college practitioners are implementing this landmark policy, which directs all 116 community colleges in the California Community College (CCC) system…

The study focused on institutional efforts to retain and support racially minoritized students in higher education. The purpose of the study was to explore the experience of faculty and staff implementing California Assembly Bill 705 (AB 705), a legislative mandate intended to increase student achievement and close equity gaps among Black and…

The purpose of this dissertation was to ascertain the outcomes of the transition of community colleges that now offer the nursing baccalaureate degree (BSN). Specifically, this study provides insight into the factors that prompted the addition of the BSN, the relationship to the institution's mission, faculty and administration perceptions of the…

For more than 10 years, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) regional accrediting body has required all of the nearly 800 institutions under its umbrella to prepare and execute a Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP) as part of the reaccreditation process that occurs every 10 years. Pursuant to 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…