In December 1991, the Chancellor's Office for the California Community Colleges (CCC) collected enrollment data at 49 of the state's 107 community colleges, representing approximately 54% of the total credit enrollment, in order to gain an estimate of changes, class sizes and unserved populations. Results of the survey include the following: (1)…

Written by and about the homeless, the Chicago newspaper "StreetWise" has potential for use in creative writing classes. An urban community college instructor uses the newspaper to provide material from which her students, many of whom are at or below the poverty level, can derive ideas for writing and to raise her students' level of…

A study was performed at Northern Illinois University (NIU) to measure the effect of "transfer shock" on community college students' academic performance during their first semesters of enrollment at NIU, as well as to determine whether academic class, gender, ethnicity, age, major, resident status, and previous degree achievements had…

This digest describes community college honors programs with regard to their origins and goals, consistency with institutional missions, and effectiveness. Potential goals for honors programs at community colleges include: (1) providing advanced students an opportunity to learn more than they would in a non-honors curriculum; (2) retaining a…

A survey was conducted at William Rainey Harper College (WRHC) in Palatine, Illinois, to determine the reasons why nearly 16% of the students who applied to the college for fall 1990 did not register by the first week of classes. Results were compared to those of a similar study conducted of 1982 no shows. A sample of 300 of the 854 fall 1990…

Because of their open-door policy, community colleges enroll a significant proportion of the poorly prepared students entering higher education. Many educators feel that colleges operating under open-door policies have a responsibility to identify underprepared students and provide them with the necessary developmental support. Colleges are…

Three studies were conducted at San Jose City College, in San Jose, California, to measure the persistence of new college students enrolled in entry-level English courses (i.e., English 321, English 322, and English 330) in fall 1988. Specifically, the studies examined students' persistence from their initial English course through Transfer Level…

To measure the amount of time it takes to earn an Associate of Arts degree at the San Diego Community College District, a study was undertaken of the number of years and number of semesters graduating students at three district colleges had been enrolled. A random sample of 300 students was drawn from the 1,130 students graduating in June 1992,…

Institutions of higher education have been unable or unwilling to make constructive and consistent use of student leadership as an advocate for the institutions. This is especially paradoxical in the case of community colleges, since two-year college students often have significant links to the community. If the potential for leadership among…

Consisting primarily of data tables and bar graphs, this report describes the student population enrolled in credit degree programs at St. Petersburg Junior College (SPJC) and its branches (Tarpon Springs Center, Clearwater, and Health Education Center). Focusing on enrollment by the end of the first week of classes in fall 1991, the report also…

A study was conducted to determine the effect of limiting class size in developmental English on subsequent student performance in a college-level English course. Class size effects were studied for two groups of students enrolled in College English I at the seven two-year branch campuses of Kent State University (i.e., Ashtabula, East Liverpool,…

The first step in developing the honors program at North Arkansas Community College (NACC) involved establishing the following four program objectives: (1) to develop students' skills in critical thinking, research, and the application of knowledge; (2) to explore the historical, philosophical, and cultural backgrounds of disciplines; (3) to…

In fall 1981, entering freshmen at Bronx Community College (BCC) were encouraged to attend a 10-week non-credit orientation course (SPD-99), in which counselors used a variety of materials and instructional procedures to assist students with their educational, career, and personal development and to introduce students to various campus resources…

Studies and analyses conducted by the Assessment Center at Sacramento City College (SCC) during 1983 resulted in the data on SCC's students and services presented in this report. After section I sets forth the purpose of the report and section II reviews trends and priorities revealed by the center's activities, section III provides a statistical…

The financial aid service in a community college may well be its most important function, yet community college students are discriminated against by policies designed for more traditional college students' needs. (MJK)