Through a one year-long, qualitative study of welfare-to-work students, this study investigates the developing epistemologies of women enrolled in a community college CalWORKs program. We investigate how poverty as a macro-environment and the community college as a micro-environment influence participants' epistemological development. Findings…

A vast body of research exists on experiential learning and workforce preparedness of students at the high school level; however, there is a limited focus on the community college sector. Administrators, who recognize the need for studies that address the potential benefit experiential learning can provide students at two-year institutions, will…

This article focuses on counseling research in the community college context. The article suggests the need for a robust community college knowledge base, describes some limitations of the current community college literature, and suggests a framework for more effective work in this area. The authors' own experiences and selected examples of…

First-time community college presidents are typically chosen from the senior ranks of two-year colleges' administrations, so they know what the job entails to some extent--at least from a close secondhand perspective. Leaders of community colleges who have taken the reins in the mid-2010s say that a close secondhand view only goes so far in…

This chapter describes career pathways that evolved through a Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College and Career Training consortium grant designed to help students complete programs of study and enter health care careers.

The purpose of this study included two main goals. The first was to provide a common definition for community college institutional effectiveness through a review of the literature and from the personal definitions of a panel of community colleges presidents leading notably effective community colleges. The second purpose was to review the…

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…

This study investigated female students who attended a STEM course with the Arts (STEAM) in comparison to a traditional STEM course and the impact it had on desire to pursue a STEM degree. An independent-samples t-test was conducted to compare female to male students' interest in pursuing STEM degrees. In addition, follow up data for registration…

The concept of the associate degree is new to the Hong Kong tertiary education system. Public discussion and research have focused much on the policy and operational aspects of this tier, but empirical efforts to examine associate degree students' learning experiences and how it relates to the policy are relatively sparse. The present study…

Community colleges have evolved a lot over the decades, but as much as they've changed over the years, they've remained true to their core mission of serving their community's needs. They have done so as they always have--by being highly responsive to shifting priorities. This calls to mind the old saying: The more things change, the more they…

This study employed the career capital framework (DeFillippi & Arthur, 1994; Inkson & Arthur, 2001) and the associated three ways of knowing adapted for community colleges: "knowing why" (aspirations), "knowing how" (knowledge and skills), and "knowing whom" (sources of information). The authors constructed an…

Technical education programs in community colleges prepare students for many science and engineering-based jobs in the United States. An increasing number of technical education programs in community colleges are using online learning tools to teach courses. However, little is currently known about the ways these programs are integrating online…

Background: Most community college students from low-income families have ambitious educational degree goals, but only a small fraction attains them. For many decades, sociologists have primarily attributed this problem to a cooling out process in which college practitioners diminish students' educational ambitions using academic reorientation…

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…

This study expanded on previous models that looked primarily at student and support factors related to student retention and examined other stakeholder group functions not previously reviewed in relation to student retention. The research question assumed that greater faculty participation in campus decision-making and faculty satisfaction would…