In higher educational settings, the academic program review process allows academic units to solicit feedback, make data-driven decisions regarding effectiveness and sustainability, and report to stakeholders. In order to discover trends and best practices in the current state of academic program review in higher education, examined was a sample…

This chapter presents the results of a study focused on rural community college faculty experiences. Through their own stories, it becomes clear that rural faculty do not have a single role, but instead fulfill many roles that ensure the success of their students.

Partial LGBTQ+ assimilation into mainstream culture has changed how practitioners interact with students at suburban community colleges. This chapter reviews the history of the Chicago suburbs and reflects on the authors' experiences working with LGBTQ+ students in community colleges there.

This study explored self-efficacy in a sample of urban community college students. The main goal of the study was to determine levels of both general and academic self-efficacy in this population, consisting of first-generation, immigrant, and traditional students. Self-efficacy is an important psychological factor affecting academic motivation,…

This dissertation explores the daily lives of student services personnel at for-profit and community colleges by inquiring into how they frame the students they work with and whose interests they articulate themselves as serving. Student services personnel are tasked with serving students but must do so within the context and structure in which…

Once a community college graduate completes an associate's degree, the institution is committing to the public that the graduate possesses a prescriptive set of knowledge, skills, and abilities either gained through, or enhanced by, their college attendance. At most institutions, these skill sets are assessed almost exclusively through internal…

Once a community college graduate completes an associate's degree, the institution is committing to the public that the graduate possesses a prescriptive set of knowledge, skills, and abilities either gained through, or enhanced by, their college attendance. At most institutions, these skill sets are assessed almost exclusively through internal…

Background: Reading comprehension and writing ability are critical to students' success in introductory psychology. However, these generally are not prerequisites. There is conflicting evidence with regard to the effectiveness of remedial reading and writing classes for students with low placement exam scores. Objectives: To explore whether…

Objective: Students' enrollment intensity during their first academic semester and year are highly influential in their success and decisions to persist in community college. Limited research, however, has focused on understanding how students navigate the decision-making process of determining their credit load or how institutional support…

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, there were high rates of food and housing insecurity and unmet childcare, clothing, and physical and mental health needs among community college students. There was a growing body of evidence linking these unmet needs to adverse educational outcomes. In response, many community colleges had started to develop basic…

This study explores the beliefs of non-science majors in an undergraduate biology classroom as part of a larger study on evolution education. Groups of students (n=12) were given fourteen questions, some potentially controversial and some non-controversial, and asked to create categories based on what type of authority students would turn to as a…

Having accurate, sufficient information can help students prepare for and transition college. However, access to information about college is inequitable. Drawing from interviews with eight first-year community college students, this study explored how community college students decided whom they could trust to provide college knowledge, the role…

Objective: The objective of this study is to examine the potential co-occurrence of basic needs insecurity and mental health problems among community college students. These barriers to student success are gaining significant attention from college leaders and scholars, but they are often addressed in isolation, ignoring the potential reinforcing…

This study details the mentored research component of a program intended to recruit, retain, and transfer students attending a two-year college (2YC) to four-year geosciences programs. Eighteen of 20 students who started the program were from minoritized backgrounds: 12 women, six racial/ethnic minorities, 12 low-income, and 13 first-generation…

Differences in funding mixtures across the United States create widely variant levels of unmet need for students. This research examines gaps of unmet need between 2003-4 and 2013-14, particularly considering the presence of any local funding provisions and Pell Grant funding changes. These findings are also considered across state, community…