Erin Severs believes that meeting the needs of underprepared students and supporting the faculty who do this work can only continue to be more central to the success of higher education in this country. With more and more students testing into developmental courses, and an unfortunately low completion rate for these students (25% complete a degree…

This study explored whether and how beginning 2-year college students' engagement in active learning within science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) classrooms is related to their intent to transfer to a 4-year institution. Despite the potentially important role active learning experiences play in shaping 2-year college students'…

The idea of mentoring in higher education is considered a good thing for students and faculty. What is missing in the research is how does mentoring influence and shape the student experience, does mentoring help retention, and how does it contribute to student development? (Crisp, Baker, Griffin, Lunsford, Pifer, 2017). The mentoring relationship…

Born on the eve of the Civil War, community colleges were designed to provide access to higher education for the masses. Community colleges, also referred to as "the people's college," were a radical departure from the traditional institutions of higher education. One significant difference, compared to other institutions of higher…

In the realm of higher education, a national and local priority in the United States and Hawai'i is the push for timely degree completion. Of particular concern are the retention and degree completion rates for Native Hawaiians. Interactions with counseling and advising professionals have the potential to significantly impact the quality and…

The college experience often includes activities outside the classroom that involve engaging with other students in a shared interest. These experiences often transform into alumni engaging in alumni functions, or participating through other means of identifying with the college, including wearing college logos. Online alumni involvement,…

Career and technical education was once essential in an attempt to educate people for their respective careers. While the premises for a career and technical education remains career oriented, these programs have come under attack in the past several years, especially, the career and technical degree programs offered at community colleges. The…

Iowa's Community Colleges create a significant positive impact on the business community and generate a return on investment to their major stakeholder groups--students, taxpayers, and society. Using a two-pronged approach that involves an economic impact analysis and an investment analysis, this study calculates the benefits to each of these…

This qualitative study examined the perceptions of nontraditional developmental education students on the fidelity of a supplemental instruction program in a community college setting. This study was motivated by two research questions: What are non-traditional supplemental instruction (NTSI) students' perceptions of their experiences in the…

This study compared the outcomes of student learning between an online Pre-Calculus course and a face-to-face Pre-Calculus course. Participants for this study included nine online and 14 face-to-face students from an urban community college in the Southeastern region of the United States. The study data were written responses from the subjects to…

High-structure course designs have reduced achievement gaps for low-income and underrepresented minority students at research universities. But do community college students have time to do the preclass preparation required for intensive active learning, given their work and family commitments? We asked introductory majors biology students at two…

Objective: Using data from "HEIghten"® Critical Thinking, a student learning outcomes assessment, the purpose of this study was to evaluate what variables are associated with higher critical thinking performance for students enrolled in various community college programs and to evaluate performance differences across demographic and…

One strategy to transform the high attrition rates among community college (CC) students is for CC instructors to utilize the teaching practices shown to most likely lead to student success. CC students and faculty are underrepresented in biology education research (BER), with only 3% of BER articles addressing CC-specific issues (Schinske et al.…

Gwinnett Technical College (GTC), established in 1984, is the second-largest technical college in Georgia. As a two-year open-access college, GTC and other technical and community colleges are significant in educating STEM and nonSTEM majors in the scientific process and scientific literacy. To increase the success of students enrolled in…

This qualitative longitudinal study explored the experiences of Black males attending a public, two-year, community college Hispanic-serving community college (HSCC) in Southern California. Drawing on the perspective of HSCCs as reflecting a colonial relationship between whites and Students of Color, we outline specific forms of anti-Black racism…