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This study explored whether community college websites are a useful medium for providing knowledge relevant to degree completion. Ten community students used one of three community college websites to answer 10 questions about occupational degree programs. A facilitator asked participants to think aloud while using the website to answer these questions; their responses were video-recorded and coded in terms of correctness of answers and types of usability problems encountered. The findings suggest that participants frequently encountered problems with finding and understanding information needed to understand degree selection and completion. The content analysis of these problems yields several suggestions for improving the usability of community college websites for answering common questions about degree completion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Employing interviews with individuals from 16 community colleges across the country, as well as an independent consultant engaged in activities of the National Association for Community College Entrepreneurship (NACCE), this study considers the organizational structures and academic practices associated with community college entrepreneurship education. More specifically, community college entrepreneurship education is argued to be a market-oriented trend that has been largely overlooked as a curricular alternative to workforce development models. The exploration is guided by and placed within the context of academic capitalism as articulated by Slaughter and Rhoades. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Community college partnerships with institutions in other educational sectors (including schools and universities) are important and strategic ways of meeting the educational needs of college constituents and maximizing resources to achieve local and state economic development goals. Understanding what is required for effective partnerships is important in determining when and how to engage in these collaborative, but sometimes costly, arrangements. This article presents a model of partnership development that emphasizes the role of social and organizational capital in the formation of partnership capital that contributes to the long-term success of collaborative efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Community college leaders serve as linchpins for framing meaning on campus. The current pressures on institutions (given declining financial resources, demands for accountability, changing faculty ranks, and societal need for new knowledge) require presidents to juggle multiple priorities while presenting a cohesive message to campus constituents. This study examined how the presidents at nine community colleges communicated with college constituents and framed the meaning of those communications to help the college community make sense of ongoing change. Interviews with the presidents, as well as with key administrators, faculty members, and staff members, revealed that the presidents used emissaries to disseminate information in four distinct ways. Study findings also showed that the presidents framed the meaning of their communications through visionary framing (emphasizing future possibilities), step-by-step framing (emphasizing the immediate next steps required to achieve institutional goals), or connective framing (emphasizing dialogue and collaborative learning). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using a longitudinal, state-wide dataset, this study assessed the effect of financial aid on the persistence of full-time students in associate's degree programs at the Oklahoma community colleges. Three financial-aid sources were examined: the Oklahoma Higher Learning Access Program (OHLAP), Pell grants, and Stafford loans. Results indicate that these forms of financial aid, alone and in combination, were predictors of persistence measured in terms of the student progressing from 1st-year status to 2nd-year status. The effect of financial aid, however, was moderated by ethnicity and income. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Raymond J. Young (1923-2007) played a key role in the post-World War II development of community colleges in Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, and elsewhere. This article describes his scholarly and professional contributions in developing "bottom-up," grassroots citizen's participatory studies that led to the establishment 60 community colleges in 33 states between 1955 and 1976. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article provides six shorter articles which focus on how educator Arthur M. Cohen influenced his students in life and in the ways in which they think about community college education. The articles are written by some of Cohen's former students. These former students are all professional scholars or college level educators. Each of the authors focused on the influence Cohen had over their lives, both during their time as a student and afterwards. Cohen's beliefs regarding community college education are mentioned in the articles.

The article states that research on community colleges has been conducted for many decades, and for just as many years it has been ignored by community college practitioners. For purposes of this article, researchers include university professors, graduate students, and state and federal agency staff. The practitioners are community college staff, faculty, and administrators. The influence of distance from the object of study, as it relates to community college research and practice, can be illustrated graphically by reference to a map. A reason why practitioners and researchers ignore each other is that research in the universities and research and practice in the community colleges stem from different demands and expectations. University researchers formulate research questions, erect hypotheses, conduct literature reviews, describe their methods, analyze data, display findings, and conclude their reports with theoretical discussions and suggestions for further research. For community college practitioners to attend to research conducted in the university, the divide between research and practice must be bridged.

The article presents a study related to a postmodern community college undergoing renewal. The postmodern community college is a site of expanding missions, chaotic environmental turbulence, and increasing heterogeneity both within the publics served and among organizational members. The chief purpose of the present study was to chart various institutional discourses relating to the climate at a rural community college undergoing organizational renewal. The researcher hypothesized that members of various subsystems within the institution would differ in the ways they make meaning of the signs and symbols of organizational climate. First, a valid understanding of climate within a postmodern reality may require a shift in how researchers assess and define organizational climate. Second, higher education leaders who seek to understand post-modern organization must acknowledge diversity where it exists, particularly when it engenders divergent ways of making sense of leadership behaviors and symbolic actions.

The article focuses on the significance of community colleges. The American community colleges face a future marked by contrasts. Demand for services is increasing. Support from communities is strong. Business and industry leaders are increasingly turning to community colleges as their workforce providers. Across the United States, college participation is increasing, with notable gains in the community college sector. Community colleges are a choice for students who want a personalized college experience, challenging but nurturing, regardless of their long-term academic goals. Survey after survey finds that the public likes community colleges and sees their work as important but that it also struggles to articulate what community colleges do. Community colleges suffer from support that is a mile wide and an inch deep, a lack of commitment and passion required for real political clout. Community colleges are nonprofit entities and, therefore, balancing the budget is too often used as the definition of fiscal success.

The article focuses on a national study of community college education conducted by researcher R.H. McCabe. According to the study, 41% of entering community college students and 29% of all entering college students are underprepared in at least one of the basic skills of reading, writing, and math. Since the 1980s, colleges have increasingly required placement testing to determine college readiness and offered or required developmental or remedial education for students placing below college level. College readiness involves prediction. Placement tests and other standardized measures are often used to predict students' readiness for college. Developmental education courses at community colleges help to provide underprepared students with math, reading and English, and study skills to succeed in college. Student behaviors and characteristics such as personality factors have been explored and attributed to the success of underprepared learners. In addition to recognized academic skills, participants in this study indicated that skills in time-management, the ability to apply oneself and focus on a goal, and skills for advocating for oneself as a learner are essential for college readiness.

The article recounts the efforts by the Arts and Humanities department at Atlantic Cape Community College (ACCC) to increase student retention in the spring of 2001 by personalizing academic advisement for the students seeking degrees in studio arts, humanities, history, or performing arts. The purpose of this research was to evaluate the assumption that increased interaction between faculty and students in the form of developmental academic advising as described by the literature affects student persistence in a specific community college. The purpose of the questionnaire was to determine the student perceptions of faculty-based advising. The purpose of the surveys was to determine if there was any difference in the sense of integration into the college between the general student population and the students who had been the recipients of the Arts and Humanities departmental academic advising initiative. Comparing the two sets of data would reveal if the departmental initiative had any impact on student attitudes towards advising.

Introduces the One-Stop Shop concept and its role within the community college setting by presenting a case study of Onondaga Community College in (OCC) New York. Importance of enrollment management in retaining students; Mission of community colleges; Background on the OCC; Purpose of designing the One-Stop Shop concept.

Discusses the use of collaboration between colleges and communities as a tool for developing facilities that benefit both community college students and other users in the community. Range of approaches for addressing collaborative facility development; Review of examples of creative community college facilities acquisition, construction, leasing, shared-usage, and management styles.

Describes a community needs assessment (CNA) conducted by Gainesville College in Georgia designed to respond to their communities and to document their effectiveness. Data gathering for planning and decision making; Definition of community; Methodology used for the CNA.

Describes the Overtown Neighborhood Partnerships program launched by the Medical Center Campus of Miami-Dade Community College in Florida designed to evaluate the school's role in a social and physical transformation of the neighborhood. Overtown as symbol of the fractured inner city; Response to elimination of traditional community outreach programs.

Discusses the role of American community colleges in building learning communities. Empowerment of people to participate in continuous individual and community renewal; Challenges of change; Development of lifelong learning capabilities and desires among citizens.

Discusses community-based programming as an opportunity and imperative for American community colleges in order to improve the lives of people who reside in their respective service areas. Changing role of the community college; Definition of community-based programming; Guidelines for engaging the community college in a community-based programming.

Discusses societal issues that affect American community colleges and their leadership. Inability of political processes and institutions to deal wit significant issues; Return to local responsibility and control in addressing societal needs; Dichotomy between the nature of the problems that concern the people and the solutions they devise.

Discusses the need for American community colleges to develop a community-based programming that builds on diversity as its strength. Suitability of community colleges as focal points for community-based programs; History of service of community colleges to underserved populations; Involvement of actual consumers in the planning and implementation of community-based programs.

The article presents abstracts of various articles published in the September 1, 2005 issue of the journal "Community College Review." One of the article is "Organizational Climate in Its Semiotic Aspect: A Postmodern Community College Undergoes Renewal." It is a study at a community college undergoing renewal that provided an opportunity to explore how members of various institutional subsystems differ in the ways they make meaning of organizational climate conditions. In the article "UCLA Community College Review: Why Practitioners and Researchers Ignore Each Other," differences between researchers and practitioners can be found in four areas, the distance from the object of study. Each of these principles dominates the perceptions of the people involved and thus contributes to the phenomenon of mutual indifference. This divide between research and practice can be bridged through providing community college leadership for research on instruction, fostering cooperation between university-based researchers and community college practitioners, and merging university and community college research methods.

The article presents information on various research papers related to business management. "Faculty Based Advising: An Important Factor in Community College Retention," states that community college students are an at-risk group because of their lack of preparation and lack of a firm connection to the institution. The data provided in this paper revealed a stronger sense of connection to the institution by the Arts and Humanities students than by the general student population and a higher rate of retention than exhibited in previous semesters. The paper entitled "Faculty and Administrative Support for Strategic Planning: A Comparison of Two- and Four-Year Institutions," examines faculty and administrator support for strategic planning activities at two-year and four-year colleges and universities. Another paper explores the overlooked influence of campus environment in community college attrition. After decades of focusing primarily on student-based measures of attrition, the article proposes that the influence of the community college environment might be key to understanding student attrition.