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Faculty from two universities in Florida and Ohio designed, developed, and implemented programs to work with youth from their respective service regions to support college and career readiness initiatives. Both programs were directed by university faculty and utilized university resources to support K-12 students' career development skills. In this paper, we examine the programs' designs, implementations, and results; we include feedback from students, school personnel, and local stakeholders. Attentive to results and the relevant literature, we hope to ignite a long-term discussion on how universities can create effective outreach programs that help support student transitions from high school to college, or directly into a career.

This article explores the planning and implementation process for a community partnership school for a historically low-performing elementary school using an asset-based community development approach. We offer insights into the community needs assessment process that enabled four key community partners to identify needs and projects for the school and surrounding community. The community partnership school draws its strength from four local organizations assimilating their expertise and resources on focal areas for community engagement. Beyond organizational resources, the partners also developed local networks and resources that could be useful for the community. Building on the asset-based community development model, insights and challenges are presented for others seeking to employ a similar approach to mobilize assets for student success and community engagement.

Objective: This project analyzed recent doctoral dissertations addressing the role of community colleges in rural development for the purpose of identifying themes in the reported results and offering recommendations for future research. Methods: A meta-synthesis approach was utilized with 20 doctoral dissertations from the time period 2009 to 2020 investigating the role of community colleges in rural community development, rural economic development, rural workforce development, and collaboration with other entities relative to rural development. Results: Themes derived from the analysis and synthesis are presented, with discussion of the representative studies for each. Building on the results of the thematic analysis, the review offers recommendations for practical steps that rural community colleges can take to contribute to the communities they serve. Additionally, we offer suggestions for a research agenda to produce further insights and understandings that can strengthen and enhance the roles of community colleges in rural development across America. Contributions: Collectively, the reported themes and suggested research agenda speak to both the important role that rural community colleges can play in rural development and to the need for ongoing work in this area of the literature.

The extant literature offers little to describe the processes for screening students in adult basic education (ABE) programs for potential learning disabilities, referring adult students for diagnostic assessment, or barriers to obtaining diagnostic assessment for a learning disability. Without current documentation of a learning disability, ABE students are excluded from obtaining accommodations on the GED, in the workplace, and in postsecondary education, thereby limiting opportunities for meaningful participation in these pursuits. Attentive to those two concerns, this article presents results of a study investigating learning disability screening practices in Ohio ABE programs over a four-year period. Results document that screenings have increased, particularly following the implementation of statewide policies and professional development. While the rate of screenings increased, the overall number of students who were referred and then received a diagnostic assessment has remained low. Program administrators identified assessment costs as a significant barrier to obtaining diagnostic assessment. Additional research is needed to identify and describe specific barriers to diagnostic assessment. (Contains 5 tables and 4 footnotes.)