Forces inside and outside community colleges are changing the context for performance and mandating new conceptions of effectiveness. This article addresses the future of institutional effectiveness in community colleges. Its emphasis is on what is measured and why, beginning with a retrospective look at early efforts in effectiveness, moving to…

Leadership, as it is practiced today in community colleges, has taken three brilliant ideas to excess and made them into guiding ideologies. The first is "growth," a means for gauging organizational legitimacy and success that has eclipsed other means. The second is "complexity," which has gained acceptance as a structural necessity for managing…

The decentralization of educational programs and services in the direction of community-based institutions will involve revolutionized management systems, new legislation on all levels, the demise of traditional organizational structures, and a redistribution of resources. (Author/NHM)

Previous and present relationships between colleges and their communities are examined to determine the various forms of intervention, both social and economic, that will shape this relationship in the future. Four forms of community intervention are identified. (1) By its participation in college programs and services, the community is the…

This chapter begins with a retrospective look at governance in community colleges based on a working understanding of governance as a correlate of decision making. In its simplest form, governance is "a process for distributing authority, power, and influence in decision making among constituencies" (Alfred and Smydra, 1985, pp. 201-202). What…

Emphasizes the need for effective leadership and management to cope successfully with reduced resources. Outlines benefits produced by two-year colleges to be considered in policy making, including student growth and development, service to community needs, impact on the community; and impact on other educational institutions. (MB)

The concept of socioeconomic impact, as it relates to two-year colleges, is examined in terms of studies that have been conducted. Measures of socioeconomic impact, such as personal income, occupational status, levels of education, are discussed and studies focusing on these measures are cited. Additional studies are pointed to which define…

A research model to aid community college educators in taking a positive approach to affirmative action is proposed. The input-output model identifies appropriate data elements according to their status as influents on institutional performance in the area of affirmative action. The primary components are political variables (regulations of…

Community colleges are experiencing tough times. As leaders watch the economy jump back to life and recognize this as a time of opportunity, they also realize that recovery in the public sector lags behind. Community colleges expecting to emerge from reduction stronger and better positioned will need to operate outside of a conventional business…

Impact analysis culminates in the formulation of outcome measures that describe college impact in terms of demonstrable change in student attitudes and behavior. Outcome measures meet the data needs of state policy-makers as well as institutional planners, and thus invite external support and cooperation rather than control. (JG)

Examines changing environmental conditions facing community colleges. Uses a symbolic interaction model to analyze leadership potential for institutional development. Examines the compatibility of leader and organizational behavior with emerging conditions. Identifies problems in the leadership capacity of presidents/chancellors facing change and…

Presents ideas for redesigning community colleges to compete in a new market. Instead of "organizational tinkering," more thought must be given to different ways of organizing, managing, and leading the institutions that create value, and allow the colleges to outpace the competition provided by the Internet, technology, and virtual institutions.…

Based on an analysis of the subjects of American Association of Community and Junior Colleges annual convention forums, identifies shifts in the issues faced by community college faculty and administrators, factors which might account for these differences, issues which will be important in the future, and the implications of these trends for…

Presents results from a study of community college leadership, conducted to examine interactive leadership relationships between college presidents and the principal internal governance groups with which they work. Presents a model linking leadership style, group situation, and leadership effectiveness. Discusses implications for the future. (DMM)

A study of community college institutional research showed that institutional researchers are currently more involved in routine data gathering and reporting activities than in management, planning, or evaluation activities. The merging of these roles must be accomplished if institutional research is to be successful.