Community colleges should not try to overturn the class structure of American society. Their universal obligation is not to be social revolutionaries, community modifiers, educational agency brokers, or the purveyors of certificates of ever-lower value that give people the illusion that they have learned. It is to teach. (Author)

Using on-campus facilitators to distribute and retrieve an 11-page questionnaire administered to a nationwide sample of humanities faculty and nonhumanities department chairmen in two-year colleges resulted in an 84 percent return rate. Pilot procedures, selection of the college and faculty samples, and the use of facilitators are described.…

Provides an overview of trends and issues related to the content of associate degree programs, patterns in course requirements, competency expectations, enrollments, the development of standards, and credit for remedial education. (DMM)

Notes the decline of humanities curricula due to the association of humanities instruction with transfer education. Outlines five corrective measures related to the utilization of interdisciplinary courses, increased liaison between humanities and community services staff, utilization of nontraditional instructional techniques, and the development…

Argues that college size is a valid, readily available, easily understood, and nonjudgmental criterion that relates directly to other important college characteristics. Therefore, size should be considered the main criterion in the classification of community colleges. Using size as a criterion yields interesting patterns showing how community…

This paper discusses student transfer from community colleges to universities from three perspectives: 1) How are transfer rates calculated? 2) What are the effects of state and institutional policies on transfer rates? and 3) Why are the transfer rates in some colleges consistently above or below the norm for their state? Each topic is discussed…

Recaps major criticisms of the community college and predictions made in "Dateline '79" (Cohen, 1969). Plots trends for the 1980s, envisioning five distinct institutions: the resurrected secondary school, educational broker, rapid response college, and certification and satellite centers. Forewarns community colleges not to neglect their basic…

In 1989, the Center for the Study of Community Colleges began a project to define and promote student transfer from community colleges to four-year colleges and universities. The project had four purposes: establish a definition of transfer; gather and analyze transfer data from a broad sample of colleges; assist the colleges in establishing…

The Western College Reading and Learning Association (WCRLA) has been a lead organization in promoting a professional consciousness among teachers of remedial studies and managers of learning laboratories. Its members are also creating an academic discipline centering on the principles of instruction. The theories of this discipline have been…

Examines reasons for community colleges' return to mandatory testing and placement in courses/programs where students have a reasonable expectation of success. Looks at the use and success of other retention strategies, including orientation programs, tutors, and integrated support services. (DMM)

The uncertain status of two-year college teacher preparation looms large in the calls for new degrees and new patterns of preparing faculty. Specific recommendations are made for preparing doctoral graduates to work in community and junior colleges. (LBH)

Reviews the development of the transfer function in California community colleges, supplying data confirming that community colleges function not only as career, community, and compensatory education centers, but as institutions in which students desiring baccalaureate degrees matriculate, albeit differently from a generation ago. (DMM)

Considers the problems associated with selective admissions into transfer curriculums and the development of broad-scale remedial programs. Urges the teaching of functional literacy in transfer programs, and examines areas where research is needed in order to achieve this goal. (AYC)

Since the inaugural meeting of the Southeastern Association of Community College Research in 1975, the research conducted at community colleges, as well as the issues facing researchers, have remained fairly constant. Research has been consistently understaffed and the themes of research have tended to focus on relating student progress to…

Institutional research in the community college suffers from lack of fiscal support and trained personnel. The project described here was conceived to enhance the capabilities of 12 people assigned research responsibilities in California community colleges who lacked sufficient training in research design and methodology. The overall plan was to…