Study of college faculty has been hampered by the variation in types of institutions, the difficulty of obtaining an accurate faculty sample, and poor response rates to large-scale surveys. This document examines various approaches to conducting large-scale faculty surveys, and describes a suggested procedure to mitigate methodological problems.…

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.…

Within the last few years, American schools have moved toward routinely measuring the outcomes of their educational programs. Two national associations dealing with community colleges have also developed quantitative indicators to assess outcomes for two-year colleges. There are still colleges that make only minimal efforts at assessment, citing…

The humanities are not emphasized in two-year colleges, although junior/community colleges enroll over 30% of all students in post-secondary education. The Center for the Study of Community Colleges is engaged in a multi-phased research project designed to provide information for the National Endowment for the Humanities, which wishes to…

Points out that art in U.S. community colleges is important and enduring but not obviously central to institutional mission. Discusses results from a survey indicating students reported much greater gains in self-confidence, respect for other people, openness toward new ideas, employable skills, and an awareness of alternatives in education and…

Describes a study conducted by the Center for the Study of Community Colleges to investigate the liberal arts credit offerings of 164 community colleges nationwide. Considers the make-up of the college curriculum, trends in course level (remedial, standard, or advanced), average class size, and total enrollments. (DMM)

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…

In 1989, the Transfer Assembly project was initiated by the Center for the Study of Community Colleges (CSCC) to determine the contribution of community colleges to students' progress towards baccalaureate degrees. In that year, 48 community colleges provided data on students, with transfers defined as students with no prior college experience who…

Because of the dearth of available information on humanities education in the two-year college, the Center for the Study of Community Colleges began a multiphased project in June 1974. The project began with an intensive literature review and the selection of certain critical areas for analysis. During the second phase of the project, three…

Presents a profile of humanities faculty in two-year colleges based on a national survey of 1,493 full- and part-time instructors in 156 colleges. (JDS)

The status of the humanities in community colleges was reviewed in a national survey by the Center for the Study of Community Colleges. Recommendations are reported by this ERIC director, based on the assumptions that the humanities must be maintained and that they could be most effectively strengthened through interventions with the faculty…

Surveys were conducted in 1975 and 1977 of humanities courses offered at two-year colleges in the United States. Studies are currently being conducted of colleges where the humanities have been strong and colleges where they have diminished. Recommendations are made for strengthening foreign language programs. (SW)

As part of an effort to survey members of the humanities faculty at 178 community colleges about their instructional practices, a sample of 1110 class sections was chosen by pulling every tenth section from the colleges' fall 1977 schedules of day and evening classes. Because 92 class sections were not offered, only 1018 survey forms were…

The problems and practices of science education in the community college are discussed in this paper. First, the community college's contribution to and position in American higher education is examined, especially with respect to enrollment and curricular trends. Next, the results of a national study of community college science education and a…

This report presents the responses (in percentages) to each questionnaire item of a national survey of humanities faculty in two-year colleges. The data are preceded by a description of the procedure used for sampling humanities faculty, and a control group of department and division chairmen outside the humanities, in 156 two-year colleges. It…