Community colleges struggle with enrollment and student success challenges to enhance student experiences and improve completion through various initiatives. Despite efforts, many lack long-term sustainability efforts, leaving colleges seeking solutions. The Guided Pathways framework leverages a college's existing practices and restructures…

As a result of California Assembly Bill 705(AB705, 2017) and California Assembly Bill 1705 (AB1705, 2021), most 1st-year students will enroll directly into transfer level math and/or English courses (Baca, 2021; Lopez, 2022; Melguizo et al., 2022; Sims, 2020). Students once placed into remedial coursework before enrolling in transfer level…

Objective: Community college baccalaureate (CCB) programs are expanding across the nation, particularly in California--home of the largest and most ethnically/racially diverse community college system in the nation. CCB programs provide many benefits, two of which include providing an accessible and affordable pathway towards baccalaureate…

Equity in action starts with a leader's critical consciousness in relation to their identities, ideologies, and positionalities. In this essay, the following factors: ideologies, identities, and positionalities are explained and emphasized as they are essential factors that impact equity work. Leaders who center equity must explore their own…

Multilingual English learners (MELs) represent 10.4% of P-12 students and are the fastest-growing group of students in the United States. Another quickly growing student population are those dual enrolled (DE) in high schools and community colleges. DE increased 7% annually between 2002 and 2011, and increased by 11.5% from fall 2021 to fall 2022…

Research has shown upwards of 40% of adult learners entering community college may need developmental education intervention in reading and writing skills. Of those who enroll in developmental education, a large portion will never receive college-level credit and will leave the community college. This research investigated a compressed reading and…

In response to policy and accountability mandates requiring California community colleges (CCCs) to address disparities in student outcomes, CCCs must adapt to evolving frameworks, funding structures, and parameters (e.g., definitions, equity populations, and metrics). Recent guidance has focused on race-conscious and equity-minded approaches.…

Community colleges play a vital role in providing access to higher educational opportunities for their communities. College completion rates for community colleges, however, have been historically low and few students graduate within a two-year timeframe. Disaggregating these data also reveals significant equity gaps in these outcomes for many…

This study aimed to understand why and how community college practitioners act for institutional change in support of undocumented students--drawing on concepts from the tempered radicals framework. I used qualitative inquiry and exploratory interviews to understand how community college practitioners make meaning of the changes they have been…

In an era where STEM expertise is desperately needed to help solve critical world challenges, ensuring the success of students in STEM, particularly those who have been historically marginalized, underserved, and/or excluded, has never been more pressing. In response to this challenge, the authors, informed by the work of the National Academies…

The so-called 'short-cycle' tertiary education (level 5 of the International Standard Classification of Education ISCED 2011) is an area of education which has been inadequately researched, where a number of questions remain regarding its true definition and uneven social recognition across Europe. Although it has gain visibility in recent…

The purpose of this content analysis study was to describe the way international student populations were conceptualized on the websites of 2-year public colleges in Texas. This inquiry replicated the Ford and Cate (2020) study, "The Discursive Construction of International Students in the USA: Prestige, Diversity, and Economic Gain."…

This study explores the perceptions of Hispanic students regarding their teachers' equity-oriented classroom practices at Mt. San Jacinto College (MSJC), a majority-Hispanic community college in Southern California. The study used a qualitative phenomenological approach and involved twelve participants: three teachers and nine Hispanic students.…

This article uses Austin Community College (ACC) as a case study to illustrate how community colleges can build institutional capacity to provide dual enrollment. First, the manuscript synthesizes background literature on the growth of dual enrollment and implications for community colleges. Then, drawing on interviews from relevant stakeholders…

Guided Pathways is a systemic reform movement focused on increasing community college completion rates and student achievement (Bailey et al., 2015b). Within the California community college (CCC) System, every college is implementing Guided Pathways, and the California Community College Chancellor's Office (CCCCO) continues to use this framework…