The Teaching Squares Program involves the formation of a three or four member group of educators from different departments or disciplines. The diversity in knowledge and experience helps to promote cross-disciplinary learning and professional growth among teachers. Once the group has been formed, the teachers select a class they will each teach…

Micro-credentials are short, highly focused programs designed to provide in-demand skills that help students quickly advance their career, often in just a single semester. They have emerged as a way for students-many of whom are adult learners looking to change jobs-to acquire and demonstrate a core set of skills that can jumpstart their entry…

Research shows that engaged and continuously developing teachers are more effective in the classroom. However, with a significant proportion of adult English as a second language (ESL) instructional staff consisting of adjunct faculty, it is crucial to address issues such as high turnover rates, feelings of isolation and marginalization, limited…

Investments in professional development have been more important than ever for community colleges this past year against the backdrop of the pandemic and all that it has changed. While some colleges are facing declining enrollments and less in the way of state funding, they are stretching every professional development dollar they can get their…

Internships are widely promoted high-impact practices that can have positive impacts on students' academic and post-graduate success, yet how specific features facilitate these outcomes is understudied. Instead, internships are often studied in terms of mere participation, without recognizing that these experiences are complex pedagogic spaces…

It has been twenty-seven years since a small group of faculty at the Community College of Baltimore County, faced with the discovery that two-thirds of students placed in our upper-level basic writing course never passed first year composition, began the development of the Accelerated Learning Program (ALP), one of the earliest corequisite…

With the leadership of community college educators and their industry partners, the National Science Foundation's Advanced Technological Education (ATE) program has achieved an impressive record of incubating innovative science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) programs. ATE's mission to increase the quality of technicians working…

This issue of "Assessment Update" presents the following articles: (1) University of North Carolina at Charlotte: Using the EIA [Excellence in Assessment] Application as a Catalyst for Intentional Improvement (Christine Robinson and associates); (2) Editor's Notes (Stephen P. Hundley); (3) Northern Arizona University's Journey to…

In recent years, two-year colleges have tried various strategies to improve student outcomes and remediate skill deficits in order to promote academic and employment success. Promising approaches include career pathways, dual-enrollment, competency-based credentialing, sectoral strategies, wrap-around services, and acceleration. Taken together,…

The graying of community college leadership is an issue across the country. More than half of all community college presidents expect to retire in five years, according to data from the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC). Succession planning is yet another opportunity for colleges already navigating a variety of reforms to innovate.…

"Completion" has become the rallying cry at community colleges. As the 21st century unfolds, the earlier emphasis on guaranteeing greater access to a postsecondary education has evolved into a sharp focus on student success. Whether that means earning a workforcerelated certificate or an associate degree transferable to a four-year…

When students first enroll in college, they are required to demonstrate readiness for college-level work. Course placement depends on standardized assessments, and students who do not attain a satisfactory score are typically assigned to developmental (e.g. remedial) education courses. The theory behind this approach has been that remedial…

To get the best sense of how graduating students demonstrate information literacy skills and how the institution can improve student learning, the Assessment in Action (AiA) project at Anne Arundel Community College (AACC) deployed a combination of indirect measures and authentic assessment of student work, utilizing assessment tools flexible…

America and the South seem to have turned a corner on the deep and prolonged recession that started in 2008. The stranglehold it has had on jobs and job prospects caught many by surprise, and it has caused education leaders to refocus state policy on the relationship between career preparation and education. This report provides updates on the…

Community colleges and businesses have a shared interest in preparing students and existing workers to be successful in their careers. Community colleges seek to educate and train individuals in their community to have the knowledge and skills for current jobs and long-term career opportunities. Employers seek employees with both job-specific…