Objective: This research study examined textbook costs and student success rates at one community college in the Southwest United States. Method: Descriptive statistics were used in the study to identify the mean textbook costs and student success rates over five semesters. Chi-square tests for independence were used to determine if a…

Institutions of higher learning today rely on tuition dollars to function. During a time when the pool of high school graduates is shrinking, colleges and universities must look to alternative target markets to meet enrollment goals, including those transferring from community college. Community college transfers have unique attributes that…

Student enrollment at community colleges within the U.S. has remained flat or decreased for over a decade (AACC, 2019). Before COVID-19, community colleges had been experiencing a steady decline in enrollment for approximately ten years (Irwin et al., 2021). The purpose was to determine whether demographic, environmental, and academic variables…

Objective: The objective of this study was to create a model of English learners' (ELs) persistence based on theory and empirical research. Findings from this research informs community college educators in helping ELs persist and guide future research regarding this important student population. Method: We examined ELs' persistence using…

This study explored the predictive relationship between leadership competencies and data driven decision making (DDDM) among rural community college leaders. The authors developed and disseminated a survey examining DDDM literacy level, community college leadership competencies, and other related key factors. Utilizing exploratory factor analysis,…

Energy Conservation Theory of Second Language Acquisition (ECT-L2A) (Han, Bao, & Wiita, 2017b), an interdisciplinary theory juxtaposing a physics perspective and an applied linguistics perspective, conceptualizes individuals' ultimate attainment as a function of dynamic transformation of endogenous and exogenous energies throughout the…

The cost of a college education continues to trend upward and state funding for higher education has trended downward, shifting more of the financial burden to students through student loans. About half of all 2010-2011 financial aid originated from student loans, and total federal student loan borrowing rose 319% between 1990 and 2010.…

Community colleges have been important open access entry points into education and employment. In order to improve the community college average retention rate of 60%, this study began looking at other areas that may have been impacting student retention without having been previously quantified. To evaluate the impact of faculty inclusion in…

This study examines the relationship between academic undermatch theory and the college-going decisions, experiences, and aspirations of first-generation, rural Hispanic community college students in the new destination meatpacking town of Winstead, Kansas. Ethnographic data from rural high school guidance counselors, community college faculty,…

Performance-based funding (PBF) models intend to increase efficiency and productivity of the institution, thereby influencing organizational change. This change may be structural, programmatic, or procedural, and it may affect institutional practice and/or policy. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to understand the organizational…

The current rhetoric around using data to improve community college student outcomes with only limited research on data-driven decision-making (DDDM) within postsecondary education compels a more comprehensive understanding of colleges' capacity for using data to inform decisions. Based on an analysis of faculty and administrators' perceptions and…

We introduce an educational game-based assessment that measures the choices students make while learning. We present Posterlet, a game designed to assess students' choices to seek negative feedback and to revise, in which students learn graphical design principles while creating posters. We validate our game-based assessment approach with three…

During the fall of 2008 a web survey, designed to collect information about pedagogical knowledge and practices, was completed by a representative sample of 722 physics faculty across the United States (50.3% response rate). This paper presents partial results to describe how 20 potential predictor variables correlate with faculty knowledge about…

For years, colleges have used placement exams to determine whether to deem incoming students "college ready" or assign them to developmental education. But emerging information reveals the tests have little correlation to students' future success, casting doubt on their use even as the high stakes for students of taking remedial courses…

This qualitative study was undertaken in order to gain an understanding of the lived experiences of adult students and how they made meaning of their journey. To that end, through in-depth interviews with twenty participants, the study inquired into the journeys to an associate's degree of adult students who were also active duty military service…