Basic skills courses are designed to teach students certain basic academic competencies they have not mastered. However, very little research has examined the quality of instruction inside basic skills classes. This paper presents preliminary findings from observations in 13 California community colleges. The clearest finding is that…

Public health education is not just for graduate students anymore. The movement toward integrating public health into the education of undergraduates is rapidly evolving. Healthy People, a public-private consortium of more than 400 health-related organizations, has proposed an objective for 2020 that could dramatically increase public health…

Describing an online faculty member or community college faculty member may soon be synonymous. The role of the online faculty and the knowledge and skills associated with the growth of online course enrollments are transforming the nature and characteristics of community college faculty as a profession. To accomplish these tasks, an online…

Learning Support probation results in the loss of financial aid, tuition, housing revenues, and lowering of both retention and graduation rates. Because of these consequences, an initiative was formed to assist these students and decrease the number of students put on probation or suspended due to failure to complete Learning Support requirements.…

By 2020, 65 percent of all jobs in the economy will require postsecondary education and training beyond high school. That's a pretty strong statement in defense of the value of higher education in this country. But it will mean little unless the nation's colleges and universities--and, specifically, community colleges--can produce more workers…

This overview of postsecondary education in the United States reviews the dramatic changes over the past fifty years in the students who go to college, the institutions that produce higher education, and the ways it is financed. The article, by Sandy Baum, Charles Kurose, and Michael McPherson, creates the context for the articles that follow on…

This qualitative study explores career counseling and guidance services as provided to students engaged in career and technical education programs at three sites in the United States. The sites, consisting of high schools and community colleges, were part of the National Research Center for Career and Technical Education's 5-year studies of…

This study explored differences between career decision-making self-efficacy (CDMSE) and career barriers of students enrolled in applied technology programs compared to those enrolled in college transfer. Participants in the ex post facto cross-sectional survey included 787 students at a community college. The following research questions were…

With middle-income jobs in decline, entrepreneurship offers an increasingly promising pathway out of poverty; but few low-income New Yorkers are currently taking this route to economic self-sufficiency. This report provides the most comprehensive examination of low-income entrepreneurship in New York. The report documents current self-employment…

There is wide agreement that the well-paying jobs of the future will require postsecondary credentials. But for many students attending community college, developmental (or remedial) classes in reading, composition, and/or mathematics--the courses that students often must complete before they can enroll in courses that confer credit toward a…

Research investigating career intervention efficacy has inadequately investigated the identification of important client factors which might moderate the effects of various career interventions. The current study had two aims. First it examined the efficacy of a newly developed Computer-Assisted Career Guidance System (CACGS) used alone, and the…

One of the greatest challenges that community colleges face in their efforts to increase graduation rates is improving the success of students in their developmental, or remedial, education programs. This literature review seeks to examine research on developmental education strategies and reforms and identify the most promising approaches for…

Community colleges across the United States face a difficult challenge. On the one hand, they are "open access" institutions, with a mission to serve students from all backgrounds and at varying levels of college readiness. On the other hand, they must uphold high academic standards in order to maintain accreditation and prepare students…

This volume contains the following papers: (1) Preparing to Hire the Best in the Perfect Storm (John P. Murray); (2) New Faculty Issues: Fitting In and Figuring It Out (Pamela L. Eddy); (3) An Approach to a Faculty Professional Development Seminar (Mary Bendickson and Karen Griffin); (4) Faculty Issues in Rural Community Colleges (Brent D. Cejda);…

The Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance held a public hearing in Washington DC on Friday last September 30, 2011. Three questions drove the discussion: (1) What are the primary barriers to access and persistence for nontraditional students?; (2) What are the most promising state and institutional strategies and policies for…