This chapter describes the characteristics of successful partnerships between a state-level department and local community colleges. Particular focus is paid to the lack of mandated collaboration between the entities and the elements necessary for motivation and sustainability.

Given that paraeducators are increasingly utilized to deliver special education services, the need for their quality preparation has come to the forefront. The authors address how standards set expectations for appropriately trained paraeducators through the use of specific knowledge and skills, offer a process for revising an existing preparation…

In an attempt to better understand the need and importance of the community college's role in economic development, this article takes a closer look at how collaboration in the Juniata Valley of Pennsylvania between Industrial Development Corporations (IDCs) of Mifflin and Juniata counties, career and technical centers, and other agencies is…

This qualitative study investigated how community colleges that have been nationally recognized for their success create and nurture environments to use data effectively. This kind of data use has been described as developing and sustaining a culture of evidence or a culture of inquiry. However, the exact definitions of culture of evidence and…

While preparing students academically for vertical transfer to four-year colleges has traditionally been viewed as the major responsibility of the home institutions, there is a growing consensus that the receiving institutions play a critical role in facilitating the transfer process and in supporting students' academic success after transfer. The…

Colorado, like other states across the country, utilizes dual enrollment as a strategy to cultivate seamless P-20 pathways and increase credential completion. Dual enrollment programs provide high school students with the opportunity to enroll in college-level courses, simultaneously earning both high school and college credit, often at greatly…

The disparity between the demographics of California's community college students and faculty is striking. Specifically, underrepresented minority (URM) students represent the largest population at 49%, yet only 22% of faculty are URM. In 1992, legislation was passed to allow community colleges to establish Faculty Diversity Internship Programs…

Study abroad is recognized as a means to teach global citizenship to students, but little empirical research exists to support the notion. This qualitative research study details how a large, urban, public high school implemented a study abroad program to enrich its Advanced Placement World History course. The diverse school collaborated with a…

This paper discusses a collaborative inquiry (CI) that explored a California community college program known as Puente. The purpose of the inquiry was to bring together different stakeholders involved with Puente---students, mentors, counselors, and instructors---to engage in group dialogue and share their perceptions about the functions of the…

Our High-Performing Transfer Partnerships (HPTP) study uses quantitative data to find institutional pairs of community colleges and baccalaureate-granting institutions (BGI) within states that have better than average results on bachelor's completion and/or retention for all students and students of color. Once these pairs are identified, our…

It has been argued that Open Educational Resources (OER) present opportunities for innovation in education. However, there has been a lack of retrospective analysis of the forms of innovation that can emerge through OER, and the processes and challenges these entail. This paper presents a post-project analysis of the diverse uses and impacts of…

This paper contends that, although there is much to commend in the remediation reform movement, it is unlikely to attain its goals. These goals include the Lumina Foundation's target of having 60% of Americans attain a degree or certificate, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation's goal of doubling the number of low income students who earn a…

As they closed the books on the 2012-2013 school year, Long Beach City College continued the task of pouring over years of student enrollment data. They found that after years of offering remedial courses for students who entered unprepared for the rigors of higher education, the college reported and astonishing 500 percent increase in the number…

The Research and Planning Group for California Community Colleges (RP Group) launched Leading from the Middle (LFM) Academy in 2013 as a professional development experience for community college educators--faculty, administrators, and staff--who have formal or informal leadership responsibilities. Based on a commitment to learning from experience,…

Community college counseling is often not well understood in the "university-centric" higher education community. In fact, work at community college counseling centers typically involves an exaggerated version of the challenges found at university counseling centers. At a community college, there are usually vastly fewer resources from…