Philanthropists, researchers, policymakers, and practitioners are increasingly focused on a college completion crisis in the United States. Collectively and independently, they have called for increasing the number of adults with postsecondary certificates and degrees as a national imperative. Using the 2007 administration of the Community College…

Hybrid learning combines the personal contact of the face-to-face learning environment with the convenience of online learning in a way that creates an interactive and engaging environment for students and faculty. This innovative instructional design is capturing the attention of faculty in higher education, but particularly in America's…

As the majority of teaching faculty on many community college campuses, adjuncts are accountable for the higher education of an increasing number of college-going students. However, adjunct faculty often are disconnected from the community colleges that depend upon them. The purpose of this nonexperimental quantitative study was to investigate the…

The purpose of this study was to determine what institutionally contrived experiences would engage community college students in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) study, regardless of their major. During the 2013-2014 academic year, 373 students at two California community colleges were surveyed, and an exploratory factor…

The purpose of this study was to determine whether or not there were significant differences in the self-reported frequency of active and collaborative learning by racial/ethnic affiliation between students who have completed a developmental writing course and those that plan to take one. Drawing upon data from the Community College Survey of…

With the primary objective of attracting and retaining students from underrepresented backgrounds in the sciences, evaluation of one institution's program has been ongoing over the past three years. Interviews with mentors in the program followed by focus groups conducted with mentees reveal key factors that shape undergraduate students' research…

Using a mixed methods, multilevel research design, this pilot inquiry explored the relationship between college faculty professional development and the academic achievement of diverse students by coupling two separate links: (a) the effects that professional development activities have on improving teaching strategies, and (b) the effects these…

This document presents the technical appendices that accompany the full report, "Determining College Readiness in California's Community Colleges: A Survey of Assessment and Placement Policies." The appendices include: (1) Survey Design and Administration; and (2) Survey Instrument. [This report was written with research support from…

Student feedback is essential to ensure continued quality and relevance in the education system. Through surveying former students, British Columbia (BC) Student Outcomes provides the information needed to help shape post-secondary education in British Columbia. In 2018, 92 percent of the former post-secondary students surveyed were satisfied or…

In recent years, scholars have focused intently on improving success rates for men of color (notably Black, Latino, Native American, and Southeast Asian men) in community colleges. To address outcome disparities, many colleges have sought to employ targeted interventions (e.g., programs, policies, and practices); however, many of these efforts are…

Study abroad programs typically reveal issues that are not commonly found in classes on the home campus. At University of Cincinnati Blue Ash College (UCBA), a 2-year regional campus of University of Cincinnati, we offer three short-term summer study abroad programs each year. Students in these programs have traditionally participated in social…

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…

The purpose of this research is to investigate whether there are differences in student engagement of Allied Health students that attend five participating Maryland community colleges. Student engagement is measured by five benchmark scores on the Community College Survey of Student Engagement (CCSSE). The research question was, Are there…

Self-efficacy in engineering is important because individuals with low self-efficacy have lower levels of achievement and persistence in engineering majors. To examine self-efficacy among community college engineering students, an instrument to specifically measure two important aspects of engineering, tinkering and technical self-efficacy, was…

The changing nature of the world we live in highlights the need for higher education to produce an informed citizenry capable of critical thought and discourse. Engaging students in coursework creates students prepared to handle change. As community colleges continue to see growth and coursework shifts to an online delivery mode, the need to…