During the conduct of the 2004 Community Colleges Futures Assembly, sponsored by the University of Florida, delegates to the meeting identified three critical policy issues facing America's community colleges and challenged the delegates attending the 2005 Assembly to debate these issues and make recommendations. A total of 252 higher-education…

In this article, the authors present two stories that depict the best and worst of times experienced by today's community college students. Within these narratives are both vestiges of the past--pieces that some colleges have yet to fully discard--and exemplars of a potentially brighter, more engaging future. While they are fictitious, these…

America's community colleges have a unique mission to provide open access and affordable education to all who desire to learn. Unfortunately, this core mission is being threatened by myriad economic, social, and political challenges that community college leaders must confront and overcome.

African Americans were largely absent from a college that was emblematic of democratic opportunity. Established as the Free Academy in 1847, City College had given thousands of poor and working-class students and recent immigrants the chance for a college education they couldn't otherwise afford. But even during the 1960s, the student body of City…

While California community colleges are open to all students eligible and able to benefit, most students must demonstrate that they are ready for college-level academic work by passing the college's placement exam once they enroll. Because California does not explicitly define college readiness standards for high school students, the placement…

In 1999, the City University of New York (CUNY) abolished remedial programs in its four-year colleges and began to rely on standardized test scores as criteria both for exiting remediation and for admission to bachelor's programs. By doing that, the university has in effect eradicated its three-decade-old "open admissions" policy, argue…