Presidential assistants are important and trusted staff members to the president and the campus community at large. Despite their importance, little is known about the day-to-day of their jobs and how they may help advance equity and social justice goals and priorities at the community college level. This chapter attempts to rectify this gap…

North Carolina has a long history of women in leadership positions and at the forefront of education. The women of North Carolina have been dedicated to the pursuit of equity in both leadership and education. This study provides in-depth experience of North Carolina Community College female presidents, understanding their involvement in being a…

Purpose: This study examines the educational gaps of Latinx students at the community college level. The Puente outreach program is evaluated as a possible exemplary program to improve retention and success in completing degree-applicable and transferable classes. Puente's goal is to encourage Latinx students to attend college and provide support.…

In this paper we present the Advancing Racial Equity in Community College Model which maps out the organizational conditions shaping institutional transformation. Focused on two dimensions, the level of "organizational support" and "shared responsibility" to enact equity, we describe four quadrants with distinct organizational…

Research on developmental education reform has given surprisingly limited attention to what happens inside the classroom between faculty and students. Our qualitative study used interview data from 20 faculty and 20 students in corequisite math and English courses at one of the nation's largest and most racially diverse community college systems.…

The California Community Colleges (CCC) system has adopted an equity-imperative approach to systemic reforms. As part of this effort, and to meet the state's workforce demands of the future, the system has focused on better serving the needs of adult learners, those between the ages of 25 and 64 with some college but no degree. The current impact…

As improving equity becomes prioritized in higher education, Offices of Institutional Research (OIRs) find themselves in a central position to identify and address educational inequities faced by racially minoritized students. However, their potential to serve as a catalyst for organizational change has yet to be fulfilled. In this study, we…

This article examined root causes of the equity gaps in dual enrollment through a systematic literature review of peer-reviewed literature, public scholarship, and practitioner perspectives. Root causes identified include access barriers, lack of advising and support, lack of awareness, and financial barriers for underrepresented students, all of…

Authors in this volume presented numerous examples of pathways that provide opportunity for more successful transfer especially for racially minoritized students. They describe processes for enacting partnerships between community colleges and universities along with the opportunities and challenges encountered in advancing more equitable…

We highlight how community colleges implement equity-oriented reform to address inequities facing Latinx students. Through counterstorytelling, we provide lessons learned on the implementation and impact of equity-oriented reform in community college. Key findings revealed that the reform is necessary, but not sufficient to improve racial equity…

The corequisite support model is a promising developmental education reform effort that is helping students transition into college-level coursework more quickly. The purpose of this chapter is to shed light on the critical leadership that has enhanced student success in corequisite courses and hold promise in enhancing equity within developmental…

Strategic plans are valuable tools for colleges seeking to cast vision and provide focused guidance for leadership and faculty, but it is not clear how these plans address student success. This study analyzed plans from 55 of the 58 community colleges in North Carolina. First, we analyzed the plans using a 10-step strategic planning framework to…

Florida's developmental education reform has benefitted most students directly impacted by the reform and has helped to reduce existing achievement gaps by race/ethnicity, English Language Learner status, and academic preparation in short-term outcomes like college course-taking and credit accumulation. Even though the reform was not specifically…

Recent research shows that professional learning is essential "equity infrastructure," the key to engaging front-line educators in the action-oriented partnerships needed to implement equity-focused practices with quality and at scale. The new, 2023 report examines professional learning at community colleges and Minority Serving…

Home to the nation's largest Latinx (15 million), Asian American NHPI (almost 7 million) and the 5th largest Black (2.8 million) populations, California is our nation's most diverse and populous state. This diversity is one of the state's greatest assets, yet, representation of racially minoritized leaders in California's colleges and universities…