Community colleges are vital to the states and the nation. The importance of community colleges as providers of postsecondary education and training is well documented. Fulfilling both economic and social roles, these institutions have successfully created new markets and empowered new populations through educational opportunity. This report…

Community colleges are essential to achieving state goals--increasing the educational attainment of the population, increasing access and completion, eliminating achievement gaps, closing opportunity gaps, and addressing workforce and economic development objectives. These institutions are flexible, adaptable, affordable, community-based,…

The Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Technical Education Act of 2006 (Perkins IV) is the principal source of federal funding to states for the improvement of secondary and postsecondary career and technical education programs. States are provided with funds for distribution to local educational agencies (LEAs) and postsecondary institutions for…

Community colleges face a growing demand from a wide range of stakeholders for more transparent accountability but struggle to select appropriate measures and to use them in effective ways. The multiple demands of various stakeholders, and the calls to respond to those demands in effective and appropriate ways, are leading to a confusing array of…

In this age of educational accountability, there is an increasing emphasis on assessment and institutional effectiveness, not only in the academic arena but also in other aspects of community college operation, such as fiscal health and stability, revenue generation, resource allocation, facilities, workforce development, and community enrichment…

This paper draws on an initiative where we experienced being new, radical, and, from some viewpoints, dangerously progressive at Unitec--a Polytechnic/Institute of Technology in Aotearoa, New Zealand. The initiative was driven by a need to improve student experiences of interdisciplinary learning and teaching, and to develop a common semester for…

In this investigation, we analyzed student enrollment data from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board accountability website for all Texas community colleges from 2000 through 2011. The numbers and percentages of community college students who were developmental education students were calculated and analyzed to determine changes over…

With the passage of HB 5 in 2013, the Foundation High School Program became the graduation program for all Texas public high school students beginning with the entering Grade 9 students in 2014-15. The new graduation requirements introduced greater flexibility for students in earning a high school diploma. Updates to curriculum and graduation…

In 2007, Washington adopted the Student Achievement Initiative, a statewide performance accountability system designed to improve retention rates and degree productivity among community colleges. Using difference-in-differences analysis, we found that the policy change has had little immediate effect on retention rates or associate's degree…

Since 1998, the Iowa Department of Education's Division of Community Colleges and Workforce Preparation (division) has compiled and published "The Annual Condition of Iowa's Community Colleges," commonly known as the "Condition Report." The intent of this report is to provide clear, objective data about Iowa's community…

In Texas, educators working to coordinate the efforts of fifty community colleges, thirty-eight universities, and six university systems are bringing the resources of the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) Liberal Education and America's Promise (LEAP) initiative to bear in order to ensure that the state's nearly 1.5…

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether high student accountability and formative assessment affected student motivation, learning and resource management strategies, and achievement in developmental algebra I. The setting was a fifteen-week semester at a community college in suburban New York. Two sections of developmental algebra I…

As one result of the accountability movement in American postsecondary education, accrediting agencies have increased their emphasis on student learning outcomes assessment. Among other consequences, this change has impacted the manner in which institutions of higher education (IHEs) plan, implement, assess, and revise the general education…

Demands on higher education institutions are growing. Stakeholders are demanding proof of quality to ensure students are receiving the education they are paying for. Institutional accountability is a growing concern for higher education institutions, more specifically community colleges. The diverse characteristics of community colleges have made…

Student college loan default rates have nearly doubled in recent years. The three-year default rate exceeds 13 percent nationally. Tracking and reporting default rates is a crucial means of monitoring how well higher education dollars are spent. Yet, the way default data is gathered, measured, and reported by the federal government clouds…