Using a case study design, this research explores how two department chairs, Jan and Tammy, in community colleges implement AB 705, an assessment policy impacting California ESL programs. AB 705 seeks to centralize previous multiple measures legislation in California by requiring the use of high school data in community college course placement.…

Across the landscape of higher education, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused fundamental changes at a variety of scales. To understand which aspects of higher education instruction at the departmental (meso-scale) level were most and least impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, chairs of geoscience departments at public higher education institutions in…

Academics in Physical Education Teacher Education (PETE), similar to their counterparts in other disciplines, receive little formal preparation when they take on academic leadership positions. Yet such career changes require different skill sets and expose academics to complex challenges of leadership. We (three academics) initiated this study to…

The Research and Planning Group for California Community Colleges (RP Group) launched Leading from the Middle (LFM) in 2013 to support the development of middle leaders across the California Community Colleges. Every year LFM produces an internal evaluation report presenting what participants learned from their experiences; academy leaders…

The Research and Planning Group for California Community Colleges (RP Group) launched Leading from the Middle (LFM) in 2013 to support the development of middle leaders across the California Community Colleges. Every year LFM produces an internal evaluation report presenting what participants learned from their experiences; academy leaders…

Team teaching is re-emerging as a relevant research topic in language education due to the complexity and realities of globalization (Williams, Evans, & Metcalf, 2010). This qualitative study examined the characteristics of high-performing teams and their leadership in foreign language programs. Fifty-four college-level teachers, department…

The Research and Planning Group for California Community Colleges (RP Group) launched Leading from the Middle (LFM) Academy in 2013 to support the professional development of middle leaders. This is an executive summary to the full report that captures reflections from both leaders of and participants in the 2016 LFM Academy, with the goal of…

The Research and Planning Group for California Community Colleges (RP Group) launched Leading from the Middle (LFM) Academy in 2013 to support the professional development of middle leaders. This report was developed for campus executive leaders and other administrators who are in positions to support and encourage leadership development at their…

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. Over the first three years, close to 150…

Assembly Bill 705 (AB 705) sought to increase successful completion of transfer-level math and English courses by addressing systemic problems in traditional placement policies and curricular structures. The law requires colleges to maximize the probability that students who enroll in credit English as a second language (ESL) courses complete…

These technical appendices are for the report, "English as a Second Language at California's Community Colleges: An Early Examination of AB 705 Reforms." Assembly Bill 705 (AB 705 Irwin) sought to increase successful completion of transfer-level math and English courses by addressing systemic problems in traditional placement policies…

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,…

This study addresses the lived experience of ESL department chairs in California community colleges. It adds to existing literature that aims to support these individuals who are serving in critical roles in institutions of higher education. Using phenomenological methods, four ESL department chairs were interviewed to explore their journeys…

The purpose of this paper is to take a closer look at the states that have designed strong history standards and note what has made them exceptional so other states might do the same. They include Alabama, California, Indiana, Massachusetts, New York, and South Carolina. The report draws on interviews with individuals from each state who sat on…

When I began teaching at City College of San Francisco in 1964, I fell in love with a 1960 text-book that addressed non-science students, "Physics for the Inquiring Mind," written by British-born physicist Eric M. Rogers, who taught physics at Princeton University and who later won the 1969 Oersted Medal of the American Association of…