The job of the school principal has become much more complex and demanding over the past several decades. Many university-based principal preparation programs--which prepare the majority of school principals--have struggled with how to make the fundamental changes needed to prepare principals for today's schools. To test a path forward, The…

School counselors across the United States are implementing comprehensive school counseling programs, such as those following the American School Counselor Association (ASCA) National Model. ASCA awards a designation honoring exemplary school counseling programs: Recognized ASCA Model Program (RAMP). Although a growing number of studies have…

Collaborative leadership, a management style in which leaders encourage employees to contribute their own ideas and work together to develop solutions for meeting institutional goals, is becoming more common in community colleges and other organizations. In leveraging the ideas of a broad range of people, collaborative leadership often leads to…

In this qualitative study, I examined the efforts of three North Carolina laboratory school principals to implement culturally responsive parent, family, and community engagement. While there is already a significant body of literature on culturally responsive school leadership and parent and family engagement, there remains a need to examine how…

Community colleges have long responded to local workforce needs through assembling programming and alliances aimed at reducing workforce gaps while concurrently training the next generation of industry professionals. The emergence of the North Carolina Community College System's NC Career Coach Program, stemming from North Carolina General Statute…

From 2015 through 2019, the Council of Independent Colleges (CIC) conducted a project that was intended to test the utility of Shared Shelf to the teaching and research needs of small colleges. Shared Shelf (now called JSTOR Forum) made it possible for a collection of material assembled by one faculty member--for example, butterfly specimens--to…

Background: Dental caries is the most common chronic illness for children. Caries can reduce the quality of life, cause missed classroom hours, and decrease cognition. Strategies to improve children's oral health must be evidence-based, developed, and implemented in consultation with communities. Methods: A community-academic partnership was…

The Association of Public & Land-grant Universities (APLU) launched the "Powered by Publics: Scaling Student Success" initiative in the fall of 2018. The South Eastern Cluster brought together a diverse set of institutions from this region of the country that included several of the larger universities, the North Carolina System…

In an era of accountability, it is vital that schools can define their success in ways that transcend a single high-stakes testing day at the end of the school year. While student growth and proficiency are important educational measures, also focusing on health and wellness, stewardship of resources, and sustainability education, offers a unique…

After schools were closed in AY 2019-2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, teachers were expected to continue two-way communication and collaboration with their students' families without much guidance. In this study, we focus on how five teacher candidates navigated and continued their efforts of communication and collaboration with students'…

Community college transfer pathways, whereby students begin their postsecondary enrollment at a 2-year institution, are an increasingly popular option for students looking to complete a bachelor's degree. Designed to increase transfer efficiency, articulation agreements between community colleges and 4-year institutions provide structured pathways…

Jobs for the Future's (JFF) vision for the Big Blur calls for entirely new educational institutions and systems to better prepare 16-to-20-year-olds for college and careers. This paper examines the new type of governance needed to help states create more effective grade 11-14 schools and systems by erasing the arbitrary dividing line between high…

This article details the creation and features of the Aspiring Principals Program, an intentional, mutually beneficial partnership between the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools.

This paper first seeks to identify cultural factors of faculty, staff, and students within Higher Education Intuitions (HEI) and then understand how those factors affect the individual as well as the overall larger population of all studied groups to create cultures of quality excellence. Secondary data collected from government databases was used…

For students that enroll in community colleges with the aspiration to transfer to a 4-year institution and earn a bachelor's degree, navigating the complexities of the transfer process can stymie their ability to achieve their educational goals. One solution implemented by community colleges and universities to support transfer students through…