The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of co-requisite education on gateway mathematics, predicated on the Reinforced Instruction for Student Excellence (RISE) model, at a large urban community college (LUCC) in North Carolina. The research study explored the success rates in gateway mathematics courses in relation to the…

The concept of branding holds the key to achieving organizational goals by determining the needs and wants of target markets (Nicolescu, 2009). The brand of a community college is influenced by the interactions these individuals have on campus or in public with college administrators, faculty, and staff (Black, 2008). As a result it is imperative…

Many counties of Western North Carolina have high levels of food insecurity that may be addressed by training communities to grow, prepare, and preserve their own food. A curriculum was developed and tested in 2016 at a Section 8 housing development in Polk County, NC. Research investigated successful community agriculture projects and assessed…

This comparative case study examined how performance funding programs shape the faculty experiences at two North Carolina Community Colleges. Using Principal-Agent Theory, Street-Level Bureaucracy, and Bottom-Up Policy Perspective as theoretical frameworks, six themes and four subthemes emerged from semi-structured interviews of twenty community…

Engaged scholarship (ES) entails a symbiotic relationship between the community and the university. This article reports results from an evaluation of an ES symposium Eastern Carolina University held to increase awareness of ES as a means for integrating research, teaching, and service and to potentially change unfavorable perceptions about ES…

The maker movement has evoked interest for its role in breaking down barriers to STEM learning. However, few empirical studies document how youth are supported over time, in STEM-rich making projects or their outcomes. This longitudinal critical ethnographic study traces the development of 41 youth maker projects in two community-centered making…

Training the next generation of public health practitioners to promote health equity requires public health graduate programs to cultivate students' skills in community partnership. The Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH) requires Master of Public Health (MPH) students to produce a high-quality written product as part of their…

This article examines the impact of proactive, data-informed success coaching on students' retention and completion outcomes, drawing on theories of student engagement and a five-year (2016-2020), mixed-methods study of coaching conducted across 10 North Carolina community colleges. Results from a randomized controlled trial show that coaching…

Community colleges enroll a diverse set of students who often face challenges meeting their basic needs. This report describes the potential benefits and costs of one low-cost and relatively light-touch tool that colleges might use to increase students' access to basic needs assistance. The authors focus on the Findhelp platform, which is modeled…

The Independent Transfer Pathways in North Carolina Project served as a catalyst in forging a culture of cooperation between community colleges and independent colleges and universities in North Carolina by creating a unique opportunity to bridge the gap between the two systems. The project focused on developing discipline-specific articulation…

North Carolina postsecondary faculty, similar to faculty around the world, who prepared their spring 2020 semester courses for face-to-face delivery, were required to quickly transition to Rapid Online Teaching and Learning (ROTL). This transition was expected within a short time frame, often one to two weeks, and for many faculty members, both…

This qualitative case study explores how undocumented students in North Carolina navigate their identity, belonging, and decision-making about activist efforts. Drawing on fieldwork and interview data (2017-2019), we provide policy context and empirical evidence through the voices of undocumented youth about their everyday realities and dilemmas…

How community colleges educate students is an ever-changing proposition, one marked by an increasing number of unfilled leadership positions and an operational landscape even more reliant on labor market outcomes, learning, equity and completion. A growing number of senior leaders approaching retirement has created a wealth of career opportunities…

Community colleges throughout the United States have declared "global competence" as a learning objective for their students since the last decade of the 20th century. The North Carolina (NC) Community College system is no exception, as its statewide mission statement lists preparing students to be globally competent as a goal for all 58…

We use data from the applications North Carolina public school districts and charter schools submitted for Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) to investigate the sense that educational leaders made of the pandemic as it unfolded. LEAs understood the pandemic as a multifaceted problem. Nearly all applications addressed four…