The $17.2 million Rural Community College Initiative (RCCI) demonstration grant program funded by the Ford Foundation which ran from 1994 to 2001 represents the largest philanthropic project specifically aimed at rural community colleges in United States history. While a good deal of literature has been published about this initiative, much was…

"Characteristics of Excellence in Undergraduate Research" ("COEUR") is based on the collective experience, over many years, of Council on Undergraduate Research members who have engaged undergraduate students in research, developed undergraduate research programs, mentored new faculty to include undergraduate research in their…

The six regional accrediting agencies in the United States have created a set of standards based on best practices in colleges and universities. The evolving perception of an effective institution is one that uses data, assessment, and evaluation results to improve programs and services and strives for a high level of institutional quality. While…

The authors evaluated the utility of the Multidimensional Body-Self Relations Questionnaire (MBSRQ; Brown, Cash, & Mikulka, 1990) and the Appearance Schemas Inventory-Revised (ASI-R; Cash, Melnyk, & Hrabosky, 2004) by administering the instruments to Hispanic female college students. Results indicated that the means of the MBSRQ and the…

Some segments of the United States population, such as adults with low literacy skills and disadvantaged youths, face barriers in making the transition into and through postsecondary education, including community college and career training, and these barriers can keep them locked in low-wage jobs. Can transition assistance help them enter and…

Strategic planning decisions and determinations in higher education present significant challenges even during relatively uneventful economic periods. In times of economic turbulence, the only predictable factor is a constantly diminishing funding base. Community colleges in particular are affected most directly and immediately by downturns in the…

Online education is the fastest growing form of course delivery of higher education in the United States. It has revolutionized how students and instructors interact in the educational process. Yet students in online courses continue to experience higher attrition rates than their counterparts in traditional face-to-face classes despite the…

In higher education in the United States, teaching and research in the fields of language and literature are in a desperate condition. Laboring on the age-old axiom "publish-or-perish," thousands of professors, lecturers, and graduate students are busy producing dissertations, books, essays, and reviews. Over the past five decades, their…

The Atlantic Philanthropies has recognized both the great societal need for programs that serve older Americans and the important role that community colleges can play in meeting this need. Consequently, The Atlantic Philanthropies provided funding for the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) to conceive and implement the Plus 50…

DesignShare/School Construction News (DS/SCN) Jurists have often critically reflected on their desire to know more about how teachers and students really experience so-called innovative award-winning schools. Through the DesignShare Post-Occupancy Evaluation Program, the intention is to give voice to the individuals whose lives are directly…

For the thirty-sixth year, the Research and Theory Division of the Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT) is sponsoring the publication of these Proceedings. Papers published in this volume were presented at the annual AECT Convention in Anaheim, California. The Proceedings of AECT's Convention are published in two…

Selected characteristics of the American educational system are briefly described. This paper is intended for the specific use of the German-American Educational Equivalency Project, a cooperative effort between educators of the Federal Republic of Germany and the United States to clarify certain aspects of their respective educational systems.…

In this North Carolina council on education report concerning vocational education in the state's public schools and community colleges/technical institutes three sections are presented: (1) North Carolina advisory council commendation and recommendations to the state board of education, (2) components of the council's annual evaluation report…

This document contains 14 research paper presentations and 5 "mini-tips" from the 1998 American Vocational Education Research Association (AVERA) annual meeting. The first section includes three papers on international and distance education: "Determining Success of Vocational Students Enrolled in Distance Education Courses"…