State postsecondary education data systems are vital assets for policymakers, researchers, and the public. The State Higher Education Executive Officers Association's (SHEEO) Communities of Practice project builds upon SHEEO's efforts to measure the capacity and effective use of state postsecondary data systems and provides states with…

The State Higher Education Executive Officers Association's (SHEEO) "Communities of Practice" project builds upon SHEEO's ongoing efforts to measure the capacity and effective use of state postsecondary data systems and provides states with opportunities to develop solutions to common issues with those systems. The sixth Community of…

At its annual joint board and commission meeting (Washington, DC, November 10-11, 2010), American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) focused attention on college completion by presenting two panel discussions on the completion agenda, followed by breakout sessions in which participants were assigned to focus groups tasked with providing…

A series of activities have been undertaken to increase the participation of veterans with disabilities in computing and information technology (IT) postsecondary education and career fields. These activities were coordinated by the Alliance for Access to Computing Careers ("AccessComputing"), led by the Department of Computer Science…

School reformers hope that converting comprehensive high schools into collections of small schools will produce results similar to those realized in freestanding small schools. This comparative case study revisits two "conversions" as they complete the grant funding that supported the reform, in order to explore the extent to which…

The main intention of the Community College Virtual Summit, as stated by Troy Justesen, assistant secretary for vocational and adult education, was to explore four critical issues facing community colleges: (1) Two- to four-year transitions; (2) Adult and nontraditional students; (3) Accountability; and (4) Leadership. These were selected as the…

Many scholars have examined the jeremiad in American rhetoric and political discourse. The Hanford Education Action League (HEAL), which influenced policy changes in the operations of the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in Washington, is a social movement organization whose founding members used the jeremiad to create a symbolic community which…

This case study of a higher education policy-making process tested a conceptual model based on a combination of political systems, behavioral power, and influence theories. The study, which followed the course and outcomes of a branch campus policy formulated in Washington state over a four-year period (1985-89), sought to show that the ability of…

A research project was conducted in Washington State in 1992 to develop an assessment system that could be used by adult basic education (ABE) and English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) programs to satisfy accountability requirements and to provide assessment information useful for classroom instruction. In this preliminary work, 35 ABE/ESL programs…

Though financial cutbacks have necessitated drastic reductions in community college services in Washington and threaten accepted beliefs about missions, such as the provision of universal educational opportunity, it is important that trustees recognize that educational trends need not necessarily become educational realities. While studies, such…

To determine what traits characterize instructors who enjoy the greatest success in teaching composition to community college students, a questionnaire was sent to 17 community colleges throughout Washington State. Chairpersons were asked to give the questionnaire to those instructors they considered most effective in teaching freshman composition…

A statewide survey of over 1,100 voters in the state of Washington indicated that voters in the state have a positive perception of the performance of superintendents and principals in the majority of management areas evaluated. The survey gathered voter opinions from different sizes of school districts concerning educational management at the…

This report represents a synthesis of data related to the impact of the Parent Education Follow Through (PEFT) Program in the Yakima (Washington) School District. It was compiled from reviews of written documents and interviews with both model sponsor staff and parents, teachers, community leaders and others within the Yakima School District. The…

While enrollment in Washington's 27 community colleges has risen from 74,363 in 1967 to nearly 160,000 in 1976, and full-time equivalent (FTE) enrollment has grown 113 percent to 90,000, legislative funding of the community college system has not kept pace with increases in enrollment. In 1969-70, the community colleges received $1,093 in state…

This paper, from the Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges, describes a new kind of transfer student that is putting pressure on four-year and two-year institutions: the job-preparatory student with dual goals of job preparation and transfer. The author presents strategies related to articulation agreements (statewide and…