LaGuardia Community College in Queens, New York is known for its leadership in assessment practices aimed at improving teaching and learning. Its practices to improve student outcomes include remedial math and composition pathways reforms and establishing signature general education core competencies and communication abilities. Combined together,…

Compared with four-year colleges, community colleges serve a vastly disproportionate number of undergraduate students from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups and lower-income backgrounds. Yet the sector remains under-resourced--unable to compete against politically connected state four-year systems and flagship campuses for limited public…

To support the nation's college completion goals, early college high school (ECHS) reform creates opportunities for interested students to earn up to two years of free college credit during high school. ECHSs also have an equity objective: to target and enroll students who are historically underrepresented and/or might not otherwise go to college.…

The Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE) is an interstate compact aimed at improving access to, and success in, postsecondary education for residents of the West. Given the region's historic reliance on public higher education, rapidly diversifying demographics, and financial pressures experienced by postsecondary education…

This research examines the debate surrounding the site selection of several New Jersey community colleges. It takes into account the 1960s time period in which they were founded. The process to establish a community college commenced with each county establishing a committee to assess whether or not there was a need to institute a county college…

This timely book examines issues pertaining to equal opportunity--affirmative action, challenges to it, and alternatives for improving opportunities for underrepresented groups--in higher education today. Its starting point is California's Proposition 209, which ended race-based affirmative action in public education and the workplace in 1996. The…

Despite the community college's historical commitment to the availability of comprehensive education for all citizens, Hispanics have yet to receive a fair share of programs and services. General demographic data, as well as regional and national longitudinal studies, reveal that Hispanic participation and success in all levels of the educational…

This paper reviews the research on the effects of differential computer background on the short- and long-range success of minority students, identifies some strategies Glendale Community College (Arizona) has used to encourage minority students' use of computing, specifically computer conferencing, and explains the measures constructed to track…

The Student Equity Plan developed by California's Mount San Jacinto College (MSJC) is intended to assure equal access of historically underrepresented and ethnic minority students while maintaining excellence in academic standards. This update provides current information on the goals and activities involved in the Plan. An executive summary…

Intended to assure equal access of historically underrepresented and ethnic minority students while maintaining excellence in academic standards, Mount San Jacinto College (MSJC), in California, developed this student equity plan. An executive summary reviews state legislation mandating the development of student equity plans, the goals and…

Current social, economic, and policy trends threaten to erase the gains in educational access and attainment minorities have made since 1960. The educational reform movements of the past two decades reinforced the concepts of equity and opportunity, but in the face of financial exigency and retrenchment, driven by state legislatures and public…

The Student Equity Plan developed by California's Mount San Jacinto College (MSJC) is intended to ensure equal access of historically underrepresented and ethnic minority students. This update provides current information on the goals and activities involved in the plan. An executive summary reviews state legislation mandating the development of…

Assembly member Carol Liu, Chair of the Assembly Select Committee on Adult Education, requested that the California Research Bureau prepare a report on adult education. The legislative request specified that the following topics be covered: (1) a definition of adult education; (2) recent information on student enrollment, funding sources and…

An overview is provided of the discussion at the conference, as well as edited versions of the keynote address and nine commissioned papers prepared as background for the working sessions: "Achieving Quality and Equality" (Donald M. Stewart); "Financial Aid and Ethnic Minorities" (Jacob O. Stampen and Robert H. Fenske); "Minority Education…