In this paper, I argue that researcher reflexivity, a common qualitative practice, is a specific tool that institutional research professionals endeavoring to conduct qualitative research studies involving Students of Color can use to unpack issues of power and privilege that exist between the researcher and the researched. This may be…

As part of the Community College Research Center's (CCRC) Analysis of Statewide Developmental Education Reform Learning Assessment Study, Wake Technical Community College's partner team believes the recommendation and implications in the CCRC's Developmental Reading and English Assessment in a Researcher-Practitioner Partnership. Working Paper No.…

Two related themes currently dominate discourse on open-access colleges, particularly community colleges: increasing college-going and degree attainment and improving the performance of postsecondary institutions with respect to producing graduates. Largely missing from this discourse, however, is cogency concerning the innumerable ways in which…

A quick search in the "Community College Journal of Research and Practice" for Barbara Townsend's name produces 62 entries. A handful of those entries are the articles that Barbara has authored, but many more are articles that cite her work. Another search on the Web of Science database that tracks citations in a specific set of peer-reviewed…

Barbara K. Townsend's faculty profile on the Web site of the University of Missouri-Columbia lists three areas of inquiry: access to and attainment of the baccalaureate, community college faculty, and teacher education in the community college. Many people who knew Barbara are well aware that her interests were far wider and more expansive. This…

Arthur M. Cohen and his colleagues at the Center for the Study of Community Colleges have made significant and broad contributions to the scholarly literature and empirical research about community colleges. Although Cohen's interests are comprehensive and his writings touch on multiple issues associated with community colleges, his empirical work…

Arthur M. Cohen has spoken to community college leaders on a diverse array of issues for many years. This article focuses on his contributions to this leadership in three major areas: (a) providing a vision of community colleges as collegiate institutions, (b) offering valuable and thought-provoking insight into the current context for community…

Berta Vigil Laden was a scholar who helped raise our understanding of minority-serving institutions generally and Hispanic-serving institutions in particular. She approached her work with empathy and compassion. This article reviews her major contributions.

This paper discusses data mining--an end-to-end (ETE) data analysis tool that is used by researchers in higher education. It also relates data mining and other software programs to a brand new concept called "Knowledge Management." The paper culminates in the Tier Knowledge Management Model (TKMM), which seeks to provide a stable…

Summarizes criticisms of the community college in a list of six ways in which two-year colleges promote the socio-economic status quo. Reviews the writings of Clark, Jencks and Riesman, Cohen, Astin, Karabel, and Zwerling--all university-based critics. Suggests that two-year college educators analyze and profit from these criticisms. (GB)

Institutional research in the community college suffers from lack of fiscal support and trained personnel. The project described here was conceived to enhance the capabilities of 12 people assigned research responsibilities in California community colleges who lacked sufficient training in research design and methodology. The overall plan was to…

A study was conducted at Brookdale Community College to determine which staff members were conducting research, under what conditions they would continue to do so, and the types of assistance the college's Center for Educational Research could provide to the staff. Questionnaires were sent to all college faculty, staff, and administrators,…

Despite the growing contributions of community college institutes and associations to educational research, most university-based colleges of education still minimize the value of this research and often contain only one professor whose primary interest and/or expertise is community colleges. To address this issue, researchers should make efforts…

This study builds on an earlier one in which the role of institutional researchers in providing computer information systems (CIS) data to administrators was investigated. To examine the relationship between college culture and the role of institutional researchers as either providers of information or interpreters of data, a study was conducted…

In September 1992, a small group of experienced researchers met to identify areas of research and specific research hypotheses to guide further inquiry into transfer. Specifically, participants examined transfer as it relates to institutional mission, institutional organization, and access to education and identified various premises upon which…