The mission of America's community college system is to provide access, responsiveness to community, and equity (Troyer, 2015). In response to increasing competition and evolving student preferences, more and more community college courses are being offered fully online. As of fall 2019, 70% of community college students were taking at least one online course (Paterson, 2019). At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, community colleges shifted their courses to nearly exclusively online, many of which will maintain this modality for the foreseeable future. The problem is that students do not perform as well in online courses as they do in face-to-face courses. Disadvantaged, academically underprepared community college students have higher drop rates and lower pass rates in online courses than their peers. The purpose of this dissertation is to describe the relationship between online course success rates and face-to-face course success rates in community colleges, to identify which demographics and student types experience the greatest performance gaps, and to identify current policies and best-practices implemented by community colleges to address these gaps in online course success. The literature revealed that online course quality and learner support systems appear to have a positive impact on student persistence and success in online courses. An important unexpected finding, the Online Paradox, showed that students who attempt at least some online courses are more likely to credential than those who are entirely face-to-face or entirely online. Based on the literature, community college student success in online courses can be increased by providing community college administrators and faculty with best practices to address these performance gaps and better serve their most disadvantaged students. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]