This study aims to revisit the understudied concept of career communities in higher education. Using mixed methods, this study assesses how university students define and characterize career communities compared to general communities. Based on our interviews (N=25) and survey (N=123), we define a career community more narrowly as a group of…

Background: Farm-to-school interventions are recommended strategies to improve dietary behaviors among school-aged children. Tools are needed to assess community readiness and capacity to optimize farm-to-school implementation. The objective of this study was to identify and prioritize factors to inform tailored farm-to-school implementation by…

To close equity gaps in California Community Colleges, we need institutional and curricular transformations. This article discusses research on pedagogical and institutional approaches to equity and change that guided Basic Skills faculty, administrators, student service staff, and students in the Academic Committee for Equity and Success (ACES)…

Community Learning Centers (CLC) provide extended learning opportunities for students and families that live in fiscally under-resourced communities. These centers provide opportunities for academic enrichment. This includes an array of additional services, programs, and activities. The programs should be designed to reinforce and complement the…

When Vicky Wood came to Washington State Community College as president in 2017, the college was investing limited resources in efforts to improve student success. Dr. Wood brought on a new leadership team, which has engaged faculty and staff throughout the college in making substantial changes to organizational practice and culture with the goal…

This case study uses an equity-focused research lens to accomplish two tasks using data from two North Carolina community colleges. First, it situates community college virtual exchange programming within a pre-existing program typology to explore the extent to which community college virtual exchange is included in current conversations in…

Understanding student experiences and the ability to predict satisfaction and retention continues to be an important topic in higher education. Among the many variables that have predictive capacity, recent research shows that a sense of belonging may be an important factor. The present study extends this logic to examine if a sense of community…

In March of 2020, the COVID-19 global pandemic fundamentally altered almost all aspects of daily life as people around the world grappled with a public health emergency, as well as unprecedented economic and social consequences. COVID-19's impact on schools, colleges, and universities was far-reaching, forcing institutions to rethink their…

During the spring of 2020, two months into the global COVID-19 pandemic, four leading CBOs in Boston--the YMCA of Greater Boston, Latinos For Education (LFE), Inquilinos Boricuas en Acción (IBA), and The BASE--came together to discuss what they can do to help underserved children in the city experiencing education disruption. In response to the…

The purpose of this case study was to examine student experiences within an established guided pathways model program that integrated a system of student support to increase on-time graduation rates. Four research questions guided the investigation: (1) How did the participants describe the college's approach to helping students enter an academic…

The Performance Measures for Student Success Report is the North Carolina Community College System's major accountability document. This annual performance report is based on data compiled during the previous year and serves to inform colleges and the public on the performance of our 58 community colleges. In 2010, a review process was established…

The purpose of this qualitative, descriptive study was to explore how community college instructors described the influence of their technological and pedagogical knowledge in online course design at a community college in the Southeastern United States. The identified theoretical framework for this study was Koehler and Mishra's (2006) TPACK…

This dissertation in practice documents the program evaluation of the Community Scholars (CS) program at the Florida Center for Inclusive Communities (FCIC), a University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (UCEDD) at the University of South Florida (USF). CS is part of a diversity pipeline program that recruits youth with…

Background: Shared Lives (adult placement) is a model of community-based support where an adult who needs support and/or accommodation moves into or regularly visits the home of an approved Shared Lives carer. It is an established but small-scale service used mainly by adults with learning disabilities. However, little research has been conducted…

Reflexive commitments tend to be lacking, particularly from the perspective of early career scholars. This is particularly true in relation to published research, but evident in doctoral studies exploring teachers work. Using principles of phenomenological reflexivity, this methodological paper explores the critical incidents that have come to…