Creating engaging student-faculty interactions has been a challenge for instructors teaching at community colleges in the United States. The purpose of this research study was to explore the relationship between student-faculty interactions and students' course engagement and completion. To explore this relationship, the research study collected…

Persistence of first-year, full-time students toward graduation at U.S. community colleges poses concerns for administrators, faculty, and policymakers. The purpose of this study was to explore the perceptions of faculty members teaching a college success seminar at an urban multicampus community college on what impedes or supports the persistence…

We sought to understand barriers and facilitators to academic engagement among student parents at six community colleges, through in-depth interviews with student parents, staff, and faculty members (n = 49). Using a grounded theory approach, we found parents were expected to repeatedly self-advocate and request accommodations such as for extended…

Background: Between 70 million and 100 million Americans have a record of interaction with the criminal legal system, a group facing stigma and discrimination in civic participation, housing, employment, and education. Justice-impacted people face collateral consequences in the community, making reentry programs essential to success at…

Research suggests that community college alumni may be underrepresented within PhD programs. As such, we implemented and evaluated the Community College to PhD (CC2PhD) Scholars Program at the University of California, Los Angeles. CC2PhD was a 7-month undergraduate research and PhD preparation program for community college sophomores in the…

The Octavius V. Catto Scholarship launched in spring 2021 at Community College of Philadelphia (CCP) to help Philadelphians achieve college success. Inspired by 19th-century civil rights leader Octavius Catto's belief in education for all, the scholarship goes beyond tuition assistance, providing wraparound supports including academic coaching,…

Digital model platforms and applications are common in anatomy education and continue to grow in number, which suggests that educators and students find use for these tools despite the lack of widely accepted best practices. Consequently, it is a challenge for educators to mindfully integrate digital models into curriculum. This short-term,…

Transparency in learning and teaching (TILT) is a framework designed to enhance student engagement, learning, and overall success. The efficacy of TILT has been demonstrated through positive data, making it a promising method for higher education institutions to implement and adapt. In addition to increasing traditional students' mastery of…

This mixed methods study examined students' perceptions of EcoJustice and Social Justice curriculum in an undergraduate children's literature course. Data included beginning-course and end-course Likert scale questions and open-ended responses, student reflective writings, and assignments. This study also examined survey responses from faculty…

Background/Significance: College algebra traditionally serves as the default math requirement for community college students. Lattimore and Depenbrock (2017) reported that approximately two-thirds of community college enrollees are required to take this course, yet nearly 80% fail to complete it, making it "the single most failed course in…

Educating engineers should be for the benefit of students and their aspirations, whether that is helping their communities and/or environment, achieving financial stability, or achieving the goal of earning a degree in a lucrative field. Obtaining an engineering degree positions students as capable agents for societal change, which are not limited…

College Algebra has been the main credit bearing mathematics course for many college students, but only one in five students at the community college level were passing this course. Students that did not have a mathematics dependent major seen College Algebra as a gatekeeper for completing college. With several students struggling to complete…

Latina students are the least likely to succeed in college. The purpose of this study was to investigate the factors that motivate and influence Latina students who are first-generation in college to enroll and stay in college. In this quantitative research the following questions were used to guide the study: (1) What are the key motivational…

Using cross-institutional survey data from 407 first-year college students, differences in information literacy preparation and academic library experiences between community college students and students at four-year institutions are examined. Results show that first-year community college students are more likely to be novice library users,…

California's higher education system depends heavily on community colleges. California enrolls a much larger share of recent high school graduates in community colleges than other states--but is near the bottom when it comes to enrolling in four-year colleges and universities. Transferring to four-year institutions thus plays a vital role in…