<p> The purpose of this research was to explore community college counselors' perception of role strain in their positions. Role strain theory explains the difficulties individuals face as they determine which behavior expectations they fulfill in their relationships. It was determined that counselors have important role relationships with students, college administrators and their peers.</p><p> Through qualitative analysis, this study provided knowledge about community college counselor's perceptions about expectations of their role on campus. The study discovered student and administrator expectations of counselors, and beliefs counselors held regarding their roles based on formal educational and on the job trainings.</p><p> This research aimed to answer the following questions: (a) How do California community college counselors define their roles in serving their student population? (b) What are California community college counselor's perceptions of student, administrative and professional expectations of the counselor's role? (c) What are the role expectations community college counselors learned from their formal education and on the job training programs? and (d) How do community college counselors perceive any differences in role expectations to affect their ability to provide quality counseling services? To answer these questions, in-depth interviews were utilized to collect qualitative data from community college counselors.</p><p> The findings resulted from qualitative data analysis of the interview transcripts from study participants. Using thematic coding and analysis the interview data was grouped by codes into recurring themes. This resulted in the identification of four critical themes: (a) counselor preparation; (b) counselor role expectations; (c) counselor experiences with students; and (d) Counselor perceptions of college administrators.</p><p> The results showed to improve counseling practice, counselors must discover ways to effectively deal with student mental health, and teach students how to navigate the higher education system. Counselors must also learn new ways to meet administrative requests for data based on information they already collect from students. This research be further developed by collecting data from a larger more diverse group of counselors. The data can be enriched by analyzing what Master's programs intend to teach future counselors. Last, collecting data from students is always recommended as the goal is always to improve their success.</p>

<p> Obesity is described as a chronic disease affecting adults, children, and adolescents. It has become a significant burden for the healthcare system and is considered one of the top health problems contributing to severe complications from childhood through adulthood. Obesity represents one of the most worrisome health problems in the United States, because it directly affects the health of individuals.</p><p> The research objective was to educate parents and grandparents of Latino children under age 17 regarding the importance of healthy food choices and physical activity. The aim was to empower parents and grandparents to practice health promotion and disease prevention. A descriptive design with pretest and posttest was utilized to indicate the knowledge gained by participants after the instructional phase. The result of the data analysis indicated an increase for the majority of participants regarding their level of understanding about healthy eating and the importance of physical activity.</p>

<p> This study explored the conditions and outcomes of student transformational learning (TL) in a semester-long community college work placement context. Thirty-five interdisciplinary students participated in an appreciative inquiry survey and interview protocol. 31% experienced a high degree of TL, reporting nearly twice the degree of change as low TL students and also exhibiting multiple TL outcomes. They exhibited self-growth, changed frame of reference, confidence, new behaviors and habits, and also described an emergent sense of hope, empowerment, and new possibilities. Positive emotions were the strongest differentiator of high versus low TL. The professional learning context, work culture, and relationships facilitated the greatest impact for high TL. Financial aid was the only personal condition of significance. Leveraging new workplace experiences to catalyze authentic learner capabilities as characterized by TL, offers promising potential for educators and employers alike to build sustainable future capacity. Continued TL research should explore positive, holistic methodologies.</p>

<p>The purpose of this study was to examine the experiences of students enrolled in a basic skills math class at a California community college and the role of the peer model in informing their college-going behaviors. There is significant interest in increasing the number of students who complete basic skills courses and make progress towards a degree and transfer to a four-year college. While poor performance by students enrolled in basic skills classes is generally associated with a lack of academic preparation, research indicates that students may lack the cultural capital or college know-how necessary to be successful. This case study considers the role a peer model can play in informing students of college-going behaviors when interventions are embedded in the classroom. </p><p> The site of this case study was an Arithmetic class taught in the fall 2012 semester at a mid-size, diverse community college in northern California. The class included embedded interventions provided by a peer model who demonstrated college-going behaviors. Semi-structured interviews with six students, the peer model, and the instructor, as well as observations of the classroom and supplemental instruction, provided rich data for the findings and implications of this study. The central research question was, &ldquo;How do embedded interventions offered in a basic skills math class inform college student behavior?&rdquo; </p><p> Purposeful sampling was used to identify the participants for this qualitative study conducted in the tradition of a bounded case study. Initially, two primary themes were identified and used to guide my data analysis: 1) the significance of feeling cared for, and 2) acquiring college know-how. Later in the process of data collection and analysis, I identified the significance of setting and maintaining expectations and the emergent theme of faith. </p><p> The findings from my study have implications for both practitioners and researchers. For practitioners, this study provides a framework for teaching students college know-how in order to advance student success, specifically students enrolled in basic skills courses. The findings from this study also indicate the significance of students feeling cared for and how this contributes to course completion and success. For researchers, data from student interviews indicate that we can learn from students about the factors they believe inform their course success. Including student voices in future research about student success will help the field understand the interventions or treatments that students find most significant. </p>

<p> Current research shows that students with a growth mindset are more motivated to learn, want to work harder, are less discouraged by difficulty, use more effective strategies for learning, and have higher academic performance in comparison to students without this mindset. Despite these promising findings, a growth mindset is sometimes not reinforced or is even refuted by classroom conditions. The purpose of this intrinsic case study was to explore how community college educators create classroom environments that foster a growth mindset. The conceptual framework for this study was a social constructivist approach where the interviewer and the participants co-constructed the interpretation of how to influence a growth mindset in the community college classroom. Data were collected through 14 in-depth interviews with community college educators who completed a workshop on influencing a growth mindset. Data were analyzed through categorizing, coding, and identifying themes that answered the research question. The findings of this study indicated that the mindset of the student and the teacher play an important role in academic success at the community college and that faculty desire training in tools and strategies to create classroom environments that foster a growth mindset. Recommendations include an in-depth, experiential professional development program based on research where community college educators from a variety of disciplines can collaborate to gain new knowledge and skills. Training community college educators using the most effective ways of fostering a growth mindset to increase students' motivation, effort, and persistence will lead to greater academic success and degree completion.</p>

<p>For over a decade, the nursing profession has increased enrollments and established new education programs in response to the national nursing shortage. The profession has focused on increasing the numbers of new graduate nurses prepared to replace the nation's aging nursing workforce. Considering the expense of this educational process with close supervision requirements, limited clinical spaces, and high attrition rates, this exploratory mixed methods study examined mentoring as a success strategy to retain nursing students in school. This study of nursing students enrolled in an associate's degree program in one California community college explored mentoring from the students' point of view. The study explored the personal perceptions and meaning attributed to the mentoring experiences of one group of nursing students. </p><p> Using focus group interviews, the qualitative phase of this study identified the characteristics and shared experiences of 20 volunteer participants. In the second phase, 112 student volunteers (57% response rate) completed an online survey developed from an analysis of the focus group interview data. The respondents' demographics were representative of the four semester nursing program student body. The survey findings affirmed that the participants perceived mentoring by a registered nurse beneficial and useful. Coaching and encouragement from a nursing professional as well as peer support had a positive impact on the program outcomes of retention and program completion. </p>

<p>The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore how career technical education (CTE) deans implement crucial changes in their programs to keep up with industry standards required by external agencies, the Perkins grant, and the advancements of technology. Deans must make top-down, lateral, as well as vertical change to implement improvements successfully, and to implement or to create new policies. The participants discussed the unique nature and background associated with CTE and their perceptions of the distinct skill sets that may be unique to leading career education programs. </p><p> Little research exists exploring this phenomena and this study could prove invaluable to the CTE field in recruiting, training, and developing current and future CTE Deans. The findings of this study suggest that in order to meet their goals in implementing program changes, CTE deans need to be skilled in the use of referent power, relationship-building, and a participative leadership style. In addition, skilled practitioners must have strong relational skills that emphasize collaboration, persuasion, and determination to lead change successfully. These findings can assist human resource departments in the hiring of effective deans of CTE divisions. </p>

<p>An issue faced by community colleges is the time to completion for student success as defined by obtaining a degree, certificate or transfer to a four-year institution. Issues not addressed in the research are the effects on persistence of the time needed to acquire the performing arts skills, the probable occurrence of student over engagement, and the student's definition of success and their perception of a delayed time to degree. There exists a population of community college performing arts students who continue to persist into their fourth year and beyond after accumulating the units needed to complete an associate arts degree or certificate. </p><p> Using a phenomenological approach, this qualitative study explored the perceptions and experiences of community college performing arts students on their reasons for continued persistence in community college. Semi-structured interviews were used to elucidate themes and to discern the motives of why these students continue to persist. It was discovered that the participants created their own individual definitions of student success and designed personalized academic pathways to obtain that success. It appeared that the acquisition of skills, the building of resumes, and networking were major reasons for the student's continued persistence. And, although the completion of a degree was asserted as important, it was not critical in a majority of their definitions of success. In addition, participants admitted to spending a great deal of time in pursuit of the arts. </p><p> Recommendations were made to implement counselors with specialized training in the needs of performing arts students to mitigate unnecessary persistence, to realign curriculum and programs within the arts as needed (a) to address repeatability issues and to (b) build relationships with local professional arts organizations, and to strengthen the profile of the performing arts as an accepted academic discipline to better align the arts with college missions. Further research is needed in the performing arts as well as in the community colleges to continue to build the body of literature in these areas. A final recommendation was for the policy makers to strengthen institutions by broadening their definition of student success to include the voices of the students. </p>

<p> This dissertation assesses the impact of structural constraints to participation on residents of a rural non-core county and members of a local grassroots organization in conjunction with the measurement of grassroots members for the presence of transformative leaning. This study is motivated by three research questions: (1) To what extent may the presence of structural constraints to participation in community action activities be found in adult residents of a rural non-core county? (2) To ;what extent may the presence of structural constraints to participation in community action activities be found in members of a local grassroots organization? (3) How many members of a local grassroots show evidence of the 10 phases found in transformative learning? Theoretical foundations for this work are based upon the following research; Theodori's (2008) analysis of structural constraints to participation in community action activities , Mezirow's (2009) development of transformative learning theory in adult populations, and King's (2009) Learning Activities Survey as a measurement of transformative learning. Purposefully obtained data were collected from the general population to establish a measurement of structural constraints to participation. </p><p> Within the grassroots organization survey data were used to determine the presence of structural constraints to participation and transformative learning. The findings utilizing regression analysis suggest significance for structural constraints to participation in the general population is minimal, and not significant at all in member of the grassroots organization. Transformative learning in members of the grassroots organization was confirmed by significance for 5 of the 15 variables analyzed. The results were contrary to expectation; yet, these conclusions do contain important implications for those involved in community development.</p>

<p> The purpose of this study was to assess the extent to which policies and behavioral assessment teams exist at North Carolina community colleges, to determine the perceived ability levels of North Carolina community college counselors when dealing with students in crisis, and to identify the characteristics of community colleges in North Carolina who have implemented policies for the assessment of students in potential crisis. Research Question One sought to analyze policy implementation for the assessment of students in crisis and the implementation of behavioral assessment teams at community colleges in North Carolina. Research Question Two used descriptive data to report the levels of the counselors&rsquo; perceived confidence when assessing risk and what they perceive as needs to address crisis intervention and management at community colleges in North Carolina. Research Question Three had the purpose of determining if a relationship is present between the five levels of risk (Sokolow et al., 2009) and the perception of confidence as reported by community college counselors in North Carolina. Research Question Four explored what type of relationship exists between North Carolina community college demographic characteristics and policy implementation level.</p><p> The methodology implemented was a mixed-methods design. A purposeful sample of counselors employed at community colleges in North Carolina was used for this study. A survey was developed and was distributed to the sample to collect both quantitative and qualitative data.</p>