This study examines the potential of faculty at the community college to positively influence, or "heat up," student aspirations. With increasing emphasis on graduation and transfer rates in higher education, the importance of micro-level interactions that shape student aspiration has been neglected. To better understand how individuals within the institution, especially faculty, contribute to student aspirations, this study attempts to bridge the "cooling out" and "heating up" literature in the context of the modern community college by recognizing the role of the individual academic program. Applying organizational theory from a systems perspective, as well as the theories of Paolo Freire, the study examines the nature of student-faculty interactions that have the potential to contribute to student aspiration in the context of institutional limitations. The participants include students and faculty in three academic programs that have different approaches to student success within one urban community college. The case study involves a combination of qualitative approaches, including interviews and observations. The study inductively examines student-faculty interactions and their potential to contribute to student aspirations within three different academic programs. The most significant barriers to student success and increasing aspirations are found on the institutional level. These limitations, including bureaucratic confusion, advisement issues, remediation, variation in attendance policies, financial constraints, and lacking a cohesive institutional culture and commitment, have the potential to "cool out" student aspiration, as supported in the majority of the community college literature on this topic. However, the mezzo-level effects of programs and the micro-level practices of the individuals hold substantial potential in terms of "heating up" student aspiration. Programs vary in the degree to which they handle the institutional limitations. Programs that take an active role in mediating between the limiting institutional barriers and students provide a cushioning program-wide protection from the cooling out elements. The micro-level interactions between individual students and faculty also hold potential to heat up by helping students navigate the systematic confusion that seems characteristic of the community college. Therefore, this study suggests that there is hope for the community college in fulfilling its promise of educational opportunity. Macro-level institutional challenges, as well as larger societal inequalities, are substantial and pervasive at the community college and solutions are often limited by financial constraints. However, the programs and individuals within the community college hold promise. The study suggests that the roles of the program and the individual are instrumental in shaping student aspiration. / Urban Education

In 2005, according to the American Association of Community College (AACC) and the National Institute of Leadership Development, women signify 259 community college presidents nationally. Hockaday and Puyear (2000), Weisman and Vaughan (2002) reported in 2002 that more women held presidencies at community colleges when compared to other types of higher education institutions. Statistically, the number of women holding the position of president more than doubled, yet, women continue to remain disproportionately under-represented in administrative and policy-making positions, according to Corrigan (2002). The purpose of this study was to identify the leadership styles, career path, effectiveness, and length of time from completion of terminal degree to presidency that identified the road to become a female community college president. The Gregorc Style Delineator™ (Gregorc, 1982) was used to determine the styles of women community college presidents relating to leadership. The constructs, known as styles were displayed as Concrete Random, Concrete Sequential, Abstract Sequential, and Abstract Random. Descriptive statistics were used to address the preferred leadership styles. Contingency tables described the value obtained from the Gregorc Style Delineator™ (Gregorc, 1982), path of promotion, and length of time. The Participant Information Sheet collected information on institutional demographics, significant events that influenced the participant to become a community college president, and their effectiveness. Five research questions guided this study and were interpreted using various research methods. Results from this study reflect that Concrete Random is the preferred leadership style of the participants. Furthermore, this research suggests that women community college presidents are multitaskers, visionaries, and motivators who inspire those working with them to achieve all goals set for the institution. These attributes and skills are displayed in Concrete Random and Concrete Sequential styles. Moreover, it was identified that a successful president should develop the skills and competencies necessary to meet the growing needs of the community, culture, educational, and political climate. The results of the study may serve as a guide to a community college engaged in a search for a president. In addition, these findings may provide direction for institutions that strive to offer leadership development opportunities for professors and administrators. / Ph. D.

In California community colleges, students of color reach educational milestones and culminating outcomes disproportionately less often than their peers. In the past decade, the state has committed renewed energy to refining student equity plan regulations requiring individual colleges to identify and develop strategies to close such gaps. This dissertation sought to focus on the intended beneficiaries of these efforts, asking how students themselves define and experience equity. Using semistructured, narrative interviews to explore the experiences of nine students of color at a California community college, this qualitative case was supported by institutional documents, participant observation, and interviews with college personnel. This inquiry was conceptually framed by Dowd and Bensimon’s (2015) insights on equity’s meaning as a standard of justice, California student equity plan success indicators, and Yosso’s (2005) community cultural wealth. Students’ stories wove tapestries of struggles and triumphs. Their engagement with the college and coursework was often mediated by the external circumstances and internal tumult of their lived experiences and hurdles that derived from college’s personnel or processes. Alternately, students found informational, material, social, and motivational resources in their home networks, college programs, relationships with personnel, and their own recognition of personal growth. Students’ experiences with the college denoted equity by its presence and its absence. While affirmatively identifying instances of caring, validation, and growth, less positive experiences revealed the extent to which equity remains aspirational. These findings give voice to the asymmetries between policy/regulatory efforts to redress entrenched educational inequities and the realities of students’ lived experience.

The student retention behavior of stopping-out is widely misunderstood and yet very important in explaining community college student enrollment patterns. Stopping-out remains understudied in higher education literature as it is challenging to collect data from students who discontinued their enrollment. Since these students are not retained, they may be categorized as dropping-out within institutional data. The behavior of students who temporarily discontinue their enrollment and intend to re-enroll in the future is characterized as stopping-out. A clear distinction between stopping-out and dropping-out is vital to understanding the characteristics of students who stop-out and the student-level, institutional, and economic factors that influence their decision to discontinue their enrollment. By identifying the characteristics of these students and the factors that lead them to stopping-out, this study provides a foundation for shifting resources to programs that specifically target students who stop-out. Previous retention studies primarily utilized quantitative designs, lacking a student perspective. This mixed-method study, informed by rational choice and prospect theory, analyzed quantitative and qualitative data collected through a fall 2023 student survey administered in partnership with the community college research site. Quantitative analysis revealed that stop-out students at the community college are disproportionately Black, African-American, or Hispanic, of non-traditional age, and Pell Grant eligible. The students who stopped-out for economic reasons were most likely to be part-time enrolled and full-time employed and were more likely than students who stopped out due to institutional factors to discontinue enrollment due to COVID-19. The qualitative analysis of student responses to open-ended survey questions revealed the following themes, which described the factors influencing students' stop-out decisions. These were academic goal attainment, dual enrollment, institutional policies and academics, economic or life events, and ongoing student identity. The qualitative findings corroborated the quantitative findings that economic factors predominantly drive stopping-out decisions and stop-out students still identify as college students. The qualitative findings also confirmed that a number of students included in the stop-out survey did not stop-out. The students who reached their academic goals and dual enrollment students discontinued their enrollment because they met their academic goals. In order to analyze the students who stopped-out, these students were categorized as not-stopped-out for data analysis. The categorization allowed for the focus to be on students most closely aligned with the definition of stopped-out at the research site. My research contributes to the existing literature by including the experiences of stop-out students through their perspective. The research results provide a foundation for community college administrators and policymakers to advocate for reallocating resources toward programs supporting the retention of this unique group. Since the research revealed that many students who stop-out still self-identify as college students, there is an opportunity to provide a pathway to re-enrollment. College leaders can create an environment that lowers the economic barriers driving these students out of the classroom, thereby increasing the student success initiatives associated with community college missions. / Educational Administration

The purpose of this study was to determine if certain student demographics and measures of previous high school academic achievement could differentiate between students who are successful in remedial and college level English and algebra courses and students who are unsuccessful in those courses.

The major purpose of this study was to investigate whether a career-oriented, freshman English class (WSACP), was beneficial in increasing student cognitive complexity beyond normal maturational development. Cognitive complexity was assessed along the Perry scheme of intellectual and ethical development by the Measure of Intellectual Development (MID). A pretest/ posttest quasi-experimental design was implemented to compare cognitive changes among an experimental (n=23) and two control groups (n=21/n=23). A secondary purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of WSACP on student retention rates. This study was based on the assumptions that an effective college-level career development program would: (a) be developmentally oriented, focusing on cognitive maturation through an emphasis on the writing process, (b) be taught within the regular academic curriculum, and thus be taken for academic credit, and (c) be collaboratively designed and taught. Using analysis of variance (ANOVA) procedures, the study found that the general cognitive complexity of the experimental group increased at significantly higher rates (at the .05 level) than that of the two combined control groups. The retention results. although encouraging, revealed no statistically significant differences between WSACP and 266 other freshman students. The major recommendations emanating from this study were: (a) institutions of higher education should encourage the development of "collaborative" courses in the areas of English and career development. Research should be conducted to substantiate the career development results of this study, and investigate the effects of such an approach on student writing, (b) the dimension of cognitive complexity should be included in the development of career programs, and (c) first-term career development activities should be included in any comprehensive retention program. / Ed. D.

Community colleges often face challenges with leadership as a result of retirements and turnover. In reaction to these challenges some community colleges have developed Grow Your Own (GYO) leadership development programs. Although the topic of leadership and leadership development has been researched extensively, more research is necessary concerning GYO programs and their perceived impact on participants and their colleges. This study was designed to determine the perceived development of GYO participants as well as the perception of a GYO’s impact on the organization. Guilford Technical Community College (GTCC) in Greensboro, North Carolina has had a GYO program for 30 years. A qualitative research method with a phenomenological theory design was used in this study. After obtaining permission from GTCC the 10 study participants were recruited through emails. Interviews were semi structured with questions designed to encourage discussion around the topic of leadership development. After each participant was interviewed, transcripts of the interview were made by the researcher and those transcripts were coded to determine themes. After the coding analysis was complete, common themes emerged. Each of the participants reported to have had previous roles in leadership prior to coming to GTCC. Most of the participants reported positive change because of attendance in the GYO in the areas of relationship building, networking, changed perspective of college role and mission, and better preparedness for future leadership opportunities. These findings supported earlier research that found GYO programs to be successful in creating valuable relationships across the organization. Research also supported the common theme of relationships formed both horizontally and vertically within the organization. Another common theme addressed in earlier research was the development of social capital development within the GYO program. This happens when individuals are brought together around information, given an action point, and asked to solve relevant organizational problems. This study may be useful for community colleges that already offer a GYO opportunity or are considering developing a GYO opportunity. Further research may be needed to determine the impact of the GYO leadership development training on those reporting to the participants of the program.

The purpose of this study was to determine students' classroom social environment needs by identifying characteristics of actual and ideal classroom environments as perceived by students taking developmental math or English courses in Virginia community colleges, characteristics of the actual classroom environments as perceived by their instructors, and characteristics of actual and ideal classroom environments as perceived by subgroups of students. The subgroups were formed by gender, race, age, type of developmental course, size of college, and whether students were first generation college students. The Adult Classroom Environment Scale was administered to students and instructors in developmental studies classes in Virginia community colleges during the Fall, 1993, semester. The statistical procedures used to analyze the data were t-tests for independent means, t-tests for dependent (correlated) means, analyses of variance, and the Newman-Keuls Post Hoc Multiple Comparison Procedure. Findings indicated that students and instructors viewed Teacher Support and Organization and Clarity as the two most prevalent dimensions in the classroom environment. Students' preference for an ideal classroom environment indicated a desire for increased attention to Involvement, Affiliation, Personal Goal Attainment, and Student Influence, but not to Task Orientation. Special ideal classroom environment needs were identified for subgroups. Younger, Asian, and American Indian students expressed a need for emphasis on Personal Goal Attainment and Student Influence. Teacher Support was especially important to women and men; white, Asian, and Hispanic students; younger and older students; both math and English students; first-generation and non-first-generation students; and students in large and small colleges. Instructors' views of the dimensions in the actual classroom environment were higher than students, except for Personal Goal Attainment and Student Influence.

In the 1990s, due in part to declining enrollment numbers and prolonged budget constraints, student retention became a primary focus in higher education. Aligned with the nationwide interest, this longitudinal, archival study focused on the correlates of student retention at Walters State Community College, located in Morristown, Tennessee. The population involved 17,497 students enrolled from the fall semester of 1992 through the fall semester of 1997. Four sets of variables were investigated--demographic variables, pre-matriculation variables, post-matriculation variables related to grades, and post-matriculation variables related to enrollment. The data were collected through the use of a computer program written to access the Tennessee Board of Regents' Student Information System database, and the data obtained were analyzed through the application of two univariate approaches--the chi-square and the t test for independent samples. The major findings of the study were: (1) Younger, White, females persisted at higher rates than did other students at Walters State; (2) students who: had higher high school GPAs, had higher admission test scores, attended public high schools, had pre-college residences that were located within the college's service area, and made applications for college less than two months prior to the first day of classes persisted at higher rates than did other students at Walters State; (3) students who: had higher college GPAs, were required to take one or two remedial and developmental courses, had not received any "F" grades, and had greater than zero reported absences persisted at higher rates than did other students at Walters State; and (4) students who: attended on a full-time basis, were enrolled in programs designed for transfer to four-year institutions, changed their major programs of study more than one time, and received financial assistance persisted at higher rates than did other students at Walters State. These findings should be communicated with all college personnel in an effort to increase their sensitivity to the "special" needs of these "at-risk" constituencies. Furthermore, the findings should be used in developing a retention plan that incorporates programs and services designed to address the needs of targeted audiences as identified in this study.

The pursuit of this study was to examine perspectives of select community college presidents and vice presidents for academic affairs regarding leadership attributes that were currently observed as being practiced by mid-level managers. The study also summarized these leaders' perceptions of the leadership attributes mid-level managers will need to possess to assume senior administrative positions, particularly the presidency, that will guide the institutions into the future. Based on an extensive review of literature, a list of 41 leadership attributes was established. The Community College Leadership Attribute Survey (CCLAS) was designed by the researcher and a pilot study was conducted. Sixty-five national community college presidents, 60 national community college vice presidents for academic affairs, 14 Tennessee community college presidents and 14 community college vice presidents for academic affairs were contacted to participate in the study. One hundred and seven usable surveys were received, for a response rate of 70%. The study found that there was a statistically significant difference in the leadership attributes presidents and vice presidents for academic affairs currently observed as being practiced and those attributes that would be needed in the future. The gap was measured between currently observed and future importance attributes, and levels of importance were listed. The study took into consideration independent variables such as gender, geographic location, years of experience in current position and years of experience in higher education. The study also examined the perceptions of those presidents and vice presidents who had work experience in the private sector before moving to higher education. Recommendations for future study included the implementation of a leadership program to help ensure that organizational leaders will have the skills needed to lead and facilitate the many changes and challenges community colleges are facing in the future. Other recommendations included institutions lending greater attention to professional development activities, and studies that would allow administrative leaders to identify and define additional leadership attributes.