Budget cuts at a California community college prompted stakeholders to consider dropping the college's general education information literacy (IL) requirement. Broad institutional outcomes data showed learning gains, but no targeted assessment existed regarding the IL requirement's impact on those gains. This quantitative study used Astin and Antonio's Inputs-Environment-Outcomes (I-E-O) assessment model to address relationships among student characteristics of demographic and prior preparation (Inputs), the IL requirement (Environment), and student reports of information critical analysis behavior and confidence (Outcomes). Study participants were 525 students aged 18 years and older who had completed the IL course with a grade of 2.0 or better and volunteered to complete an anonymous survey. The majority of participants reported the IL requirement had a positive impact upon subsequent coursework, with 87% stating that taking it in the first or second term would be most helpful. Less preparedness for information critical analysis prior to the IL course was significantly correlated (r = -.35, r = -.38, p < .001) with higher reported frequency of 2 measures of information evaluation changes following completion of the course. The 3 hierarchical multiple regression analyses revealed that the predictors of student demographic characteristics, prior student preparation, and IL course format contributed significantly to reported information critical analysis and confidence. The study's outcome was a white paper with recommendations to support completion of the IL course requirement early, continue the IL requirement, and repeat the study's survey in the future. Effective IL education promotes information evaluation behaviors essential to informed members of society.

Budget cuts at a California community college prompted stakeholders to consider dropping the college's general education information literacy (IL) requirement. Broad institutional outcomes data showed learning gains, but no targeted assessment existed regarding the IL requirement's impact on those gains. This quantitative study used Astin and Antonio's Inputs-Environment-Outcomes (I-E-O) assessment model to address relationships among student characteristics of demographic and prior preparation (Inputs), the IL requirement (Environment), and student reports of information critical analysis behavior and confidence (Outcomes). Study participants were 525 students aged 18 years and older who had completed the IL course with a grade of 2.0 or better and volunteered to complete an anonymous survey. The majority of participants reported the IL requirement had a positive impact upon subsequent coursework, with 87% stating that taking it in the first or second term would be most helpful. Less preparedness for information critical analysis prior to the IL course was significantly correlated (r = -.35, r = -.38, p < .001) with higher reported frequency of 2 measures of information evaluation changes following completion of the course. The 3 hierarchical multiple regression analyses revealed that the predictors of student demographic characteristics, prior student preparation, and IL course format contributed significantly to reported information critical analysis and confidence. The study's outcome was a white paper with recommendations to support completion of the IL course requirement early, continue the IL requirement, and repeat the study's survey in the future. Effective IL education promotes information evaluation behaviors essential to informed members of society.

Community college instructors are responsible for creating learning opportunities for all students, including adult students affected by emotional disorders (ED). Concerns in the literature have grown over how invested part-time instructors are in their teaching; however, limited data were available regarding instructor knowledge of ED, instructor-efficacy, and the impact of employment status. The purpose of this study was to address the gap in the literature and analyze relationships between instructor knowledge of ED strategies (as assessed by Teaching Students with Emotional Behavior Disorders scale) and instructors' efficacy beliefs (as assessed by the Ohio State Teaching Self-Efficacy Scale). It also evaluated the impact of employment status (part-time versus full-time) on instructor-efficacy beliefs and knowledge of classroom management strategies for adult students affected by ED. A convenience sample of 104 community college instructors across 2 colleges in the Midwestern United States with a population of 201 instructors chose to complete either paper or online surveys. This study was guided by Bandura's self-efficacy theory. The data analysis included Pearson correlation, ANOVA, linear regression, Kruskal-Wallis, and LSD post hoc tests. Key findings included a statistically significant association between knowledge and instructor-efficacy scores and a statistically significant difference in ED knowledge between part-time and full-time instructors. The study findings promote positive social change by providing information for use by community college administrators for professional development programs to improve ED instructional practices, improving the quality of instruction and experience for community college instructors, students affected by ED, and the community at large.

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to investigate why many Latino America students at an urban community college in the state of Maryland who were enrolled at least part-time and were U.S. citizens or permanent residents did not continue their education into the second semester. Guided by Tinto's model of student integration and student persistence, this study explored the reasons these students dropped-out using the students' words to describe barriers to success, factors that influenced their decisions not to return for their second semester, and what they believed could have made a difference in their decisions. Five Latino American first-generation community college students were selected for interview. The life history calendar was used, emerging themes were coded, and a peer reviewer added perspective and stimulated further inquiry. The findings reflected the following key themes that influence persistence: family responsibility and influence, processing the college steps, lack of confidence, paying for college through family members, reliable resources, interacting with staff employees, and creating a friendly and nurturing environment. The findings allowed the development of a curriculum plan project study entitled PODER that may help college leaders devise plans to improve student persistence from the first to second semester. The potential for social change from this study could steer educators to create programs beyond the study setting to increase persistence rates of Latino American college students. This issue was important not only for the educational growth of Latino American students but also for the economic growth of the nation's workforce.

A community college developed a diversity and inclusion training program, Maximizing Our Strengths as an Inclusive Community (MOSAIC), to address the lack of diversity training for students and staff. However, the program had not been evaluated. The purpose of this study was to learn about students' perceptions and experiences of the MOSAIC program. Guided by theories of constructivism and components of critical race theory related to critical studies in Whiteness, social identity theory, and best practices for diversity and inclusion training, this study explored how students described the effectiveness of the program. Interview data for this responsive program evaluation using a case study design, were collected from 9 students and analyzed using a systematic inductive method of data analysis. Data deconstruction revealed codes and themes across the codes, that resulted in the identification of 3 major domains, fostering diversity and inclusion consciousness, fostering intergroup relationships, and fostering positive social change. These findings were the basis of a program evaluation report for stakeholders that emphasized how students improved their communication skills and gained a greater sense of belonging and intergroup friendships through participation in the MOSAIC program. This report further revealed how social change was supported through student involvement in the program because of increased awareness of self and others and the development of diversity and inclusion skills to combat discriminatory behavior.

Administrators of 2-year colleges are working in an environment where they seek to balance the social development of the student and the community's demand for a trained workforce to achieve economic development. This balance has resulted in ambiguity about the mission and purpose of 2-year colleges. The purpose of this case study was to explore a community college's experiences with mission change by exploring the interaction between a neoliberal public policy environment and the traditional social democratic mission of academia. Harvey's conceptualization of neoliberalism was used as the theoretical framework. Data were collected through 15 semi-structured interviews with members of college leadership, faculty members, staff, and members of the college's advisory council. Other data included documentation about policy, mission, and publicly available documents related to the mission change at the institution. These data were deductively coded, and then subjected to content analysis. Key findings indicated that the college initially stalled in the mission change process, and as a result, identified alternative pathways to achieve the goals of career-relevant training the neoliberal environment demanded. In this sense, the perspective of academic capitalism was born from necessity for self-reliance and illustrates the commonality of finding entrepreneurial solutions. The implications for positive social change include recommendations to leaders of 2-year colleges on managing mission change in a way that responds to the needs of the college community while retaining the relevance of students' social development.

The underrepresentation of women in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) careers constitutes a major issue in postsecondary science education. Perseverance of women in STEM is linked to a strong science identity. Experiential learning activities, such as undergraduate research, increase science identity and thus should help keep women in STEM. Most studies on research program development are from 4-year institutions, yet many women start at community colleges. The goal of this study was to fill this gap. Science identity and experiential learning theories provided the framework for this case study at a local institution (LECC). Semistructured interviews determined college science faculty and administrators perceptions of advantages and disadvantages of undergraduate research, the viability of developing a research program, and specific research options feasible for LECC. Transcripted data were analyzed through multiple rounds of coding yielding five themes: faculty perception of undergraduate research, authentic experiences, health technologies/nursing programs, LECC students career focus, and the unique culture at LECC. The most viable type of undergraduate research for LECC is course-based and of short timeframe. The project study advocates the use of citizen science (CS) studies in the classroom as they are relatively short-term and can take the place of lab sessions. The true benefit is that students perform authentic science by contributing to an actual scientific research project. CS projects can effect social change by developing science literate citizens, empowering faculty to create authentic learning experiences, and by sparking interest in science and directing women into STEM careers.

In 2012, national rates of degree or certificate completion for students beginning college in developmental education courses were 35%. At a Midwestern state community college completion rates were even lower, with only 27% of developmental reading/writing (DRW) students completing their program. Therefore, the purpose of this causal- comparative study was to compare success rates for DRW students beginning college in a multileveled (MLI) program and in a response to intervention (RtI) based program. The MLI program was grounded in a scaffolded learning framework, and the RtI program was grounded in a transformative learning framework. Four research questions were posited to identify the associations between success rates (course completion, persistence, retention, and credential completion) for students enrolled in the MLI program and students enrolled in the RtI program. Archival data for a census sample of 13,731 DRW students were analyzed. The chi-square test was used to determine whether associations existed between instructional groups for each dependent variable. Findings confirmed a significant association between instructional group and success factors, with students in the RtI group showing higher success rates for course completion, persistence, and retention than the MLI group. However, the MLI group showed higher success rates for credential completion than the RtI group. Further research will need to investigate the reasons for the divergent outcomes such as the fact that MLI program students began college two years before RtI program students. Implications for social change include an instructional model that may contribute to increased course completion, persistence, retention, and credential completion for DRW students, which is discussed in the appended position paper.

This nonexperimental study was conducted to determine differences that exist between PreK to 4th grade preservice teachers' beliefs about the severity of bullying, their empathy with victims of bullying, beliefs about their ability to cope with bullying in the classroom, and their ability to intervene in bullying issues. Bandura's self-efficacy theory and Ajzen's theory of planned behavior provided the study's theoretical base and demonstrated a connection between participants perceived ability to cope with bullying behavior and willingness to intervene. The participants (N = 112) were students in a 2-year community college PreK to 4th grade education transfer degree program. Data were collected from self-reported student surveys. Current research in the field of bullying showed a correlation between preservice teachers' self-efficacy and their willingness to act in a bullying situation. This study was undertaken to extend that research to preservice teachers at the community college level. Repeated measures of analyses of variance were conducted to evaluate the significance of the survey responses. Participants did not express a high level of confidence in coping with the bullying scenarios presented (p <.001), but did report a high likelihood of intervention for all types of bullying (p <.001). The lack of confidence in coping with bullying scenarios was related to lower self-efficacy to manage bullying situations and indicated the need for increased preparation. Implications for positive social change included benefits to school districts as well as other community college and university teacher education programs because of increased awareness and preparation for preservice teachers. This preparation will promote proactive behavior on the part of the preservice teacher to prevent bullying behavior and the resulting physical, emotional, and psychological damage to children.

Since the 1970s’, dual credit programs have helped high school students earn college credit and gain college readiness skills. However, the standalone branch of dual credit programs lacks structured advising, educational planning, and student support. As a result, participants of the standalone dual credit option experience frustration and significant difficulties in their dual credit experience. This study adds to the literature by evaluating the effectiveness of a standalone dual credit program designed with Guided Pathways-style support services. Through quantitative analysis, this study compared two groups of standalone dual credit students. Both groups participated in standalone dual credit programs at the same host college. However, only one of the groups participated in a support-based standalone dual credit program. In addition to evaluating the effectiveness of support programs, the study also evaluated student perceptions as to the effectiveness of the following support service: Academic roadmaps with preset pattern of courses and preset degree options, coordinated dual high school and college advising, and cohort-style peer support. The demographics are consistent with the literature in the form of high achieving student participation. Students supported Guided Pathways program support style services. These results may help practitioners, designers, and administrators of standalone dual credit programs consider implementing student support programs within their program design.