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This study uplifted the stories of formerly incarcerated and/or system-impacted students attending a California community college (i.e., “Rising Scholars”) to provide qualitative context to a growing literature following the state’s promotion of support programs at the University of California (UC), California State University (CSU), and California Community Colleges (CCC) systems. This study interviewed six formerly incarcerated/system impacted Rising Scholars using a narrative inquiry methodology with a theoretical framework of Critical Race Theory (CRT) and Desistance theory to inquire about their educational experiences before and during their enrollment at an urban California community college with reentry support. Key themes in the interviews include trauma in early educational experiences, dropping out of college, the gendered experiences of formerly incarcerated women, the role of pregnancy and parenthood as a turning point, and authentic care expressed by the support staff. The narratives of the participants are offered as a counter-narrative to the quantitative neoliberal practice of justifying reentry programs based solely on reductions in recidivism rates. Recommendations include increasing trauma-informed pedagogy in TK-12 and Postsecondary education, recruiting and educating more allies for Rising Scholars on campus, ensuring that campus reentry support programs fully meet the needs of female Rising Scholars, and uplifting successes and scholarship by Rising Scholars to build lasting structural support for the Rising Scholars Network.

Substance abuse is an area of concern for college administrators, and they have implemented campus programming in an attempt to address it. Additionally, prior researchers have studied substance abuse on college campuses in order to better understand how substance abuse affects student success. However, limited research exist that addresses the unique perspective of college students who are in recovery from substance abuse, and most studies were conducted in 4-year institutions rather than community colleges. This qualitative case study explored the transition experiences of female students in recovery who attend community college or have recently graduated. The sample included students from 3 community colleges. Participants were selected using prescreening surveys and interviews with 10 female participants. Common themes emerged from the analysis of the interview data regarding reasons for enrolling, struggles, supports, and a definition of success as it relates to transition to community college. Participant responses indicated that common struggles revolve around financial stress, academic deficiencies, time management strategies, and the lack of a positive culture regarding substance abuse and recovery on their campuses. However, academic structures, social supports via friends, family, and faculty as well as group meetings, and a positive college culture also supported students through their various transitions. Recommendations for practice include supporting faculty professional development by implementing campus professional development aimed at helping to create a positive campus culture where faculty better understand the implications of being in recovery from substance abuse and are prepared to support students. Another recommendation for practice is to implement collegiate recovery programs to support students in recovery that offer many of the supports participants indicated as effective in their success. Using a collaborative approach, community members, students, college administrators, and faculty along with federal, state, and local policymakers have the unique opportunity to come together, problem solve, and apply recent research that may increase student retention and success while supporting the individual needs of students who are in recovery from substance abuse.

This research study was conducted to determine if there was a difference in community college graduation rates based on aggregate faculty hires, aggregate faculty retention and community college size. The study employed a non-experimental quantitative research design with three independent variables (aggregate faculty new hires, aggregate faculty retention and community college size) and one dependent variable (graduation rate). The study utilized a one way ANOVA, independent t test, and factorial ANOVA to analyze differences in graduation rates based on aggregate faculty new hires, aggregate faculty retention, and community college size. Results of the one way ANOVA revealed statistically significant differences in graduation rates based on the level of faculty new hires and community college size. Results of the independent t test failed to show statistically significant differences in graduation based on the level of aggregate faculty retention. Results of the factorial ANOVA revealed statistically significant differences between the interaction of aggregate faculty new hires and community college size as well as aggregate faculty retention and community college size.

Low graduation rates are a significant issue for colleges. The majority of higher education institutions in the United States offer learning communities (LCs), which have been found to be effective for improving course success and persisting to the next semester. However, there is a gap in the literature regarding the effectiveness of LCs with different types of populations and different types of LCs. The purpose of this meta-analysis was to identify the most effective types of LCs. Research questions addressed the effects of different types of LCs on different student success outcomes for community colleges. The study was based on Tinto's interactionist model of student departure and Astin's model of student involvement. Studies examining the relationship between student success and participation in college LCs provided the data for the meta-analysis. A random effects model was used to generate the average effect size for 39 studies and 50 individual effect sizes. The results showed that LCs are most effective with community college students when they include additional support strategies, counseling is available to students, one of the linked courses is an academic skills course, at least one of the linked course is developmental, and the focus is on increasing course success or student engagement. The implications for positive social change suggest that LC programs implement two linked courses, include an academic skills course, focus on developmental courses, and provide access to a counselor and additional student support strategies. In addition, LC programs are most effective when the goals of the program are student engagement and course success.

Community college graduation rates are low, and community colleges have been tasked with producing more graduates to meet workforce needs. Research has determined that engaged students remain at their institutions and complete their degrees. Service learning has been identified as a high-impact practice that engages students with their learning and builds connections between students and campus personnel. The majority of service-learning research, having been conducted with 4-year colleges and universities, may have limited applicability to the community college population. This qualitative descriptive case study describes how institutionalized service learning on 1 community college campus is structured, supported, and operated. The study used the framework of student success, service learning, and institutionalization to determine how the college provided resources and opportunities for service learning. Participants for the study were selected using mixed purposeful sampling to identify individuals recently involved with service learning at the college; data came from document reviews, campus and Internet observations, college staff interviews, and student group online discussions. Data were collected and analyzed using a spiraling technique. Findings indicated that the college's curricular and cocurricular service-learning activities were integrated throughout the campus in many departments and with different groups. While the service-learning coordinators made distinctions between curricular and cocurricular service learning, student participants did not make such distinctions. Students in this study were engaged with their service learning. These findings have applicability for all community college educators, demonstrating that institutionalized community college service learning might lead to greater retention through graduation.

Research on the Learning College indicates that everyone in the college must support learning. There have not been previous studies that centered on whether or not support staff, a major constituency group in community colleges, participates in supporting learning. This adapted phenomenological study examined staff in a Learning College to determine their understanding and application of the Learning College concept. Three research questions addressed how these employees understand the concept, perceive their roles, and apply Learning College principles. The study was conducted in a theoretical framework combining Learning College, change, and organizational culture theories. Data were collected from a purposive sample of full time employees classified by the human resources department as support staff using pre-screening questionnaires and in-depth interviews that were then coded and analyzed using a typological methodology. Themes identified emphasized learning, the availability of lifelong learning, and the importance of every employee. Support staff actions reflected some principles of Learning College theory, and though respondents understood their role in student success, they did not see this role as supporting learning. The study showed that staff do not fully understand the Learning College concept and believe that staff development would be useful in helping them support learning. With professional development, staff may gain greater understanding about supporting learning. The findings have the potential for impacting social change by: (a) helping support staff feel more valued, and, therefore, likely to perform more effectively; and (b) increasing staff understanding of student learning may give greater meaning to their work. Recommendations encourage college leaders to tap into the support staff as a resource.

Developmental education students make up almost half of the community college population in the United States (Bettinger & Long, 2005). Approximately 42% of first-time freshmen at community colleges must enroll in at least one developmental education course in English, reading and/or math (NCES, 2010). Many developmental education students are unsuccessful in passing a developmental education course in their first and second attempts and retake the course sometimes five times before passing. There is substantial research on persistence among college students, but the research fails to link persistence to developmental education repeaters. My study sought to explore community college developmental education repeaters’ experiences with and stories about repetition in a reading course. My study was framed around developmental education and its students, course repeaters, and persistence. I used qualitative research methods with a narrative research design. Two methods of data collection included multiple one-on-one interviews and document collection. Four participants were selected from one community college in the New Orleans area, two who repeated and completed developmental reading upon their third attempt and two who were in the process of completing developmental reading a third time. Data analysis revealed six themes. The information gleaned from the inquiry may inform community college faculty practice with regard to not only reducing and preventing course repetition but also increasing persistence and retention of developmental education students.

The purpose of this study was to investigate two underlying questions related to welfare reform and its impact on participants in the Cumberland Plateau Region: (1) What are the training and other noneducational needs of the participants in the VIEW program? and (2) What is the projected success of the impact of the training on the lives of the participants? The research study included 47 interviews with four distinct groups of individuals--VIEW participants, case managers, administrators, and trainers. Three focus group interviews were conducted with individuals who were participants in the VIEW program or professionals actively involved in the administration and implementation of the program. All the individuals interviewed in the study identified four difficulties to the successful implementation of the VIEW program: (1) the lack of economic development in the region, (2) the abbreviated time frame for the implementation of VIEW, (3) an excessive amount of paperwork, and (4) the lack of transportation. The participants cited the following difficulties: (1) child care, (2) inappropriate dress for interviews, (3) attitudes and busyness of case worker, (4) penalties associated with securing employment, and (5) limited opportunities for training. The training personnel identified three areas posing difficulties for participants: (1) motivation, (2) attitudes of the participants, and (3) leadership development. In summarizing the responses of all the individuals interviewed in this study, the two viable remedies emerged as options available to assist participants: (1) seeking additional help from family members or friends, and (2) taking the initiative to investigate other avenues of assistance outside the scope of the Departments of Social Services. The training component of the VIEW program was considered the most favorable among all the individuals interviewed in this study. The-proposed outcome of the training received for all participants in the VIEW program was the attainment of full-time or part-time employment. All the interviewees felt to varying degrees that the VIEW program would assist participants in securing employment. The administrators and case managers ultimately viewed the employment as the measure of success of the training. However, most of the participants were very unsure if they would secure employment in the Cumberland Plateau Region.

Many of the colleges in the North Carolina Community College System have embarked on a "quality" journey to continuously improve the educational programs and services that they provide to their communities. The primary focus of this study was to determine the level of Total Quality Management (TQM) principles implemented in selected North Carolina community colleges and to determine if there was a difference in the perception of its implementation between administrators and faculty. Additionally, this study examined the influence of the following variables on the implementation of TQM in selected North Carolina community colleges: personal factors (age, gender, ethnicity, and length of employment) and organizational factors (length of institutional involvement in TQM, institutional service area, institutional size, and institutional participation in the Carolina Quality Consortium). Furthermore, the study also gathered data about the positive and negative outcomes as a result of TQM/quality. Data for this study were obtained from a survey instrument that was based on the Malcolm Baldridge National Quality Award. The survey instrument was mailed to eight full-time administrators and eight full-time faculty members from 29 North Carolina community colleges. Twenty of the institutions belonged to the Carolina Quality Consortium. The remaining institutions represented a convenient sample of the 36 North Carolina community colleges that were not members of the Carolina Quality Consortium. Four hundred sixty-four surveys were mailed and 368 were returned. The overall percentage of survey return was 79.3. The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) was used for the analysis of data. An alpha level of.05 was used for all statistical tests. The major conclusions were: (1) there are different levels of TQM implementation among! the community colleges identified in this study, (2) there is a difference between the perception of TQM between administrators and faculty members, (3) the length of employment at the institution is a factor in the perception of the implementation of TQM, (4) age, gender, and ethnicity are not factors on the perceptions of the implementation of TQM, (5) the length of involvement in TQM, the service area, the size of the institution, and participation in the Carolina Quality Consortium are not factors on the overall quality ratings, (6) the positive outcomes perceived as having resulted from TQM/quality initiatives included improved communication, improved support systems, customer service, and increased involvement in planning and decision-making, and (7) the negative outcomes perceived as having resulted from TQM/quality were incongruence in philosophy and practice, too much time wasted, work overloads, and endless paperwork.