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The purpose of the study was to determine the direct influences of selected environmental, academic, and background factors as well as academic outcomes and expression of intent to leave on persistence or non-persistence of nontraditional students at a comprehensive community college in the Dallas County Community College District. The study applied a conceptual model of nontraditional undergraduate student attrition. Data for this study were collected during the Fall, 1987 semester from 312 first-year nontraditional students using the two-year institution questionnaires from the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems. In addition, follow-up surveys were administered to the 97 students who did not re—enroll for the Spring, 1988 semester. The data were analyzed using discriminant function, chi square, and product-moment correlation. For these nontraditional students, educational goal commitment, cumulative grade point average (GPA) and expression of intent to leave at the end of the semester had significant direct influence on persistence or non-persistence decisions. In contrast, environmental factors such as finances, employment status, and family responsibilities, and background factors such as high school academic performance, enrollment status and parents' education level did not directly influence dropout decisions. Nontraditional students reported receiving moderate to high levels of encouragement to remain in college from outside sources, especially employers. In spite of this encouragement, a frequent reason given for leaving college was the inability to cope with working and going to school at the same time. The results generally confirmed that the conceptual model used in this study provided a valid framework for research on nontraditional student attrition. Accurate prediction of persistence or non-persistence of nontraditional students in a community college appears quite difficult due to the heterogeneity of this student population and their diverse educational goals.

The racial composition of the school workforce is the product of a complex interaction of social forces. School constituencies such as parents, students, and teachers impact new leader preferences. Their ideas influence decisions regarding who fits into school administration and who doesn't (Williams & Loeb, 2012). These "fit" preferences can shape school district ethos, which then influences access to social networks (Tooms, 2010). Limited entry to these networks may produce multiple disadvantages, particularly for Black educators. One way to think of this access is through the concept of containment. Restricted data from the 2011-12 Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS) will be used to detect containment trends: The set of systemic barriers organizational members encounter in pursuit of access to organizational resources critical to job effectiveness and career advancement. Left unchallenged, glass barriers in employment may reinforce pejorative judgments of minorities, isolating them in high stress, and low autonomy positions (Feagin, 2006).

Doctor of Education / Department of Educational Leadership / Teresa N. Miller / The purpose of this study was to research, develop, and validate a handbook of effective strategies that Kansas school district leaders can use to increase their ability to maximize their school districts’ nontraditional funding. Kansas School District Leaders’ Handbook for Maximizing Nontraditional Donations and Grant Funding was developed using the research and development methodology as recommended by Gall, Borg, and Gall (2007) through a seven-step development cycle. The review of the literature, the needs assessment, and the proof of concept survey provided information for developing the outline and initial prototype for the final handbook. Non-educators in Kansas who had significant success in acquiring nontraditional funding and fostering entrepreneurial leadership throughout the state served as experts for the preliminary field test. Revisions were then made based on their feedback. The main field test was conducted with a representative group of Kansas superintendents, who were the potential users of the guide. These two groups of experts provided feedback by using a Likert scale and survey responses about the content and format of the handbook. Final revisions were based on the main field test evaluators’ feedback. The conclusions from the research project were: (1) there was a strong need for Kansas school district leaders to be educated regarding the proactive steps they can take in order to increase the possibilities for additional grant and donation funding for their school districts; (2) since Kansas’ state educational funding had been significantly reduced in Kansas during the years between 2008-2012, schools districts were forced to look at non-traditional options that could ease the strain on the districts’ general fund or provide additional resources for the schools during a downturn in the economy; (3) the development of a comprehensive handbook that blended theory, research, and practice for instructional leaders on how to conduct effective campaigns on acquiring additional revenue could be used to develop a mindset for Kansas school leaders to one that was focused more on the principles of entrepreneurial leadership.

The funding of community and technical colleges has been a major topic of discussion in many states because community and technical colleges are critical for states' economic development and talent development strategies. The purpose of this study was to identify the relationship between the type of funding at community and technical colleges in southeastern states and their nontraditional student enrollment trends. The researcher investigated the growth of community and technical college enrollment by analyzing southeastern United States community and technical colleges' part-time 25 to 44 year-old undergraduate enrollment rates for the years of 1995, 2000 and 2005, and how the funding of these schools was associated with the states' enrollment of nontraditional students. It was found that community and technical colleges that received local appropriation revenue for the years of 1995, 2000, and 2005 had higher percentages of nontraditional students enrolled in their systems than community and technical colleges that did not receive local appropriation. Community and technical college administrators and their governing boards can use these findings as additional justification to policy makers for support options to include the use of local appropriation revenues or maintain local appropriation revenues for community and technical colleges as an alternative to increasing tuition and fees.

The primary purpose of the study was to examine the learning experiences of nontraditional students enrolled in organizational management and business administration cohort- and study-group programs at four, small, private, church-related, arts-based colleges in Virginia, Tennessee, and Georgia. The objective of the study was to examine how cohorts and study groups were implemented at four colleges. In addition, the study explored ways that cohorts and study groups contributed to students' satisfaction and academic performance levels, interpersonal relations, and leadership skills. Three hundred forty-five informants and respondents participated in this study. The subjects included 286 students enrolled in organizational management and business administration programs at four small, private, church-related, arts-based colleges (referred to as A, B, C, and D) that were located in southeastern United States. Using a qualitative research design, the researcher also gathered information by interviewing one pilot focus group, consisting of 5 participants, and four official focus groups, consisting of 25 participants. Through the use of content analysis, information was codified into a questionnaire used to explore students' perceptions of cohorts and study groups. Student questionnaires were hand delivered; thus, 286 students responded, and an 88% return rate resulted. Additionally, information about the effectiveness of cohorts and study groups and structural design and variables of cohorts and study groups was collected through four individual student interviews, In addition, 25 surveys were sent to instructors, and 17 (68%) responded. Four program directors and four employers of students responded to questionnaires, for a return rate of 100%. Based on students' responses, this study reveals that cohorts and study groups increase satisfaction, raise academic performance levels, strengthen interpersonal relations, and enhance leadership skills. Data collected from program directors, instructors, and employers supported the results of the student self-reports. Recommendations were made for a refinement of the instrument, which would request additional quantitative data, and replication of the study at other colleges nationwide. Further recommendations included a more thorough study of employers' attitudes, a comparison of mandatory and voluntary study groups, an investigation of cohort-student dropouts, the benefits of mentoring, the effectiveness of class representatives, use of personality tests to determine study-group membership, and attitudes of college administrators and their support offices and boards toward nontraditional programs.

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The military has long-standing partnerships with institutions of higher education (Leporte, 2013; Parks, 2015 & Massie, 2016). These partnerships have been significant over time because the United States Army has incentivized civilian education via the Army enlisted ranks and promotional structure (Wilson, Smith, Lee & Stevenson, 2013). Researchers are beginning to recognize service members as adult students who need specific supports in an educational setting (Wilson et al., 2013; Leporte, 2013; Parks, 2015; Massie, 2016). Enlisted soldiers arrive on college campuses with identities ascribed and molded by the military. Thus, their primary identity is soldier not student (Nagel & Kleykamp, 2007; Wilson et al., 2013& Massie, 2016). Community colleges specialize in providing educational opportunities to all facets of the community (Kane & Rouse, 1999). The current cultural diversity discourse does not include military personnel and the degree in which institutions of higher education seek to integrate via policy and practice with the military. This qualitative study explores the perceptions of the ten enlisted soldiers who participated in a semi-structured interview and completed a demographic questionnaire. I used the Collective Affiliation model (Davidson, 2011) to analyze the data generated from the soldier-students interviews regarding their educational experiences at Hopkinsville Community College Fort Campbell Campus. The research participants discussed family support and expectations, preparation for life after the Army, reenlistment incentive programs, and civilian education embedded into promotional points as aspirations for college attendance. Lastly, the soldiers described their educational experiences as navigating military, family and academic bureaucracies to encompass; balancing multiple roles as adult students, discovering the opportunities and challenges of military educational benefits, enrollment experiences as community college students, and faculty interactions and support in the classroom. From this research study, I created the Dual System for Enlisted Soldier-Student Academic Persistence (DSAP) conceptual model to illustrate the lived experiences of enlisted soldiers as students specifically. The findings of this research add to the body of knowledge of the educational experiences of enlisted soldier-students attending community college.

Positive psychology emphasizes growth, adaptive functioning, and human potential. The present study contributes to this literature by examining the impact of exposure to a positive psychology curriculum among nontraditional students taking foundational courses in a career college. Mixed methods were utilized to assess changes in student well-being and goal setting quantitatively through pre- and post-tests of the Authentic Happiness Survey and the Satisfaction with Life Scale as well as identifying emergent themes from qualitative analysis of student reflections and written assignments over a 9-week term. Twenty-five students participated in foundational courses, which placed an emphasis on positive psychology. Paired samples t tests, Cohen's d, thematic analysis, and a researcher-designed Likert-scale assessed changes from the beginning of the course to the end among the quantitative and qualitative measures of overall well-being and goal attainment. Some of the notable findings included significantly positive changes in students' reports of authentic happiness, and 76% of students reporting that they had attained an academic, social, and personal goal over the course of the 9-week curriculum. Change in self-reported satisfaction with life approached, but it was not statistically significant. Thus, the implementation of a positive psychology curriculum in a nontraditional student population created positive social change in this particular sector of academia and was associated with increased overall well-being and attainment of goals.

Nontraditional students have become the majority on community college campuses; however, a national report showed that 46.2% of nontraditional students were no longer enrolled after two years. Nontraditional students have competing life roles that affect their attrition rates as well as their academic performance. The purpose of this quantitative study was to understand the relationship between the number of roles and the academic achievement and persistence of nontraditional community college students. The roles identified were student enrollment status (full-time or part-time), spousal roles, parental roles, and employment status (full-time or part-time). Goode's theory of role strain was used as the theoretical framework to guide this study on nontraditional community college students. Additionally, the existence of statistical significance was determined between the number of different roles and academic achievement, measured by grade point average, and persistence, measured by enrollment through two consecutive terms for 250 participants. Descriptive statistics showed that being employed full-time was the most common role (f=171) among nontraditional community college students. Beta regression showed there was no statistical significance (p = 0.705) between the number of roles and grade point average. Logistic regression showed that the relationship between the number of roles and persistence was statistically significant (p -?¤ 0.0001). This study can help community college faculty and staff gain knowledge on the needs of nontraditional students. Positive social change can be promoted by creating or extending resources for these students to help them overcome the barriers that may hinder their academic achievement and persistence through school.