This study evaluated the attributes, teaching effectiveness and educational commitment of part-time faculty in enrollment-funded community colleges. The Student Instructional Rating instrument was used to measure student perceptions of instructors in the community college. Twenty four community colleges were randomly selected from North Carolina. Within each college, four full-time and four part-time faculty were randomly selected to participate in the study. Attributes of part-time faculty were compared to attributes of full-time faculty. Teaching effectiveness was assessed from dimensions on the Student Instructional Rating instrument. Various dimensions on the SIR including Faculty/Student Interaction, Overall Quality of the Course, Course Difficulty, and Lectures were used to evaluate instructional effectiveness. A regression model was used to evaluate the attributes of teaching effectiveness for both full-time and part-time faculty and the slopes of regression coefficients were evaluated to determine how effective part-time instruction differed from effective full-time instruction. Part-time faculty were perceived as effective when compared to their full-time counterpart on the dimensions of Faculty/Student Interaction. Other demographic attributes of part-time faculty were evaluated with no significant difference between full-time and part-time faculty. However, full-time faculty were perceived more effective on Overall Quality of the Course, Lectures, Textbooks, and Reading Assignments. Part-time faculty commitment to non-instructional tasks was assessed and the implications for teaching effectiveness were examined. This study also discussed the shift in instructional workloads from part-time to full-time faculty as the number of part-time faculty increase.

The purpose of this study was to determine the status of general education and occupational program articulation efforts and practices as they existed between community colleges and the public secondary and vocational schools in Virginia. The problem was to also determine if a positive climate existed which was necessary for the planning of articulated programs between the secondary, vocational, and community college systems. The climate was determined by the perceptions reported by administrators toward articulation activities. The population studied included the academic deans from 10 Virginia community colleges and the principals of representative public secondary and vocational schools from each of the selected college service areas. Paired questionnaires were utilized to assess the status of articulation activities and to determine the attitudes of administrators toward articulation activities. Chi square statistics were used to analyze the data. Seven null hypotheses were tested in the study. Comparisons were made based on the responses of the three administrative groups as related to the type of institution, the geographical setting (rural or urban), the geographical location, and the size of the community college. It was concluded that community college administrators, secondary school principals, and vocational school principals indicated overall positive attitudes toward articulation activities. Overall participation of secondary and vocational schools in articulation activities with community colleges was well below the 50% level. Administrators involved in articulation activities felt very positive about the overall benefits of such involvement. Administrators not involved in articulation activities tended to hold positive feelings toward the initiation of most articulation practices. Significant attitudinal differences were identified in administrators' opinions concerning college level courses being offered in the high schools, the sharing of educational resources, and the utilization of college faculty in the high school. Significant differences in the participation of adminstrators in articulation activities were identified in the areas of cooperative program development, the offering of college level classes in high schools, sharing of educational resources, the formulation of written articulation guidelines and policies, and attendance at articulation meetings. Nearly all administrators felt the high school programs were providing the type of preparation needed by students to succeed in community college programs, and they felt positively that high school vocational programs should be designed to allow students to continue in their specialty area at the community college as well as to enter the labor market.

Learning from faillure is especially important for innovators, who often have to take risks and fail many times in order to generate innovative and effective ideas and practices to make classrooms and institutions better places to learn and work.

A local community college is experiencing low level student retention. . The purpose of this study was to explore the perceptions of administrators, faculty and students regarding the low student retention rate. The participants for this qualitative case study included 6 former students who withdrew from the local community college before completing their degrees, 2 faculty members, and 2 administrators. The conceptual framework was constructivism. Research questions were designed to elicit perceptions of understanding retention issues in terms of adult learning and documenting the problem of retention. Data were collected in the form of semi-structured interviews and document review to answer the research questions. Interview data were coded, and 10 themes were identified. Themes included lack of socialization, cost of tuition, lack of online options, class scheduling, student self-discipline, quality of faculty, institutional support, high schools not preparing students for college, 2 year degree implications, and parental pressure. Document review showed that minimal efforts were present to track students or educate faculty regarding adult learning through the 2 year degree process. The key results showed that student retention was a problem that needed to be addressed at both the faculty and administrative levels. The themes resulting from data analysis served as the basis for creation of a 3-day professional development training project for faculty and administrators at the college. This study and resulting project might encourage positive social change for the students, faculty, administration, and college by improving retention rates and graduating more students into the workforce.

Leaders at a local community college in southern California ascertained that adjunct faculty members felt disconnected from the school and were not properly socialized to the culture of the school. The purpose of this case study was to help leaders learn adjunct faculty's perceptions of the socialization process. Organizational socialization theory and occupational socialization theory provided the theoretical framework for this study. Purposeful sampling was used to select 12 adjunct faculty to participate in face-to-face interviews. Data were collected via open-ended interview questions. These data were then transcribed, coded, and searched for themes. Coding was completed using Microsoft Word to search for common words and phrases. The 6 major themes were identified as follows: working conditions, voice and perception of adjuncts, mentoring, budget, lack of involvement in campus activities, and the desire to become a fulltime faculty member. A 3-day profressioanl development workshop pertaining to mentoring was identified as the project outcome. The results from this study could facilitate positive social change by helping this college, as well as other community colleges, assist adjunct faculty with their socialization processes. Better socialization could lead to committed adjunct faculty members who are more satisfied, informed, and engaged. When adjunct faculty feel more a part of the college, this engagement could result in improved understanding of the curriculum, more organizational commitment, and greater faculty dedication to the college's mission.

The purpose of this study was to understand how effective the Guskey professional development evaluation model would be in a community college setting and determine how well the model serves the needs of the key college stakeholders. The study used the Guskey model to evaluate a professional development activity at a community college. The need for this type of research is evident in the current limitations of formal assessment of professional development activities at the community college. Accordingly, this study sought to determine the effectiveness of the Guskey’s evaluation model of professional development training from a broader perspective, including participants reactions, determining if the training met the target goals, resulted in administrative support for the training and subsequent implementation, and finally assessing to what extent the training was transferred to the classroom setting. Data were gathered through seven different instruments: professional development training evaluations, semi-structured interviews with participants and administration, engagement survey results, review of policy and procedures, classroom observations and embedded assessment. Data were analyzed through statistical and qualitative methods. The data analyses revealed the training was effective on all five evaluation levels identified by Guskey. The model provided a systematic approach to evaluation; beginning with training and ending with improvement of student learning. A report generated from the data served as a basis for an assessment report for community college stakeholders. The report provided appropriate data to make informed decisions. The knowledge gained in this study will add to the professional development assessment literature and will contribute to the culture of assessment in the community college setting.

The purpose of this interpretive, multiple case qualitative study was to explore factors associated with presidential derailments in community colleges. The case studies involved interviews, document analysis, and observation. The population consisted of four community colleges in the United States. These distinctly different institutions produced the data for the investigation. The findings revealed five derailment themes among the four cases. These were: problems with interpersonal relationships, failure of the president to adapt to the institutional culture, difficulty working with key constituencies, failure to communicate, and a flawed search process. Two of the five themes from community colleges related directly to Leslie and Van Velsor’s (1996) derailment themes from the corporate sector. These were: problems with interpersonal relationships, and the inability to change or adapt to the culture of an organization during a transition (failure to adapt to the institutional culture). Finally, implications for preventing presidential derailments and for improvement in the presidential selection process are also presented.

This case study follows eleven non-English speaking students as they adapt to community college, content courses. The three classes examined are required freshman classes--Humanities, Social Environment, and Individual in Transition. In order to cope with the demands of these classes, students must penetrate the academic discourse community and have effective relationships with their instructors and their peers. The results of the study are based on interviews with eleven non-native speaking (NNS) students and their instructors and on an analysis of student writing assignments, course syllabi, and exams. Three general areas are examined: (a) students' first-language (L1) education, (b) the requirements of their content classes, and (c) the affective factors which influence their adaptation process. The case of these students reveals that: 1. Students draw on their L1 education, especially in terms of content, as they cope with the demands of these content classes. 2. In some areas L1 educational experiences interfere with students' ability to adapt. 3. The content classes require students to have well developed reading, writing, oral, and aural skills. 4. Students must use higher level cognitive skills to be successful in content classes. 5. Affective factors play a role in students' success in content classes. The discussion section includes possible implications of this data for college level English as a Second Language courses.

The purpose of this research was to determine if there was a significant relationship between scores on the Communication Satisfaction Questionnaire (CSQ) scale of effective managerial communication and scores on the Job Descriptive Index (JDI) scale of job satisfaction for non-faculty staff members at the participating community college. A total of 75 non-faculty staff members from three separate community colleges in East Tennessee participated in the study. A modified version of the Communication Satisfaction Questionnaire (CSQ) developed by Downs and Hazen (1977) was used to collect data. The instrument used a Likert-type scale with a 7-point scale with eight dimensions (personal feedback, relationship to supervisors, horizontal and informal communication, organizational integration, organizational perspective, communication climate, media quality, and job satisfaction). The statistical analyses of the data from eleven research questions revealed some significant relationships and differences. Results found a strong positive relationship between communication and job satisfaction. This indicates that when staff members feel satisfied with organizational communication, they tend to be satisfied with their job. Results indicated that gender, number of years of service, degree attained, and job classification do not tend to make a significant difference among staff members’ level of satisfaction in communication or job satisfaction. The results found Millennials produced a significantly higher mean score than Generation X, but no significant difference among the other generations. There was no significant difference on JDI among the generations.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the utility of a structural-developmental approach as a basis for a philosophy of education for the public community college of the Midwestern United States. The structural developmental approach was explored within the broader cognitive studies of the Piagetian tradition in America. The method of research employed was a combination of analysis of relevant literature and empirical investigation at a community college. This combination was explored in order to determine the possible abstraction of a structural-developmental pattern as a potential base for theory building. A research instrument was used to assess the cognitive stage of development of critical groups of students. The drop, course withdrawal. Grade point average, and cognitive stage data of lower ability vocational-technical, lower ability transfer, and upper ability students were compared and analyzed, with a .05 level of significance as the criterion for differences. Regarding the relationships of vocational-technical courses and transfer courses, the following observations seemed justified concerning the abstraction level required: (1) no evidence was gained to support the action of a true difference in abstraction level required (2) limited data from other literature offered no substantial support for a true difference, and (3) an argument from silence suggested no true difference. Regarding supportive evidence for the utility of a cognitive-developmental-structural approach to the rural community college educational task, the following summary of findings seemed justified: (l) course withdrawal, grade point average, and cognitive stage data of upper ability and lower ability student’s appeared to indicate a utility for the approach (2) consistency theory offered the possibility of a favorable climate for an interactional (naturalistic and environmental) approach such as was investigated (3) the literature within the community college framework suggested the need for a more comprehensive philosophy than had crystalized; and (4) the literature which had explored the ramifications of the Piagetian tradition in America provided a rationale for a cognitive-developmental-structural approach. From the findings and the results of the analyzed information in this study, the following conclusions seemed justified: (l) evidence from liter3ture and empirical investigations demonstrated the need for a broadly based psychology of education not presently apparent in the community college movement (2) vocational-technical programs presented no unique solution to the breadth of the educational task: (3) diversity in student capability demanded a more universal basis for a philosophy of education: (4) evidence from the literature and empirical inquiry destroyed the myth that the Piagetian tradition was age-bound at a level below community college functions: (5) Piagetian tradition provided a universal kind of basis for a philosophy of education: (6) natural diversity of the college setting studied was conducive to a broadly based psychology of the individual student; (7) cognitive stages were abstracted from the mental functions of students involved in the study and found to be relevant to the educational processes of the community college: and (8) implementation of a definitive cognitive-developmental approach to the educational task of grades thirteen and fourteen would have the advantage of providing a continuity with the educational modes of grades one through twelve. Recommendations that seemed warranted were (1) recognition of the utility of a structural-developmental approach (2) acceptance of qualitative differences in stages of mental development (3) an incremental approach to the developmental tasks, (4) instructional design accommodating invariant stages of thought development: (5) involvement of instructors in affective and motivational teaching (6) exploration of new techniques and approaches and (7) replication of notions and techniques of the structural-developmental approach to the educational task of the rural community college.