Performance accountability systems are increasingly utilized by state legislatures to hold community colleges more accountable for student outcomes and responsible spending through the linking of state funding to specific outputs. Through these actions, it is reasonable expect an emphasis on institutional performance to permeate into a community…

In this study, I draw on Bahr's ("Research in Higher Education" 51:724-749, 2010; New Directions for Institutional Research S1:33-48, 2011) behavioral typology of first-time community college students to examine college-level variation in students' patterns of use of 105 community colleges in California. I find that students' patterns of…

Objective: Ideally, community colleges both democratize opportunity and develop in students the civic skills necessary to meaningfully participate in a democratic society. This national pilot study examines the individual and institutional factors associated with greater civic agency, capacity, behavior, and knowledge among students after at least…

Since the publication of the "College Scorecard" by The U.S. Department of Education in 2015, comparisons between college attendance costs and institutional outcomes (i.e., graduation rates, post-graduation earnings) have come into sharp focus. This increased scrutiny requires institutions of higher learning to be more transparent about…

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether high student accountability and formative assessment affected student motivation, learning and resource management strategies, and achievement in developmental algebra I. The setting was a fifteen-week semester at a community college in suburban New York. Two sections of developmental algebra I…

The need for educating engineers in the United States continues as the projected demand is rising the number of high school seniors planning to enter engineering careers has remained relatively stable (Sargent, 2014). Additionally, figures show that attrition rates in undergraduate engineering continue to be an area of concern, (Sargent, 2014;…

Prevalence of academic risk (PAR) group profiles provide data enabling empirically based group-specialized prescriptions for targeted academic success interventions to increase student retention, completion, and graduation rates, while improving allocation of institutional resources. Postsecondary student attrition engenders student debt,…

Developmental education courses have become a standard in community colleges in the United States. An overwhelming majority of these public two-year schools offer developmental courses to a wide array of students. At the same time, developmental programs are under a constant barrage of attacks from a variety of stakeholder organizations that view…

This dissertation is a study of factors that contribute to dropout from distance learning classes in the Kentucky Community and Technical College System (KCTCS). It is divided into five chapters. Chapter One gives a history of distance learning through in KCTCS. It includes the background of the study, statement of the problem, purpose of the…