The Virginia Community College System (VCCS) embarked on a comprehensive mathematics pathways project in October 2015 with a move from design to implementation in spring 2017. The VCCS Mathematics Pathways Project (VMPP) aimed not only to develop strategies to improve retention and completion, but also to address foundational barriers to students'…

In Fall 2020, the VCCS [Virginia Community College System] will begin implementing the Direct Enrollment Pilot, building upon lessons learned in prior reforms and successes of reforms in other states. In the new corequisite model of developmental education, students at the margins of college preparation are placed directly into the college…

Most experienced educators recognize that many students will not complete optional assignments, and often those students who need additional help do not seek assistance. Current research demonstrates that students in underrepresented populations (see definition below) are less likely to seek support than others because they see needing help as a…

The successes of corequisite remediation courses and supplemental instruction over traditional remediation courses such as the modular Math Essentials have been widely and recently documented (Logue, Watanabe-Rose, & Douglas, 2016). Corequisite reform is an important strategy to improve student completion of higher education goals. A robust…

Community colleges offer an array of programs designed to help students meet different goals. Noncredit education provides training for students seeking targeted, often shorter, courses for personal and professional enrichment (Cohen, Brawer, & Kisker, 2014). Many community colleges are now increasingly emphasizing noncredit workforce…

Virginia Highlands Community College (VHCC) implemented MTH 155 -- Statistical Reasoning Co-Requisite -- in the spring semester of 2018. MTH 155 replaced MTH 146 on VHCC's campus. Prerequisites for this course are the first five developmental MTE modules. The intended co-requisite audience for this new course consists of students having…

Blended learning has a muddled history but is still evolving. Technological innovations and the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 led higher education to create a new blend to blended learning, one that did not follow the generally accepted and most numerous definitions or previous examples of blended learning. This new blend of blended learning lacks the…

The Virginia Community College System (VCCS) administration identified the need for adequate and proactive advising programs to foster student success. This paper presents a review of "best practices" in advising to determine commonalities, provides a comparison with current VCCS advising practices, and offers recommendations that…

Interprofessional education (IPE) is critical in today's educational and healthcare arenas. This article describes the initial design, implementation, and evaluation of a Community College/ University IPE collaboration that enabled dental hygiene graduate students to satisfy course requirements and service learning competencies, promoted faculty…

As a disciplinary program, dance falls between the arts and physical education. As a result, it can often be overlooked or sidelined by either program, to the determent of its great value for community college students. Dance and its attention to movement, mental focus, and physical control provide important neurological benefits that affect both…

The mental health dilemma that is facing higher education today does not appear to be abating. It is imperative that colleges have fully-staffed and adequately-trained counseling personnel to assist students with psychological issues. Institutions also must create a climate of awareness, so that issues may be recognized early. In addition,…

Dual enrollment programs have been offered formally in Virginia since 1988 and have been embraced by both parents and students. While dual enrollment courses offer many advantages to students, the advantages to colleges are significant as well. In this article, the author lists the advantages of dual credit enrollment.

Two national studies of Americans' changing reading habits, published by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), quantified the grounds for concerns that college and university educators have expressed in recent years based on their own anecdotal evidence from observing students. "Reading at Risk: A Survey of Literary Reading in…

In the fall of 2005, the author's institution, Wytheville Community College, underwent a Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) re-accreditation process that required teaching faculty to develop a Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP) addressing genuine student-learning needs. As they thought about their options, they were drawn to the area…

Describes Piedmont Virginia Community College and the University of Virginia's (UVA's) collaboration in recruiting, preparing, and mentoring non-traditional students in teacher education. The partnership involves faculty at both institutions and includes provisions for facilitating the transfer of community college students into the five-year…