Objectives: Responding to Tinto's call for studies of retention that center on "the students' view of their experience" (p. 11), this research project reports findings from telephone interviews of 131 students who stopped out at our home institution, a large open admissions community college in the northeast. Our objective was to find…

This article describes a faculty-led project to assess and revise institutional student learning outcomes at a small urban community college. The revision process involved four stages: (1) exploring stakeholders' explicit and implicit understandings through an experimental assessment; (2) using statistical tools to identify redundancies and…

This Guide is designed to support the work of institutional cross-functional teams charged with strengthening adjunct faculty professional learning and institutional engagement. Each section shares key learnings from ATD's work with six Leader Colleges, including accomplishments in the form of new programs, services, or policies that can serve as…

The purpose of this project was two-fold. First, it would provide an opportunity for students to complete the developmental math course sequence more quickly, thereby enabling students to proceed to a college-level mathematics course sooner. To accomplish this, the classroom was designed with computer-assisted homework courses that blended…

College Promise programs are thriving in California, and with the continued growth comes a need to understand the features of these diverse efforts and the perspectives of the communities in which they exist. In 2018, the James Irvine Foundation supported California College Promise Project (CCPP) at WestEd to study the College Promise landscape in…

The Benchmarking Alumni Relations in Community Colleges white paper features key data on alumni relations programs at community colleges across the United States. The paper compares results from 2015 and 2012 across such areas as the structure, operations and budget for alumni relations, alumni data collection and management, alumni communications…

Community colleges benefit from a diverse population with various reasons for attending. For example, 23% of Latina/o students that earned a PhD between 1990 and 2000 began their education in a community college (Rivas, Pérez, Alvarez, & Solórzano, 2007). However, there are a number who often do not persist toward their goals. To begin with,…

Critical thinking is an important outcome of a college education. Assessment techniques that require students to demonstrate their understanding of course concepts are referred to as authentic assessment and promote the development of critical thinking. Little research exists on the types of assessment and grading practices utilized by community…

As the world economy continues to evolve, businesses and industries must adopt new practices and processes in order to survive. Quality and cost control, work teams and participatory management, and an infusion of technology are transforming the way people work and do business. Employees are now expected to read, write, and communicate…

This two-part learning module is designed to assist instructors in writing behavioral course objectives that will provide their students with precise statements of what is expected of them in terms of high-level cognitive learning, that is, learning that involves analysis or judgement. Part I of the module defines behavioral objectives as those…

Designed to assist community college instructors in the development of objectives for a course or program, this guidebook applies Bloom's Cognitive Taxonomy to the process of writing objectives. First, a short preface underscores the importance of instructional objectives in the design and delivery of education. Next, part I provides a pre-test on…

As the world economy continues to evolve, businesses and industries must adopt new practices and processes in order to survive. Quality and cost control, work teams and participatory management, and an infusion of technology are transforming the way people work and do business. Employees are now expected to read, write, and communicate…

As part of an effort to understand and reduce an unacceptable attrition rate at Kirkwood Community College (KCC) in Iowa, a study was conducted to determine students' reasons for coming to the college. All 584 students who applied for admission to KCC in winter 1984 were mailed a copy of the Student Goals Inventory, an instrument which assesses…

A Student Goals Inventory (SGI) for use in the community college was developed by a committee of Florida community college personnel. Six general goal categories were identified: career development, personal development, social development, academic development, cultural development, and community development. From six to seventeen goals are…

In winter 1994, a study was conducted at Miami-Dade Community College (M-DCC), in Florida, to determine students' perceptions of the college's educational goals. Surveys were distributed to students in 200 courses, representing 5% of all classes offered in the term. Using a 5-point scale, students were asked to rate both the importance of 20…