Community colleges are continually being faced with pressures to use data to inform decisions. These pressures arise from a triage of factors, including accountability, accreditation, and student success initiatives. Yet, as these demands continue, research has shown that community colleges struggle to institutionalize data-informed decision…

Results from a study of 16 community college students are presented. The research question concerned how students reasoned about p-values. Students' approach to p-values in hypothesis testing was procedural. Students viewed p-values as something that one compares to alpha values in order to arrive at an answer and did not attach much meaning to…

To understand the mathematical concept of function, students must understand certain subconcepts, such as domain and range. Many researchers have studied students' understanding of functions, but no study has focused on how students come to understand the domain and range for the graphs of functions. In this study, we identified four common…

Since its opening in 1971, more than 2.1 million students have improved their lives through education and training obtained from Houston Community College. An open-admission public institution, HCC awards associate degrees and certificates in academic studies and career and technology programs. HCC is committed to meeting the needs of its diverse…

When discussing the topic of elementary complex variables, students are often mystified by the fact that ii is real. After seeing a proof of this statement, a standard question is "well, what about iii or iiii etc., are these real or complex?" In this paper the meaning of the infinite power-tower iii...is considered both from the "bottom-up" and…

Designed to help institutional researchers transform data into useful information, this paper discusses principles for presenting research results to administrators in the top levels of management. The first section describes ten fundamental principles of data presentation: knowing what information is needed; knowing when the information is…

Covering each semester between summer 1988 and summer 1989, data are provided on enrollment patterns; morning, afternoon, and evening class sessions; and full-/part-time faculty ratios in the Compton Community College district. The first section of the report provides information pertaining to on- and off-campus enrollments for summer semester…

The Houston Community College (HCC) 2010-2011 Fact Book provides statistical information about the college district. It is important for the reader to be aware that data presented in this publication may differ slightly from statistics found in other district reports. Such variances may result from differences methodology including the source of…

Nomography, a branch of applied mathematics, deals with the graphical solution or nomograph of certain types of equations. This paper presents an example of nomography that has proven useful in calculating average weekly student contact hours (WSCH) per instructor, and that allows for rapid assessment of the maximum and minimum number of…

In 1992, a study was undertaken to measure student persistence at Los Angeles City College (LACC) over a 3-year period. A total of 462 new, entering students were selected from a larger, random sample of 1,250 full- and part-time students who had enrolled in credit courses in spring 1989. Descriptive items, such as student characteristics and…

A series of graphs and tables are presented which summarize Los Angeles City College enrollment data collected each Fall from 1973 through 1980. For day classes only, information is presented concerning weekly student contact hours (WSCH), number of full-time equivalent (FTE) faculty, and resultant faculty workload (WSCH divided by FTE faculty).…

In 1989, an Illinois Community College Board committee examined the issue of cost effectiveness among the state's community colleges. The individual cost categories examined for the study included direct salary, direct department, direct equipment, building rental, operation and maintenance, academic administration and planning, learning…

Divided into five parts, this report describes a research project which used the Delphi method to identify the future roles of the library at Mercer County Community College through 1986, and to set priorities for those roles. The introductory section includes definitions of the problem, the terms used, the subject, and the organization of the…

This fact book presents longitudinal data up to fall 1996 on the service area, enrollment, staff, finances, and facilities at Central Alabama Community College (CACC). Part 1 contains general information on the college, including its mission statement, an organizational chart, and comparative data on CACC and other Alabama colleges. Part 2…