Approximately 450 community colleges nationally are part of formal statewide or national initiatives to implement guided pathways reforms to improve student success, and many other colleges are implementing guided pathways practices on their own. Because guided pathways is a whole-college reform--and because it takes several years to fully…

While women have made great strides in leadership and academia over the last several decades, women continue to lag behind men in executive leadership positions. In universities, women students are vastly underrepresented in executive leadership roles; however, at community colleges the trends are reversed as women are actively taking on executive…

Leadership theories and their application to various leadership positions is a heavily researched field. Specific research has been conducted examining leadership theories of both middle level and senior level leaders individually (Amey et al., 2020; Eddy and Mitchell, 2017; Hernandez and Hernandez, 2014. However, an examination of leadership…

The purpose of this study was to understand the experiences of Afghan women refugees in community colleges. Using Yosso's (2005) community cultural wealth theory, the study explored Afghan women's motivation for attending college, the experiences that brought them to the college, the challenges they experienced while navigating the institution,…

The purpose of this qualitative descriptive study was to explore how instructors at community colleges in the United States described instructor social presence developed through their use of video communication in their online classroom for interactions for learning, socialization of content, community development, and the overall learning…

Many studies have shown the mental, physical, and academic benefits of environmental education to students. Equally important, environmental education can develop our students into more environmentally minded citizens. However, we are learning that most students are not receiving accurate environmental information while in school, which may impact…

In March 2020, COVID-19 sent shocking changes through California's public higher educational institutions' means and methods of operating, which resulted in sharp drops in revenue along with sudden costs associated with on-campus COVID-19 safety measures and with moving courses and student services online. To make matters worse, state funding also…

Critical thinking skills remain one of the top requirements for nurses in order to adequately deal with patients diagnosed with growing comorbidities, all to improve quality of care. Critical thinking skills are now considered a core competency for all educational nursing programs in the United States. The purpose of this qualitative descriptive…

Faculty leaders are part of the shared governance structures and processes, participating in the development of policies and in decision-making that affects many two-year community colleges. In this research study, faculty leadership experiences are described and interpreted during a Guided Pathways reform approach for student success at an urban,…

Low student engagement and high attrition rates in online classes were observed at community colleges in a Western U.S. state. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore online faculty members' perceptions of student engagement and how they described their teaching practices and experiences. The study was grounded in the community of…

This article investigates a Basic Writing program shared between a University of California campus and a local community college in which the curriculum, assessment practices, and larger programmatic structures were heavily influenced by an exit exam modeled after the UC system's Analytical Writing Placement Exam (AWPE). Drawing from scholarship…

The US lack of nurses to meet healthcare demands is a national crisis (American Nurses Association [ANA], 2021). Attrition rates in nursing programs compound the nursing shortage. Community colleges are where a number of nursing students attend to complete an Associate Degree of Nursing (ADN) program. Community college leaders and educators have a…

The present study sought to answer the research question, to what extent is the staff racial demographic profile, as a numeric representation of staff diversity, related to the diversity of graduating cohorts from public community colleges in Illinois? The exploratory quantitative study used five years of Integrated Postsecondary Education Data…

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore the perspectives of academic advisors who are servicing the needs of students within the California community colleges participating in the Guided Pathways initiative. In addition, the study sought to provide a detailed understanding of the perceptions of (a) the academic advisor's role in…

The purpose of the action research project was to provide part-time professors in the California community college system a framework for meaningful professional development that could lead to more preparedness and empowerment; and to give part-time professors an avenue to gain leadership opportunities, and greater control over their learning and…