Updates from the SOURCE on Community College  
Issues, Trends & Strategies     

 

Published by
The Roueche Graduate Center, National American University  
in partnership with Lorenzo Associates, Inc.
 VOLUME 5, ISSUE 10 - May 17, 2015
 
"Commencement speeches were invented largely in the belief that outgoing college students  
  should never be released into the world until they have been properly sedated."  - Garry Trudeau
   
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In This Issue

  

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Miscellaneous

Reports & Articles 

 

May/Jun/2015: Supporting the Academic Majority: Policies and Practices Related to Part-Time Faculty's Job Satisfaction, by M. Kevin Eagan Jr., Audrey J. Jaeger and Ashley Grantham, Project Muse - This study examines the associations between part-time faculty satisfaction and a set of items that measure campus resources provided to part-timers, their perceptions of the campus climate, and measures of the institutional context. Findings point to opportunities for campuses and departments to improve part-time faculty's satisfaction through providing access to office space and developing a sense of respect among part-time and full-time faculty.

May/Jun/2015: Education Alone Won't End Income Inequality, by Maureen Conway, The Aspen Journal of Ideas - We live in a paradoxical time of historically high income and epic wealth inequality. Academics, politicians, business leaders and religious leaders are all concerned about it. Indeed, the extreme level of inequality we now face is often cast as a moral challenge and a threat to the ideals and values of our society.

05/12/2015: Anxiety, Depression and More, by Scott Jaschik, Inside Higher Ed - For the fifth year in a row, anxiety is the top condition of students seeking care at campus counseling centers, according to a survey released Monday night by the Association for University and College Counseling Center Directors. But gender continues to be an area of concern. Male students make up, on average, 44 percent of the student population at the colleges in the survey, but they make up only 34 percent of those who seek care at counseling centers.

05/12/2015: Community College Consolidation, by Doug Lederman, Inside Higher Ed - Two community colleges roughly 75 miles apart in northwest Ohio are creating a new regional government agency smack-dab between them so they can consolidate many administrative functions and - potentially - academic and other programs, too.Those prospects excite the leaders of the two institutions, Terra State and Northwest State Community Colleges, who say the arrangement will help them save money that can be shifted to improve student services.

05/05/2015: Why are Graduation Rates at Community Colleges So Low?, by Meredith Kolodner, The Hechinger Report - Teachers College Professor Tom Bailey answers questions, explaining what "cafeteria colleges" are, why they're bad and weighing in on Obama's plan to make community college free.

05/05/2015: Core of the Matter: Majority of Americans Support the Common Core, They Just Don't Know It (#CoreMatters), by Kristen Loschert, Alliance for Excellent Education - A recent national survey conducted by the Leadership Conference Education Fund (LCEF) finds that 97 percent of Americans believe that "students need to be able to think critically and apply skills to the 'real world' to be successful after high school." Furthermore, 92 percent believe that "where a family lives, how much money they make, or their race or ethnicity should not determine the quality of education that a child receives."

05/2015: Opening The Door, by Adria Steinberg and Cheryl Almeida, Jobs for the Future - At this moment, the role of community-based organizations (CBOs) has never been more important. The country is facing a dual crisis in youth unemployment and low postsecondary completion rates. Both are especially prevalent among low-income and minority young people.

04/27/2015: Higher Education 2.0 and the Next Few Hundred Years; or, How to Create a New Higher Education Ecosystem, by Paul J. LeBlanc, EducauseReview - Three important developments stand to dramatically change the way we think about degree programs and pathways. If these game changers come to fruition (and they are already taking shape today), we will see an exciting new ecosystem take hold in higher education.

04/16/2015: 7 Innovation Factors Part of New Framework for Higher-ed Leaders, by Ron Bethke, eCampus News - The report ("Building a Culture of Innovation in Higher Education: Design & Practice for Leaders") focuses on helping schools "think creatively and strategically about how to use technology to personalize and strengthen roadmap markers" for an increasingly diverse pool of students that expect a measurable return on their investment of time and money spent on pursing a degree.

04/2015: Career Technical Education and Labor Market Outcomes: Evidence from California Community Colleges, by Ann Huff Stevens, Michal Kurlaender and Michel Grosz, National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) - This paper estimates the earnings returns to vocational, or career technical, education programs in the nation's largest community college system. While career technical education (CTE) programs have often been mentioned as an attractive alternative to four-year colleges for some students, very little systematic evidence exists on the returns to specific vocational certificates and degrees.

 

To view our entire Miscellaneous Resources sectionclick here.

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Statistics

05/14/2015: Survey: 49% of Recent Grads Say They're Underemployed, Inside Higher Ed - Forty-nine percent of students who graduated college in 2013 and 2014 consider themselves underemployed, according to an Accenture college graduate employment survey released Wednesday.

05/06/2015: Black Higher Ed Enrollment Peaks in 2014, by Ronald Roach, Diverse - The U.S. Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported last month that, among 2014 U.S. high school graduates, 70.9 percent of African-American graduating high school seniors had enrolled in college by October 2014 compared to 67.3 percent of Whites. It marked the first time ever the BLS determined through its population surveys that African-Americans enrolled in college at a higher rate than Whites.

 

To view our entire Statistics-Oriented Resources section, click here.

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Online Education

Reports & Articles

 

05/11/2015: The Online Paradox at Community Colleges, by  Jill Barshay, The Hechinger Report -  Community college students who take online courses are more likely - 25 percent more likely to be exact - to complete their two-year associate's degree or some sort of certificate than students who didn't take any online classes.

04/27/2015: Studies: Online Courses Unsuccessful at Community Colleges, by The Hechinger Report, US News & World Report - Newest study finds students are 11 percent less likely to pass an online version of the same class.The latest salvo comes from researchers at the University of California - Davis, who found that community college students throughout California were 11 percent less likely to finish and pass a course if they opted to take the online version instead of the traditional face-to-face version of the same class.

 

To view our entire Online Education section, click here.

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College Readiness

Reports & Articles

 

05/11/2015: Placing Adults, by Matt Reed, Inside Higher Ed - For years, most community colleges relied on a single placement test given at the time of admission. Many colleges now are moving to "multi-factor" placement, which usually means combining a test score with a high school GPA. The idea is that a GPA captures many of the non-cognitive skills over time. A student who consistently punches above her weight, based on test scores, probably has good study skills. Nothing predicts success in school like a record of success in school.

05/05/2015: College Ready Grade 12 Interventions Based on Secondary School Assessments, by Michael W. Kirst, Stanford, The College Puzzle - This ECS Education Policy Analysis delves into statewide high school college and career readiness assessments and how states are using them to overcome two persistent challenges - the "wasted senior year" and high postsecondary remediation rates. The report is being released with an accompanying 50-state database containing information about how states use college readiness assessments to improve the 12th-grade year.

05/04/2015: The Changing Role of Advanced Placement Classes, by Amy Scott, Marketplace - For a lot of students though, especially low-income and minority students, AP courses haven't always been an option. North County principal Julie Cares says five years ago, only 10 percent of the school's 2,000 students took any Advanced Placement classes. Less than one-fourth of seniors planned to attend a four-year college.

05/2015: What Predicts Participation in Developmental Education Among Recent High School Graduates at CommunityCollege? Lessons from Oregon, by Michelle Hodara, REL Northwest - This study examines the rates of participation in developmental education among four groups of Oregon public high school graduates who enrolled in an Oregon community college within six years after high school graduation- Recent high school graduates; Graduates who attended four-year college first; Graduates who attended another two-year college first; Graduates who delayed entry with no prior college experience.

05/2015: Teaching English Language Learners: Communication Between Home and School, by Jennifer Oxier, The League for Innovation - Overcoming the language barrier is only one concern with which educators deal. Also important are household income, housing conditions, and automobile ownership.

04/25/2015: Is Starting College During High School Michigan's Ticket to Success?, by Veronica Gracia-Wing, Northwest Michigan's Second Wave - Imagine a future where every Michigan student not only went to college, but started that collegiate career before they even left high school. For some students, it's already happening, and it could have big implications for education in this state.

04/2015: College Counseling for Latino and Underrepresented Students, by Sarah Hurley and Ann Coles, National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC) - In an effort to better understand the role of school counselors in preparing Latino and other underrepresented students for the transition to college, NACAC and Excelencia in Education conducted a national survey and observed counseling practices at six US high schools that were successfully supporting underrepresented populations during the college application process.

 

To view our entire College Readiness section, click here.

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Remedial Education

Reports & Articles

 

05/08/2015: Legislative Fixes for Remediation, by Ashley A. Smith, Inside Higher Ed - Low success rates and high costs are driving more states and institutions to seek new ways to offer developmental or remedial college courses.There are concerns that anytime there is talk of reforming remediation, the focus is strictly on high school graduates, when there are nontraditional or adult students who enroll in developmental education courses too.

05/05/2015: Accelerated Learning Program Pushes the Envelope, by Catherine Morris, Diverse - The Community College of Baltimore County (CCBC) is well known for its Accelerated Learning Program (ALP), which quickened the path towards credit-bearing courses for students in developmental writing classes. ALP inspired hundreds of other colleges to adopt a similar model.

5/2015: CCRC Analytics - Calculating the Costs of Remedial Placement Testing, by Olga Rodr�guez, Brooks Bowden, Clive Belfield, and Judith Scott-Clayton, Community College Research Center - The cost of providing remediation is high - nationwide, the direct cost at community colleges alone may be as much as $4 billion annually - yet the evidence about the effectiveness of remediation is not compelling. Many students assigned to remediation never progress to take college-level courses. And studies comparing students who scored just above and just below the remedial placement test cutoffs have found that, with a few exceptions, assignment to remediation among such students does little to improve student outcomes.

04/01/2015: Spotlight on Innovation: A New Take on Developmental Education at Gateway Community and Technical College, by Lisa Cook, Academic Impressions - In the past couple of years, we have seen a number of colleges and universities undertake innovative and impactful reforms of their developmental education.Gateway Community and Technical College in Florence, KY, is currently engaging in such a reform through its Flexible Learning and Exploration space (FLEXspace) project, which is funded by a $3.4 million First in the World grant.

03/2015: Inside ASAP, by Daniela Boykin and Amy Prince,  The City University of New York -  Accelerated Study in Associate Programs (ASAP) has become one of the most successful community college programs in CUNY's history and isnow broadly recognized as a national model. Across the first five cohorts, 52% of ASAP students graduated within three years vs. 22% of similar comparison group students. After a three-year expansion launched in 2012, an eighth cohort was added in fall 2014 bringing total enrollment to 4,238 students at seven colleges.  

 

To view our entire Remedial Education section, click here.

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College Completion

Reports & Articles

 

05/11/2015: Rethinking the 'Cafeteria' Approach to Community College, by Thomas Bailey, The Washington Post - Most community colleges today employ a "cafeteria" or "self-service" model of education. The cafeteria college is designed around the goal of expanding access to higher education and is driven by a public funding system that ties dollars to enrollment.

05/2015: Mentoring: A Pathway to Completion, by Marcia Conston, The League for Innovation - Mentoring is one powerful way to connect with students beyond the classroom and to engage them in activities, conversations, and programs that not only enhance their college experiences, but also propel them to become more productive individuals.

01/2015: The New Forgotten Half and Research Directions to Support Them, by James Rosenbaum, Caitlin Ahearn, Kelly Becker, William T. Grant Foundation - In "The New Forgotten Half and Research Directions to Support Them," James Rosenbaum and colleagues find that many young people who enroll in community college fail to complete their studies and attain a degree, and that these youth fare no better in the labor market than those with only a high school diploma.

To view our entire College Completion section, click here. 

Workforce Development

Reports & Articles

 

05/03/2015: Americans Don't Think College is Preparing Students for Work, by JJ Feinauer, Deseret News National - Only 13 percent of Americans feel confident that colleges are doing an effective job of preparing students for the future, according to a Gallup poll released April 24. Only 6 percent of those with college degrees strongly believe graduates are "well-prepared for success in the workforce."

05/2015: Creative Inquiry and Undergraduate Research in the Community College, by Lee Edwards, The League for Innovation - Community colleges face the same obstacles as senior institutions in getting students ready for upper division course work, but also have the added pressure of readying a large portion of their students for the workforce.  

  

To view our entire Workforce Development section, click here.

Technology Adoption

Reports & Articles

 

03/02/2015: Randolph Community College Introduces New Computer Technology Integration Program for Fall, Randolph Community College - Course work includes development of a student's ability to communicate and solve technical issues related to information support and services, interactive media, network systems, programming and software development, and other emerging technologies based on the selected area of study.  

 

To view our entire Technology Adoption section, click here.

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Data Analysis & Assessment

Reports & Articles  

 

05/13/2015: What Will Your College Degree Do for You? Big Data Could Answer the Question, But Only If We Let It., by Eric Schulzke, Deseret News - Many think that opening the data bottleneck cannot happen too soon. Researchers and consumers are routinely running into the limits of data as they try to weigh the economic returns of attending a given school, studying a major, or entering a career. 

To view our entire Data Analysis & Assessment section, click here.

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Funding & Economics

Reports & Articles

 

05/13/2015: Years of Cuts Threaten to Put College Out of Reach for More Students, by Michael Mitchell and Michael Leachman, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities - Even as states restore some funding that was cut in recent years, their support for higher education remains well below pre-recession levels, straining college affordability -- especially for students whose families struggle to make ends meet.

05/02/2015: Supporting Innovation in Higher Education through First in the World, by Ted Mitchell, US Dept of Education, Homeroom - This year the Obama Administration announced the second round of the First in the World grant program will award $60 million to colleges and universities to encourage innovative new practices on campuses, including $16 million to Minority Serving Institutions.

04/16/2015: Most Americans Say Higher Education Not Affordable, by Brandon Busteed and Stephanie Kafka, Gallup -  A majority of U.S. adults, 61%, believe education beyond high school is available to anyone in America who needs it -- down from 67% who felt this way in 2013. However, only a small minority (21%) believe higher education is affordable.  

 

To view our entire Funding & Economics section, click here.

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Transfer & Articulation

Reports & Articles

 

05/08/2015: Colorado Colleges Will Create Common Ways to Accept Prior Learning, by Yesenia Robles,The Denver Post, Denver and The West - Students who get college credit not earned in a college classroom will have an easier time transferring those credits starting next spring. A new policy that will standardize how colleges accept "credit for prior learning" was approved by the Colorado Commission on Higher Education, making Colorado one of 12 states to standardize the process.

05/2015: Reverse Transfer: The Path Less Traveled, by Lexi Anderson, ECS Education Trends - This brief defines reverse transfer and explores how states and organizations might utilize the policy as one approach to support increasing educational attainment. In the past 20 years, more than 31 million students have left higher education with some credits yet no degree or certificate.This highlights a need to support those students in their academic goals. Reverse transfer policies provide an option for awarding these students a credential.

 

To view our entire Transfer & Articulation section, click here.

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