{"title":"“Coalition of the Willing”: Promoting Antiracism Through Empowering Community College Campus Members","authors":"Bryan K. Hotchkins, Jon Mcnaughtan, Jarett Lujan","doi":"10.1177/00915521221111465","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00915521221111465","url":null,"abstract":"Objective/Research Question: Critical race theory (CRT) was used with a basic qualitative study to interrogate how racism unfolds at community colleges and how Black community college presidents enact antiracism. The purpose of this study is to enhance understandings about how community college presidents of African descent construct antiracism, how those definitions are communicated, and the rationale for creating opportunities to disrupt racism within predominantly White campus environments. Methods: Six presidents participated in three semi-structured interviews lasting approximately 75-minutes each. The sample included three men and three women. Interviews focused on institutional communications about racial tensions concerning how presidents’ identities (e.g., race and gender) influenced decision making with campus stakeholders and presidential roles in defining and enacting antiracism. Results: Three themes emerged including how Accountability matters, the need for Space creators, and importance of developing Student “critical” mass. Participants discussed how they created spaces and utilized cultural capital networks to advance campus diversity agendas to benefit their institutions. Presidents posited that although community college leaders were likely motivated to participate in anti-racist practices due to the bettering of institutional image, decisive work needed to be done despite knowing endemic racism occurs in perpetuity. Conclusions/Contributions: This study highlights the need for enhanced training of presidents about how to conceptualize and engage campus racism. Additionally, presidents posited that the majority of students on their campuses were ready to engage in antiracism leadership activism, but they needed training to be empowered to develop anti-racist programs and practices. Finally, institutions need to develop stronger and more systematic ways to call out racism and promote anti-racist programing and practices.","PeriodicalId":46564,"journal":{"name":"Community College Review","volume":"50 1","pages":"415 - 435"},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2022-08-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48631581","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pamela L. Eddy, Yi Hao, Ellen R. Iverson, R. Macdonald
{"title":"Fostering Communities of Practice Among Community College Science Faculty","authors":"Pamela L. Eddy, Yi Hao, Ellen R. Iverson, R. Macdonald","doi":"10.1177/00915521221111474","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00915521221111474","url":null,"abstract":"Objective/Research Question: This paper reports on data collected in a multi-year National Science Foundation grant project involving a professional development (PD) model built to support community college faculty as change agents (CAs). The research question was: How do disciplinary communities of practice (CoP) emerge among community college faculty working in teams? Methods: This research employed a mixed-method design. Data collection included interviews, focus-group sessions, reflective journals, observations, end-of-workshop evaluations, survey data with the 23 geoscience faculty CA, and data from a national survey. Data analysis used the principles of CoP. Results: When compared to other community college geoscience faculty nationally, the participants in our study reported greater levels of behaviors characteristic of CoP. The CoP emerged due to network building and resource sharing within the PD. The findings highlight the significance of structured PD on the development of robust disciplinary CoP. The initial orientation of CAs, existing institutional structures, and cultures of community colleges influenced the CoP. Putting lessons learned into practice, sharing outcomes, and leading regional PD for others contributed to strengthening of the CoP. Conclusions/Contributions: Intentional PD catalyzed the emergence of strong CoP among the community college geoscience faculty participants. The opportunities to connect with disciplinary colleagues teaching in community colleges who shared an interest in supporting student success and improving teaching practices and the opportunity to share lessons learned contributed to the CoP. Structured interactions, critical reflection, and leading colleagues in PD supported developing, maintaining, and growing the CoP.","PeriodicalId":46564,"journal":{"name":"Community College Review","volume":"50 1","pages":"391 - 414"},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2022-07-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45728698","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Rachel E. Freeman-Wong, Trisha Mazumder, Jesús Cisneros
{"title":"Keep Fighting for Existence: Undocumented Student Resource Centers as Counter-Spaces Within Community Colleges","authors":"Rachel E. Freeman-Wong, Trisha Mazumder, Jesús Cisneros","doi":"10.1177/00915521221111461","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00915521221111461","url":null,"abstract":"Objective: In this study, we were interested in investigating how Undocumented Student Resource Centers (USRCs) as counter-spaces were developed and sustained within community colleges. Method: We conceptualized USRCs as counter-spaces and conducted interviews with 19 staff and students coordinating the work of USRCs. Results: Three themes emerged from the analysis of interviews: Operationalizing USRCs as Counter-Spaces, Putting the “Community” in College, and Creating Visibility and Permanence. Conclusions: Originating from community organizing efforts, USRCs continued the tradition of undocumented student activism through the professionals they employed, the community they engaged, and the self-advocacy practices they sustained. This study raises implications for community college research and practice with regard to the implementation of undocumented student support services.","PeriodicalId":46564,"journal":{"name":"Community College Review","volume":"50 1","pages":"436 - 455"},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2022-07-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46910463","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Institutional Partnerships for Transfer Student Success: An Examination of Catalysts and Barriers to Collaboration","authors":"T. L. Yeh, Lia Wetzstein","doi":"10.1177/00915521221111476","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00915521221111476","url":null,"abstract":"Objective: Strong institutional partnerships are critical to the transfer process for students because they can help ease navigation from one college to the next. This research seeks to better understand the nature of high-performing transfer partnerships, and the factors that can either promote or hinder their development. Methods: Drawing upon qualitative data from a larger mixed methods study, we visited seven institutional pairs of community college (sending) and baccalaureate-granting (receiving) institutions and interviewed 170 administrators, staff, and faculty. Data were analyzed using perspectives on educational collaborations and the forces that can impact organizational change efforts. Results: Our findings highlight factors that influence the development, growth, or continuation of transfer partnerships. We propose a framework that can be used to analyze transfer partnerships based on institutional culture, practices, and policies. Contributions: This research extends the work on transfer partnerships by providing a comprehensive picture of the organizational forces that impact their change over time. We also offer suggestions for how these findings can be used to develop or enhance transfer partnerships that can move institutions toward more equitable student outcomes.","PeriodicalId":46564,"journal":{"name":"Community College Review","volume":"50 1","pages":"343 - 365"},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2022-07-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44429558","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Katharine M. Broton, M. Mohebali, Mitchell D. Lingo
{"title":"Basic Needs Insecurity and Mental Health: Community College Students’ Dual Challenges and Use of Social Support","authors":"Katharine M. Broton, M. Mohebali, Mitchell D. Lingo","doi":"10.1177/00915521221111460","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00915521221111460","url":null,"abstract":"Objective: The objective of this study is to examine the potential co-occurrence of basic needs insecurity and mental health problems among community college students. These barriers to student success are gaining significant attention from college leaders and scholars, but they are often addressed in isolation, ignoring the potential reinforcing nature of these challenges. Method: We use data from a national survey of community college students to examine the relationship between experiences of basic needs insecurity and mental health problems, and investigate the support systems that students rely on for help. Results: Findings indicate that students who experience basic needs insecurity are substantively and significantly more likely than their materially secure peers to report depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation, planning, or attempt, even after accounting for background characteristics. Those with both food and housing insecurities are even more likely to report mental health problems and the likelihood is positively associated with severity of material hardship. Given limited institutional supports, students often rely on friends or family for emotional and mental support. Receipt of social support is higher among those with mental health challenges, but it also varies by students’ basic needs security status. This suggests that students facing the dual challenges of basic needs insecurity and mental health problems may have exhausted this important social resource. Contributions: This study raises awareness about the prevalent co-occurrence of basic needs insecurity and mental health problems, and encourages a more integrated institutionalized approach to serving students.","PeriodicalId":46564,"journal":{"name":"Community College Review","volume":"50 1","pages":"456 - 482"},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2022-07-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49352044","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"“Lost in the Shuffle”: How Relationships and Personalized Advisement Shape Transfer Aspirations and Outcomes for Community College Students","authors":"Maggie P. Fay, S. Jaggars, Negar Farakish","doi":"10.1177/00915521221111468","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00915521221111468","url":null,"abstract":"Objective: Few community college students who aspire to transfer ever do so. Prior research suggests that relationships with advisors, faculty, and administrators may play an important role in promoting successful transfer outcomes, particularly for traditionally underserved students. This study examines how students identified and weighed possible transfer destination colleges, and how dedicated and personalized advisement shaped students’ transfer plans and contributed to their transfer outcomes. Method: This mixed-methods study uses interviews to explore students’ transfer planning processes, as well as student record data to examine transfer outcomes. Analyses compare students who received personalized transfer advising through a community college honors program and similarly qualified transfer-aspiring peers attending the same six community colleges who received “business as usual” advising. Results: Findings suggest that personalized advisement and relationships with transfer advisors contributed to higher rates of transfer and may support transfer to more-selective destinations. Contributions: This research extends the literature on community college transfer by tracing students’ planning processes, exploring factors that raise or lower transfer aspirations, and estimating the effects of an advising-intensive honors program on students’ transfer outcomes, including the selectivity of their transfer destinations. We also offer more empirical support for the importance of personal relationships and transfer agents in facilitating successful transfer outcomes.","PeriodicalId":46564,"journal":{"name":"Community College Review","volume":"50 1","pages":"366 - 390"},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2022-07-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47060367","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Engaging Community Colleges in Rural Development: A Meta-Synthesis of Doctoral Dissertations","authors":"H. Harmon, Larry J. Bergeron, Jerry Johnson","doi":"10.1177/00915521221087280","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00915521221087280","url":null,"abstract":"Objective: This project analyzed recent doctoral dissertations addressing the role of community colleges in rural development for the purpose of identifying themes in the reported results and offering recommendations for future research. Methods: A meta-synthesis approach was utilized with 20 doctoral dissertations from the time period 2009 to 2020 investigating the role of community colleges in rural community development, rural economic development, rural workforce development, and collaboration with other entities relative to rural development. Results: Themes derived from the analysis and synthesis are presented, with discussion of the representative studies for each. Building on the results of the thematic analysis, the review offers recommendations for practical steps that rural community colleges can take to contribute to the communities they serve. Additionally, we offer suggestions for a research agenda to produce further insights and understandings that can strengthen and enhance the roles of community colleges in rural development across America. Contributions: Collectively, the reported themes and suggested research agenda speak to both the important role that rural community colleges can play in rural development and to the need for ongoing work in this area of the literature.","PeriodicalId":46564,"journal":{"name":"Community College Review","volume":"50 1","pages":"316 - 338"},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2022-04-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43644895","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Words of Warning: A Randomized Study of the Impact of Assorted Warning Letters on Academic Probation Students","authors":"Brian G. Moss, Ben Kelcey","doi":"10.1177/00915521221087285","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00915521221087285","url":null,"abstract":"Objective: Superiority experiments supply a critical lens to probe higher education interventions because they can dismantle the collective effect of a program and identify the relative contribution of the core components. However, such lines of inquiry are generally absent in higher education literature. We draw on experimental data to probe the dominant mechanisms of a simple but promising academic probation intervention. Methods: We used a 2 × 2 factorial experiment designed to unpack the effects of an academic probation intervention and identify the dominant mechanism. Within this framework, 500 academic probation students were assigned to one of four treatment conditions or a control condition. Treatment groups were assigned to receive notification of academic probation status by either certified or regular mail (factor A) that contained either a standard or embellished letter (factor B). Results: We found that students who received embellished warning letters significantly improved subsequent academic performance. The impact on performance was 0.35 grade points when notification sent by regular mail and amplified to 0.48 grade points when sent via certified mail. The routine notification communication message did not differ from the treatment as usual method regardless of mail delivery method. Conclusions: These findings suggest the availability of low-cost, scalable interventions are available and can be identified to positively impact at-risk students’ academic achievement.","PeriodicalId":46564,"journal":{"name":"Community College Review","volume":"50 1","pages":"253 - 268"},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2022-04-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47873798","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Cultivating Community College Pathways to STEM Leadership: Examining the Relationships Between Gender, Upward Transfer, and Students’ Computing Leadership Identity","authors":"J. Blaney","doi":"10.1177/00915521221087283","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00915521221087283","url":null,"abstract":"Objective: Upward transfer pathways are an important mechanism for advancing gender equity in STEM. Yet, little is known about how students access lucrative STEM careers and leadership positions via community colleges. This study explores the factors that may promote computing leadership identity among upward transfer students, focusing specifically on gender differences in upward transfer computing student experiences. Methods: This study relies on longitudinal survey data from N = 1,955 computing majors across 15 universities in the United States. I used linear regression with tests of two- and three-way interaction terms to examine how factors associated with computing leadership identity might differ by upward transfer student status and gender. Results: Findings highlight how faculty mentorship, peer support, and involvement in student groups might shape leadership identity among all computing students. Other findings show that time spent working for pay is positively associated with leadership identity for non-transfers but negatively associated with leadership identity for upward transfer students. Significant three-way interactions show that parent career and sense of belonging in computing are uniquely associated with leadership identity for upward transfer women. Conclusions: This study identifies contextual factors that are uniquely associated with computing leadership identity for upward transfer students, while identifying ways in which institutions can increase upward transfer students’ access to college experiences that are positively associated with leadership identity for all students. Future directions for research are discussed, including opportunities for researchers to test the impact of specific interventions to promote leadership identity, aspirations, and behaviors for upward transfer students.","PeriodicalId":46564,"journal":{"name":"Community College Review","volume":"50 1","pages":"269 - 291"},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2022-04-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48308373","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Thai-Huy Nguyen, Rose Ann E. Gutierrez, Jalen Smith
{"title":"Evaluating On-Line Resources: How Community College Students in STEM Sort and Select Material on the Internet","authors":"Thai-Huy Nguyen, Rose Ann E. Gutierrez, Jalen Smith","doi":"10.1177/00915521221087286","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00915521221087286","url":null,"abstract":"Research Question: The vast amount of material available on-line has prompted researchers to understand how undergraduate students sort and select, or evaluate, the results that emerge from their searches. Since students depend on on-line material to facilitate their learning of course material, understanding the basis of their process is imperative to how institutions develop more equitable and far-reaching strategies for student success. Given this context, this study asks the following question: When students are faced with several choices that emerge from their on-line search, what are the criteria used to evaluate and select resources that support learning of course content? Methods: To answer the research question, we drew on interview data from 12 students enrolled in a community college district, who offered insights on how they evaluated on-line resources for their science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) courses. Results: We find that trust and utility were the prominent criteria by which on-line resources were evaluated. Students were skeptical of the accuracy of content in a given resource and used several dimensions of trust to direct their assessment. Students also evaluated with purpose, to search for and sort resources that reflected their goals and preferred conditions for engagement, or what we consider as utility. Conclusion: Understanding how students sort and evaluate on-line resources offers insights into a learning environment increasingly defined by the internet and informs how institutions and instructors might better incorporate these resources into their curriculum and academic supports. Our findings reveal implications for institutional leadership, faculty, and student services.","PeriodicalId":46564,"journal":{"name":"Community College Review","volume":"50 1","pages":"292 - 315"},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2022-04-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44443490","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}