Community College Review

This case study examines two successful career-focused programs at an urban community college struggling with retention. The findings show how these programs create a unique institutional subculture, resulting in relatively higher rates of retention and graduation, and highlight the tremendous potential of the program to mitigate limitations of retention efforts undertaken at the institutional level.

In this article, we employ a cultural historical theoretical framework to extend understandings of how widespread 2-year college placement policies concerning English remediation potentially locate and retain U.S.-educated Latino adolescents at the margins of higher education through well-intentioned yet deficit-driven postsecondary cultural practices. We conclude with a research agenda for examining established institutional practices and alternatives in regard to 2-year college support for nontraditional students’ access to and success in the opportunity structures of higher education.

The federal government and private foundations for education have established postsecondary credential completion as a national imperative. Washington State’s Integrated Basic Education and Skills Training (I-BEST) model was developed to increase the rate at which basic skills students advance to and succeed in college-level occupational programs, and quantitative research on the model provides evidence of its effectiveness. This study shares findings on the implementation of the I-BEST model and provides lessons for practitioners and policy makers in other states.

Drawing on a survey of chief academic officers at 347 community colleges nationwide, this study examined the impact of institutional type (rural, suburban, urban) on reliance on and demand for adjunct faculty members. Findings indicated that rural institutions rely less on adjuncts, whereas both rural and urban institutions report high levels of unmet demand within specific disciplines.

This article—the first in the Council for the Study of Community Colleges (CSCC) Review Essays Series—reviews the literature concerning education-abroad opportunities for community college students. The article examines the benefits accrued to students through overseas study, briefly notes the history of education-abroad programs, and summarizes what is known about community college participation in these programs. Recommendations for overcoming the barriers that limit this participation are presented.