Across the United States, partnerships have formed between business and industry and rural community college workforce development customize training programs to meet the demands of the 21st century labor market. For many business and industry managers, a partnership has become a necessary means to train the unskilled as well as update skills required for the current workforce. This research study examined the business and industry manager's perceptions of their partnership with the Wallace State Community College workforce development customize training program. Qualitative methods were used to gather and analyze data obtained from semi-structured interviews. Katz and Kahn's Open System Theory, which stressed the environmental influence on an organizations survival, provided the theoretical framework for this research. The results of this study revealed the necessity of a fruitful partnership for the maintenance and growth of a business or industry. Moreover, partnership strengths and weaknesses between business and industry managers and the Wallace State Community College workforce development customized training program were indicated in this research. The results of this study may set a benchmark for current and future workforce development customize training programs with their partnerships with business and industry by providing information of the strengths and weakness of a partnership.

The purpose of this qualitative research study was to examine the role a rural community college plays in the development of its community, using a holistic, community-based lens that considered college and community context, interactions and results to answer the question: How does the rural community college impact the development of the rural community? While the community college's connection to the local community is largely inherent, a full understanding of community college-community interaction and the impact of those interactions on the community as a whole is often difficult to articulate. Given the context of today's education accountability requirements, it is advantageous to develop a more comprehensive understanding of the community college with regard to community impact and public benefit -- for community college practitioners, the public, and state and local policy-makers. A social constructivist research perspective, a case study research strategy, and a single case design were employed in this study. The case for this study was a rural Northwest community and the community college within it. The community college was classified as a small, rural-serving college by the Carnegie Classification of Colleges and Universities. A logic model design guided the study. Study participants included: elected officials; business and industry executives; and health, education and human services leaders. A combination of document review, participant observation, and interviews was used to answer the research questions: (a) What is the context of this community and this community college? (b) In what ways do the college and the community interact and engage? (c) What are the results of the college-community engagement? Examination of the data revealed several major themes and five significant findings: 1. The community defines itself through a regional, rural lens and is characterized by an interconnectedness of its people to the land and to the history of the region. 2. The college and the community invest in reciprocal relationships and collaborate on mutually beneficial pursuits. 3. An improved regional economy and skilled-up workforce are identified as positive community changes -- and the community college's contributions to those positive changes are cited as a public benefit. 4. A community leadership network with increased confidence in collaboration, understanding of community assets, and efficacy in community development is recognized as a positive community change -- and the community college's contributions to those positive changes are cited as a public benefit. 5. An enhanced community image and an optimistic community outlook are identified as positive community changes -- and the community college's contributions to those positive changes are cited as a public benefit. When these findings are taken into account with the related literature, this study offers considerations for practice and further research among community college, civic, and policy leaders.

The purpose of this research was to increase student success at a small comprehensive community college in eastern Montana, herein referred to by the pseudonym Rural Community College (RCC). The study was designed to empower college administrators, faculty, and staff to foster student success by adding strategies for success via a local student success model (LSSM) to the range of best practices currently in place at RCC, such as mandatory student orientation, mandatory placement, and no late registration. The LSSM is based on student, faculty, and administrator perspectives of student success and perceived barriers to student success specific to RCC. Data supporting those perspectives were collected through a series of student focus groups and a survey completed by faculty and the college president. This qualitative study applied Padilla's theoretical framework and associated concept modeling approach to examine perceived elements of student success as described by successful community college students at RCC. Padilla's theoretical framework and concept modeling approach to analysis of data is known as student success research because it focuses on how students succeed, as opposed to student departure research, which focuses on why students fail. Student departure research (e.g., Tinto, Pascarella, Rendon, and Roueche) has not improved completion rates of students at community colleges to a satisfactory level. Due to the continued poor rate of student completion, combined with the national dependence on community colleges to produce graduates prepared to enter the nation's workforce, community colleges must identify and institute comprehensive student success models. Successive studies using Padilla's theoretical framework have created LSSMs for urban and multicampus community colleges, high-minority-serving high schools, and Hispanic-serving universities. However, those studies used criteria that limited participation for many types of students. The goal of this study was to determine whether Padilla's local student success modeling approach is applicable to a rural community college environment, incorporating various types of community college students who were excluded from previous studies. It was concluded that students at RCC exhibited a high level of persistence, a strong work ethic, and effective time management skills. Key Words: Community College, student success, barriers to success, institutional barriers, academic achievement, developmental studies programs, college preparation, 2-year college students, completion agenda, performance-based funding, remedial instruction, remedial programs, academic persistence, rural, student placement, college students, achievement gap, supplementary education, digital divide, retention, student success initiatives.

In an effort to create a more educated workforce in the United States, many community colleges are implementing new practices and strategies to assist under-prepared students. These efforts will ultimately support a stronger and more resilient global workforce. Examining the Impact of Community Colleges on the Global Workforce provides relevant theoretical and conceptual frameworks, best practices, and emerging empirical research about new approaches being employed in community colleges to prepare students for their post-collegiate careers. Featuring recent initiatives in educational settings, this publication is a critical reference source for higher education practitioners, policymakers, and graduate students in higher education administration programs interested in the innovative practices utilized by community colleges to educate underserved students.

This book focuses on the topic of the multiple-stakeholders that comprise the education community across the P-20 continuum. In various ways and forms, the authors of the chapters found within this book promote the importance of engaging with the diverse array of stakeholders in order to truly improve education in an increasingly interconnected world. The book itself is divided into two major arcs, the first of which covers community relations and stakeholder engagement in P-12 schools, while the second addresses those same issues in higher education. When one considers the activities that take place within education institutions, there is a realization that they are influenced and driven by much more than just the educators and administrators who occupy the schools. In the editors’ own work, (e.g., see Tran & Bon, 2016), the importance of the inclusion of the viewpoints and inputs of multiple-stakeholders in school decisions when appropriate has been consistently argued, given that the school is considered by many to be a social and communal environment. To address these issues, in this text, this book is lucky to have a collection of peer-reviewed writing that explore various aspects of how multiple-stakeholder input can be used to improve school decisions.

The Community College Labor Market Responsiveness (CCLMR) Initiative was created to develop and disseminate information and tools enabling community colleges to keep pace with the needs of a diverse student body and a dynamic labour market. This report draws upon profiles (Appendix B) and statistical evidence (Appendix C) to describe the factors that affect labour-market responsiveness. First, it examines the effects of the external environment, the characteristics of local residents and the nature of the local economy. Second, it examines the effects of the external organisational structure, the state and local community workforce, education, and economic development infrastructure. Third, it examines colleges' external governance structures, which affect their mission, resource base, and flexibility. Finally, it examines the effects of factors under the college's control, presidential leadership, internal organisation, strategic planning to design and fund programs, use of data, and programmatic base. Each stage in the progression has strong, if not decisive, effects on the successive stage, and ultimately on each college's potential to be market-responsive, and the nature of the obstacles that need to be overcome to realise its potential. The progression is emphasised to make it clear that more should be expected of colleges located in environments that are favourable to development of labour-market responsive programs than where external conditions are unfavourable, not that colleges in favourable environments should complacently compare themselves to colleges in less favourable environments. This emphasis also helps clarify what colleges can do regardless of their external environment to overcome obstacles to become more responsive and reach their own unique potential.