Historically, community colleges have served societal and functional missions that expanded over time, with the result of trying to achieve multiple goals for multiple audiences. This volume explores the forces currently shaping community college missions and the resulting tension between stated goals, assumed goals, and achievement of those goals. In an era of increasing accountability, tighter coupling, and the need to do ever more with fewer resources, mission focus is vital to college survival. Explore such issues as: the unspoken social contract, transfer, developmental education, noncredit education, dual enrollment, workforce development, the free college movement, and planning for the future. The topics are explored thoughtfully from both scholarly and practical perspectives, highlighting the forces that shape community college missions. This is the 180th volume of this Jossey-Bass quarterly report series. Essential to the professional libraries of presidents, vice presidents, deans, and other leaders in today's open-door institutions, New Directions for Community Colleges provides expert guidance in meeting the challenges of their distinctive and expanding educational mission.

Co-published with An Agenda for Leaders / A Text for Leadership CoursesWhile community colleges promote American ideals of democracy, opportunity, and social mobility; they provide a vital, accessible, and affordable education for nearly 12 million first-generation, economically-disadvantaged, and minoritized students; are engines of local workforce and economic development; and enroll nearly half of all students who go on to complete a four-year degree; they remain the least resourced and the least funded institutions in the United States.Offering the insights of the former president of Greenfield Community College—located in Massachusetts’s poorest rural county—who was a national leader in community college and higher education organizations as well as closely involved with local businesses and organizations; and commentary and background data provided by Professor of Higher Education and Chair of the Department of Leadership in Education at the University of Massachusetts Boston, this book addresses the challenges that community colleges face as they strive to achieve their complex missions in a changing world.By providing vivid accounts of the diversity of students that community colleges serve, the complexity of their missions—from dual enrollment with high schools, to vocational training, adult education, and transfer to four-year colleges—and the role they play in supporting and responding to the needs of local business, as well in regional economic development, the authors make the case for increased investment, while at the same time making apparent to all stakeholders—from policy makers and trustees to college leaders, faculty and staff—how they can contribute to the vital development of human capacities.Community colleges are open-access, train nearly 80% of all first responders, graduate more than half of new nurses and health-care workers, and have a history of nimbleness and responsiveness to community needs, and can play a vital role in training for tomorrow’s jobs, over 60% of which will, in the next decade, require some college education. The first four chapters set the scene, demonstrating the key foundational linkage between education, community, and democracy, presenting a history of the community college movement, illustrating what’s involved in building strong and reciprocal community relationships, and covering a whole panoply of leadership issues such as governance, institutional culture, facilities planning, resource development, accreditation, and crisis management.The second part of the book presents Bob Pura’s accounts of his visits to five community colleges, each representing different geographic regions, institutional size, urban and rural locations, and how they respond to the varied racial and ethnic populations from they draw their students and establish themselves as anchors in their communities.As well as offering an important message to state and federal policy makers, this book serves as a roadmap for aspiring leaders of community colleges as well as a text for leadership and higher education courses. College leaders may find it useful for internal training and learning community groups.

This collection brings together insightful chapters which explore diverse student success initiatives and programs in response to challenges faced by community colleges. Each chapter of the collection magnifies a specific aspect of student affairs to illustrate how dedicated departments and practitioners have effectively supported student success via select projects or initiatives. Readers will gain a deeper insight into the contemporary applications, practices, and impacts of agendas such as the assessment of student affairs and services, student success programming, Guided Pathways, and The Completion Agenda. By demonstrating the meaningful involvement of student affairs practitioners in fulfilling institutional missions and visions, this collection contributes to an overarching dialogue about promoting community college student success. This collection will be of interest to researchers, academics, graduates, and postgraduate students in the fields of higher education administration, educational leadership, adult education, and lifelong learning.

These five essays share the theme that community education will become the primary focus in the continuing development of of the community college as a comprehensive, community-based institution. After Suzanne Fletcher's introduction to the monograph, Holly Jellison reviews the activities and summarizes the roundtable discussions of the Center for Community Education. The next article, "The Mycelium of Community Education: An Ideological Definition" by Robert J. Shoop, offers observations and reflections about the concept of community education and suggests that definitions of community education should focus on goals and objectives rather than on programs or strategies. Clyde LeTarte's article, "Community Education and the Community College: Problems and Promises," looks at the new place of community education in the community college mission, the factors which will influence this role, and the resulting needs in the areas of needs assessment, quality control and management, research and development, and financial support. Next, James F. Gollattscheck, in his essay, "Improving the Body Politic," envisions the community as a complex living organism and submits that learning to work with the various elements which comprise the total community should be a foremost priority for community colleges. Finally, Robert B. Young presents an analysis of a national survey of community education programs and services at community colleges, which includes the questionnaire. (AYC)

"This book of contributed chapters is for educators who want to improve their understanding of the role higher education can play in developing students who are actively engaged in democratic processes and civic engagement opportunities"--

Co-published with This timely volume addresses the urgent need for new strategies and better ways to serve community colleges’ present and future students at a time of rapid diversification, not just racially and ethnically, but including such groups as the undocumented, international students, older adult learners and veterans, all of whom come with varied levels of academic and technical skillsThe contributing researchers, higher education faculty, college presidents, and community college administrators provide thorough understanding of student groups who have received scant attention in the higher education literature. They address the often unconscious barriers to access our institutions have erected and describe emerging strategies, frameworks, and pilot projects that can ease students’ transition into college and through the maze of the college experience to completion. They offer advice on organizational culture, on defining institutional outcomes, on aligning shifting demographics with the multiple missions of the community college, on strengthening the collaboration of student and academic affairs to leverage their respective roles and resources, and on engaging with the opportunities afforded by technology.Divided into three parts – understanding today’s community college campuses; supporting today’s community college learners; and specialized populations and communities – this book offers a vision and solutions that should inform the work of faculty, administrators, presidents, and board members.