This study identifies and examines the key practices of California community college programs that have demonstrated success in improving (or that have shown significant potential to improve) the achievement of underrepresented groups whose educational attainment often lags behind the attainment of relatively well-off White students. Unlike many examinations that focus only on the transfer mission, this study includes other vital areas of the community college, including workforce preparation and developmental education. Study findings reveal that the practices of these programs had four common characteristics: cohesion—the ability of program personnel to operate as a unit in which behaviors and actions mesh or are rationally consistent; cooperation —the degree to which program personnel work together toward common goals and form good working relationships with each other and with students; connection—the ability of program personnel to sustain interdependent relationships with internal and external entities, such as other departments within the college and industry representatives; and consistency—the presence of a distinctive and stable pattern of program behaviors that promote program goals. In addition, study results show the central and critical role played by the faculty in assuring program success.
Bidwell, C.E. ( 1965). The school as a formal organization. In J. G. March (Ed.), Handbook of organizations (pp. 972-992). Chicago: Rand McNally.
2.
Bidwell, C.E. ( 2001). Analyzing schools as organizations: Long-term permanence and short-term change. Sociology of Education, 74, 100-114.
3.
Brint, S., & Karabel, J. ( 1989). The diverted dream: Community colleges and the promise of educational opportunity in America, 1900-1985. New York : Oxford University Press.
4.
Bronfenbrenner, U. ( 1989). Ecological systems theory. In R. Vasta (Ed.), Annals of child development: Vol. 6. Six theories of child development: Revised formulations and current issues (pp. 187-249). Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.
5.
Burgess, R. ( 1984). In the field: An introduction to field research. London: George Allen and Unwin.
6.
Burns, T., & Stalker, G.M. ( 1961). The management of innovation. London : Tavistock.
7.
California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office. ( 1999). Partnership for excellence: Frequently asked questions . Retrieved June 23, 2009, from http://archive.cccco.edu/divisions/tris/rp/rp_doc/pfefaqs.pdf
8.
California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office. ( 2006, January). California community college system strategic plan. Sacramento, CA: Author.
9.
California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office. ( 2008). Accountability reporting for the California community colleges. Retrieved March 31, 2009, from http://www.cccco.edu/ChancellorsOffice/Divisions/TechResearchInfo/ResearchandPlanning/ARCC/tabid/292/Default.aspx
10.
Cameron, K. ( 1984). Organizational adaptation and higher education. Journal of Higher Education, 55, 122-144.
11.
Cameron, K.S. ( 1981). Domains of organizational effectiveness in colleges and universities. Academy of Management Journal, 24, 25-47.
12.
Cameron, K.S. ( 1986). A study of organizational effectiveness and its predictors . Management Science, 32, 87-112.
13.
Clark, B.R. ( 1960). The open door college: A case study. New York: McGraw-Hill Book.
14.
Cohen, A.M., & Brawer, F.B. ( 2003). The American community college (4th ed.). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass .
15.
Cohen, A.M., & Brawer, F.B. ( 2008). The American community college (5th ed.). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass .
16.
Dougherty, K.J. ( 1994). The contradictory college. Albany : State University of New York Press.
17.
Dougherty, K.J., & Kienzl, G.S. ( 2006). It’s not enough to get through the open door: Inequalities by social background in transfer from community college to four-year colleges . Teachers College Record, 108, 452-487.
18.
Eisenhardt, K.M. ( 1989). Building theories from case study research. Academy of Management Review, 14, 532-550.
19.
Erickson, F., & Shultz, J. ( 1982). The counselor as gatekeeper: Social interaction in interviews . New York: Academic Press.
20.
Frye, J.H. ( 1994). Educational paradigms in the professional literature of the community college. In J. Smart (Ed.), Higher education: Handbook of theory and research (Vol. X, pp. 181-224). New York: Agathon Press.
21.
Giddens, A. ( 1991). Modernity and self-identity. Cambridge , UK: Polity Press.
22.
Grubb, W.N. ( 1999). Honored but invisible: An inside look at teaching in community colleges. New York: Routledge .
23.
Hannan, M.T., & Freeman, J.H. ( 1977). The population ecology of organizations. American Journal of Sociology, 82, 929-964.
24.
Horn, L., & Nevill, S. ( 2006). Profile of undergraduates in U.S. postsecondary education institutions: 2003-04, with a special analysis of community college students (NCES No. 2006-184). Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics.
25.
Jones, A.P., & James, L.R. ( 1979). Psychological climate: Dimensions and relationships of individual and aggregated work environment perceptions. Organizational Behavior & Human Performance, 23, 201-250.
26.
Katsinas, S.G., Tollefson, T.A., & Reamey, B.A. ( 2008). Funding issues in U.S. community colleges: Findings from a 2007 survey of the national state directors of community colleges. Washington, DC: American Association of Community Colleges .
27.
Le Compte, M.D., & Preissle, J. ( 1993). Ethnography and qualitative design in educational research . San Diego, CA: Academic Press .
28.
Leinbach, D.T., & Bailey, T.R. ( 2006). Access and achievement of Hispanics and Hispanic immigrants in the colleges of the City University of New York. New York: Community College Research Center, Columbia University .
29.
Levin, J.S. ( 1998). A ripple or sea change? Organizational change in the community college. In J. Levin (Ed.), Organizational change and the community college (New Directions for Community Colleges, No. 102, pp. 1-4). San Francisco : Jossey-Bass.
30.
Levin, J.S. ( 2001). Globalizing the community college: Strategies for change in the twenty-first century. New York: Palgrave.
31.
Levin, J.S. ( 2007). Non-traditional students and community colleges: The conflict of justice and neo-liberalism. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
32.
Levin, J.S., Cox, E., Kisker, C., Cerven, C., Haberler, Z., Smith, M., et al. (2009). Promising practices: California’s community colleges. Riverside: California Community College Collaborative (C4), University of California.
33.
Levin, J.S., & Montero-Hernandez, V. (2009). Community colleges and their students: Co-construction and organizational identity. New York: Palgrave MacMillan.
34.
Levin, J.S., Montero-Hernandez, V., & Cerven, C. ( 2010). Overcoming adversity: Community college students and work. In L. Perna, (Ed.), Toward a more complete understanding of work for today’s undergraduates (pp. 43-66). Sterling, VA: Stylus Books.
35.
Lysons, A.F., & Hatherly, D.J. (1992). Cameron’s dimensions of effectiveness in higher education in the U.K.: A cross-cultural comparison . Higher Education: The International Journal of Higher Education and Educational Planning, 23, 221-230.
36.
Lysons, A., Hatherly, D., & Mitchell, D. ( 1998). Comparison of measures of organisational effectiveness in U.K. higher education. Higher Education, 36, 1-19.
Massey, D.S. ( 2007). Categorically unequal: The American stratification system . New York: Russell Sage Foundation .
40.
Maxwell, J.A. ( 1996). Qualitative research design: An interactive approach . Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
41.
Maxwell, J.A. ( 2005). Qualitative research design: An interactive approach . Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
42.
McGrath, D., & Spear, M. ( 1991). The academic crisis of the community college. Albany: State University of New York Press.
43.
McIntosh, M.F., & Rouse, C.E. ( 2009). The other college: Retention and completion rates among two-year college students. Washington, DC: Center for American Progress.
44.
Meier, K. ( 2004). The community college mission: History and theory. Unpublished manuscript. Merriam, S.B. (1998). Qualitative research and case study applications in education. San Francisco : Jossey-Bass.
45.
Miles, M., & Huberman, A. ( 1994). Qualitative data analysis. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
46.
Mintzberg, H. ( 1983). Power in and around organizations. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
47.
Muraskin, L., & Lee, J. ( 2004). Raising the graduation rates of low-income college students . Washington, DC: Pell Institute for the Study of Opportunity in Higher Education. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED490856)
48.
Parsons, T. ( 1956). Suggestions for a sociological approach to the theory of organizations-I. Administrative Science Quarterly, 1, 63-85.
49.
Pascarella, E.T., & Terenzini, P. ( 2005). How college affects students: Vol. 2. A third decade of research. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass .
50.
Pincus, F. ( 1994). How critics view the community college’s role in the twenty-first century. In G. Baker , III (Ed.), A handbook on the community college in America (pp. 624-636). West-port, CT: Greenwood Press.
51.
Pusser, B., & Levin, J.S. ( 2009). Re-imagining community colleges in the 21st century. Washington, DC: Center for American Progress.
52.
Rockwell, E. ( 1995). De huellas y veredas: Una historia cotidiana en la escuela [The day to day history of the school]. In La escuela cotidiana (pp. 13-57). Mexico City, Mexico: Fondo de cultura economica.
53.
Rockwell, E. ( 1999). Recovering history in the study of schooling: From the Longue Durée to everyday co-construction. Human Development , 42, 113-128.
54.
Rosenbaum, J. ( 2001). Beyond college for all: Career paths for the forgotten half. New York: Russell Sage Foundation .
55.
Rosenbaum, J.E., Deil-Amen, R., & Person, A.E. ( 2006). After admission: From college access to college success . New York: Russell Sage Foundation .
56.
Scott, J. ( 1990). A matter of record. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press.
57.
Scott, W.R. ( 1998). Organizations: Rational, natural, and open systems (4th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
58.
Seidman, I.E. ( 1991). Interviewing as qualitative research: A guide for researchers in education and the social sciences. New York: Teachers College Press.
59.
Shaw, K., Rhoads, R. , & Valadez, J. (Eds.). (1999). Community colleges as cultural texts. Albany: State University of New York Press.
60.
Shulock, N., & Moore, C. ( 2007). Rules of the game: How state policy creates barriers to degree completion and impedes student success in the California community colleges. Sacramento, CA: Institute for Higher Education Leadership and Policy.
61.
Spradley, J. ( 1980). Participant observation. New York : Holt, Rinehart and Winston.
62.
Spurling, S., Seymour, S., & Chisman, F.P. ( 2008). Pathways & outcomes: Tracking ESL student performance. A longitudinal study of adult ESL service at City College of San Francisco . New York: Council for Advancement of Adult Literacy. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED506600)
63.
University of California Office of the President. ( 2007). 2006-2007 Transfers to the University of California and California State University. Retrieved October 19, 2007, from http://www.ucop.edu/ir/
64.
Valadez, J. ( 1996). Cultural capital and its impact on the aspirations of nontraditional community college students. Community College Review, 21, 30-44.
65.
Wagoner, R., Levin, J., & Kater, S. ( 2010). Reconstructing U.S. community college faculty: Mobilising professional expertise. In T. Seddon, L. Henriksson, & B. Niemeyer (Eds.), Learning and work and the politics of working life: Global transformations and collective identities in teaching, nursing and social work (pp. 87-106). Oxford, UK: Routledge .
66.
Weis, L. ( 1985). Between two worlds: Black students in an urban community college. Boston: Routledge and Kegan Paul.
67.
Yin, R. ( 1994). Case study research: Design and methods. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
