For more than thirty years, The American Community College has been the go-to reference for faculty, administrators, trustees, state-level officials, and researchers concerned with the role of community colleges in the American educational system, the services they provide, and their effects on students and surrounding communities.

Now in its sixth edition, The American Community College includes a new chapter on student outcomes and accountability; a case for reconceptualizing general education around critical thinking, civic engagement, and sustainable development; and an appendix examining the ascendant for-profit sector. The sixth edition also incorporates expanded analyses of recent trends within the community colleges, including vertical expansion; cross-sector collaboration; student and faculty characteristics; enrollment patterns; revenue generation and state allocation patterns, including performance-based funding; distance learning; and statewide efforts to improve transfer and articulation. In addition, the authors include a response to contemporary criticisms of the institution.

Comprehensive in scope, the sixth edition of The American Community College is designed for anyone concerned with the role and purpose of community institutions in American higher education. The descriptions and analyses of each of the institution’s functions can be used by administrators who want to learn about practices that have proven successful at other colleges, curriculum planners involved in program revisions, faculty members seeking ideas for modifying their courses, students preparing for careers in community colleges, and trustees and officials concerned with college policies and student progress and outcomes. Each chapter of the book includes guiding questions for reflection and discussion.

Arthur M. Cohen is professor emeritus of higher education atUCLA, editor-in-chief of New Directions for Community Colleges, and the author of numerous books and articles on community colleges.

Florence B. Brawer is former research director of the Center for the Study of Community Colleges and associate editor of New Directions for Community Colleges. Cohen and Brawer together wrote several books on community colleges, including five previous editions of The American Community College.

Carrie B. Kisker is an education research and policy consultant and a director of the Center for the Study of Community Colleges. She is the former managing editor of New Directions for Community Colleges. Cohen and Kisker are the coauthors of The Shaping of American Higher Education, Second Edition.

Preface

The Authors

1. Background: Evolving Priorities and Expectations of the Community College

2. Students: Diverse Backgrounds and Purposes

3. Faculty: Building a Professional Identity

4. Organization, Governance, and Administration: Managing the Contemporary College

5. Finances: Generating, Sustaining, and Allocating Resources

6. Instruction: Methods, Media, and Effects

7. Student Services: Supporting Educational Objectives

8. Developmental Education: Enhancing Literacy and Basic Skills

9. Liberal Arts and Transfer Education: Preparation for the University

10. Integrative Education: Modifying General Education

11. Occupational Education: Growth and Change in Workforce Preparation

12. Community Education: Extending College Services and Training

13. Scholarship and Commentary: Perspectives of the Community College

14. Student Progress and Outcomes: A New Age of Accountability

15. Toward the Future: Trends, Challenges, and Obligations

Appendix: For-Profit Colleges

References

Name Index

Subject Index