State Level Hot Topic Issues Facing Community Colleges: From the Perspective of the State Directors

摘要

The survey on hot topics was added in 2007 to the annual survey of state directors of community colleges conducted by the University of Alabama Education Policy Center. The survey data provided an opportunity for examining the personal attitudes toward the hot topics and the associations between these attitudes and state contexts. This study finds five clear interpretable factors of personal attitudes, and it provides support for the sound psychometric properties of the survey questionnaire. As a group, state directors had an optimistic view toward the increased attention to student success, the development of new data systems to track student success, and the enrollment capacity of community colleges. On the other hand, state directors were less optimistic toward state funding policies and the growth of four-year degree programs at community colleges. They recognized that funding for facilities was a priority, and federal support was needed. The findings indicate that the availability of local tax support influenced state directors’ attitude toward state funding policies. Implications for practitioners and researchers are discussed.View full textDownload full textRelated var addthis_config = { ui_cobrand: "Taylor & Francis Online", services_compact: "citeulike,netvibes,twitter,technorati,delicious,linkedin,facebook,stumbleupon,digg,google,more", pubid: "ra-4dff56cd6bb1830b" }; Add to shortlist Link Permalink http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10668926.2012.637856