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Multiple Missions and Roles of Community Colleges

October 2000–December 2006

During its hundred-year history, the community college sector has undergone a number of transformations. Today, community colleges are complex institutions serving a multitude of constituencies with dozens of programs and activities. This study, part of CCRC’s National Field Study of Community Colleges, analyzed the roles of community colleges, their organizational changes, and the ways in which their missions conflicted with or complemented one another with regard to college curriculum and operations. The inquiry focused on factors external to the colleges, including state policy, financing, and economic context, as well as internal factors, such as leadership, faculty, and the history of the colleges.

This project was funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

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Publications

January 2007

Community College Missions: A Theoretical and Historical Perspective

January 2007

The Uncertain Future of the Community College Workforce Development Mission

January 2007

Special Issue: Community College Missions in the 21st Century

April 2006

Defending the Community College Equity Agenda

March 2006

Rethinking Cooling Out at Public Community Colleges: An Examination of Fiscal and Demographic Trends in Higher Education and the Rise of Statewide Articulation Agreements

March 2006

It’s Not Enough to Get Through the Open Door: Inequalities by Social Background in Transfer From Community College to Four-Year Colleges

March 2006

Effectiveness of Statewide Articulation Agreements on the Probability of Transfer: A Preliminary Policy Analysis

August 2004

The Return to a Sub-Baccalaureate Education: The Effects of Schooling, Credentials, and Program of Study on Economic Outcomes

April 2004

The Academic Mission of Community Colleges: Structural Responses to the Expansion of Higher Education

April 2004

The Role of Community Colleges in State Adult Education Systems: A National Analysis

February 2004

The Organizational Efficiency of Multiple Missions for Community Colleges

March 2003

Community Colleges and the Equity Agenda: The Potential of Noncredit Education

January 2003

Community Colleges in the 21st Century: Challenges and Opportunities

March 2002

The Evolving Community College: The Multiple Mission Debate

January 2002

The Evolving Role of the Community College: Policy Issues and Research Questions

January 2001

The Community College: The Origins, Impacts, and Futures of a Contradictory Institution

August 2000

How Do Community College Faculty View Institutional Mission? An Analysis of National Survey Data

May 1999

Linking Measures of Quality and Success at Community Colleges to Individual Goals and Customer Needs

May 1999

Multiple Missions of Community Colleges: Conflicting or Complementary?

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Project Lead

April 2004
April 22, 2004

Thomas Bailey

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