Community colleges play a critical role in educating historically marginalized student populations, and more than half of community college courses are taught by adjunct faculty. Reliance on part-time instructors continues to grow, particularly in introductory courses, which enroll a greater share of historically underrepresented students.

This study fills an important gap by exploring how students perform in courses taught by adjuncts, how that performance compares with that of students taught by full-timers, and how that performance varies by course and by student and faculty characteristics. This presentation discussed how a better understanding of how community college students, specifically those from underrepresented student populations, fare in courses taught by adjunct faculty will elucidate the important role part-time faculty play in student success.