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

Despite the continuing debate, there is little systematic evidence on what community college practitioners believe their role is. A generalizable statistical portrait of faculty attitudes would provide the opportunity to understand the views of a large and diverse group of individuals. However, no existing national data are up to this task; the National Survey of Postsecondary Faculty, conducted every few years, does not contain any questions pertaining to institutional mission. Thus, the goal of the research is to provide quantitative evidence on this topic. A unique national survey of over 1,700 individuals in 92 institutions conducted by the National Center for Research in Vocational Education (NCRVE) and RAND in 1995–1996 was used to present for the first time a systematic picture of faculty attitudes toward mission priorities. A brief of this report is available for download.