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Structure in Community College Career-Technical Programs: A Qualitative Analysis

By Michelle Van Noy, Madeline Joy Trimble, Davis Jenkins, Elisabeth A. Barnett & John Wachen
Using data obtained from interviews and program websites at Washington community and technical colleges, the authors of this study examine the structure of community college career-technical programs in allied health, business and marketing, computer and information studies, and mechanics and repair. A framework for structure with four dimensions—program alignment, program prescription, information quality, and active program advising and support—is used to examine the practices of relatively high- and low-performing colleges within each field of study. The allied health, computer and information science, and mechanics and repair programs were found to be highly structured; the business and marketing programs were found to have a moderate level of structure.
  • Structure of Effective Occupational Programs in Washington State

Download Links

Download CCRC Working Paper No. 50
October 2012

Related Publications

June 2016

Guided Pathways to Careers: Four Dimensions of Structure in Community College Career-Technical Programs

May 2013

Entering a Program: Helping Students Make Academic and Career Decisions

April 2011

Institutional Variation in Credential Completion: Evidence From Washington State Community and Technical Colleges

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