The national field study of women's re-entry programs in community colleges reported here was done to identify factors that impeded or facilitated the progress of these programs. After an introduction, the content is presented in three sections. The first section deals with perspective transformation, the adult development process occurring in the personal development of women participating in college re-entry programs. It first describes the process by which culturally induced dependency roles and relationships are recognized and action is taken to overcome them. The process is then analyzed in terms of re-entry patterns and process phases. Then follows a discussion on how re-entry programs facilitate building self-confidence and constructing a support structure. In section 2, the focus is on program dynamics, including program types, setting goals, relations within the college, and program directors and staff. The last section, on assessing change, briefly covers psychometric approaches and assessing perspective discrepancy. (EM)