Recounts how several community colleges have reaped public relations successes through positive media coverage. Explains strategies for working with the media to get good coverage of college events and trends. Offers examples of award-winning communications efforts. (DMM)

Provides an update on community college responses to the new student majority who lack the skills to succeed in college-level work. Defines "at-risk students," identifies college responses to literacy problems, describes promising instructional strategies, and highlights problems in evaluating programs for at-risk students. (DMM)

Details the changing role of Learning Resources, encompassing academic computer centers, distance learning centers, collegewide information services, and other instructional components. Discusses the challenges of accommodating changing technology and student diversity. Offers advice to community college administrators on integrating Learning…

Highlights some of the emphases and achievements of the League for Innovation in the Community College over the past 25 years. Describes league priorities at different times in its history, including college identity, instruction, leadership development, and instructional technology. (DMM)

Proposes a standard research methodology to help community colleges better measure effectiveness. Recommends gathering demographic, academic, and personal goal data when students enter and exit the college and correlating the data to student performance. Proposes that accrediting agencies adopt the model, citing the advantages of a consistent body…

Considers the measurement of institutional effectiveness an opportunity for college renewal, clarification of college mission, improvement of work environments, and enhancement of an institution's reputation. Defines institutional effectiveness and discusses how it can be measured, listing a number of indicators of how well a college is performing…

Describes efforts of the Los Angeles Community College District's three most affected campuses to help rebuild Los Angeles in the wake of the 1992 riots. Discusses sensitivity gatherings, new job development partnerships with business and government, community outreach, and the district's long-term commitment to the city. (DMM)

Advocates sound, progressive educational policy to deal with current threats to U.S. democracy. Views community colleges as the best hope for addressing historical inequities, promoting representation of minorities in higher education, and serving the public good through equal educational opportunity. Underscores the importance of removing…

Identifies societal trends increasing the need to retrain older workers for second careers. Sees community colleges as an important resource for retraining older workers and describes some pioneering programs. Identifies key program components (e.g., employment skills for mature adults, ties to regional employers, achievement expectations), and…

Highlights a Beacon Colleges Grant-funded project conducted by six Oregon community colleges to foster interagency cooperation among social and welfare services, educational institutions, and nonprofit organizations. Offers such guidelines for collaborative projects as focus on individual needs, foster independence from agency services, and…

Perceives the key challenge facing community colleges in the 1990s to be the development of leadership that represents the diversity of the colleges' students and local constituents. Considers the components of a plan for changing institutional values, climate, and learning environment. (DMM)

Discusses the impact of information technology on education, terms of the inevitability of change, and current educational uses of computers, multimedia, simulations, collaborative writing, electronic bulletin boards, independent learning systems, and distance learning. Considers the improvements in communications, information access, and learning…

Describes the Florida Automated System for Transferring Educational Records (FASTER) project, which permits the electronic exchange of student transcripts; uses of similar electronic data interchange (EDI) programs in other states; and the national SPEEDE/ExPRESS project, which uses a standard format for transferring electronic transcripts.…

Discusses the efforts of the North Carolina Community College System (NCCCS) to implement a statewide standardized electronic information processing system, the Institutional Information Processing System. Describes the steps taken by the NCCCS to decide on the appropriate platform, hardware and software vendors, and implementation timetable. (MAB)

Discusses colleges' use of popular financial reporting to make their annual financial reports more readable to citizens and legislators and to make their reports useful marketing and recruitment tools. Highlights research about financial reports and performance reporting conducted by the Governmental Accounting Standards Board. Describes the…