In 1990 Helon Howell Raines published "Is There a Writing Program in This College? Two Hundred and Thirty-Six Two-Year Schools Respond," in which she reported on her study, via survey and eight follow-up telephone interviews, of two-year college writing programs across the country. Raines asked questions about departmental and institutional…

The word "idea" assumed special meaning in composition studies when Stephen M. North, in "The Idea of a Writing Center," showed how an idea can evoke and ignite intense expectations and aversions surrounding literacy instruction. In particular, North lamented the "false sense of knowing" that made getting a message through (in this case, about…

The Community College Pathways initiative consists of two pathways, Statway® and Quantway®, that accelerate post-secondary students' progress through their developmental mathematics sequence and a college-level course for credit. Launched in 2011, the Pathways have been remarkably successful, helping thousands of students achieve success in…

Describes an internship program at a two-year college in which graduate students from 13 participating area graduate programs teach in the two-year college and receive training addressing pedagogical issues unique to community colleges, thus being immersed in a world of higher education that differs greatly from the research universities within…

The Doctor of Arts in Community College Education (DACCE) program at George Mason University is committed to Ernest Boyer's philosophy of integration; it encourages better pedagogy and it revitalizes the two-year college classroom. This program prepares students to be leaders in undergraduate education. In addition to expertise in a selected…

"I can feel it making my brain bigger": from a Year 8 student at Pinjarra Senior High School (SHS) halfway through the two-year Thinking Science Program. Pinjarra was a pilot school for the program in 2009/10 and a growing number of schools in Western Australia (WA) are implementing this program in Years Seven to Nine as part of the school science…

Describes the ongoing problem of graduate level preparation for community college teaching, and the need for such faculty. Describes a program in which two-year college and university faculty collaborate to train graduate students as community college faculty. Discusses getting the program started, implementing it, and taking stock. (SR)

Access to higher education in the U.S-affiliated Pacific Islands is limited. The island nations and territories in this Pacific region are geographically dispersed and separated by thousands of miles of ocean. Although local and regional colleges offer undergraduate degrees (associate's and bachelor's levels), islanders who seek graduate-level…

As a coauthor (with psychologists Michael Thompson and Lawrence Cohen) of "Best Friends, Worst Enemies: Understanding the Social Lives of Children," Catherine O'Neill Grace has spent much of the past few years researching the lives of children in the microcosm of schools. Lately, she has been wondering if the same social cruelty,…

Two faculty members developed and implemented a successful, holistic, goal-oriented peer-mentoring project for two years at a midsize, urban university to enhance student success and retention. In year one, 12 juniors and seniors mentored 34 freshmen and sophomores; in year two, 14 upperclassmen mentored 40 underclassmen. A grounded theory…

The American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) is the primary advocacy organization for the nation's community colleges, representing nearly 1,200 two-year, associate degree-granting institutions and more than 11 million students. Founded in 1920, AACC is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit association. AACC is governed by a 32 member board of directors,…

Many high school teachers and administrators think that reading instruction belongs in the lower grades. But according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress, only 31% of eighth graders read at or above the proficient level, which means that many are entering high school unprepared for its advanced textbook reading and language…

Massachusetts alone needs an estimated 5,000 nurses, and the shortage is deepening. Nurses are retiring and quitting faster than new nurses can be trained. In this article, the author describes Bunker Hill Community College's Welcome Back Center, a workforce development program that has thus far helped 47 internationally educated nurses from 29…

When Kansas changed the admission requirements for resident high school students to attend one of the six public institutions in the state, Pittsburg State University (PSU) and Fort Scott Community College (FSCC) saw an opportunity. Although cooperative programs between four-year and two-year institutions in Kansas had been rare because of…

Following World War II, North Carolina created public junior colleges and industrial education centers to meet the educational demands of veterans and expand the technical skills of the state's workforce. Despite the creation of these campuses, in the early 1960s North Carolina ranked 47th in the number of citizens in college, and 66 counties…