A study was undertaken to define the missions of Arizona's community colleges in specific operational terms and to assess the support provided for these missions by the various constituencies of the community colleges. A survey instrument, consisting of 60 activity statements, was developed and administered to 4,000 individuals including all state legislators, State Board members, community college governing boards, and high level administrators, and to samples of faculty and urban and rural voters. The respondents were asked to judge the importance of each of the activities and whether it should be funded with tax dollars. Responses were grouped and analyzed to determine the levels of support for activities and the priorities for operational missions. The study revealed: (1) external groups (e.g., voters and legislators) tended to view community colleges in terms of clientele served rather than services provided; (2) the provision of associate degree programs, entry-level vocational training, services for gifted students and basic skills instruction were considered top priority missions; (3) registered voters were more willing to judge activities to be important than to support them with tax dollars; and (4) differences between rural and urban respondents were minimal. These findings culminated in recommendations that the State Board adopt some form of the operational definitions of missions provided by the study and require all state schools to pursue the top-ranked missions. (HB)