Clifford P. Harbour

AN INSTITUTIONAL ACCOUNTABILITY MODEL FOR COMMUNITY COLLEGES

Community college leaders must manage an increasingly complex institutional accountability environment. In this environment, accountability demands may be based on explicit or implicit standards and presented by a variety of stakeholders (Alfred, 1997; Kearns, 1998; Lannan, 2001). Practitioners must identify, analyze, and prioritize diverse accountability demands while respecting the institutions culture, history, and commitments to open access and the comprehensive mission. In this article I propose a model for managing a community colleges accountability environment and show how it can be applied. This model incorporates an accountability framework developed by Kearns (1998) to show how specific demands can be analyzed. It also integrates contributions by Christensen (1997) and Vaughan (1985) to explain how the colleges mission, culture, and history should be considered in this process.

NAMING THE OTHER: HOW DOMINANT CULTURE PRIVILEGE AND ASSIMILATION AFFECT SELECTED UNDERREPRESENTED POPULATIONS AT THE COMMUNITY COLLEGE

In this article we report on our review of articles published in the Community College Journal of Research and Practice (CCJRP) from 1990 to 2000 regarding certain underrepresented populations. Using the data and perspectives provided by CCJRP contributors, we show how dominant culture privilege and assimilation characterize various aspects of community college culture. We also identify specific problems noted by CCJRP contributors and describe their recommendations to counter the marginalization and underrepresentation of selected racial, ethnic, and cultural minorities on campus.

Assessing a State-Mandated Institutional Accountability Program: The Perceptions of Selected Community College Leaders

ABSTRACT In the spring of 2002 we conducted a structure-focused case study at 4 North Carolina community colleges to understand how selected senior campus leaders assessed a new legislatively-mandated institutional-accountability program. Using confidential interviews and document analysis we collected, analyzed, and interpreted data that revealed clear differences in how leaders regarded the accountability program. These distinct, campus-specific perspectives are characterized as “bureaucratic meddling,” “benign intrusion,” “an opportunity to demonstrate accountability,” and “the divided leaders.” Despite these distinct perspectives, however, we also found 2 overarching themes that illuminated common reactions to the accountability program. First, leaders at 3 of the 4 institutions reported that performance ratings under the accountability program were instrumental in prompting changes in instructional programs or staffing. Second, faculty leaders at 3 institutions exhibited an apathy or unawareness of state indicators, even though some state funding was linked to measures regarding student performance.

The Legislative Evolution of Performance Funding in the North Carolina Community College System

This article reports on an analysis and interpretation of the legislative evolution of the North Carolina community college performance funding program. Analysis of appropriation bills, government documents, and consultants reports demonstrates that the program evolved from community college accountability initiatives, a funding study, and a state government performance audit.

LA TERCERA FRONTERA : BUILDING UPON THE SCHOLARSHIP OF THE LATINO EXPERIENCE AS REPORTED IN THE COMMUNITY COLLEGE JOURNAL OF RESEARCH AND PRACTICE

In this article, we report on the articles published in Community College Journal of Research and Practice (CCJRP) from 1990 to 2000 regarding Latinos at community colleges. Although research published in CCJRP has produced important findings, we contend there is a need for a richer account of the experiences and understandings of Latinos at American community colleges. We propose a new line of research to investigate cultural barriers that undermine Latino success as community college students, faculty, staff, and campus leaders. We refer to these cultural barriers as la tercera frontera. We conclude the article with discussion of heterogeneity and homogeneity, two key concepts that we believe are central to understanding la tercera frontera.

The Incremental Marketization and Centralization of State Control of Public Higher Education: A Hermeneutic Interpretation of Legislative and Administrative Texts

In this article, the author reports on an analysis and interpretation of institutional accountability legislation enacted by the Colorado General Assembly from 1985 to 2005. The method of inquiry for the study was grounded in the principles of hermeneutics and narrative policy analysis. Analysis and interpretation of legislative and administrative texts reveal how they rationalize marketized higher education and centralized state control of public colleges and universities. This interpretation also explains how a new integrated funding and accountability framework creates de facto institutional missions validated by marketization and secured by centralization of state control.

Colorado's Voucher Legislation and the Consequences for Community Colleges.

In this article, the authors examine the new voucher program used to subsidize undergraduate education at Colorado community colleges and four-year institutions. The authors explain the voucher program and discuss the fiscal and policy conditions that led to its adoption. This baseline account of the voucher program and the underlying conditions leading to its enactment provides a foundation for further community college research concerning open access, the comprehensive mission, student participation, and organizational culture.

A Man’s Academy? The Dissertation Process as Feminist Resistance

The academy is a gendered institution that promotes and requires the adoption of a particularly masculine way of learning and producing knowledge. Commonly accepted notions of what constitutes a successful academic devalue emotions, vulnerability, and dependence in interpersonal relationships. Using Bourdieu’s concept of the habitus, our analysis focuses on a collaborative narrative of a critical incident between a graduate student working on her dissertation and a faculty member pursuing tenure. In our analysis we critique the masculine bias of the academic habitus, revealing how graduate student and faculty interactions can replicate gendered power relations in the academy and shedding light on avenues of resistance. We conclude by explaining how the practice of co-mentoring within a feminist framework may help conceptualize a new kind of successful academic-one who sees the rationality in emotions and the emotions in rationality, as well as the strength in vulnerability and the vulnerability in strength.

Book Review: Adjunct Faculty in Community Colleges: An Academic Administrator's Guide to Recruiting, Supporting, and Retaining Great Teachers

Adjunct Faculty in Community Colleges: An Academic Administrators Guide to Recruiting, Supporting, and Retaining Great Teachers Desna L. Wallin (Ed.). Anker Publishing: Bolton, MA. 2005, 227 pages.

Grutter V. Bollinger and the Community College

39.95, Cloth. ISBN 1-882982-81-9. Reviewed by Clifford P. Harbour.Desna L. Wallins book, Adjunct Faculty in Community Colleges: An Academic Administrators Guide to Recruiting, Supporting, and Retaining Great Teachers, provides campus leaders with a new resource to improve institutional practice regarding employment of part-time faculty. This work is an edited volume published by Anker in 2005 and is comprised of 13 chapters written by community college presidents, academic administrators, faculty, and university researchers.Community colleges are facing new challenges in the 21st century because of budgetary constraints, looming retirements in the faculty and leadership ranks, demands for new curricula and delivery modalities, and a student population that is becoming increasingly diverse and complex. These developments mean public two-year institutions must become more efficient and effective in providing educational programs and services to their communities. Many institutions have realized new efficiencies through increased use of adjunct faculty. Wallins goal in publishing Adjunct Faculty in Community Colleges is to explain how campus leaders can now become more effective in selecting, developing, supporting, and retaining this critical human resource.Wallin has organized the volume in three parts. Pan One presents Wallins excellent overview of the text, and this overview is supplemented by research reported by university scholars. Akroyd and Caison report on their analysis of recent data from the National Study of Postsecondary Faculty. They describe how adjunct faculty compare with their full-time counterparts on factors such as demographics and job satisfaction. This work is complemented by research findings presented by Phillips and Campbell regarding faculty development at Floridas community colleges. Results from these two studies paint a picture of important similarities and differences concerning adjunct faculty and their full-time colleagues.Akroyd and Caisons comparison of adjunct and full time instructors reveals that the two populations are quite similar regarding (a) age, gender, and academic qualifications, and (b) overall job satisfaction. But there are important differences in how these two populations perceive job security, advancement opportunities, and benefits. Adjunct faculty are significantly less satisfied with these aspects of their employment. To date, these lower levels of satisfaction have not significantly affected community colleges. Institutions have been able to replace departing adjuncts with new ones. However, Akroyd and Caisons research suggests practitioners should not overlook the possibility that a dissatisfied adjunct faculty could have serious implications for institutional stability.Phillips and Campbell report on a statewide survey of mathematics and communications faculty at Florida community colleges regarding the value of certain professional development activities. These authors found that adjunct and full-time faculty agreed that new faculty orientation programs were a very valuable professional development activity. However, they differed, for example, on the importance of (a) travel money, (b) on campus workshops, and (c) access to professional development materials in the college library. The first two items were characterized as very valuable by full-time faculty but less so by adjuncts. Conversely, adjuncts regarded access to on campus professional development materials as more valuable than did their full-time counterparts.These two chapters provide a sound introduction to critical similarities and differences to be considered by campus leaders working to improve the selection, development, support, and retention of adjuncts. …