Classifying Community Colleges Based on Students' Patterns of Use

Autor/in	Bahr, Peter Riley
Titel	Classifying Community Colleges Based on Students' Patterns of Use
Quelle	In: Research in Higher Education, 54 (2013) 4, S.433-460 (28 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0361-0365
DOI	10.1007/s11162-012-9272-5
Schlagwörter	Community Colleges; Multivariate Analysis; Institutional Research; Two Year Colleges; College Students; Higher Education; California + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Community college; Community College; Multivariate Analyse; Institutionelle Forschung; Collegestudent; Hochschulbildung; Hochschulsystem; Hochschulwesen; Kalifornien
Abstract	In this study, I draw on Bahr's ("Research in Higher Education" 51:724-749, 2010; New Directions for Institutional Research S1:33-48, 2011) behavioral typology of first-time community college students to examine college-level variation in students' patterns of use of 105 community colleges in California. I find that students' patterns of use vary greatly across the colleges, and, further, these patterns tend to cluster in such a fashion that colleges may be classified based on dominant or disproportionate patterns of use. Using "k"-means cluster analysis, I identify five types of community colleges, including "Community Education Intensive," "Transfer Intensive," "Workforce Development Intensive," "High-Risk Intensive," and "Mixed Use." I describe each of these community college types and then investigate whether the patterns of student use that characterize the identified types appear to be primarily a consequence of institutional policies and practices or, conversely, a product of localized community demand and the associated circumstances and choices of the students who attend a given college. The evidence, though limited, tends to support the latter: variation in patterns of student use across institutions appears to be primarily a product of localized community demand. Finally, I draw on established performance indicators to examine the implications of the identified patterns of student use for observed institutional performance. I find that institutions that differ in terms of dominant or disproportionate patterns of student use also differ significantly and systematically on a number of measures of institutional performance. (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10