Community colleges are putting renewed emphasis on helping their students succeed. A look at four students who managed to stay in college despite daunting obstacles.
Jaime A. Harris and Rogelio Gonzalez (above), partners in a trucking company, met at San Jacinto College, which prepared them for their business. (Photograph by John Everett)

Two competing visions of education help explain the tension between jobs and ideas that all community colleges grapple with, M. Garrett Bauman writes.

Some colleges are trying new ways to move students more quickly and smoothly through remedial math.

Instructors at City College of San Francisco make the college's Diego Rivera mural an everyday part of the curriculum.

In rural areas, arts programs at colleges provide a rich diet for culture-starved residents.

12 TEACHING TIPS: Community-college instructors offer ideas for the classroom.

GOOD CITIZENSHIP: Most community-college leaders give little thought to the role their colleges play in their communities, George B. Vaughan says.

NONTRADITIONAL LEARNERS: Colleges are not keeping up with changes in the way adults pursue their education, says Charlene R. Nunley.

SCARCE INFORMATION: Students need to know much more about how to transfer to four-year institutions, Stephen J. Handel writes.

BOILING POINT: Bob Blaisdell reflects on the day he lost it in front of his students.

A SPECIAL ROLE: Rural community colleges are meeting the needs of a changing and increasingly diverse population, Stephen G. Katsinas says.

INFLUENCE OVERSEAS: Community colleges can play an important role in fostering world peace, writes David J. Smith.

CLASSROOM OBSESSIONS: Charlotte Laws says that too many instructors emphasize grades and attendance, to the detriment of creativity and responsibility.

CHALLENGES OF POVERTY: Kathleen Sheerin DeVore says it is her job to help students complete their assignments amid the chaos of their lives.

ATTENTION BILLIONAIRES: Big donors should consider giving to community colleges if they really want to help the nation's students, writes Catherine Stukel.

Two-year colleges are experimenting with supplemental instructors, databases to aid local businesses, e-portfolios to help students focus on their work, life skills for the disabled, and efforts to improve faculty diversity.
Waell Y. Abed (above, center), a "supplemental instructor" at Tidewater Community College, leads small-group study sessions for students from classes that have high failure rates. (Photograph by Tom Cogill)

Fund raising is now high on the agenda for many community colleges.

Community colleges are waking up to the potential of alumni donations and contacts.

Short, flexible study-abroad packages help two-year-college students in challenging circumstances.

Honors programs provide rich educations at affordable prices.

Internships offer a path to community-college careers.

Data on who the chief executives are and how they go about their jobs.

Commentary

Kent A. Farnsworth outlines four lessons that community colleges can learn from their for-profit competitors.
(Illustration by Jon Krause)

Community colleges are often considered far removed from controversies over academic freedom. But that, says Ann H. Franke, is a misconception.

An administrator and an adjunct faculty member describe the differences community colleges made in their lives.

• LINDA LUJAN: "I wanted to give something back."
• THOMAS M. O'CONNOR: Finding "the opportunity to turn my life around."

Donald C. Summers wonders why community colleges have been so slow to get their fund raising in gear.

Richard A. Donovan bemoans how unstable living situations can undermine the work of talented students.

Too many community-college Web sites are mazes rather than informative gateways for prospective students and their parents, says Clifford Adelman.

Joseph R. Ferrari offers tips on how faculty members at community colleges can move to four-year institutions, and why those baccalaureate colleges should welcome them.

You do community-college students no favor by underestimating them, says T. Allen Culpepper.

Bob Blaisdell loves getting to know his students through their writing.

Three community-college presidents describe how students' need for remediation has affected their campuses.

Community colleges are primed to train first responders for crises. So where's the Homeland Security support for such programs?

Four-year institutions don't have a monopoly on ambitious arts programs.

What community-college presidents earn

Views and characteristics of community-college professors

Commentary

If community colleges open access to everyone, asks George B. Vaughan, are they satisfactory to anyone?

Community colleges aren't high schools, and they aren't strip malls. So why, Gail O. Mellow wonders, do they look like them?

Up-to-date training of trustees on ethics and best practices is a worthwhile investment, says Narcisa A. Polonio.

Dual enrollment for high-school students doesn't serve them, their high school, or their community college well, says Carol P. Dougan.

Community colleges need to examine where they're getting in the way of their students' success, write Vanessa Smith Morest and Thomas Bailey.

Higher-ed systems should better coordinate transfers between two-and four-year institutions, says Deborah M. DiCroce.

Whether they're into spelunking or Renaissance music, professors incorporate outside interests into their teaching.

Baccalaureate programs undermine community colleges' mission, says Judith S. Eaton.

Community colleges should teach students equality, the dignity of work, and the importance of education, writes Sandra Schroeder. Treating adjunct faculty members better would be a mighty good start.

Bob Blaisdell takes attendance -- and takes offense that he's required to.

Research and community-college teaching are not incompatible, says Howard Tinberg.