Full Description
This book critically examines the rise of the higher education reform movement, often referred to as the "completion agenda," which, since the early 2000s, has sought to restructure core aspects of the community college experience. Using community colleges from across nine U.S. states as practical examples, it explores the major higher education reforms, including dual enrollment, the demise of developmental education, corequisites, and performance-based funding. Against the popular view that support for such policies is tied to neoliberalism, it argues for a more nuanced understanding of the complicated and often indistinct ideological foundation of the reform movement, demonstrating that supporters and detractors alike draw on similar concepts such as equity, student success, and affordability. This complication is further clarified through an account of the history, processes, functions, and institutions that paved the way for the advent of the higher education reform movement.
This book is vital reading for anyone interested in the future of community colleges and higher education. More generally, this book will particularly appeal to scholars, researchers, and educators working in higher education, educational reform, and educational policy.
Contents
1. Introduction: The Community College Reform Movement - Contentions and Ideological Origins 2. Looking Backwards at Community Colleges and the Reform Movement - The Past Is Present 3. The Role of State Government in California Community College Affairs 4. Funding Community Colleges 5. Community College Governance in the 21st Century 6. Instruction Amid a "Reformist" Surge 7. The Evolving Roles of Community College Faculty and Students 8. And So, What Future Community College?
