The Effectiveness of Best Practices in Community

THE EFFECTIVENESS OF BEST PRACTICES IN COMMUNITY

COLLEGE COURSES TAUGHT BY PART-TIME FACULTY

A dissertation submitted

Marcy Thompson

Benedictine University

in partial fulfillment

of the requirements for the degree of

Doctor of Education

Higher Education and Organizational Change

This dissertation has been accepted for the faculty

of Benedictine University

______Philip Garber, Ph.D.______

Dissertation Committee Director Date

______Eileen Kolich, Ph.D.______

Dissertation Committee Chair Date

______Luzelma Canales, Ph.D.______

Dissertation Committee Reader Date

______Sunil Chand, Ph.D.______

Program Director, Faculty Date

______Ethel Ragland, Ed.D., M.N., R.N. ______

College of Education and Health Services Date

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I have deep gratitude for my family, friends, and colleagues who supported and encouraged me along my journey.

I thank my director, Dr. Philip Garber, for his guidance and mentorship. I am truly grateful to have had the opportunity to work with you and appreciate the knowledge and expertise you provided in helping me accomplish my goal. Also, I extend special thanks to Dr. Sunil Chand and Dr. Luzelma Canales for your support and guidance throughout this process.

I thank my colleagues and friends who provided support and encouragement over the past three years, particularly Sharon Wilson who listened to my ideas during our many car pools and provided me constructive feedback and support for my research.

I hold profoundappreciation for my family who provided me with encouragement and strength throughout my journey. Dad, thank you for our weekly pep talks. Your support and encouragement gave me motivation to work harder and stay focused. Mom, thank you for listening and helping with my research. Your patience and guidance is something I depend on and once again, you were there for me when I needed it most. Last, but not least, Keith, Natalie, and Madelyn, thank you for always believing in me and gifting me with hugs, kisses, and snuggling whenever I needed it. You all have sacrificed so much of your time away from me and I cannot begin to express my

appreciation for having you in my life. Your patience and understanding made this achievement possible—I love you.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS...... ii

LIST OF TABLES...... vii

LIST OF FIGURES...... viii

ABSTRACT...... x

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION...... 1

Background of the Study...... 1

Part-time Faculty in Community Colleges...... 2

What Community Colleges Need to Focus On...... 6

Purpose of the Study and Questions...... 7

Researcher Perspective...... 8

CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW...... 10

Best Practices in Community Colleges...... 10

Student Use of Best Practices...... 11

Midwestern Community College Student Use...... 15

Employment of Best Practices...... 17

Faculty Perceptions of Student-Faculty Interactions...... 20

CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY...... 24

Conceptual Frameworks...... 24

Research Design...... 25

Choice of Participants...... 26

Analyses...... 27

Restatement of the Purpose of the Study and Questions...... 28

CHAPTER FOUR: RESULTS...... 30

Procedures...... 30

Demographic Data and Characteristics...... 33

Research Questions...... 34

Faculty-Reported Employment of Best Practices...... 35

Teaching-Related Practices in Class...... 35

Teaching-Related Practices Out of Class...... 38

Time Spent on Teaching-Related Activities...... 40

Time Spent on Other Professional Activities...... 43

Faculty-Reported Employment of High-Impact Practices and Student-Reported Use

as Independent Variables...... 47

Faculty Perceptions Versus Student Use...... 48

How Often Faculty Refer and Student-Reported Use...... 52

How Often Faculty Incorporate and Student-Reported Use...... 55

Faculty-Reported Employment of High-Impact Practices and Student-Reported Use

as Matched-Variables...... 59

CHAPTER FIVE: DISCUSSION...... 63

Statement of the Problem...... 63

Summary...... 64

Recommendations for Community Colleges...... 71

New Faculty Orientation...... 71

Professional Development...... 72

Limitations...... 73

Recommendations for Future Research...... 74

Conclusion...... 75

REFERENCES...... 76

APPENDIX A: Definition of Terms...... 84

APPENDIX B: Letter to Participants...... 86

APPENDIX C: Faculty Engagement Survey—2014...... 88

APPENDIX D: Faculty-Reported Employment and Student-Reported Use

as Independent Variables...... 93

VITA...... 99

LIST OF TABLES

TablePage

1. Cohort Means Report, Student-Faculty Interaction Benchmark: 2014 CCSSE...... 13

2. 2012 Midwestern Community College Results

LIST OF FIGURES

FigurePage

1: Comparison of 2004 and 2015 faculty-reported data

2: Comparison of 2004 and 2015 student-reported data

3: Years of college/university teaching experience

4. Teaching-related practices in-class: Part-time faculty.

5. Teaching-related practices in-class: Full-time faculty

6. Teaching-related practices out-of-class: Part-time faculty

7. Teaching-related practices out-of-class: Full-time faculty...... 40

8. Time spent on teaching-related activities: Part-time faculty

9. Time spent on teaching-related activities: Full-time faculty

10. Time spent on other professional activities: Part-time faculty

11. Time spent on other professional activities: Full-time faculty

12. Part-time faculty perceptions of student use versus students' reported use...... 50

13. Part-time faculty-reported use: Course success and retention...... 51

14. Student-reported use: Course success and retention

15. Part-time faculty referral versus student-reported use

16. Part-time faculty-reported referral of support services: Course success

and retention

17. Student-reported use of support services: Course success and retention

18. Part-time faculty incorporate versus student-reported use

19. Part-time faculty-reported incorporate of support services: Course success and retention

20. Student-reported use of support services: Course success and retention

21. Matched variables: Part-time faculty perception versus student-reported use...... 60

22. Matched variables: Part-time faculty referral versus student-reported use...... 61

23. Matched variables: Part-time faculty incorporate versus student-reported use

ABSTRACT

Community colleges are faced with the challenge of meeting the college completion agenda espoused by the Department of Education, Lumina, Achieving the Dream, and other education entities. Given the focus of the national agenda on completion and given the nature of the community college culture to often utilize part-time faculty, successful teaching practices need to be identified, proven effective, and practiced by both full- and part-time faculty. The challenge, however, is especially difficult for community colleges because the majority of their teaching faculty are part-time employees who are less attuned than their full-time counterparts to the culture of their institutions. They are responsible for providing quality instruction, integrating active and collaborative learning in the classroom, and assisting students to achieve the course outcomes; yet, many are not familiar with the resources and services provided to students within the institution. It is crucial that community colleges identify best practices that part-time faculty can utilize in and out of the classroom. Part-time faculty members have the potential to make the biggest impact on student success because they make up the majority of faculty teaching students in community colleges today. The findings of this quantitative study illustrate how best practices employed in and out of the classroom successfully impact course completion and retention in a community college.

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

When planning the national agenda for higher education,institutions have much to consider. American higher education—through federal government, states, and individual institutions—is challenged to strive for excellence in order to gain back its reputation as being a leader in education. In 2006, Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings,chargedrepresentatives from public and private sectorsto examine issues of access, affordability, quality, and accountability in higher education. The report concluded that colleges and universities must become more transparent and respond more rapidly to changing circumstances to deal effectively with the challenges faced in higher education (U.S. Department of Education, 2006)

In 2008, the College Board’s Commission on Access, Admissions, and Success in Higher Education issued an agenda for increasing the proportion of Americans with college credentials, specifically identifying “a goal to increase the proportion of 25- to 34-year-olds who hold an associate degree or higher to 55 percent by the year of 2025 in order to make America the leader in education attainment in the world” (Hughes, 2013, p. 2). Subsequently, in 2009,the Lumina Foundation (2013) released its first strategic plan with a goal ofby 2025, 60% of Americans will obtain a postsecondary degree or credential.Thesereportsshifted the focus of higher education from student access to student completion of a credential.

With the emphasis on completion, educational leaders recognized that institutions must changetheir teaching and learning approaches, especially as student populations become increasingly diverse in postsecondary education (Kuh, 2009). In order to address this challenge, higher education institutions need toinvolvetheirfaculty in understanding the vision of the college, communicate effectively, and create a culture of evidence and accountability. The challenge, however, is especially difficult for community collegesbecause the majority of their teaching faculty are part-time employees who are less attuned than their full-time counterparts to the vision and culture of their institutions (Public Agenda, 2010, p. 17).

Part-time Faculty in Community Colleges

Before we can begin to understand how to effectively encourage part-time faculty to employbest practices with students, it is important to understand this faculty group. According to the National Survey of Part-time/Adjunct Faculty conducted by the American Federation of Teachers in 2010, part-time faculty are not full-time permanent employees, but rather, employed on limited-term contracts and are hired to teach either one course or several courses(Amercian Federation of Teachers, 2010). In community colleges, part-time faculty members represent nearly 70% of the instructional workforce. Many part-time faculty members work multiple jobs that may include teaching or another career. According to the American Federation of Teachers survey of part-time faculty, just one in three (34%) faculty has only one job, while two in three (66%) work two or more jobs. The use of part-time faculty in community colleges started to increase in the 1970s and 1980s (Kezar & Sam, 2010) and then became more recognized in the 1990s as the employee group began to increase in order to meet the demands of higher education institutions.

The emergence of part-time faculty in community colleges resulted from efforts to address the need for providing students access to education. Community colleges rely on part-time facultyas enrollment increases as well as to provide expertise in career and technical fields(Marklein, 2008). They also depend on part-time faculty to provide affordable educational opportunities for students. However, as the priorities have transitioned from access to completion, community colleges are now challenged to identify new policies on student learning outcomes, which until this point, had not been important (Rossol-Allison & Alleman Beyers, 2011). Therefore, community colleges need to understand how faculty status, full or parttime, impacts retention and completion of students.

There is an expectation that part-time faculty be held accountable to the same performance outcomes as their full-time faculty counterparts. However, colleges have neglected to integrate part-time faculty into the organizational structure to ensure knowledge and understanding of faculty best practices used with students in and out of the classroom. Many times, part-time faculty members have not received an orientation to the college, have limited access to professional development opportunities, or have been excluded from department faculty meetings(Kezar, Longanecker, & Maxey, 2013). Part-time faculty are responsible for providing quality instruction, integrating active and collaborative learning in the classroom, and assisting students to achieve the course outcomes; yet, many are not familiar with the resources and services provided to students within the institution.

A recent study conducted by Public Agenda, a Founding Partner to Achieving the Dream, identified the lack of part-time faculty integration as one obstacle for community colleges. The report stated “many colleges have yet to develop effective infrastructure and practices for communicating with adjunct faculty and integrating them into important institutional efforts” (Achieving the Dream, 2011, p. 6). An even greater concern is, “part-time faculty are usually not sufficiently knowledgeable with reference to available institutional services when referrals are warranted” (Schibik & Harrington, 2004, p. 2).

As previously discussed, community colleges are faced with the challenge of meeting the college completion agenda espoused by the Department of Education, Lumina, Achieving the Dream, and other educational entities. However, previous research (Jacoby 2006; Jaeger & Eagan, 2009, 2011; Schibik & Harrington, 2004; Umbach, 2007) has suggested that part-time faculty negatively impact student success, learning, and completion efforts. For instance, the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) (n.d.) suggested that excessive use of so-called “contingent” faculty has costs, implying that part-time faculty damages student learning. The AAUP also suggested that “heavy reliance on contingent faculty hurts students because they are typically paid only for the hours they spend in the classroom, and they are often hired on the spur of the moment with little evaluation” (para. 9). Community colleges hire and pay part-time faculty by the course they teach and typically do not provide additional incentives for them to interact outside of the classroom (Jacoby, 2006). Not only are they not compensated for anything but the course, but often part-time faculty have limited or no time for advising, office hours, or engagement with students outside of the class (Kezar, 2011). Additional research suggests that because part-time faculty positions are categorized as contingent faculty,

[they]are not designed to provide a quality teaching experience and have limited or no time for advising, office hours, engagement outside of the class, or even the ability to talk with students after class due to the tight scheduling of courses.(Kezar, 2011, para. 2)

When part-time faculty are not provided access to college services or have limited awareness of these services, the interactions of faculty and students are impactedand there are fewer opportunities for students to connect with those faculty in meaningful ways (Jaeger & Eagan, 2010).

The lack of interaction outside of the classroom is evident in the 2009 Community College Faculty Survey of Engagement (CCFSSE) results which reportedthat part-time faculty membersinteractin college activities outside of the classroom less than their full-time counterparts. In response to this report, Dr. Kay McClenney, director of the Center for Community College Student Engagement (CCCSE), stated, “the report is not blaming part-time faculty for their lack of engagement with students, acknowledging that they are simply working within the framework that is given them”(Moltz, 2009, para. 9).

When compared to their full-time faculty counterparts, the perception is that part-time faculty may be less skilled and trained in instruction as well as less committed to their institutions; yet, when considering their personal roles as faculty, they view themselves as skilled instructors, dedicated educators, and caring mentors (Washington, 2011). Although part-time faculty are paid for only the courses they teach, many do contribute to service work outside of class because they are committed to their jobs (June, 2012). The American Federation of Teacher’s(2010) surveysupported part-time faculty’s opinion that they are committed to their role in higher education and reported“57 percent of those surveyed say they are in their jobs primarily because they like teaching, not primarily for the money” (p. 4). The latterwas also supported in the 2002 faculty report developed by Illinois Board of Higher Education, which stated that “non-tenure-track faculty are well qualified and committed to their work” (State of Illinois Board of Higher Education, 2002, p. 21).

What Community Colleges Need to Focus On

Given the focus of the national agenda on completion and given the nature of the community college culture tooften utilize part-time faculty, successful teaching practices need to be identified, proven effective, and practiced by both full- and part-time faculty. Community colleges, for the most part, recognize a need to redesign their practices so that students will be more successful (McClenney & Greene, 2005). A significant part of this redesign is figuring out how to encourage more interaction between faculty and their students. Through Achieving the Dream and related projects, colleges now understand that “one of the most important predictors of student success is students’ relationship with faculty” (Kezar, 2011, para. 1). The CCCSE, which administers the Community College Survey of Student Engagement (CCSSE),noted in the section on student-faculty interaction thatthe more interaction students have with their instructors, the more likely they are to persist toward achievement of their educational goals(Community College Survey of Student Engagement [CCSSE], 2015,“Student-Faculty Interaction,” para. 1).

Existing studies have focused primarily on student exposure to part-time faculty rather than on the practicesemployed in the classroom (Jacoby 2006;Jaeger & Eagan, 2009, 2011; Schibik & Harrington, 2004; Umbach, 2007). Very little research has been conducted on the topic of faculty employment of best practices and how these practicesrelate to student performance. Few studies “have focused on the relationship between student exposure to part-time faculty members and student outcomes at community colleges” (Jaegar & Eagan, 2009, p. 171).

The primary focus of this study was to explore the impact of best practices on student success in courses taught by part-time faculty. It is crucial thatcommunity colleges identify bestpracticesthat part-time faculty can utilize in and out of the classroom. Part-time faculty members have the potential to make the biggest impact on student success because they make up the majority of faculty teaching students in community colleges today.

Community colleges cannot afford to neglect implementing practices that support the college completion agenda. Community colleges today must increase completion rates within the constraints of available resources (Alfred, Shults, & Seybert, 2007). Hence the question: how do students perform in classes taught by part-time faculty who employbest practices? This study examined whether or not part-time faculty who employedbest practices in and out of the classroom had higher success than those faculty who did not employ these best practices.