Understanding Community Colleges

Understanding Community Colleges provides a comprehensive review of the community college landscape—management and governance, finance, student demographics and development, teaching and learning, policy, faculty, and workforce development—and bridges the gap between research and practice. This contributed volume brings together highly respected scholars in the field who rely upon substantial theoretical perspectives—critical theory, social theory, institutional theory, and organizational theory—for a rich and expansive analysis of community colleges. The latest text to publish in the Core Concepts in Higher Education series, this exciting new text fills a gap in the higher education literature available for students enrolled in Higher Education and Community College graduate programs.

This text provides students with:



A review of salient research related to the community college field.


Critical theoretical perspectives underlying current policies.


An understanding of how theory links to practice, including focused end-of-chapter discussion questions.


A fresh examination of emerging issues and insight into contemporary community college practices and policy.

John S. Levin is Bank of America Professor of Education Leadership at the Graduate School of Education, University of California, Riverside.
Susan T. Kater is the Director of Institutional Planning, Research, and Effectiveness at GateWay Community College, Phoenix, Arizona.

Section I – The Core: Community Colleges and their Students Chapter 1: Community College Mission in Historical Perspective, Ken Meier Chapter 2: Student Diversity in Community Colleges: Examining Trends and Understanding the Challenges, Lindsey E. Malcom Chapter 3: Student Development and Consumerism: Student Services on Campus, Joan B. Hirt and Tara E. Frank Chapter 4: International Students in U.S. Community Colleges: Status, Opportunities, and Future, Linda Serra Hagedorn & Yi (Leaf) Zhang Chapter 5: Adult Student Development: The Agentic Approach and its Relationship to the Community College Context, Virginia Montero-Hernandez & Christine Cerven Chapter 6: Teaching Academically Underprepared Students in Community Colleges, Dolores Perin Section II – Institutional Issues for the Community College Chapter 7: Planning Programs for Community College Education: Theory, Policy, and Practice, David F. Ayers & Michael V. Ayers Chapter 8: Managing Today’s Community Colleges: A New Era? Pamela L. Eddy Chapter 9: Leadership: Community College Transitions, Marilyn Amey Chapter 10: Deconstructing Governance and Expectations for the Community College, Carrie B. Kisker & Susan T. Kater Chapter 11: State Fiscal Support for Community Colleges, Jim Palmer Section III – Economic and Workforce Development Chapter 12: Career and Technical Education:　Old Debates, Persistent Challenges in Community Colleges, Debra D. Bragg Chapter 13: The Comparative Political Economy of Vocational Education: Lessons for the Study of Community Colleges in the United States, Luciana Dar Chapter 14: Community College Economic and Workforce Development Education in the Neoliberal and Academic Capitalist Contexts, Matthew M. Mars Section IV – The Future: Community College Research & Scholarship Chapter 15: Understandings of Community Colleges in Need of Resuscitation: The Case of Community College Faculty, John S. Levin