State Level Hot Topic Issues Facing Community Colleges: From the Perspective of the State Directors

Abstract

The survey on hot topics was added in 2007 to the annual survey of state directors of community colleges conducted by the University of Alabama Education Policy Center. The survey data provided an opportunity for examining the personal attitudes toward the hot topics and the associations between these attitudes and state contexts. This study finds five clear interpretable factors of personal attitudes, and it provides support for the sound psychometric properties of the survey questionnaire. As a group, state directors had an optimistic view toward the increased attention to student success, the development of new data systems to track student success, and the enrollment capacity of community colleges. On the other hand, state directors were less optimistic toward state funding policies and the growth of four-year degree programs at community colleges. They recognized that funding for facilities was a priority, and federal support was needed. The findings indicate that the availability of local tax support influenced state directors' attitude toward state funding policies. Implications for practitioners and researchers are discussed.State governing boards for community colleges face many challenges in a rapidly changing environment, especially during a time of economic downturn and long-term decline in state funding for public higher education. One way to understand the challenges facing state-level governing boards is to survey state directors of community colleges to draw out what they consider are hot topics or key issues. Such surveys can help determine which topics or issues are expected to be most important and deserving of more attention at present and over the next few years; they can also determine how much agreement exists among states regarding relative importance of specific topics. Furthermore, community college leaders can use this information to plan and develop public policies and strategies to serve students and local communities effectively; and researchers can use this information to guide their studies and to have a better understanding of the key policy and leadership issues.The survey of state community college directors was initiated in 2003. In 2007, the Education Policy Center at the University of Alabama added the first Hot Topics section (Katsinas & Friedel, 2010). This national survey is intended to produce a barometer of the state and national policy landscapes, as well as the most critical issues facing community colleges. The survey was designed for the state directors to indicate the extent to which they agree or disagree on each of the hot issues or situations in their own states. Therefore, the results of the survey provide an opportunity for further analyses including the personal attitudes of state directors (e.g., optimistic or pessimistic) toward the hot topics and whether or not the personal attitudes are influenced by state contexts. As suggested by social psychological theories (e.g., Ajzen, 1991;Fishbein & Ajzen, 1975), human behaviors and actions (such as decision making...