Date of Award

2019

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Department

School of Education

Abstract

The purpose of this dissertation was to understand how a new two-year college was designed and implemented within the context of and as a response to the completion agenda by focusing on the decisions and actions of the Administrative Leadership Team (ALT). The research was framed around the completion agenda themes of access, affordability, and student supports. An instrumental case study methodology was used to gain a deep understanding of the new college within the context of the completion agenda. Observations of ALT meetings, interviews with members of the ALT, and documents were collected and analyzed. The findings revealed that the new college conformed with many of the themes of the completion agenda, especially as they related to affordability and student supports; however, the new college did not align with the completion agenda's approach to access. The findings suggested that the new college presents opportunities and poses questions about how community college leaders make decisions to balance access, affordability, and student supports. The study offered recommendations for further research which include comparative case studies, evaluative research on the effectiveness of the new college, investigations into the approach to teaching and learning, the inclusion of alternate perspectives on the new college beyond the administration, and closer scrutiny on how this new model fits within the context of higher education.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.

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