Coordination and Cooperation Between Community Colleges and Community Schools in Selected Community College Districts PDF Download

Author: Marvin Wesley Weiss
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Municipal universities and colleges
Languages : en
Pages : 284

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Book Description
The most important purposes of this study were to: (1) determine the extent of cooperation and coordination that currently exists in selected community colleges which have community school programs in their college districts, and (2) clarify the multi-roles of community schools and of community education in community colleges. Other purposes of the study were to: (1) examine the present educational philosophy regarding community schools and community colleges, (2) determine if duplication of programs exists, and (3) encourage educational administrators to develop a realistic plan for cooperation and coordination between community schools and community colleges. Procedures A. questionnaire with 46 items was developed to obtain opinions from educational administrators regarding organization, administration, finance, instruction and the level of cooperation between community schools and community colleges. The questionnaire was sent to community school directors or coordinators and community college administrators who supervised adult, community or continuing education. Five states were selected for this study--Oregon, Washington, California, Michigan and Florida. Each community college selected had at Least one community school program operating in the college district. Seventy respondents (35 community college and 35 community school administrators) participated in the study by reacting to the 46 items which were assigned values of one to five on a Likerttype scale with one being strong disagreement and five being strong agreement. All items on the returned questionnaire were analyzed by utilizing the analysis of variance technique. Selected Findings Selected findings were: 1. Fifteen items (32. 6%) showed significant differences among mean score responses for community college and community school personnel. 2. Except for three items, no differences existed between mean score responses among states. 3. Except for four items, no interaction effect differences existed in mean responses between college/schooLs and states. 4. The greatest number of rejected items (71. 4%) were found in the section on instruction. 5. The finance section had 66% of its items rejected. 6. There were no significant differences in the responses on all items in the general question section. 7. Of the 35 community schools surveyed, the length of time these schools were in operation varied from one to seven years. Thirteen of the schools were in operation just one year. 8. The greatest number of community schools in one college district was 25. Conclusions and Recommendations The following selected conclusions were based on a review of literature, the questionnaire and results of statistical analysis. They are: 1. There is an urgent need for cooperation and coordination between community colleges and community schools in college districts. 2. State laws do not prevent the community colleges and community schools from cooperating in the five states surveyed in this study. 3. State certification and qualifications of instructors in community colleges and community schools were issues which did not prevent cooperation and coordination between those two institutions. 4. Considerable disagreement exists between community colleges and community schools with regard to whether or not the community college should pay part of the community school director's salary. 5. Competition for tax dollars by community colleges and community schools is not the reason for the lack of cooperation between these institutions in the five states surveyed. 6. Community college and community school personnel must come to an agreement regarding who should be responsible for coordinating community education in a community college district. 7. Much disagreement was found between community schools and community colleges in the areas of instruction and finance. 8. A need exists for a "model" for cooperation and coordination between community schools and community colleges. The following recommendations are made: 1. Have the community college develop a training program for community school para-professionals, directors/ coordinators and other related personnel. 2. Develop formal guidelines for cooperation and coordination between community schools and community colleges. 3. Further delineate the role and function of the multiplicity of agencies providing community education in a community college district. 4. Develop a "model" for cooperation and coordination between community schools and community colleges.