Graduation Year

2007

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree

Ed.D.

Degree Granting Department

Adult, Career, and Higher Education

Major Professor

Jan Ignash, Ph.D.

Keywords

Governance, Policy cycles, Accountability, Teacher shortages, Teacher education

Abstract

This study sought to determine if community college baccalaureate programs in Florida were fulfilling the goals that were set forth in the legislation that created them. The study examined whether the baccalaureate level education programs at three community colleges in Florida were increasing access to baccalaureate education. The study investigated enrollment trends at all public institutions in Florida, reasons why students chose the community colleges for their upper division education, alternative plans students may have had if these programs did not exist, whether the limited number of baccalaureate programs at the community colleges impacted students' choice of major, and how the schoolwork habits of students in the community college baccalaureate programs compared with their counterparts at other four-year institutions in the state.

The data included enrollment data, responses from a survey instrument that i created, and data from the national survey of student engagement's (nsse) data warehouse. The enrollment data included the upper division enrollment in education programs at public institutions in florida. The survey instrument used open-ended questions and likert-scale items from the nsse. The survey's respondents were juniors and seniors (n=140) from baccalaureate education programs at the three community colleges. Most students chose the community colleges for their upper division education because of location and cost. Almost three-fourths of the students who participated in this study reported that they would have attended another institution for their baccalaureate studies if the upper divisions at the community colleges did not exist. One-fifth of the respondents said that they would not have been able to earn a baccalaureate degree without the community college baccalaureate programs.

The overwhelming majority of participants chose to major in education for a traditional reason. Finally, the students from the community college baccalaureate programs seemed to have better schoolwork habits and were more engaged than their counterparts at other four-year institutions in the state. The results of this study suggest that the baccalaureate level teacher education programs at community colleges in Florida are increasing access to baccalaureate education.

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