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Setting an Agenda for Research on the Community College

George Keller, writing in a recent issue of Change categorizes research on higher education as ineffective (1985). His basic thesis is that practitioners have little interest in the type of research published by professors despite the need for scholarly analysis in higher education's currently troubled environment. Wattenbarger (1985) questions whether researchers are addressing the important issues by noting that available research on the key issues of mission and finance specifically oriented to the community college is lacking. This article considers the questions raised by Keller and Wattenbarger in the context of available research and recommends an agenda for scholars interested in studying the community college. In 1982, community colleges were still "the fastest growing segment of American higher education and appeared to be immune from the influence of demographics causing enrollment declines in other types of postsecondary institutions. In 1985, community colleges face the possibility of a third successive nationwide decline in enrollments. And as the most recent Community, Technical, andJunior College Directory (1984, p. 73) makes clear, the loss has been among full-time students, a group largely taken for granted in institutions focused increasingly on short-term career training and a mythical average student", 29 years old, not interested in earning a degree and enrolled for only a single class. This unanticipated reversal in enrollment fortunes has created interest among community college leaders in developing better information to improve decision making. As well, there has been continuing interest in having more complete information available to influence legislatures and to refute critics. Partly as a result of the convergence of these separate forces, there is currently more interest in setting a research agenda for community colleges than at any time in the past two decades. The Urban Community College Commission of the American Association of Community and Junior Colleges (AACJC), is putting the final touches on a position paper describing the research priorities of colleges in urban settings. A joint commission has been appointed by AACJC and the Association of Community Colleges Trustees (ACCT) to study national data requirements with a report due