Policy implementation as a tool for advancing equity in community college

Abstract

This special issue examines the role of policy implementation in the community college context and the ways reforms are enacted to achieve or advance educational equity. In this introduction, we provide an overview of policy implementation, its current landscape within higher education, and the role it can and must serve for community colleges as a tool to advance equity efforts. The articles in this special issue provide a well-rounded overview of policy implementation efforts across various states and institutions. Authors examine promise programs, equity initiatives, articulation agreements, federally funded support programs, and race-conscious implementation. The community college context serves as a critical site of inquiry given that almost half of the undergraduate population is enrolled at a community college. Therefore, the following articles explore how to leverage policy implementation as a tool toward more equitable outcomes.

Beyond a Transformative Approach and Deep Understanding: External Factors and Mid-Level Leaders’ Policy Implementation to Expand Equity for English Learners

“…The interpretation and implementation of education policy, especially policy designed to expand educational equity, is subject to the understandings, approaches, and contexts of the individuals charged with its enactment. Prior research has explored how policy implementers alternately expand and constrain educational equity for K-12 students (e.g., Gonzalez et al, 2021; Mavrogordato & White, 2020) and for those in higher education as well (Golash-Boza & Valdez, 2018). Specific to ML-EL students, research on the implementation of federal policy guiding ML-EL education suggests that individuals’ beliefs and understanding have as much, if not more, to do with policy implementation as policy text itself (Hornberger & Johnson, 2007).…”

Category is, supporting BIQTPoC at community colleges: A systematic literature review to aid community college leaders in advocacy

“…This phenomenon is because not only are they experiencing and pushing against systemic racist systems, they are in opposition to cisheteronormative (i.e., those that uphold ideals related to cis and heterosexual identities) structures and ideas embedded in both White and Black societal cultures. Considering that community colleges enroll students who hold minoritized identities at a higher rate, such as Black students, yet demonstrate disproportionate equity gaps for completion (Gonzalez, Burgos‐López, Felix, & Nienhusser, 2021), leaders must consider that potential support services that exist are not meeting the needs of those Black students who hold other intersecting identities. The more programs and services are curated and underpinned through an intersectional approach, the wider net that is cast to support students with a multiplicity of identities.…”

“…The paucity of research on BIQTPoC in community colleges is alarming as it perpetuates the erasure of these communities within its major system of higher education. Community college enrollment represents the largest number of undergraduate students with their primary demographic being from historically minoritized identities, such as BIQTPoC (Felix, 2020; Gonzalez, 2022b; Gonzalez et al., 2021). Yet, much of this scholarship is approached through a siloed perspective of addressing either racio‐ethnic individuals’ experiences or LGBTQIA+ conditions, experiences, and outcomes.…”