Community Colleges as Cultural Texts: Qualitative Explorations of Organizational and Student Culture (Frontiers in Education)

Community colleges are positioned to play a critical role in the process of upward mobility in American society. Yet despite the "open door" accessibility of these institutions, the question remains as to whether or not community colleges enhance the social mobility of working class and minority students.

The contradictory and often paradoxical nature of research on community colleges suggests that making generalizations about the sector as a whole is perhaps misguided. This book takes an important step toward developing a more nuanced understanding of the rich and varied cultures inherent in community colleges. The contributors approach this task by examining community colleges as "cultural texts," using critical qualitative frameworks to address the question of whether, and how, community colleges confront the challenges of diversity and provide real opportunities for upward mobility.

[Contributors include Marilyn Amey, Eusebio Diaz, Stanford T. Goto, Berta Vigil Laden, Dennis McGrath, Laura I. Rendón, Robert A. Rhoads, Kathleen M. Shaw, Armando Trujillo, James R. Valadez, and Bill Van Buskirk.]

Kathleen M. Shaw is Assistant Professor of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies at Temple University. James R. Valadez is Associate Professor of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies at the University of Washington and the coauthor, with Robert A. Rhoads, of Democracy, Multiculturalism and the Community College: A Critical Perspective. Robert A. Rhoads is Associate Professor in the Department of Educational Administration at Michigan State University and the author of Community Service and Higher Learning: Explorations of the Caring Self, also published by SUNY Press.