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Evolutionary theory is the central unifying theory of the life sciences. However, acceptance and understanding of the theory have been found to be lacking in the general public, high school, and university populations. Prior research has linked low acceptance of the theory to a poor knowledge base in evolution, to the nature of science, and to conflicts with certain religious beliefs. The purpose of the present study was to measure the acceptance rate of the theory of evolution among students enrolled in science major biology courses in Texas community colleges. This research sought to begin to fill a gap in the knowledge base concerning acceptance of the theory of evolution among community colleges. To achieve the goal, the researcher gave students at five Northeast Texas community a combined survey consisting of: 20 Likert scale questions measuring acceptance of evolutionary theory, 10 multiple choice questions measuring basic knowledge of the theory, and a series of demographic questions assessing students' prior experience in high school with evolutionary theory and creationism. This article will focus on the findings from the MATE and KEE and their implications for science education at the K-12 and postsecondary levels. Data collected were statistically analyzed using SPSS version 22 to discover the relationships between the various independent variables and the dependent variable of the acceptance level of the theory of evolution.

Black males lag behind their female counterparts in bachelor's degree completion. This study examined why Black males leave higher education, eventually return, and complete their degrees. Researchers are aware of some of the challenges that Black males encounter in higher education, but there is little information factors affecting successful completion of bachelor's degrees by nontraditional, Black males, who are overlooked by the literature because they do not meet the current criteria for 6-year graduation rates. This study examined three questions: 1) What causes Black males to discontinue their postsecondary degrees and leave college? 2) What factors influence their decisions to return to postsecondary education? and 3) What factors help or hinder them in completing their degrees? This study used a phenomenological approach. A panel of 5 Black males with bachelor's degrees reviewed interview questions and suggested revisions. Questions were broken into two parts: one related to participants' first enrollment in college and the second related to participants' experiences during later college attempts. Participants were Black males at least 25 years of age with previous college experience who had dropped out for at least one year before reenrolling and eventually completing a bachelor's degree. Participants were identified using professional colleagues and a recruitment script. Ten participants agreed to 30-minute interviews at which the researcher took extensive notes which were later coded to identify themes. Results showed that the majority of participants had spent 10 or more years engaged in higher education. The time to degree ranged from a low of 5 years to a high of 27 years. An interesting finding emerged related to the participants' choice of institutions. Participants who stayed at 4-year institutions experienced shorter time to degree completion than those who enrolled at 2-year institutions.

Prompted by changing demographics, economic pressures, and global competition, Texas and members of the Southern Regional Education Board adopted policies to boost minority enrollment and success in higher education around the turn of the century. This study draws upon IPEDS graduation rate data for a benchmark year, 2002, and for 2006 through 2012 to assess the effectiveness of Texas' Closing the Gaps policy in relation to graduation rates at 4- year institutions and to similar policies in six SREB-member states. Descriptive and independent-samples "t" tests measured the effectiveness of Texas' Closing the Gaps compared to the selected SREB states. Although Texas fell below the SREB average graduation rates for targeted groups at the outset, data revealed variable but overall improvement for the grand total, Black, Hispanic, and White cohorts over the 10-year period for all states.

This study measured the effectiveness of and differences between Oklahoma's Brain Gain and Texas' Closing the Gaps policies to enhance degree completion of students at community colleges. Descriptive statistics and independent-samples "t" tests were conducted utilizing data from community colleges' 3-year graduation rates from the National Center for Education Statistics Integrated Postsecondary Education Data Systems database for benchmark year 2002 and years 2006, 2008, 2010 and 2012. The results showed that both states' total, black, and white community college 3-year graduation rates decreased from 2002 to 2012. Only Oklahoma's Hispanic graduation rate increased while Texas' Hispanic graduation rate decreased during the same period. No statistically significant differences were found between total, Black, Hispanic, and White community college graduation rates in Oklahoma and Texas. Findings revealed that the policies implemented in Oklahoma and Texas did not cause the desired impact at their states' community colleges. Recommendations for policy and future research are provided.

This study assessed the degree to which school leader preparation programs have adopted reforms in program admissions standards and practices that have been recommended in the literature since 2000, including seeking district nominations for applicants, increasing collaborative efforts, involving district personnel in instruction and intern supervision, and aligning program design with district needs. Results indicated that closer linkage between districts and university leadership curricula are emerging, with greater attention being afforded to district needs.

Texas' Hispanic population has increased dramatically since 2000 as have Hispanic enrollments in higher education (+118%). Despite having the largest spike in college enrollment, Hispanic students' completion rates remain the lowest among all ethnic groups. To identify institutional practices that might encourage Hispanic student retention, researchers surveyed 100 first-time students at two Hispanic-serving metropolitan community colleges in Texas during the 2012-2013 academic year. Survey response data were analyzed using a variety of statistical methods. Results indicated that Hispanic students chose to attend college because they wanted a better future (80%) or wanted to learn new skills (41%) and that the majority was paying for college with cash. In terms of institutional practices, students identified meal plans, on-campus child care, mandatory orientation, and work-study opportunities as most important campus services to help them balance academic and social obligations and stay in school. Institutional initiatives to build parental and peer support were valued as were non-traditional forms of financial aid such as book vouchers, supplemental education services, and club scholarships. Community colleges often attract students who are less prepared for college than those who attend 4-year institutions, and with the growth of the Hispanic student demographic, it is important for them to devise institutional practices that support these students' retention and completion.

Courage is a rare quality among today's political leaders, many of whom even struggle with the ability to understand leadership as well. Leadership and courage are also critically important characteristics of college and university administrators. Yet, one may wonder if courage is nonexistent among leaders in higher education. Furthermore, the skills of good leadership seem to be lacking among administrators who rule as if they were convinced of some divine right. At a time when public colleges and universities are being threatened as never before by forces committed to their destruction, administrators desperately need to find the courage to lead. This article highlights selected case examples of leaders who have demonstrated courage over self-interest.

The present article derives from a larger study about the academic and social inclusion of adjunct faculty at representative public, 2-year colleges in Texas. The research identified a significant difference in adjunct faculty inclusion by institution type. Subject institutions represented Basic Carnegie Classification categories: rural, suburban, and urban. Data from survey responses of 75 adjuncts were analyzed using a variety of statistical methods. Results indicated that adjuncts from the rural community college were included in academic and social campus cultures more often than were adjuncts from the suburban and urban community colleges, but anomalies emerged that warrant further investigation. Because a majority of community college students receive instruction from part-time faculty, it is important to understand how adjuncts interact with and perceive their relationships to their institutions and students.

The primary purpose of this study was to examine the annual revenue received by United States public Community College Foundations from 2008-2009 in relation to selected variables associated in the literature with successful foundation performance. This study also collected longitudinal data by replicating and expanding upon a similar study conducted by Dr. Sharon McEntee Carrier a decade earlier. Linear regression analysis was used to collect descriptive statistics that described the frequencies, central tendencies, and distribution of the data. The researchers used linear regression and analysis of variances (ANOVA) to study the relationship between revenue gained in connection with private giving and college foundation operations for fiscal year 2008-2009, the degree to which the college president, chief resource development officer, and foundation board members were rated as playing a critical role in the foundation's operation, the degree to which meeting institutional strategic goals was rated as an important factor in evaluating the foundation's operation, the institution's geographic location, size (based on FTE enrollment), size of endowment, and organizational structure. The explanatory variables, foundation operations, the Chief Development Officer's role in the foundation's operation, location, size, endowment, and the Chief Development Officer's perception of how fundraising efforts were appreciated by the institutions served were found to be statistically significant.

This study was conducted to focus attention on the issues involved in the preparation of school leaders and to provide an enhanced profile of the perceptions of faculty members involved in principal preparation. Results were used to provide information on the current status of principal preparation programs, suggestions about additional areas needing reform, and recommendations for long term, broad- based research efforts in developing a comprehensive understanding of Educational Administration and Leadership Departments.

Slurs, either spoken or printed, can be classified as expressions of derogation, because their use is a generalized, negative characterization or classification of groups without regard to individual uniqueness. The use of such slurs consequently can cause the target and the listener or reader (i.e., receiver) discomfort, unless the receiver has developed an ability to depersonalize such communication. Due to the potential of derogatory slurs to cause harm, some advocate the implementation of prior restrictions or subsequent sanctions to curb the use of slurs. To do so, however, poses a threat to America's most valued freedom: speech. In this examination of the derogatory aspect of slurs, the authors demonstrate that the guarantee of free speech in the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution is considered by the courts as so sacred that offensive speech, such as slurs, is protected in public use. Even so, college campuses cannot remain open forums of free expression if students are not sufficiently instructed to respect all cultures.

Jones International University (JIU) offers online programs from the associate degree to the doctorate. JIU students are working professionals who seek to improve employability and prospects for advancement. Recognizing that learning in adulthood is social and embedded in the learner's life context, JIU designed instruction to give learners significant real-world experiences and feedback via project-based courses and assessment with multiple sources of input. At the end of their studies, students pursue a professional synthesizing project with an outside sponsor in their professional field and learn to document their professional expertise. The projects and regular assessments yield multiple formative and summative assessments to document the learner's progress, skill mastery, and readiness for employment in the field, ultimately yielding a portfolio suitable for job applications, promotions, or other employment purposes. Follow-on surveys of employers and graduates indicate that the approach has met graduates' goals and employers' needs.

Suffering from chronic underfunding and in a headlong race to compete with for-profit higher education, institutions across America are struggling to maintain their operations, and some are forced into desperate measures just to survive. Administrators and faculty faced with these challenges are not immune to compromising the quality of instruction in exchange for increased enrollment and retention. As standards are lowered, the affected students achieve their goals with less effort and consequently become willing accomplices in devaluing the American college academic experience. Clearly, American higher education needs to return to its core academic values. In this paper we review eight cases to discuss the ethical implications for higher education.

Examination of college faculty salaries across disciplines suggests that the traditional academic wage scale is increasingly stressed by academic labor market forces. This trend has implications for faculty morale and commitment, turnover, faculty encouragement of students to pursue academic careers, and the relationship of the reward system to institutional values. (MSE)

Compa-ratio, a technique used in diverse ways in the corporate sector, was used to analyze gender bias in faculty salaries at one university. Results, compared with those derived from two multiple regression analyses of the same data, suggest that the technique is adaptable for higher education and easily understood by administrators and faculty. (MSE)

The Atlantic trafficking and subsequent enslavement of captive African men, women, and children represents the greatest crime of all time, the theft of humanity and personhood which resulted in a permanent state of dispossession, exile, and homelessness. This tragedy, nevertheless, provided the engine that enabled the rise of the economic empire of countries of the Atlantic world. Subsequent denials of civil rights, land, property, socioeconomic dispossessions, and denigrations drove the rise of racism, xenophobia, and the systemic anti-Black racism of ensuing decades. Thus, the elephant in the room sitting at the center of our history is coming into focus. It looks like this: American slavery happened; it was the very foundation on which the United States and its economy were constructed; and although the formal enslavement of African-descended people was eliminated in 1865, Black people and all Americans, are still living with its consequences. This article offers a critical reading of the movement for reparations as a call for acknowledgment and redress of the litany of civil and human rights violations committed against African descended people in the United States. It proposes that the movement is a call for reckoning, for restitution and transitional justice for crimes committed. damages caused, and for the structures required in order for Black people to self-repair psychologically, spiritually, and materially and for the nation as a whole to advance into the 21 st century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A strategy developed at the University of Wyoming for achieving equity in salaries for faculty in nontraditional adult education programs is described. The model uses a formula derived from average full-time salary, total faculty service units, instructional component weighting, and credit hours of equivalent service to be reimbursed for supplementary instruction. (MSE)

The status of external degree programs in traditional institutions is examined. Basing evaluation on the guidelines set forth by the Carnegie Commission for Non-Traditional Study (l973); it is suggested that external programs have not adequately been integrated into the academic mainstream. (Author/MLW)