Content area
Abstract
Two-year institutions of higher education are facing challenges with attaining goals of the College Completion Agenda (CCA) established in 2009 by President Obama and the Remedial and Developmental Education Reform Movement (RDERM). This qualitative descriptive case study focused on the role of college leaders, adjunct instructors, and the affects of leadership style on instructional practices prior to implementing strategies to attain goals of the CCA and the RDERM. The problem is that various pathways to move students through remedial and developmental courses quickly have been established as a solution to help students complete college, but there has been little research dedicated to topics focused on transforming the role of college leaders and the instructional practices of the dominant instructors (adjuncts) typically hired to teach in these courses. A lack of focus on instruction has deferred attainment of the goals established under the agenda and reform movement. A qualitative methodology was chosen to examine the relationship between college leaders and adjunct instructors prior to the implementation of strategic changes as this methodology allowed for a review of participants’ personal perceptions and reflections. The Multifactor Leadership Questionnaires, Adjunct Faculty Needs Assessment Survey, and the Adjunct Faculty Professional Development Needs Semi-Structured Interview Questions were used to examine the perceptions and reflections of the 11 participants in this study. This study was conducted to examine if leadership style affected instructional practices and the leadership attributes in need of transformation to meet the goals of the CCA and the RDERM. Based on the results of this study, leadership style was found to have an affect on instructional practices.
