Use of Contingent Faculty and the Effect on Student Success Vann Priest Rio Hondo College.

Use of Contingent Facultyand the Effect on Student Success

Vann PriestRio Hondo College

Daniel Jacoby Effects of Part-Time Faculty Employment on

Community College Graduations Rates. The Journal of Higher Education, Vol. 77, No. 6

(Nov./Dec. 2006) “The main result from this study is that

increases in the ratio of part-time faculty at community colleges have a highly significant and negative impact upon graduation rates.”

Paul D. Umbach & Matthew R. Wawrzynski FACULTY DO MATTER: The Role of Faculty in

Student Learning and Engagement Research in Higher Education, Vol. 46, No. 2

(Mar. 2005)

Paul D. Umbach How Effective Are They? Exploring the Impact of

Contingent Faculty on Undergraduate Education The Review of Higher Education, Vol. 30, No. 2

(Winter 2007) “This study offers some compelling evidence to

suggest that, compared with their tenured and tenure-track peers, contingent faculty, particularly part-time faculty, are underperforming in their delivery of undergraduate instruction. “

“While this study identifies some deficiencies among contingent faculty, it is important not to lay the blame entirely on faculty in these appointments.”

Paul D. Umbach The effects of part-time faculty appointments

on instructional techniques and commitment to teaching

Paper Presented at the 33 Annual Conference of the Association for the Study of Higher Education, Jacksonville, FL, November 5-8, 2008

PDF available “Part-timers will exhibit lower levels of

commitment to their institution and will exhibit lower levels of instructional performance.”

Kevin M. Eagan, Jr. & Audrey J. Jaeger Closing the Gate: Part-Time Faculty Instruction

in Gatekeeper Courses and First Year Persistence

New Directions for Teaching and Learning, No. 115 (Fall 2008)

“Students appear to be significantly and negatively affected by having gatekeeper courses taught by other part-time faculty.”

Kevin M. Eagan, Jr. & Audrey J. Jaeger Unintended Consequences Examining the

Effect of Part-Time Faculty Members on Associate’s Degree Completion

Community College Review, Vol. 36, No. 3 (Jan. 2009)

“Findings indicate that students experienced a significant yet modest negative effect from exposure to part-time faculty members on the probability of completing an associate’s degree.”

Kevin M. Eagan, Jr. & Audrey J. Jaeger Effects of Exposure to Part-time Faculty on

Community College Transfer Research in Higher Education, Vol. 50, No. 2 (

2009) “Findings suggest that students tend to be

significantly less likely to transfer as their exposure to part-time faculty increases.”

Andrea J. Jaeger Contingent Faculty and Student Outcomes Academe, Nov./Dec. 2008

Thomas Bailey, et al. Community College Student Success: What

Institutional Characteristics Make a Difference?

Achieving the Dream [www.achievingthedream.org]

PDF available “Students in colleges with more part-time

faculty also have lower graduation rates.”

Curtis V. Smith The Impact of Part-Time Faculty on Student

Retention: A Case Study in Higher Education Dissertation, University of Missouri – Kansas

City (2010) “This study supports findings in the

literature review and two previous statistical analyses that increasing exposure to part-time faculty has a negative impact on retention.”

Roger G. Baldwin & Matthew R. Wawrzynski Contingent Faculty as Teachers: What We

Know; What We Need to Know American Behavioral Scientist, Vol. 55, No 8

(Aug. 2011) “Findings indicate that the teaching practices

of part-time contingent faculty differ in important ways from their other faculty colleagues.”

Davis Jenkins What Community College Management

Practices Are Effective in Promoting Student Success? A Study of High- and Low-Impact Institutions

Achieving the Dream [www.achievingthedream.org]

PDF available “Community colleges would be more effective

if they do the following: Provide support for faculty development focused on improving teaching.”

Davis Jenkins Redesigning Community Colleges for

Completion: Lessons from Research on High-Performance Organizations

CCRC Working Paper No. 26, Assessment of Evidence Series). New York, NY: Columbia University, Teachers College, Community College Research Center. (2011)

“Colleges should provide opportunities for adjunct faculty to collaborate with full-time faculty members on improving curricula and instructional quality in the fields they teach. ”