The impact of student services in any community college is affected by the school climate. There are many challenges facing the delivery of student services in colleges. First of all there has been a growing trend towards diversity in the classrooms which teachers have to recognize and appreciate. If teachers do not structure their teaching methods to cater for the student then their ability to appreciate and apply college education is hindered (Brooks, 2004: Brimijoin, Marquissee & Tomlinson, 2003) There are many students who go to community colleges to attend remedial classes. It may become difficult for the college to offer remedial classes and at the same time provide quality education in the varied disciplines (Attewell, Lavin, Domina & Levey, 2006: Bailey, 2009).
Remedial programs are affecting activities such as transfers and adult literacy programs. It is also quite expensive for the parents who have to pay remedial classes for their children yet they also paid for quality high school education (Tierney & Garcia, 2008: Alliance for Excellent Education, 2008). There have also been an increasing number of students attending community colleges yet the faculty population has not been increasing at the same pace. There is therefore a shortage of teachers to cater for all the students adequately (Dougherty, 2003). Colleges offer vocational programs which are very popular. However it has recently become difficult to balance or merge vocational training and academic studies. The college administration has to find strategies to deal with all these emerging issues in order to offer student services (Strong, Silver & Perini, 2001).
Current educational trends in the recent past have shown that the teachers are now interacting with students of diverse backgrounds. There are students with disabilities, with diverse cultural backgrounds, on accelerated learning modules and those with limited English-speaking capabilities (Subban, 2006: Rock, Gregg, Ellis & Gable, 2008). Differentiated instruction refers to a professional and responsive approach taken by teachers where they seek to maximise learning for all the students by considering their diverse backgrounds (McAdamis, 2001). The teacher through differentiated instruction gets to address the multiple levels of intelligence in the heterogeneous class (Beach, 2009: Anderson, 2007).The teachers are encouraged to consider the student backgrounds, readiness levels and languages (Lawrence-Brown, 2004). Their learning profiles and interests are also considered.
The concept of differentiated learning has a relationship with the Vygotsky’s socio-cultural theory which encourages a social interaction between the student and the teacher. The theorist suggested that the student should be taught while placing consideration on his social and cultural background (McCoy & Ketterlin-Geller, 2004). The approach helps the student in the development of higher order functions or cognitive development (Coleman, 2001). There is call to deviate from uniformity in teaching practices and gravitate towards diverse innovative teaching styles (McBride, 2004: Koutselini, 2008). The common needs of all these diverse students are acceptance and respect. All learners are equipped differently in terms of strengths and gifts. Differentiated learning has a positive impact on the learning outcomes and success of the students (Levine, 2003: Stravula, Leonidas & Koutselini, 2011).
Curriculum Alignment
Community colleges form an integral part in the society. For many students desiring to pursue higher education, the community colleges are the point of entry (Kasper, 2003). It provides an opportunity for the less advantaged students in society to get a transfer into four year education or the job market (Attewell & Lavin, 2007). Curriculum alignment is the process of examining high school education and the accessibility that students have to community colleges and the ease of entry into four-year educational institutions or the job markets (Hagedorn, 2006). It is the restructuring of the education content and tests administered to the students to ensure that there are no barriers to their development (Kisker, 2007). The colleges have to enter into partnerships with the high schools.
It will enable them to communicate the minimum and critical educational skills that the students should possess to enable them to finish their higher education (Jarrell, 2004: Roderick, Nagaoka & Coca, 2009). There is education that should be covered in high school while there is training for community college. The standards should be communicated to the students and high schools (Perin, 2006: Bettinger & Long, 2005: Hughes, 2010). There are community colleges that may have to include remedial classes for the students who did not acquire the mandatory training in high school in order to match to the required expectations (Horn, McCoy, Campbell & Brock, 2009: Howell, Kurlaender & Grodsky, 2009). There has been concern on the number of students in community colleges who eventually enter into four-year institutions and finish university (Dowd, Cheslock & Melguizo, 2008). Do colleges have the necessary capacity to prepare students for higher education and eventually the job market? Are they able to teach students according to the acceptable national standards? The colleges have to scrutinize and analyse the educational and vocational content in their curriculum.
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