Thanks to the generous support of the ECMC Foundation, we are helping to lead in the area of Career and Technical Education (CTE). Through grant funding, we will both conduct research related to CTE, and fund and train future scholars in the area of CTE.

Briefs and Reports:

• Supporting the College and Career Transition from High School to Beyond During Times of Uncertainty: Viewpoints from College and Career Access Programs (June 2021)
• The Effect of the Career and Technical Education Pathway on Community College Attainment: An Instrumental Variables Approach (May 2021)
• College and Career Promise Leading to Transfer Outcomes: A Regression Discontinuity Analysis (November 2020)
• The Relationship Between Participation in Career and College Promise and Community College Attainment (November 2020)
• Postsecondary Participation in SkillsUSA (June 2020)

Through its National Initiative for Leadership and Institutional Effectiveness (NILIE), the Belk Center works with institutions, primarily community colleges, to administer campus climate assessments for the purpose of enhancing institutional effectiveness and student success. NILIE utilizes the PACE: Community College Climate Survey instrument to gather employee perspectives on campus climate and provides institutional leaders with critical information for strategic decision making. In addition, the Home State Initiative (HSIn) is an innovative, collaborative program that bridges NILIE’s mission to support community colleges with NC State’s land grant mission to serve the state of North Carolina. Through HSIn, NILIE provides free data collection, analysis and reporting services to a select set of community colleges in rural areas of North Carolina facing declining enrollment, unsatisfactory student outcomes, and/or challenges with employee recruitment and retention, among other issues.

Finish Line Grants
In September 2019, we co-hosted the Finish Line Grants Symposium program. The support the implementation of a program is designed to provide emergency aid to community college students facing financial challenges.

CARES Act
We examine NC Community Colleges’ processes for using the CARES Act student emergency funds. Current reports:

• North Carolina Community Colleges and the CARES Act Student Emergency Aid

International Education
We conduct research exploring the types of international education programs and experiences happening at community colleges. Current reports:

• International Education at North Carolina Community Colleges
• Understanding Who Studies Abroad at Community Colleges

Transfer is vital to ensuring the state of North Carolina meets in the statewide attainment goal to increase the number of North Carolinians with credentials. Our  research is focused on the experiences and outcomes of students earning credits at North Carolina community colleges and how those credits are transfer into 4-year institutions. We look a policies such as Career and College Promise, a policy that allows high schools students to earn credit while in high school as well as the impact of articulation agreements, such as the comprehensive articulation agreement.

Along with our research we are also supporting Transfer Working Groups made up of representatives from the NCCCS, UNC System, the Transfer Advisory Committee, and other key stakeholders around transfer in the state to improve the experience of transfer for students. The groups met for the first time in fall of 2020 and will be sharing more details about their priorities in the upcoming months.

Briefs & Reports:

• Effective Community College and Public University Transfer Partnerships in North Carolina (April 2021)
• Identifying Effective Community College and Public University Transfer Partnerships in North Carolina (April 2021)
• Examining the Baccalaureate Completion of Associate in Applied Science Transfers (March 2021)
• Community College-HBCU Transfer Students: Promising Practices for Student Success (February 2021)
• Credential Completion and Transfer Outcomes at North Carolina’s Community Colleges Using IPEDS Outcome Measures (February 2021)
• Transfer Equity in Access and Completion: A Demographic Profile of North Carolina’s Community College Students Who Transfer to University of North Carolina Institutions (February 2021)
• Low-Income Transfer Students: Paths to Bachelor’s Degree Completion  (December 2020)
• The Relationship Between Participation in Career and College Promise and Community College Attainment (December 2020)
• College and Career Promise Leading to Transfer Outcomes: A Regression Discontinuity Analysis (December 2020)
• The Role of North Carolina’s Comprehensive Articulation Agreement in Transfer Efficiency (October 2020)
• Baccalaureate Degree Completion in North Carolina: Through a Dual Enrollment Pathway (October 2020)

Presidential Pathways
The presidential pathways study is one of three studies that support the Executive Leadership Program at the Belk Center for Community College Leadership and Research. The purpose of this study is two-fold: first to provide a set of baseline data of the current presidents in the North Carolina Community College System (NCCCS) as of January 2020 in order to track changes in the leadership over the next several years; second, to analyze the data and identify the educational, experiential and leadership pathways of current presidents. Current report:

• Executive Leadership Research: Presidential Pathways (May 2020)

Strategic Plans
The Belk Center works with North Carolina’s community colleges and leaders to improve student success. To measure progress, it is critical to first capture a snapshot of activities that guide current practices, policies, and procedures at each of the North Carolina community colleges. As part of a broader research agenda to provide a descriptive analysis of executive leadership across North Carolina, this research project focused on the strategic plans developed by the college’s president, leadership team, and stakeholders as of January 2020. Current report:

• How NC Community College Strategic Plans Support Student Success 

In collaboration with Achieving the Dream (ATD), the Belk Center supports institutional teaching and learning initiatives that further develop faculty-led inclusive instructional practices, supporting community college students as engaged learners. With attention on transforming partner institutions the Center’s work with Teaching and Learning initiatives contributes to creating an atmosphere of inquiry, reflective practices, and continuous improvement across the state of North Carolina.

Current Reports:

• Teaching & Learning Executive Summary

Current Policy Briefs:

• Policy Brief Series: Adult Learners (June 2021)

• A Q-Methodology Study of African American Male Perceptions of the Factors that Contribute to their Persistence at a Rural Community College (Jeffrey Allen)
• Predicting Student Success in Online Postsecondary Career and Technical Education: Engaging with Peers, Faculty, Content and Work-Based Learning (Alain Ayangma)
• The Impact of Institutional Characteristics on Performance Measure Success Rates at Community Colleges in North Carolina (John Bakken)
• Mixed Methods Analysis of Effective Transfer Partnerships at Two- and Four-Year Colleges in North Carolina (Carrie Bartek)
• The Experiences of Dual Enrollment Students on Completion of Baccalaureate Degrees in North Carolina (Kara Battle)
• Examining the Perspectives of Geospatial Professionals Toward the U.S. Department of Labor’s Geospatial Technology Competency Model: A Q Methodology Approach (Rodney Jackson)
• A Case Study Exploring Perspectives of Community College Experiences’ Role on Soft Skills Development of North Carolina Students Enrolled in Career and Technical Programs (Micara Lewis-Sessoms)
• Exploring the Role of Demographics and Occupation-type (Based on Career Clusters) on Labor Market Outcomes Among the Associate Degree Holders:  A study Based on American Community Survey (ACS) Data from 2016 (Fawad Rafi)
• The Experiences of Low-Income Transfer Students and Their Paths to Bachelor’s Degree Completion (Ashley Swing)

• The Role of Relational Trust in Promoting Faculty Engagement in Student Success Reform Efforts at Community Colleges (Susan Burleson)
• The Influence of Late Course Registration on Student Success in Higher Education (Adrianne Freeman)
• Competency Identification for Threat Assessment and Management Trainees: A Modified Delphi Study (Heather Kloeker-Webster)
• Community College Students’ Viewpoints of an Outstanding Advising Process: A Q Method Examination (Melvina Lee)
• Stakeholder Perceptions on the Most Important Knowledge and Skills to Gain Through a Graduate Program in Training and Development: A Q-Study (Austina White)
• Middle Leaders Communication with Faculty during Student Success Reform Efforts in Two Community Colleges (Constance Wolfe)

2018:

• A Holistic Case Study of First-Generation Community College Students Experience in a Performance-Based Scholarship Program: Building Social Capital (Michelle Wilson)
• Impact of Math Study Skills Co-Requisite Courses on Student Success in Pre-Calculus at an Urban Community College (Yolanda Wilson)