Remarks from the editor

IF YOU ARE familiar with the League for Innovation's "21" Century Learning Outcomes Project," you will recognize our common aim, as community college educators, to align the skills we teach with the skills required for success in transfer education, the workplace and society. Sixteen community colleges participate in the project, and data on their progress can be found at www.league.org/league/ projects/pew/.

We would like to hear from educators, administrators, community and business leaders not directly involved with the League's work. What are your experiences with the alignment of or gap between skills taught and skills required? Please email me with questions or ideas at Ireiblin@schoolcraft.cc.mi.us.

In the current "Two Sides of the Same Coin" interview, Steven Berg records views of leadership from two men: James MacGregor Burns, an author and senior fellow in the Jepson School of Leadership Studies at the University of Richmond; and Ritchie McKay, head coach of men's basketball at the University of New Mexico. Though the contexts in which they model leadership skills establish different perspectives, some of their views on the subject are strikingly similar.

The first article of the issue reports quantitative research -by Anne Monroe and Rena Richtig on factors affecting the transfer behavior of community college students. A qualitative section of the study groups responses into themes according to areas that community colleges and universities could improve. The second article presents the results of a study by Judith Marwick comparing alternative methods of placement into the mathematics curriculum of a community college.

In an article on the leadership value of a wellcrafted institutional mission statement, William Berry Calder points out the potential for action and institutional development within the organization as well as building community and business/industry relationships. Paul Cameron and Gary Richmond discuss the importance of critical thinking in helping community college students learn to under, stand social issues and the need for using the skills across the curriculum.

Jonathan Carroll examines assessment tools that can provide institutions with useful knowledge for improving the process students encounter when they enroll in a community college. George Ansalone looks at the impact of tracking on attrition in urban community colleges of the Northeastern United States where the practice occurs.

In the book review section of the current issue, Kristi VanderRoest, a transfer college student, reviews I Writing: The Politics and Practice of Teaching First-Person Writing by Karen Surman Paley. In the technology review, Patricia Kilbourn-Haller and William Drummond point out the advantages of QuestionMark Perception for Windows, a software product that serves as a tool for educators to write, administer and report assessments, tests and surveys with case.

The endeavors of educators require continuous improvement, and in that, we continue to look for ways that we can help each other excel.

Louis A. Reibling, Ph.D.

Editor

Copyright Schoolcraft College Fall 2002
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