This issue provides an overview of the relevant contemporary literature and practice in areas of major concern to community colleges: transfer rates, vocational education, remedial and developmental education, English as a second language, assessment of student learning, student services, faculty and staff, and governance and policy. It also includes a discussion of the categories, types, and purposes of literature about community college educators, administrators, and scholars.

Practitioners and researchers alike are hard-pressed to keep abreast of rapidly changing expectations for and from community colleges. Using literature and research to inform practice has many advantages. The intent of this issue is twofold: first, to review recent research on topics of importance, highlighting consensus and contradictions in the literature, and second, to identify critical challenges community colleges face and present practical options for meeting them that are supported by the findings in the literature.

This is the 117th issue of the quarterly journal New Directions for Community Colleges.