Teaching in the American Community College

With increasing emphasis on accountability in higher education, the value of faculty professional development continues to gain traction across campuses. Prompted by growing accreditation, assessment, and accountability measures, higher education institutions must provide evidence of faculty compliance with requirements that are tied to professional development. This is as true for community colleges as well as for four-year institutions. External and internal pressures for continuous improvement in teaching necessitates institutional commitment to understanding faculty perceptions and acceptance of high-quality professional development. Community colleges need to gain faculty acceptance of and participation in professional development in order to achieve fidelity to institutional instructional goals and initiatives. This chapter investigates community college faculty buy-in and support for professional development and considers cogent and relevant literature related to faculty professional development within the contemporary American community college setting.