Awareness and perceptions of the AACC competencies for community college leaders: a statewide system's perspective

Abstract

It has been 15 years since the initial publication of the American Association of Community Colleges’ competencies for community college leaders (AACC, 2005), which outlined six competencies community college leaders needed if they were to be successful: organizational strategy, resource management, communication, collaboration, community college advocacy, and professionalism. After copious research regarding the competencies in the early years after their publication (e.g., Boswell & Imroz, 2013; Hassan et al., 2009; Kools, 2010, McNair, 2009; McNair et al., 2011), community college leaders both validated the competencies while admitting they were underprepared for early leadership roles relative to the importance of each competency. There has been limited research surrounding the competencies since this first wave, including a dearth of studies surrounding the publication of the second edition of the AACC competencies (AACC, 2013). This descriptive nonexperimental survey research design examined the AACC competencies for community college leaders through the lens of Ivy Tech Community College, the nation’s largest singly-accredited community college (ITCC, 2020a). This study examined: (a) to what degree emerging, new, and veteran community college leaders believed the AACC competencies for community college leaders are important for community college leaders to possess, (b) to what degree emerging, new, and veteran community college leaders perceived their own competence of each of the AACC competencies for community college leaders, (c) were there significant differences between the importance and perceived competence levels of each of the AACC competencies for community college leaders, (d) what acquisition sources did emerging, new, and veteran community college leaders believe are important surrounding the attainment of each of the AACC competencies for community college leaders, and (e) were there significant differences between respondent demographics and the importance, perceived competence level, and acquisition sources of each of the AACC’s competencies for community college leaders? Respondents affirmed research findings surrounding the importance of the AACC competencies for community college leaders, and respondents rated themselves significantly less prepared in each competency relative to its importance level. Respondents also found practical experiences to be more important than doctoral education in the acquisition of the competencies. While there were few significant differences among respondents’ answers by gender, age, educational attainment, and office location, practical differences arose with women respondents having larger perceived self-competence gaps than men respondents related to the competencies. This study adds to the literature of various studies on the first and second editions of the AACC competencies for community college leadership, with competencies that are the backbone of the third edition. While reviewing the second edition of the competencies, this study examines the competencies through lenses not previously identified by expanding a wider swath of community college staff and administrative faculty than just community college presidents and board of trustees’ members. These results bring into focus the 15 years of work community college leaders, practitioners, and doctoral faculty have put into improving their respective practices. This study may be used as a springboard upon which to examine the third edition of the AACC competencies for community college leaders. Additional results surrounding gender and the competencies open the doors to further research on the topic while also offering practical suggestions for addressing these disparities.