Perceptions of community colleges held by high school counselors: a q methodology examination

High school counselors have influence on the college choice decisions made by high
school students. As such, if the idea of attending a community college is going to be shared as a
quality option for high school students, we must understand how high school counselors perceive
community colleges.
The purpose of this study was to examine the perceptions of community colleges that are
held by high school counselors from the Clark County School District, a large urban school
district located in Southern Nevada. Theoretically grounded in Human Perception Theory, the
research design for this study was built using the Q method, a qualitative and quantitative
methodology designed to determine perspectives from a given sample on a specific topic. A
robust concourse of perception statements about community colleges was generated from the
literature and then reduced into a thematic representation of perceptions (Q-set). The participants
sorted each perception statement through a forced distribution based on their level of agreement
or disagreement. Following the participant’s sort, a quantitative analysis was conducted to
include correlations, factor analysis, and factor scores. A post-sort survey was completed by the
participants to garner qualitative data to better understand the participants’ reasons behind their
respective sorts, as well as to gather some demographic information.
Four factors (groups) emerged in this study: community colleges are real colleges (Factor
One), community colleges are a good starting place for students to begin (Factor Two),
community colleges provide practical pathways for all students (Factor Three), and community
colleges have a negative stigma (Factor Four) . Knowing these perceptions will help practitioners
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predict high school counselors’ advice to students during college selection discussions. The
findings illuminate opportunities for future research in this space. Additionally, the findings have
garnered some implications that tie to theory and practice.