Student Perceptions Of The Honors Program At An Appalachian Community College

<p>Gifted students in the United States are often underserved. Collegiate honors programs are a proven way to provide for gifted students' special needs. Many gifted students attend community colleges, and these institutions have a set of challenges to starting and maintaining thriving honors programs, including accusations of elitism and lack of resources. Community colleges in Appalachia have an additional set of challenges to face, including high proportions of first generation students, rurality, and poverty. Efforts for thriving honors programs need to be effective and efficient at meeting gifted students' needs, but there is little research on the programs at these institutions and how students perceive their experiences. </p> <p>This study is a qualitative case study of the honors program at a small, rural, Appalachian community college in Kentucky. The aim of the study is to assess how students in the program perceive the degree to which the program is meeting their intellectual, social, and professional needs. Students were interviewed with open-ended questions about their experiences in their honors program, including why they joined, the positive aspects, and what needs improvement. </p> <p>It is found that overall, students positively perceived their experience with the honors program, particularly the interdisciplinary discussion format to the coursework, meeting students from other campuses, relationships with faculty, opportunity for travel, and professional development. The negative perceptions students identified were need for more funding and resources, help with transfer to senior institutions, and challenges with honors contract classes. </p> <p>More research into the intersection of gifted students, honors programs, community colleges, and Appalachia is needed to adequately meet the needs of this underserved population. In order to fulfil their social contract of serving the educational needs of their communities, community colleges should offer thriving honors programs for their gifted students, especially in Appalachia, where other opportunities can be severely limited. </p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Level thesis:degree_level

Doctoral's

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Educational Leadership and Policy Studies

Grantor dc:publisher

Eastern Kentucky University

Year

2017

Author dc:creator

• Helton, Melissa Renee

• Appalachia
• community college
• gifted students
• honors programs
• Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research
• Gifted Education
• Higher Education

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2017 Melissa Renee Helton

Repository record dc:identifier

https://encompass.eku.edu/etd/531

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:encompass.eku.edu:etd-1529