Students with Disabilities in the Community College Professional Literature: A Systematic Review

ABSTRACT

Although college students with disabilities (SWD) represent 19% of all college students and most often access postsecondary education most often via community colleges, there is a paucity of information about topics related to SWD in community colleges in professional journals. Moreover, there is even less information in journals specific to community colleges. This study presents the results of a systematic analysis of the published, data-based research on SWD, and community/two-year colleges from 1951 to 2017. In total, 133 articles met the study’s inclusion criteria, with the vast majority of these published in non-community college specific journals, and only 40 that contained information on samples of community college students with disabilities. Research that tested interventions specific to SWD or that examined the roles of faculty/staff in working with SWD was also limited. Suggestions for future research are presented.

Notes

1. In the original study, two additional articles were coded as drawing samples from two-year college. However, these two articles did not meet the inclusion criteria for this study of being about degree-seeking students as these articles depicted postsecondary programs designed for individuals with intellectual disabilities.

Additional information

Funding

This research was not funded by any agency or grant award. It has not been submitted to or published in any other source.