Objective: Despite extensive debate about the curricular mission of community colleges, prior research has not sufficiently analyzed differences in the kinds of degrees (i.e., the field of study and award level) community colleges produce. Therefore, we explore both the fields of study and the levels at which public community colleges grant degrees and analyze how this has changed over time. Method: Multilevel latent class analysis is used here to estimate latent degree-granting profiles, and colleges are allocated into the profiles based on their observed degree-granting behaviors from 1987 to 2012. Results: The analysis shows that public community colleges can be allocated into five distinct degree-granting profiles over the period of study. A small minority of colleges have and continue to engage almost exclusively in a vocational mission. The two degree profiles that increased in prominence over time suggest an overall shift toward the simultaneous pursuit of transfer and vocational missions. However, a majority of colleges (68%) exhibited stable degree-granting behaviors between 1987 and 2012, indicating a relatively high level of stability in degree-granting patterns across community colleges during this period. Contribution: These patterns highlight variation across colleges and both stability and change within institutions over time. This suggests that public community colleges are simultaneously situated in strong institutional and technical environments and, thus, are subject to constraints and incentives that shape not only their stated policies but also their actual degree-granting behaviors.

中文翻译：

---

社区学院的使命感：随着时间的推移对学位授予情况的审查

目标：尽管对社区学院的课程使命存在广泛争论，但先前的研究并未充分分析社区学院产生的学位种类（即学习领域和奖励水平）的差异。因此，我们探索了公共社区大学授予学位的研究领域和水平，并分析了随着时间的推移如何变化。方法：这里采用多层次潜在类别分析来估计潜在学位授予概况，并根据其观察到的 1987 年至 2012 年的学位授予行为将大学分配到概况中。 结果：分析表明，公立社区学院可以分配到在学习期间有五个不同的学位授予概况。少数大学已经并将继续几乎完全从事职业使命。随着时间的推移越来越突出的两个学位简介表明总体转向同时追求转学和职业使命。然而，在 1987 年至 2012 年期间，大多数大学（68%）表现出稳定的学位授予行为，表明在此期间社区学院的学位授予模式具有相对较高的稳定性。贡献：这些模式突出了大学之间的差异以及机构内随着时间的推移的稳定性和变化。这表明公立社区大学同时处于强大的制度和技术环境中，因此受到限制和激励的影响，这些限制和激励不仅会影响其声明的政策，还会影响其实际的学位授予行为。