This week brings another report that raises the issue of whether or not there is a connection between a college's, or in this case a higher education sector's, reliance on contingent labor and the success of its students.  The report, Making Connections, Dimensions of Student Engagement, flows from the annual Community College Survey of Student Engagement. 

As Inside Higher Ed reported, this year's findings lead the authors to the issue of "part-timeness" which "stands as one of the greatest challenges community colleges face in creating strong connections with students."  "Part-timeness" is both about the large number of students who attend community colleges part-time and the heavy reliance on part-time faculty at these institutions.  Now, as several commenters in the IHE story (and also over on the New York Times blog "The Choice" have pointed out), the study falls into a usual pattern implying that the lack of engagement is somehow the fault of part-time faculty members rather than the lack of support and investment in those part-time faculty by the institutions.

But, given that there continues to be research correlating the lack of support for part-time faculty with lower student outcomes, here is the question: What should we do about/with that research?  Perhaps we should start with what we shouldn't do with the research.

First and foremost, we shouldn't let it function to undermine the professionalism of part-time faculty and place blame on the very people who are increasingly responsible for undergraduate education in this country.  At the same time, we shouldn't discount the entire set of research because we don't like how it is presented.  Yes, it is frustrating that the research keeps sending a message we don't like, but underneath that is a growing set of data exposing a structural problem that needs addressing.

And ultimately, that is the key.  We don't want this research to just be "academic."  It is important research to bolster a public policy position that we need to invest in the faculty at our colleges and universities if we are going to improve student success.  We need more discussion that follows on the research to pursue the question as to what are we going to do about it.  More to the point, we need to get public policymakers to take up that question.  That will happen neither at an academic conference where researchers compare their findings, nor will it happen if we spend our time dismissing the research.

We need to make this research part of our education of legislators, parents, students and the community that depends on colleges and universities.  What this research tells us is that if we believe that students succeeding in higher education is good for the students, their families, their employers and the communities in which they live, then  faculty must be provided with the time, space and resources they need to engage students as fully as possible. 

Do part-time faculty help students succeed? Of course they do.  It would be silly to suggest otherwise. But far too often that is because part-time faculty members are professional educators who care about their students, not because we have created a structure within which they can and are expected to do that work and are professionally compensated to do it.  They do it on their own time and dime-and ultimately, that system is unethical and is bound to break down as the research is starting to indicate.

So we need to approach this research with some caution and often we may need to re-package the message, but ultimately we need to make sure it gets employed for the right end--an end to the current system of contingency we rely on in higher education.