Institutional Narrative as a Means for Evaluating Mission Alignment at Community Colleges

Community colleges have expanded their goals and their mission statements to accommodate more students, introduce new programs, and respond to community needs. One result of this expansion has been the perception of mission misalignment: the idea that community colleges are struggling to fulfill their missions. Recent literature has focused on causes and problems presumed to be associated with mission misalignment; however, there is a gap in the empirical research on whether mission misalignment occurs. The purpose of this study was to examine mission misalignment in community colleges, thereby helping to fill the gap in the literature. The research question was the extent to which the discourse presented on an institutionâs website demonstrates an institutional narrative that aligns with the mission statement. The conceptual framework was Fisherâs rhetorical theory of narrative fidelity as demonstrative of truthful institutional story. Using the institutional stories as presented on the college websites of 4 community colleges, 2 rural and 2 urban located in adjacent states, this qualitative study used critical discourse analysis as the method to perform in-depth textual and image analyses of the collegesâ webpages. The findings were that the sample colleges demonstrate institutional narratives that align with their mission statements. Recommendations for research include further use of critical discourse analysis in the investigation of institutional story. Evidence of mission alignment can be leveraged for increased fiscal and social support for community colleges, and can contribute to positive social change through societal confidence that community colleges are doing what they claim to be doing and what society expects of them