A description of services provided by community colleges in North Carolina to special populations of students as defined by the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Technical Education Act of 1998

The 1998 Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Technical Education Act requires state plans to describe how special populations in higher education institutions are provided equal access to vocational education programs and how they are prepared for high-skill, high-wage careers.; Special population students participate in a wide range of career and technical education programs at the postsecondary level. This study focused on how the community colleges in North Carolina currently deliver and monitor services for these groups of students. Specifically, this study answers the question, are services being provided to special population students consistent with the expectations as defined by the Carl D. Perkins Vocational Act of 1998.; The results of the study indicate that community colleges in North Carolina are serving large groups of special populations. There is a lack of consistency of services for special population students, however, and there is a lack of uniformity in what data are kept in terms of definitive numbers and categories of special population students served.