Leading for the Future: Alignment of AACC Competencies with Practice. New Directions for Community College, Number 159

The AACC competencies were initially developed to help provide guidance in developing community college leaders because of predictions of a leadership crisis in the two-year college sector. Since their creation, the competencies have been used to direct topics in leadership development programs and to guide future leaders about what skills are critical to master. Yet scant research exists on the use of the competencies in practice or on analysis of the competencies within the changing higher education climate. This issue provides a review of the research on the competencies in the field and posits several strategies for the future use of the competencies and potential cha…