Jones may be equally matched in terms of teacher effectiveness in a community college classroom. From the very basics of statistics, one learns the difference between validity and reliability. Years of teaching experience are absolutely no guarantor that one has taught with effectiveness. Reliability is not validity. That, in and of itself, signals the primary differences in credibility and validity of qualifications when comparing dedicated teachers and researchers whom may double as teachers.
Faculty having doctorates are probably more acclimated to conducting active research.
If the motivation for hiring more faculty with Ph.D's is to generate a skilled pooled of in-house persons capable of helping community colleges evolve as the dynamic institutions which they are, then such an initiative is a timely one. As with colleges of education in which educational researchers provide support to other faculty, having in-house researchers would be a godsend for community colleges. All too often, students are used as the reason for this or that, but upon closer examination, it becomes clear that serving the students has become conspicuously obscured by other motivating factors. At this juncture, I am not convinced that students represent the main reason for hiring more Ph.D. faculty in community colleges. Check this box if you would like this submission to be considered for publication as a letter to the editor in the printed Chronicle.