Catching up in Community Colleges: Academic Preparation and Transfer to Four-Year Institutions
Catching up in Community Colleges: Academic Preparation and Transfer to Four-Year Institutions
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赶上社区大学：学术准备和转入四年制院校
DOI：
10.1177/016146811011200103
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发表时间：
2010
期刊：
影响因子：
--
通讯作者：
Juan Carlos Calcagno
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Josipa Roksa;Juan Carlos Calcagno
在高等教育中，从社区大学转到四年制大学仍然是一个有争议的问题，支持者认为学生确实会转到四年制大学，反对者则认为从社区大学开始会阻碍学士学位的获得。在这场辩论中，一个特别突出的问题是学术准备。尽管几乎所有的转学控制研究都是为了学术准备，但很少有研究关注学业上没有准备的学生能否以及如何在高等教育中赶上来。研究问题我们解决了两个研究问题：学业上没有准备的学生在多大程度上转学到四年制大学？而且，成功完成中间结果，比如通过大学水平的数学和写作课程，达到特定的学分门槛，获得副学士学位，是否会削弱初始准备的作用，增加转学的可能性？研究设计使用事件历史技术，我们估计从社区大学转到四年制大学的可能性。分析对象包括1998年秋季在佛罗里达社区大学入学的20900名首次攻读学位的学生。学生的入学情况一直追踪到2003年夏天。社区大学确实可以作为进入四年制大学的另一种途径，即使是对学业上没有准备的学生来说也是如此：在我们的样本中，几乎有20%的学生在进入社区大学时没有准备好大学水平的工作，但最终转入了四年制大学。此外，我们发现，成功完成中间结果，如通过大学水平的数学和写作课程，达到特定的学分门槛，并获得副学士学位，增加了转学的可能性。然而，社区学院缓解学业准备不足对转学的负面影响的能力是有限的；不管中间成绩如何，学业上没有准备好的学生仍然远远落后于那些有准备的学生。结论社区学院可以成为推动高等教育民主化的力量；然而，他们克服一些学生进入高等教育的学术准备不足的能力是有限的。因此，改善K-12阶段的学业准备是促进转学的关键组成部分。
Background/Context Transfer from community colleges to four-year institutions remains a contentious issue in higher education, with proponents showing that students do indeed transfer to four-year institutions and opponents arguing that starting in community colleges hinders baccalaureate degree attainment. One particularly salient issue in this debate is academic preparation. Although virtually all studies of transfer control for academic preparation, there is a dearth of research focusing on whether and how academically unprepared students can catch up in higher education. Research Questions We address two research questions: To what extent do academically unprepared students transfer to four-year institutions? And, can successful completion of intermediate outcomes, such as passing college-level math and writing courses, meeting specific credit thresholds, and earning an associate's degree, diminish the role of initial preparation and increase the probability of transfer? Research Design Using event history techniques, we estimate the likelihood of transfer from community colleges to four-year institutions. Analyses include 20,900 first-time degree-seeking students who enrolled in Florida community colleges in the fall of 1998. Student enrollment is tracked through the summer of 2003. Results Community colleges can indeed serve as an alternative road of access to four-year institutions, even for academically unprepared students: Almost 20% of students in our sample who entered community colleges unprepared for college-level work made the transition to four-year institutions. Moreover, we found that successful completion of intermediate outcomes, such as passing college-level math and writing courses, meeting specific credit thresholds, and earning an associate's degree, enhances the probability of transfer. However, the ability of community colleges to mitigate the negative effects of inadequate academic preparation on transfer is limited; regardless of the intermediate outcome completed, academically unprepared students continued to lag substantially behind their more prepared counterparts. Conclusion Community colleges can serve as a democratizing force in higher education; however, their ability to overcome inadequate academic preparation with which some students enter higher education is limited. Improving academic preparation in K–12 is thus a crucial component of enhancing transfer.