Community Colleges are not stepping stones blog 15

“Those students who went straight to a four-year institution straight out of high school had an 80% completion rate of a four year degree. Students who went to a community college had only a 3.3% completion rate of a four-year degree” (Cabrera 1).

Community colleges are not acting as the stepping stone model for four year institutions because those students transferring from community college to four year institutions seem to fail because they are not prepared. Community colleges seem to be aiding people more into "falling into the river" rather than providing students with support to succeed. Due to the way our society uses fiction such as the media to be a 'truthfull' source of information it perceives community colleges as the place to go but in reality they dont save you money and dont prepare you for your future. Money is not being saved because many students wind up failing courses and having to stay extra years at the university which,in the end, costs them what they saved or even more. Because of community colleges open admissions policy any student is allowed to enter which holds back certain students from learning because teachers have to compensate for the different learning abilities of all their students.

Basile, Elizabeth Anne. A Longitudinal Study of Reverse Transfer Students and the Second Chance Function of the Community College. 2004. Print.

Bourke, Brian, Claire H. Major, and Michael S. Harris. "Images of Fictional Community College Students." Community College Journal of Research & Practice 33.1 (2009): 55-69.Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 24 Feb. 2010.

Cejda, Brent D., Nancy Hensel, and Council on Undergraduate Research. Undergraduate
Research at Community Colleges. Washington, D.C: Council on Undergraduate Research, 2009. Print.

Cohen, Arthur M., and Florence B. Brawer. The American Community College. 5th ed. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2008. Print.

Comparing the Academic Progress of Native and Transfer Students for the Fall 2002.
Cohort Office of Institutional Research and Academic Planning. http://oirap.rutgers.edu/reports/MSA2008/Self-Study-Reports/transfer-report.pdf.

Diamond, Robin. Dean of Transfer Students. Livingston. Personal Interview.

Floyd, Deborah L., and Laura Antczak. "Reflections on Community College Research."
Community College Journal of Research & Practice 34.1/2 (2010): 1-6. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 3 Mar. 2010.

Goeller, Michael. Personal interview.

Kirst, Michael W., and Andrea Venezia. From High School to College: Improving Opportunities for Success in Postsecondary Education. 1st ed. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2004. Print.

Khoshtinat, Danielle. Personal interview.

Lanman, Sandra.ARTSYS eases way for community college transfer students. September 8,2000.http://ur.rutgers.edu/focus/article/ARTSYS%20eases%20way%20for%20community%20college%20transfer%20students/164/.

Laanan, Frankie Santos. Transfer Students : Trends and Issues. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2001. Print.

Mellow, Gail Minding the Dream : The Process and Practice of the American Community
College O'Connor, and Cynthia M. Heelan.Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2008. Print.

Olzsewki, Kayla. Personal Interview.

"Recently Completed Dissertations on Community and Junior Colleges." Community College Journal of Research & Practice 33.1 (2009): 82-84. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 24 Feb. 2010.

Transfer Students Success Guide. Rutgers.edu. http://sasundergrad.rutgers.edu/academics/current/transfer/successguide.html.

Treat, Tod. "Evaluating Learning Outcomes in an International Professional Development Program." Community College Journal of Research & Practice 34.1/2 (2010): 111-135. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 3 Mar. 2010.

blog 14

Over the course of the semester my project has evolved into a solid side. In the beginning i believed that community colleges were the right path to take because of the way they were advertised and perceived to be places to go that would better your standings and guide you to the college experience. After much research i believe that the fact that community college acting as a stepping stone to four year institutions is false. There are many different aspects that validate my side of the argument. Some examples are, the fact that students are not prepared when they transfer from a community college to a 4 year institution, the fact that in the end it does not save you money because you wind up having to stay longer at the 4 year college because you fail classes and have to stay extra time in the university, also if the credits you take do not transfer you have to make up for them by taking more classes and you have already paid for some. The thing that influenced me most was the statistics of the success rate of students who succeed when having transferred from community college to four year institutions. I learned that in order to succeed in the research process you have to dedicate a lot of time into the topic and make sure that what you are doing interests you.

The truth behing success

The blog would not let me upload my graph that i created, but it is a graph that shows the fact that of those students who attend community college and transfer to a four year school only 3.3% complete a degree and of those students who go right to a four year institution from high school 80% complete a 4 year degree.

This image is extremely significant because it demonstrates how those students who transfer are not prepared for what is ahead of them. It proves the point that commnunity colleges are not acting as a stepping stone for students transfering to four year institutions, but are more or less preparing them to fail. It demonstrates how community colleges are really not the best path to take because in the end the money you save is paying for the extra credits you have to take because you fail and the school is not setting you up for the future.

outline revised

I.Introduction
II. Community college as a stepping stone to four year institutions.
ii.Statistics of those who transfer to schools such as Rutgers. Dean Robin Diamonds interview. The background on
community colleges, for example : did society and the government just throw this standing of being a place to go to aid
in getting into 4 year schools. how come they are not prepared from the types of students that come there? (still trying
to find this information.) does going to community college really save you money or in the end is it worth it because
when you go to a four year institution not all of your credits transfer and some times you fail courses leading you to
have to stay
longer which costs more money.
III. The types of students that attend RUTGERS and why is it that those types of students attend.
iii.What do community colleges do about those students who are exceptional when it comes to school considering that
those students who attend community college normally do not know what they want to do in life or the fact that they
don't do good in high school.
IV. The depiction of community college in fiction.
iv. What does this representation in fiction portray? does it compare to reality? scholarly sources show the views of
community college and the ways that community colleges act on that vision.
V. The transfer process.
v. What community colleges have to say on transferring. Do they encourage transferring or do they encourage students
to take their time and finish out with an associates degree.

outline

Outline
I. introduction- Argument : the fact of whether or not community colleges are acting as stepping stones to four-year universities
a. introduce my main argument and the scholarly works.
ii. first body paragraph
b. explain what community colleges are portrayed as. why they seem to be beneficial over going to a four-year school right away. i need to gather statistics to to show the money saved from going to community college before attending a major university.
iii. community college as a stepping stone to four-year institutions
c. in this part of my paper i plan on identifying the statistics that i've gathered on the success rates of those students who transfer to four-year schools from community college. These statistics will prove how most students are not prepared coming from a community school rather than transferring from a four year school. in the end these statements will prove how even though its stated that your saving money, in the long run you will most likely need to take extra classes because you either failed or didn't have enough credits transferred.
iv. the aid for the transfer process provided by rutgers needs to it in somewhere in my paper to identify how the transfer process works and to prove that not all classes credit's transfer so it lays out the appropriate courses that you should be taking. in this portion i also plan on putting in information from dean diamond that gives statistics and her view on those students transferring from community colleges to rutgers.
v. Representing community college in fiction
d. community college in fiction is a very big deal because that is the vision that everyone holds to be true because everyone relies on television and advertisements for their main source of information. this topic contradicts the reality of community colleges in real life which is a main contributor in the portrayal of what community college really does and what it is like. In this paragraph i will be comparing the views of community college n fiction and the way it i completely different from the real world.
vi. conclusion

Blog 11

My case are the fictional works that represent community college in the wrong light. One of those fictions is the television show called Community. In the show the students have to take physical education just like in high school when they have to change and the thing they are learning is billiards. The teacher acts like a child when it comes to drama between the students. this representation of community college shows that it is a joke and a walk in the park because of the way that the students act towards their education. I have not yet reached an episode that demonstrates community colleges as a successfull stepping stone but the students in the community college have restarted school as an older student who plans on just completing a degree at the community college. i also plan to keep on looking through tv shows and movies to find the more fictional representations of community colleges compared to real life.



My counter case is that of the reality of community colleges. In order to represent this counter case i plan on interviewing dean diamond next week and a friend of mine that transfered from brookdale community college to rutgers. i want to focus on their struggles and see how well they succeed in specific courses

Blog 11

My case is whether or not community college is working as a stepping stone for four-year institutions.

Blog 10

The debate that i have found is that community colleges are good in the sense that they save you money by allowing you to take the classes that you would be taking at any other school for the first two years. Community colleges give you time to figure out what you want to do with your life and what you want to major in before waisting all your money at a place that doesn't offer what you want. The other side of this argument is that it is harder for students to succeed in four year instituions when coming from a community college because there preparation and background knowledge is not the same. Students seem to struggle in courses that are required such as expositroy writing 101 which demonstrates that although you saved money it may not be helping you in the future because you may have to stay extra time to finish credits and may not get the degree in the amount of time that you would like. Another problem is that not all credits from community colleges transfer to four year institutions which was a waste of your time and money for taking classes that will only hurt you in the long run. The writers that i have found that identify this debate are Brouke, who demonstrates the usage of promoting community college in fictional works, Laman, who demonstrates the transfer process for that of students tranfering here from community colleges. The author of Comparing the academic process of native and transfer students gives statistics of the success rate of transfer students. There are many books that seem as if they will help me, but i have not yet had a chance to read them.
The different sides focus on different aspects of the problem in the way that if one side was right then the other would not have any support. It is either that community college acts as an aid for four year schools or it is not. It is whether or not in the long run community college is as beneficial as it is promoted to be. One side of the debate sees the argument as if community college is the be all end all and forms their argument over the fact that they believe community college is the way to go. The other side of the argument is that of the actual school that is dealing with the actual transfer students because it is their title that suffers if they do not have students succeeding. The four year schools have validation that for some, community colleges are not beneficial but for others they are.

Research blog 9

My research seems to be coming along, but i am having a few problems. i am having trouble finding sources that give me specific statistics on the success rates of students that transfer to Rutgers from community college. I do not believe that i have found specific key terms to help frame my argument, so i think i stll need to work on that. I do believe that i thnk i have chosen the right case because it seems that i have found substantial information to help me and i also believe that it is a relevant topic that the students of this decade are facing. I believe that i have found a few very substantial primary sources, so in that aspect i think i am doing well. My possible argument is coming along. It is that of whether or not community colleges are working as a two year to four year stepping stone for students. I have to pull all the information together to bring the product to the final drafting stage. i need to sit down with all my information and see what more i need to accomplish. I think right now i need to focus on what scholarly sources still need to get to satisfy my argument.

research in conversation

MY research question is that, are community colleges as a two year to four year stepping stone working for students?
in some of my research i came across the way that community colleges are portrayed in fiction. just as many other "norms" we live come from media, so does the way that we portray community colleges. according to Bourke, "the image of the community college as a stepping stone dominates fictional work. This is certainly an aspect of the community college that can be stressed during recruitment and admissons." This type of behavior seems to acknowledge the fact that in fiction community college is portrayed for the students who don't seem to do too well in high school and they use it as a drawing in tactic to show students that college is a completely different life and you can turn your grades around. however, that's also not a good thing because there are those students that are brilliant and can not seem to afford school that go there also so when it comes time for transfering it is not as easy.
Community colleges as a whole do not seem to be working as a stepping stone for four year institutions because the types of skills and learning tactics taught in community colleges do not prepare you for the types of classes at four year school. According to some studies " students who come to Rutgers from community colleges seem to struggle when taking expository writing 101" because the type of writing skills required to take this course are not implemented because at community college the teaching has to cover students of very high proficciency to very low. According to one study," Honors students comprise only 2% of community college students compared to 7% at four-year institutions." This type of statistic shows how those at community colleges have different learning styles and to compensate for those students the teacher has to teach so that the class can learn and be as strong as their weakest student.

Annotated Bibliography

Bourke, Brian, Claire H. Major, and Michael S. Harris. "Images of Fictional Community College
Students." Community College Journal of Research & Practice 33.1 (2009): 55-69.
Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 24 Feb. 2010.
In this source there are 52 other sources cited. A few that I have used in my research so far are B.T. Long who
establishes the statistics of what percent of honor students attend community colleges and
four year colleges, Quick, D., Lehmann, J., & Deniston, T. who bring up the point of the
types of students that enroll in community colleges and four year colleges and what that
says about community colleges, and DeGenaro, W. who shows us the portrayal of
community colleges in fictional media. This source will help make the reader understand
how community college is looked at from other perspectives and will aid in the
understanding of the types of needs that students attending community college need.

Cohen, Arthur M., and Florence B. Brawer. The American Community College. 5th ed. San
Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2008. Print.This book demonstrates what the American Community College system is like. It talks of how the schools are run and what types of students attend these schools. In different areas, specific community colleges are better than others and this book helps bring out what makes one school better than the other. This will help in realizing how much more difficult it is for a student to transfer from one community college to a four year school than another.

MLA Format Blog #5

Basile, Elizabeth Anne. A Longitudinal Study of Reverse Transfer Students and the Second Chance Function of the Community College., 2004. Print.

Cohen, Arthur M., and Florence B. Brawer. The American Community College. 5th ed. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2008. Print.

Mellow, Gail O'Connor, and Cynthia M. Heelan. Minding the Dream : The Process and Practice of the American Community College. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2008. Print.

Powell, Robert Lee, Jr. An Analysis of the Factors Related to the Academic Performance of Community College Transfer and Native Business Students at New Jersey Public Senior Institutions of Higher Education., 1979. Print.

Rosenbaum, James E., Regina Deil-Amen, and Ann E. Person. After Admission : From College Access to College Success. New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 2006. Print.

Questions for my topic Blog #6

Possible questions for my topic are :

Do community colleges really prepare students for the future and give them the ability to succeed at a 4 year institution?

Although it is said that community college is a great way to save money, is it really worth it in the long run?

Is going to school for only two years working for students?

What is the success rate of students transferring from feeder schools? Do they have the right amount of knowledge to succeed in specific classes given by specific universities?

Rutgers RIOT

The Rutgers RIOT tutorial is a great way to learn how to navigate the library website. It taught us how to find new search engines that help limit our searches to topics that are only under our keywords. Other search engines, such as google and yahoo, bring up thousands of websites that might have only one of your words in the search tab among millions of other pieces of information that will not help with your topic. Using the search engines provided by the Rutgers library website we have the ability to use just key words to find thousands of articles to help us with our topic. These search engines also help narrow down searches to the specifics of your topic and allow you to get scholarly journals, articles, etc. The tutorial was a good teaching device because it took you step by step through how to navigate throughout the Rutgers library website. I don't think it needs any improvement.

Questions for the librarian

1) What is the best search engine to use that will give us the most accurate information and the most success?



2) How do we look up and find books throughout the library?



3) What is the best way to find specific statistics. For example, "How successfull are students transfering to Rutgers?"

My topic idea has not changed since blog one, but it has been somewhat modified. I have taken into consideration how affective the comminity colleges have been in my hometown. The community college in my hometown is Brookdale Community College and it is one of the best ones around. It seems that the community college system is very affective in our area because it gives students a chance to get situated and get over the initial work load change from high school to college. It gives students a chance to find what they are looking for in life such as what path to take towards occupations. When researching the success rate of students coming from community college to Rutgers i found that Rutgers has an easy access website known as ARTSYS to help students realize what credits will transfer to this school. A thing that makes it difficult for those transfering is that when they have taken certain classes that do not transfer and it was a waste of money because they could have been spending time on something that would have helped them. Rutgers provides many different sites to help aid in the transfer process to make sure that everything you have worked hard for will be worth it. Coming to Rutgers from a community college may consider you to stay an extra year because not everything will transfer and it will cost you more money in the end. I dont believe that community college is a failed model all together because it definately helps students find there path but ways to improve it are to offer classes that will definately transfer to schools. Having random classes that do not tansfer allow students to have a higher gpa, but in the end will not help them because they wasted their time and their money. To still find out my topic i need to conduct more research as to specific success rates and statistics for transfering from a community college to a 4 year univesity.
http://ur.rutgers.edu/focus/article/ARTSYS%20eases%20way%20for%20community%20college%20transfer%20students/164/

http://admissions.rutgers.edu/applynow/morefortransferapplicants/njcommunitycollegestudents.aspx

First Thought on my final paper topic

Coming into this class i was not sure what to expect from it. Being a freshman at Rutgers makes this course easy to relate to because we are dealing with all the adjustments of a new life in store for us. The initial reaction to college is a way of having complete and total freedom and the opportunity to make decisions for yourself. After the initial reaction to life on your own most people sit back and look at what college really is which is a place with many opportunities, yet struggles being thrown at you. Adjusting to a new life is very hard and comes along with many crucial decisions that will affect the rest of your life. Higher education is now becoming more and more expensive and harder for people to be a part of. But why should parents spend all this money for their children to go off and ruin their futures? Why aren't schools designed so that you go to a community college the first two years to get used to the whole college experience before actually going away and throwing away all that money? Since schools aren't like this what kind of support goes out to those in need of succeeding? Those families who are comfortably living why do they not get the rights to just as much financial aid as the next? They probably can't afford school and live a normal life either.