Monday, March 8, 2010
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.
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You should read the article "Designing Pathways to a Four Year Degree" by Alberto Cabrera, a summary of which is available online at Diversity Digest on the web, which includes reference information for finding the full article as well as links to their data and a presentation. The research they did shows that, for the 1980 cohort (and things could have changed since), the best pathway to a four year degree was to get good preparation in high school and to go directly to a four year institution. Those students 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. That is a very stark contrast, and points up how fictional the "stepping stone" vision of community college is when compared with reality.
ReplyDeleteYou don't need Rutgers-specific research to make your argument. You just need to look at studies like the one I cite above. And I imagine there are others like that. Hopefully our discussion of how to track down statistics was helpful for you.
Meanwhile, I will keep my eye out for research on how to improve the stepping stone model to make it more possible for students to use it as a path to success. My impression, both from this research I cite and from my own experience, is that successful stepping stone students are more the exception than the rule.