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6
Transfer from Community Colleges
to Four-Year Institutions
Important Points Made by the Speaker
• he numbers of community college students who transfer to four-year col-
T
leges and earn degrees in the natural sciences and engineering need to be
greatly increased.
• ransfer scholarships focused on STEM fields and “individual development
T
accounts” could help increase the diversity of students in STEM fields.
• vidence-Based Innovation Consortia (EBICs) could create networks of
E
relationships among community colleges, universities, and open education
resource practitioners to support the adaptation and adoption of evidence-
based innovations.
In analyzing transfer from community colleges to four-year institu -
tions, Alicia Dowd, co-director of the Center for Urban Education and
professor of higher education at the University of Southern California
and author of one of the commissioned papers (see Appendix D), cited a
recent report from the National Science Board (2010). That report called
for providing quality science and mathematics teaching to all students,
improving talent identification, and creating supportive ecosystems
through professional development for STEM educators. All three steps
are needed to enhance the flow of students from community colleges to
four-year institutions, Dowd said.
35
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36 COMMUNITY COLLEGES IN THE EVOLVING STEM EDUCATION LANDSCAPE
EFFECTIVE TRANSFER POLICIES
Using survey data from NSF of recent college graduates, Dowd and
her colleagues have been examining degree choice among Latino and
Latina students who earn an associate’s degree on their way to a bach -
elor’s degree. They have found that the majority of students who trans -
fer from a two-year college to a Hispanic-serving institution and earn a
STEM degree do so in the social and behavioral sciences. Very few receive
degrees in engineering, the physical sciences, or the biological, agricul -
tural, or environment sciences.
The culture, values, and beliefs of faculty are critical factors contribut-
ing to the lack of transfer students in the natural sciences and engineering,
said Dowd. Faculty members need to be partners in redesigning transfer
systems, and they need robust evidence about what is effective and what
is ineffective.
Transfer scholarships focused specifically on STEM fields could have a
powerful effect on students and institutions, Dowd proposed. In addition,
individual development accounts— savings accounts that are matched by
public and private sources—could help increase the diversity of students
in STEM fields.
Structural reforms of the curriculum, mentoring programs, and cul-
tural transformation are all necessary, Dowd stated. Moreover, funds
are available through recent federal initiatives to take appropriate and
targeted action.
EVIDENCE-BASED INNOVATION CONSORTIA
Dowd suggested the creation of what she called Evidence-Based Inno-
vation Consortia (EBICs). Their overall intent would be to facilitate trans -
formational educational innovations that enable all students to thrive.
By working with community colleges, universities, and open education
resource practitioners, EBICs could create networks that would support
the adoption and adaptation of evidence-based innovations. These net-
works would include agencies, organizations, industry, foundations, and
others interested in specific topics, such as the reinvention of the math-
ematics curriculum. They would support the development of effective
tools for systemic interventions to achieve educational performance and
equity goals, such as equity scorecards. Finally, they would conduct and
support research to gather and analyze evidence of innovations’ effects.
Individual centers could focus on particular areas of innovation. For
example, a center focused on the reinvention of the mathematics cur-
riculum could coordinate the work of college faculty, researchers doing
studies of curricula and pedagogy, and educators who are implementing
innovative approaches.
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37
TRANSFER FROM COMMUNITY COLLEGES TO FOUR-YEAR INSTITUTIONS
These consortia would need to be prestigious, Dowd emphasized. For
example, a high level of prestige among the EBICs could motivate faculty
to participate more actively in improving transfer processes. The trans-
fer rate for the most competitive private institutions has dropped from
around 10 percent of student enrollments in 1990 to a little more than 5
percent in the most recent available data, Dowd noted. Other institutions
enroll a higher percentage of transfer students, but the percentages at
these institutions also have been declining. “That needs to change,” said
Dowd, because society “needs students who start out in community col -
leges and enter into the professions.”
Collective Observations from a Breakout Group on Transfer
Individuals from the breakout group on transfer issues began the report to a
plenary session of all participants by emphasizing articulation, alignment, and
advising. Articulation agreements could benefit from greater clarity in terms of
their scope, application to practice, and sustainability. Better alignment is needed
between two- and four-year institutions, which will require that faculty members
work together and collaborate on these issues. The members of the breakout ses-
sion emphasized that “alignment” includes social and psychological components
in addition to academic and institutional ones.
Second, improving transfer of students could benefit from research that ex-
plores the incentives and disincentives for effective transfer that can then drive
changes in these incentives. For example, how might funding agencies promote
incentives and diminish recognized barriers such as the cultural differences be-
tween institutions? State rankings of articulation and transfer policies based on
research also might be a way to drive change.
Third, federal funding that allows students to have paid STEM-specific experi-
ences—for example, through work-study or internship programs—could encourage
more students to pursue STEM careers that would require successful transfer to
four-year institutions.
DISCUSSION
Discussions on transfer issues during the summit centered on two
broad issues—pathways and partnerships.
As opposed to the traditional image of a pipeline leading from K-12
education through college to graduate school and a career as a scientist or
engineer, the concept of “pathways” is more appropriate for community
colleges. Students can earn a variety of degrees and certificates from com-
munity colleges and either enter the workforce or a four-year institution.
In many cases, students with four-year degrees return to community col -
leges to receive more specialized training.
Historically, students who enroll in technical education and receive
applied associate degrees have transferred a limited amount of credits
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38 COMMUNITY COLLEGES IN THE EVOLVING STEM EDUCATION LANDSCAPE
to four-year institutions, observed Debra Bragg. Since these students are
some of the most diverse of all community college students, this poses
an equity issue since technical students are unlikely to go on to earn a
bachelor’s degree. Bragg’s research has looked at state policies that allow
technical students to transfer to four-year institutions or enroll in a com -
munity college to earn an applied baccalaureate (AB) degree. Whether
earned in a four- or two-year institution, AB degrees are spreading, and
many of these arrangements are struck between particular two- and four-
year colleges and not reflected in larger state policy. Bragg’s research
examines the various kinds of agreements that are associated with AB
degrees, and she and her colleagues at the University of Illinois document
and disseminate these degree arrangements.
Becky Packard observed that by the time community college students
decide to become science or engineering transfer students, it may be too
late, because they are already so far behind in taking the prerequisite
courses that are needed to transfer. Students can become excited about
physics and then get a reality check when they realize that they cannot
major in the subject at a four-year school.
Advising and orientation sessions can be critical in keeping students’
options open, especially if this guidance is specific to disciplines. For
example, Jose Vicente of Miami Dade College noted that the college has
launched a major program providing discipline-based orientation, not just
in STEM fields but across the curriculum. Students benefit tremendously
because they can see the roadmap for the entire period that they are at
the institution. Also, in Florida, the legislature has allowed community
colleges to provide baccalaureate degree programs for the past decade,
and the students on this pathway are doing “stupendously,” according to
Vicente. The higher education system is even developing a roadmap for
such students to go on to graduate school.
Eun-Woo Chang of Montgomery College in Maryland observed that
a major weakness of counseling in community colleges is that few coun-
selors are familiar with STEM majors. He suggested engaging more STEM
faculty in the academic advising process to compensate for this weakness.
Montgomery College, for example, has engineering faculty provide aca -
demic advising for engineering students.
John Morton from the University of Hawaii Community Colleges said
that officials at community colleges in that state found that many students
who were interested in transferring to a four-year institution in a STEM
field were disadvantaged in pursuing an associate’s degree compared
with students at four-year institutions. As a result, the colleges instituted
a transfer degree that is more parallel to bachelor’s degree requirements.
“Identifying [those students] as a cohort gave [them] an identity, and we
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39
TRANSFER FROM COMMUNITY COLLEGES TO FOUR-YEAR INSTITUTIONS
have seen a big increase in the number of students pursuing that path to
the baccalaureate,” he commented.
Catherine Didion from the National Academy of Engineering and a
co-principal investigator for the project emphasized the value of many
two-year degrees in areas such as information technology and biotech-
nology. In promoting transfer policies, two-year pathways also need to
be more transparent to students. Linnea Fletcher from Austin Commu-
nity College agreed with this observation, pointing out that not every
STEM occupation requires a four-year degree. High school counselors
and institutions need more information about what is actually needed for
particular jobs so that students have a more realistic idea of how much
education is needed for those positions. Also, many STEM jobs are now
and will continue to be in currently unanticipated fields, such as high-
technology welding or fashion design. “This type of information is not
being disseminated,” said Fletcher.
Martin Storksdieck from the National Research Council and a co-
principal investigator for this project pointed out that community col -
leges are not just educating future STEM professionals. They also are
contributing substantially to the future scientific literacy of the general
public, including K-12 teachers. The STEM courses that people take in
community colleges are often their last formal courses in those subjects.
“What does that mean for the way in which we want to structure them?”
asked Storksdieck. He also observed that community colleges may need
to examine their curricula and instruction as more students who enter
these institutions take Advanced Placement and International Baccalaure-
ate courses while in high school.
Geri Anderson from the Colorado Community College system raised
the issue of the metric used to evaluate workforce training programs by
the U.S. Department of Labor. Today the department is focused on getting
people quickly into the workforce using high-demand certificates and
degrees. She suggested that the Labor and Education Departments should
engage in a dialogue about the value of education with longer term goals
and the use of a different metric of success.
Articulation remains a problem for many institutions, responded
Assistant Secretary Oates. Students should be able to transfer credits
from two-year colleges to four-year colleges and have those credits count
toward their major. This problem can be particularly acute in mathemat -
ics. In New Jersey, where she had worked previously, the rigor of calcu -
lus was not the same at community colleges as at four-year institutions.
Faculty-to-faculty conversations are needed to harmonize the courses at
the two types of institutions, she said. In New Jersey, those conversations
not only educated community college faculty about what was needed
but also helped open the eyes of four-year faculty about the talent at the
community college level.
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40 COMMUNITY COLLEGES IN THE EVOLVING STEM EDUCATION LANDSCAPE
In response to a question from George Boggs about existing part-
nerships among two-year and four-year institutions, Dowd mentioned
a conversation with a mathematics department chair at a comprehen -
sive college who said that her institution’s relationship with a nearby
community college had deteriorated because they had lost funding for
lunches that used to bring the two sets of faculty together. When a new
grant enabled them to have lunch together again the relationship—and
the transfer of students—improved. “It is good to have lunch,” she said.
“The realities of the structural alignment are going to be realized through
human relationships.”
Susan Elrod from Project Kaleidoscope at the Association of American
Colleges and Universities pointed to the difficulty of forging robust part -
nerships among two-year and four-year institutions. Even with funding
from the Gates Foundation to create such partnerships, it was difficult to
figure out which people to bring together. “Getting the right people from
the right institutions together in a room consistently to make sure that the
messages are consistent, and to make sure that students feel no shift in
culture, is really important,” she observed.
Steve Slater from the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center at the
University of Wisconsin–Madison pointed out that many universities do
not view bringing in students from community colleges and helping them
succeed as a high priority, which means that it is particularly hard to get
junior, pre-tenured faculty involved in such efforts.
Tom Bailey from Teachers College, Columbia University, said that
community colleges need coherent programs that span institutions if stu-
dents are going to be able to transfer successfully. More than alignment
is needed—the programs need to be coherent across institutions. Many
students enter community colleges without much direction. They go into
general studies programs, taking courses here and there. Some manage
to earn a degree, though it may not be very coherent. As Bailey said, “We
need to ask, what is it that we are doing to help students, [especially] if
we have a particular interest in STEM?”
Bailey also observed that students who are already interested in
STEM fields are the low-hanging fruit. Community colleges need to serve
the needs of these students, but they also need to examine ways of getting
more students engaged in STEM subjects.
Judy Miner from Foothill College observed that community col -
leges are critical components of the P-20 education continuum. They are
uniquely positioned, have multiple missions, and feature open access for
students. “The broad diversity of both our students and our institutions
is not a problem to be solved but an opportunity to be seized, thereby
empowering the most vulnerable of populations and in turn uplifting us
all,” said Miner.
