New Report Explores Community College Student Achievement

By Julia Dunn on February 29, 2016

Recently, the Center for Community College Student Engagement (CCCSE) published their new 2016 report containing up-to-date information about community college student achievement across the U.S.

Entitled “Expectations Meet Reality: The Underprepared Student and Community Colleges,” the report discusses the CCCSE’s goal to increase college completion rates by ensuring students at community colleges are not only prepared to enter the institutions themselves, but to thrive academically once they’re out of high school.

The report targets students who enroll at community colleges before gaining the required knowledge base to do well in these schools, noting that those who are lacking in foundational education may continually struggle throughout community college, making any prospects of future education further out of reach.

The following was reported by the Atlantic on CCCSE’s survey.

40 percent of students who said they averaged an A in high school reported that they needed a developmental course in at least one subject. Students with A- or B+ averages said they needed a brush-up course more than 50 percent of the time, and those with B averages required such a course nearly 60 percent of the time. Combined, these three levels of achievement accounted for 57 percent of the community-college students who were asked this question in the survey.

The survey’s creators explained a common disconnect students have between their believed academic standing versus their actual academic standing as far as attaining their personal goals; despite thinking they’re ready to proceed to more rigorous education, “less than a third of community-college students [earn] a two-year degree after six years (and a tenth [go] on to earn a four-year degree),” as stated in data from the National Student Clearinghouse.

This can lead to students falling even more behind in their studies, setting them further from graduation or being prepared to transfer to 4-year institutions.

Image Via Flickr

CCCSE’s report said “sixty-eight percent of community college students require at least some developmental education.” The concern with remedial education courses, however, is that they do not always grant students credit they can apply towards graduation. These basic classes (often in mathematics and language subjects) may be required for students to qualify for a certain degree pathway. Financial cost of remedial classes is also a burden on many students, especially from low-income communities.

Another finding from the study pointed to the misconception that good grades in high school directly translates to good grades in community college, which is a common belief among students. Oftentimes it is shocking for a straight-A high school student to get their first B or C in a college class after having felt prepared to succeed.

The report discussed possible improvements that can be institutionalized into community colleges to better support students needing help bridging the transition from high school to college. For example, one option for improvement that was proposed in the report was having some co-requisite courses, which would allow students to enroll in both a remedial English course and their “regular” course at the same time for supplemental support.

One subsection of the report discussed placement exams, which are highly debated for their effectiveness in conveying what a student actually knows about a subject. The major flaw of this type of high-stakes test is the fact of it usually taking place all one day at a certain time.

“So much can go wrong on the day of a placement test. You can have a stomachache and all of a sudden you’re on a remedial track for your first year of college,” said president of the Institute for Higher Education Policy Michelle Asha Cooper to the Atlantic. “There can be a variety of reasons for why you didn’t do well on your placement test. One can be, yeah, I need to be in remedial, and the other can be, ‘I just had a bad day and didn’t do it well.’

This model of student assessment is hit-or-miss, and does not offer much room for error if a student is a poor test-taker or is dealing with extreme emotional circumstances that impact concentration.

Ultimately, it seems logical that college students who do not have basic skill-sets in fundamental subjects are likely worse-off in higher-level courses that assume students already have some background knowledge in the subject. Students often begin their college careers at community college right after high school for financial reasons or location preference, and they usually go into school under the impression that the same tactics that got them excellent high school grades will continue to work in college. This isn’t always the case.

Image Via Pixabay.com

Students can become better prepared for community college by meeting with academic advisers both at their high school and at their community college, as these resources can help you come up with an individualized action plan for academic success. Assisting students’ needs early on before they even enter college may ease the jump into university coursework and set students up for a positive academic experience.

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