Standard assessments of cognitive ability have been the preferred method of assessing the probability of student achievement at community colleges, but there is a growing trend in the use of noncognitive factors to assess student potential. Factors related to a student's race/ethnicity and family income have been shown to be correlated with…

Assembly Bill 1705 (AB 1705) seeks to strengthen students' completion of the first STEM Calculus course for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) programs across the California Community Colleges. The law sets new standards for students' placement and first math enrollment to ensure STEM students begin in transfer-level coursework that…

This technical appendix accompanies the report, "Preparatory Pathways and STEM Calculus Completion: Implications of the AB 1705 Standards." The appendices contain a full methods section and multivariate analyses that augment the descriptive analyses presented in the report. Together, these analyses examined a cohort of more than 37,000…

Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and community college student success are two well-studied constructs. However, they largely exist as separate fields of interest, despite their shared links to numerous variables. This study consolidated a considerable number of findings from prior research to demonstrate the plausibility of ACEs being a…

Community college students who are juggling busy lives may be drawn to enroll in self-paced online courses. Shorter, eight-week versions of online courses are an option for these students instead of taking full sixteen-week versions. However, because eight-week courses cover the same amount of material in half the time, student success may be…

The authors examined three motivational factors (first-year grade expectations, present-focused time perspective, and future-focused time perspective) as predictors of achievement and retention outcomes for students (N = 844) in their first semester at a predominately Hispanic-serving community college, accounting for student background…

Locus of control is a psychological attribute not often discussed in the community college setting. The purpose of this study sought to investigate the impact Locus of control and co-variates age, gender, ethnicity, enrollment status, and employment status had on community college student persistence. Study participants were First-year community…

In dual enrollment programs, high school students can take college courses and earn both high school and college credit--but in the past, dual enrollment had been used mostly by high-achieving students. In 2016, the California Legislature passed a law that expanded access to students who had been underserved in higher education. The resulting…

Recent policy efforts have attempted to increase the number of dual enrollment courses offered within Career and Technical Education pathways and there is evidence to suggest that this practice is widespread. However, there is very little research on student participation in CTE dual enrollment and on its impacts. This study examines participation…

Student enrollment at community colleges within the U.S. has remained flat or decreased for over a decade (AACC, 2019). Before COVID-19, community colleges had been experiencing a steady decline in enrollment for approximately ten years (Irwin et al., 2021). The purpose was to determine whether demographic, environmental, and academic variables…

This paper looks at degree completion and wages of immigrants to understand the extent to which a student's chosen educational pathway limits his or her social mobility. Statistical modeling established the predictive strengths of key variables on educational pathway and statistical analysis is used to understand the relationship between…

In an effort to better understand how students' length of exposure to American secondary schools relates to academic performance in core, first-year college courses, this study surveyed and analyzed the demography, study habits, and grades of 267 freshman composition (ENG 101) students at a large, urban community college. Results indicated that…

Prominent student engagement theorist Nora (2011) cited the assertion that models of student engagement "such as those underlying the National Study of Student Engagement and the Community College Study of Student Engagement, are misspecified due to the lack of incorporation of culturally relevant variables" (p.127). The purpose of this…

Background: Immigrant-origin students are the fastest growing new population in community colleges, making up nearly a third of the community college population. To date, little is known about how immigrant-origin students make use of their time on community college campuses. Purpose: This study sought to understand in what ways and to what extent…

Background: Prior studies suggest that Federal Work-Study (FWS) participation is positively associated with student learning, persistence, and academic achievement at four-year institutions. Limited research, however, has evaluated whether FWS participation improves academic success among students attending community colleges. Purpose and Research…