Course-Taking Patterns of Latino ESL Students: Mobility and Mainstreaming in Urban Community Colleges in the United States

2011 ◽  
Vol 45 (4) ◽  
pp. 595-627 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aria Razfar ◽  
Jenny Simon
Author(s):  
Shah S. Ardalan

For over a century, American community colleges have delivered on their mission of open access and now educate about half of all undergraduate students in the United States. Recognized as primary providers of higher education and workforce training, especially to non-traditional and socioeconomically disadvantaged students, community colleges serve as transformative engines of prosperity and democratization of education. Contemporary community colleges face many challenges. Mainly, while community colleges are persistently underfunded, their leaders are under ever-increasing demand to improve student completion.


2020 ◽  
pp. 004208592090891
Author(s):  
Federick J. Ngo ◽  
David Velasquez

Examining linked academic transcripts from urban community colleges and their feeder high schools, we identify math course-taking patterns that span sectors. We highlight stifled mobility and chronic repetition of math coursework in the transition to college, and we identify “math traps” from which students do not escape. Math mobility was limited, math repetition was rampant, and nearly half of students found themselves in math traps. All else equal, being trapped in math was significantly linked to race/ethnicity, suggesting that these forms of chronic math tracking across sectors expose previously undocumented forms of inequality in educational experiences.


Author(s):  
Gary A. Berg

Community colleges in the United States have played an important role in the development and implementation of various forms of computer- and media-based education. A common mistake made when discussing distance learning in American higher education is to fail to distinguish the policies and practices of different institutional types. Generalizations about distance learning are particularly misleading if one does not recognize the very large differences in mission, resources, stakeholders, and external pressures between community colleges and four-year institutions.


1978 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 113-130 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. S. Harman

This paper discusses the development of community colleges in the United States and Canada, outlines some of their key distinguishing characteristics and the main models that have developed with regard to student entry to higher education and student transfer between institutions, and attempts an evaluation of the community college idea, looking at both strengths and weaknesses. The paper then explores the possible relevance of the community college for Australian higher education today.


1998 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-49 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robin Scarcella ◽  
Cheryl Zimmerman

This paper seeks to resolve certain questions pertaining to the relationship between gender and second language vocabulary knowledge. One question we examine is whether female and male ESL students at the University of California at Irvine differ significantly in their knowledge of academic vocabulary in English as measured by scores on the Test of Academic Lexicon (TAL). One hundred ninety-two freshman university ESL students participated in the study. A t test, used to investigate differences in the TAL scores of males and females, reveals that the males performed better on the TAL than the females (t = 3.32, p = .001). Analyses of covariance were used to examine questions pertaining to the effect of gender on the TAL, controlling for the possible effects of the students' verbal Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) scores, length of residence in the United States, and age of arrival in the United States. In all cases, gender remains significantly related to the results of the TAL when controlling for the other variable: for verbal SAT scores, F(1,181) = 5.86, p < .05; for length of residence, F(1,187) = 9.64, p < .01; and for age of arrival in the United States, F(1,185) = 10.22, p < .005. Neither the present study nor the gender literature reviewed suggests that gender itself causes differences in the TAL scores. In analyzing the results, we consider possible explanations for the males' better TAL scores related to reading habits, interactional styles, educational backgrounds, and cultures.


1999 ◽  
Vol 1999 (107) ◽  
pp. 85-94
Author(s):  
Dana Scott Peterman ◽  
Carol A. Kozeracki

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