Community College Noncompletion: Collaborating With and Privileging the Voices of Underserved Students in Improvement Efforts 

• In Event: Moscone Center North Roundtable Session 1
  In Roundtable Session: Getting to the Station: Mobility, Community, and Collaboration in Higher Education Research

Abstract

The 2020 AERA Call for Proposals entreats us to report on research that highlights the “Power and Possibilities for Public Good When Researchers and Organizational Stakeholders Collaborate (AERA p1.). We are called upon to “catalyze engagement and collaboration at the organizational level” (p1.) and to “put research in the service of the public good” (p1.). Our Participatory Action Research project entitled, Community College Non-Completion: Collaborating with & Privileging the Voices of Underserved Students in Improvement Efforts has resulted in the student researchers working with leaders at the college toward data based improvement recommendations. This paper addresses issues resulting from racial and class-based inequities in community college completion rates and it has culminated in the development of a community-to-college mentoring program.

Author

• Tara Gully-Hightower, Massasoit Community College