Optimizing Intentions to Transfer: Engagement and Community College English Learners

• In Event: Special Populations in Postsecondary Education

Abstract

Researchers have long struggled to accurately identify the needs of English learners (ELs) and factors that facilitate their postsecondary success. Although prior research suggests that ELs disproportionately enroll into community colleges, there is a dearth research that examines transfer to four-year schools among community college English learners (CCELs). In this study, we used data from the Community College Survey of Student Engagement and employed logistic regression to examine how, if at all, the relationships between the multiple forms of student engagement and intent to transfer might differ by linguistic status, net of various student and school-level controls. Findings suggested that returns to engagement do differ by linguistic status, with CCELs experiencing the greatest gains relative to their intent to transfer.

Authors

• Catherine Hartman, University of South Carolina - Columbia

• Rebecca M. Callahan, University of Vermont

• Hongwei Yu, Texas State University