Research studies have been ambivalent about whether enrolling in community college makes completing a bachelor’s degree less likely than directly enrolling in a four-year institution. This study uses propensity score matching with a posttreatment adjustment to determine the treatment effect associated with taking the community college to four-year college transfer pathway. Each transfer student was matched to a four-year college junior from the same high school who enrolled at an equally selective four-year college. We found no significant difference between transfers and native juniors, demonstrating the viability of the community college to four-year pathway. Policy implications are provided.

Objective: Recent studies have shown that community college transfer students are just as likely to graduate with a bachelor’s degree as students who directly enroll in a 4-year institution. However, these studies do not typically examine whether there is a penalty for community college students in terms of the length of time it takes to complete a bachelor’s degree. In this study, we seek to determine whether there are differences between community college transfer students and direct 4-year college entrants regarding the likelihood of bachelor’s degree completion as a function of time. Method: Propensity score matching with a posttreatment adjustment was used to create observationally equivalent groups of community college transfer students and rising 4-year college juniors. Propensity scores were calculated using a multilevel model with students nested within high schools to account for pretreatment contextual differences. Descriptive survival analysis was applied to ascertain whether differences existed in the cumulative rate of bachelor’s degree completion throughout a 7-year tracking period. Results: Several significant prematch differences between the two groups—community college transfers and 4-year college juniors—were established. It was then demonstrated how the matching process created adequate balance between the two groups on all observed covariates. Although community college students experienced an initial penalty with respect to degree completion until 125% of normal time, the penalty was no longer evident 6 years after initial enrollment in college. Contributions: Given this finding, we discuss the need for policies that help community college transfer students achieve timely bachelor’s degree completion.

The Role of Academic Student Services in the Retention of American Indian Students at a Sub-Baccalaureate Technical College.

The Role of Academic Student Services in the Retention of American Indian Students at a Sub-Baccalaureate Technical College.

Experiences of three participants in an undergraduate research program who have released and continued to develop their project work as open source software are presented. This collaborative and cooperative account by the student participants, their faculty mentor, and an educational researcher presents the participants' experiences during the research program and as they begun a transition to roles as more experienced researchers and open source community members and contributors. Observations on the program participants' experiences during and after the program are discussed in the context of educational theory and literature on undergraduate research programs in the sciences as well as on collaborative learning and software development. Observations on possible causes of this team's cohesion and productivity, suggestions for improving this and similar research programs, and questions raised by the research are included.