Improving the Community College Transfer Pathway to the Baccalaureate: The Effect of California's Associate Degree for Transfer

Autor/inn/en	Baker, Rachel; Friedmann, Elizabeth; Kurlaender, Michal
Titel	Improving the Community College Transfer Pathway to the Baccalaureate: The Effect of California's Associate Degree for Transfer
Quelle	In: Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 42 (2023) 2, S.488-524 (37 Seiten) PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0276-8739
DOI	10.1002/pam.22462
Schlagwörter	Community Colleges; Transfer Programs; College Transfer Students; State Legislation; Educational Change; Educational Attainment; Bachelors Degrees; Time to Degree; Community College Students; Educational Policy; Transfer Rates (College); California + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Community college; Community College; Hochschulwechsel; Schulwechsel; Studienortwechsel; Landesrecht; Bildungsreform; Bildungsabschluss; Bildungsgut; 'Bachelor''s degrees'; Bachelor-Studiengang; Community colleges; College students; Collegestudent; Politics of education; Bildungspolitik; Kalifornien
Abstract	The transfer between two-year and four-year colleges is a critical path to baccalaureate attainment. Yet students face a number of barriers in transfer pathways, including a lack of coherent coordination and articulation between their community colleges and four-year institutions, resulting in excess units and increased time to degree. In this paper we evaluate the impact of California's Student Transfer Achievement Reform Act, which aimed to create a more seamless pathway between the California Community Colleges and the California State University. We investigate whether the reform effort met its intended goal of improving baccalaureate receipt, and greater efficiency in earning these degrees, among community college transfer students. We tease out plausibly causal effects of the policy by leveraging the exogenous variation in the timing of the implementation of the reform in different campuses and fields of study. We find an overall positive effect on bachelor's degree attainment. This increase is driven entirely by increased transfer rather than an increased probability of earning a BA/BS conditional on transfer. We find only suggestive evidence that the policy led to greater efficiency (i.e., fewer units at graduation) in BA/BS receipt for transfer students. These findings are broadly consistent across student subgroups. (As Provided).
Anmerkungen	Wiley. Available from: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030. Tel: 800-835-6770; e-mail: cs-journals@wiley.com; Web site: https://www.wiley.com/en-us
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2024/1/01