provocative opinion Response to the Ford Foundation Study From the Committee on Chemistry in the Two-Year College The Committee on Chemistry in the Two-Year Colleges, COCTYC, representing two-year college chemistry faculty, wishes to thank the Editor for alerting us to the Ford Foundation supported study, State Higher Education Systems, and College Completions by Gary Orfield and Faith Paul in his editorial of January 1993. This study investigated the systems of higher education in five states, California, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan. Starting with the number of high school students entering state two-year and four-year colleges or universities who indicated that they intended to obtain a bachelor's degree, the study determined how many of these students achieved this goal within four years. The authors found that in Florida and California, states with extensive community college systems, students starting at two-year colleges obtained bachelor's degrees at a much lower rate than those starting at four-year state institutions. They also said that a much higher percentage of students succeeded in earning bachelor's degrees in Indiana, a state that according to them, has no recognized community college system. Despite the vast differences in the systems of higher education in the five states that were studied, the authors concluded that their data seriously calls into question the ability of the two-year colleges to prepare their transfer students for success in bachelor's degree-granting institutions. COCTYC and its constituents feel that the January 1993 Editorial commenting on the OrfieldPaul report could have been more objective. We would have appreciated it if the Editorial had first given the issues raised by the study and then addressed what we think are legitimate questions about its methodology and validity, not to mention its possible biases. We also would have liked to have seen a recognition of the obvious fact that, just as there are differences among each state's bachelor's degree-granting institutions, there also are significant differences among the two-year schools within each state. We have studied carefully the report, and while we are fully cognizant of the complexities of studies of this kind, we are deeply concerned about the conclusions reached on several counts. Data, mainly from our members in California, Illinois, and Texas, seem to contradict its conclusions. 'hansfer students from community colleges in these states earn GPRs as high as, if not higher than, native students. There are estimates (largely anecdotal, however) by the engineering deans of four major state universities across the nation that as much as 40% of their own graduates began as transfer students from feeder two-year colleges. At Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, one of the nation's largest four-year engineering schools, transfer students from two-year colleges are found regularly among the recipients of its Outstanding Senior Engineer awards.
Chapter 3, "Definingand Measuring Quality in Community College Education", in Colleges of Choice, edited by Judith Eaton, describes a study by Charlene Nunley, Chief Administrative Officer of Montgomery College, Montgomery County, Maryland. Nunley examined the graduation records of two-year college transfer students seven years beyond high school graduation. She found that after seven years, the gap between the number of high school graduates who enter community colleges as transfer students and then earn bachelor's degrees and bachelor's degree-bound students who start at four-year colleges or universities at the same time, narrows significantly. Studies that evaluate two-year college effectiveness must take into account many factors such as the differences between those who attend a community college versus a bachelor's degree-granting institution and differences in the functions and missions of the two types of institutions. It is quite possible that because of their opendoor policies, community colleges are effectively identifying and preparing those able to attain a bachelor's degree and directing the remaining students to goals more appropriate to their current life situations and academic abilities. An important distinction is overlooked by the study. Transfer courses at community colleges are designed to prepare students to succeedin the upper-level courses they must take at a four-year institution, not to earn a bachelor's degree. Many factors that are not related to academic preparation determine whether or not such a student earns a degree. Despite our concerns about the assumptions and conclusions found in the Orfield/Paul report, we do feel that this study could have a vital impact on two-year colleges because it shows that there is a need for more hard data-on a national scaleto document the effectiveness of the community colleges in their diverse roles. To this end, COCTYC has long advocated an in-depth comprehensive study of the programs, faculty, students, facilities, and outcomes of the nation's two-year college chemistry departments. The OrfielrL'Paul study and responding editorial in this Journal clearly demonstrates the need for just such a study, since most of the students taking chemistry courses in two-year colleges are transfer students. We view the OrEeldE'aul study and responding editorial in this Jourml as a positive catalyst that will increase the efforts of the COCTYC to secure funding for such a study, (1)to identify two-year college chemistry strengths'as well as any weaknesses that may exist, and (2) to clarify the role of two-year colleges in post secondary education so that our place in the continuum of chemical education will once and for all be clearly understood and appreciated.
Volume 71 Number 6 June 1994
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