Remedial Students at 2-Year Colleges Work Harder Than Their Peers, Survey Finds
Annual
Annual report on 'engagement' also finds that instructors and their pupils have different perceptions of their interactionsRelated materials
List:2 perspectives on student engagement at community colleges
By JAMILAH EVELYN
Remedial students at community colleges worked harder, visited their professors more often, and took greater advantage of college support services than did their better-prepared peers.
Those were among the findings of the annual Community College Survey of Student Engagement, released this week.
Now in its fifth year, the survey, known as "Cessie," covered more than 133,000 students at 257 two-year colleges. The study is modeled after the National Survey of Student Engagement, which surveys students at four-year institutions. The results of that most recent survey were released earlier this month.
Previous national studies have shown that remedial students— those not prepared for college-level work— at two-year colleges receive lower grades, and drop out at a higher rate, than do students who are better prepared academically. But that does not mean students with greater needs are not working as hard as or harder than higher-achieving students, the report said.
The survey found, for instance, that 56 percent of remedial students prepared two or more drafts of an essay before turning it in, compared with 42 percent of academically prepared students. Twenty-seven percent of remedial students discussed career plans with an instructor or adviser "often" or "very often," compared with 21 percent of their peers.
"The hopeful part is that those students and the colleges are doing a lot of the right things to get connected," says Kay M. McClenney, director of the survey. She is an adjunct professor in the Community College Leadership Program at the University of Texas at Austin.
Still, Ms. McClenney says, community colleges need to do more to improve student engagement. Studies show that remedial students who enroll in orientation courses, including courses that teach study skills, have higher college-completion rates than do those who do not take such courses.
"Why is it," she asks, "that we make those courses optional?"
Part-Time Challenges
This year, for the first time, the study analyzed the engagement of "at risk" students.
They were defined as students who were enrolled in remedial courses, did not enter college immediately after high school, had one or more dependents, attended college part time, were single parents, were financially independent, worked 30 or more hours per week, or were the first in their families to attend college.
According to the report, students at community colleges were three to four times more likely to fit into four or more of those categories than were their peers at four-year institutions.
Despite such challenges, the report found that at-risk students were consistently more engaged than their classmates were.
First-generation students, who represented 37 percent of the respondents, spent much more time caring for children than did those whose parents attended college, yet come to class more prepared. Some 33 percent of first-generation students spent more than 30 hours a week caring for dependents, compared with 22 percent of other students.
Thirty-six percent of first-generation students said they never came to class unprepared, compared with 28 percent of other students. Fifty-eight percent of first-generation students said they never skipped class, compared with 44 percent of their peers.
Part-time students, who account for more than 60 percent of community-college students nationally, were an exception to those findings. According to the survey, only 22 percent of part-time students made class presentations "often" or "very often," compared with 33 percent of full-time students.
Forty-six percent of part-time students said they prepared two or more drafts of their papers, compared with 56 percent of full-time students.
Ms. McClenney says engaging part-timers— who do not spend much time on campus— may be the most daunting challenge for community colleges. "It sits out there as something that people know about but only a few do something about," she says.
Different Pages
For the first time, the study also included findings on faculty members' perceptions of student engagement. The Community College Faculty Survey of Student Engagement, which covered more than 3,500 faculty members at 39 two-year colleges, was designed to help colleges compare students' responses to faculty members' perceptions.
The results showed that professors and their students were not always on the same page. For instance, faculty members said students asked questions, worked with other students, and participated in community-based projects more often than students themselves reported doing.
Professors also reported meeting with students much more often than students did.
"An instructor might talk with five or six students after each class and personally experience a high level of student-faculty interaction," the report says, noting that such interactions are crucial to retention. "But if generally it is the same five or six students that linger after each class, then the instructor is interacting with only a fraction of his or her students."
The survey is administered by the University of Texas at Austin. It is financed by fees from participating colleges and by support from the Lumina Foundation for Education, the MetLife Foundation, and the Houston Endowment Inc.
Information about this year's survey, "Engaging Students, Challenging the Odds," is available on the survey's Web site (
2 PERSPECTIVES ON STUDENT ENGAGEMENT AT COMMUNITY COLLEGES
An annual survey of student engagement at community colleges reveals that faculty members and students have different perceptions of their interactions and work habits.
- 93% of faculty members say they give prompt feedback to students "often" or "very often," while only 55% of students agree.
- 38% of faculty members say they discuss career plans with students "often" or "very often," while only 22% of students report the same.
- 29% of faculty members say they discuss ideas from readings or classes with students outside of class, while 15% of students report such interactions.
- 33% of faculty members say students come to class unprepared "often" or "very often," while only 15% of students agree.
- 16% of faculty members say students skip class "often" or "very often," while only 7% of students say they play hooky regularly.
- 22% of faculty members say students prepare multiple drafts of a paper "often" or "very often," while 50% of students report putting in that extra work.
Section: Students
Volume 52, Issue 13, Page A39
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