Objective: Problems with credit mobility, or the transfer of credits from a sending to a receiving institution, may be one reason why community college transfer students have low rates of bachelor’s degree completion. This study investigates different policy approaches to credit mobility and how college staff and students experience transfer at the campus level. Method: The study utilizes data from policy documents and legislative statutes, phone interviews with higher education system officials, and college staff across 10 states, and interview data with students and staff collected during site visits to 2- and 4-year colleges in Tennessee, Texas, and Washington. Results: We categorized credit mobility policies across a continuum, from system-wide transfer initiatives to local-level institution-to-institution approaches. We refer to these different policy systems as 2 + 2, credit equivalency, and institution-driven. Across the systems, policies may not be working as intended because many transfer students do not select a major and destination institution early enough in their community college career to avoid credit loss. Moreover, institutions may lack capacity to provide personalized support to students interested in transfer early in their career. Contributions: We provide a new framework to understand different policy approaches to ensuring transfer students’ credits transfer and apply to their major, and offer research, policy, and practice considerations to improve credit mobility across different policy systems.
Newcomer young men confront numerous obstacles that limit their chances for attainment and achievement. Using social and cultural capital frameworks and a case study methodology, this article examines how four Latino newcomer young men navigated an urban U.S. high school. It reveals how teachers and a counselor cultivated capital and how the young men leveraged this capital, thus challenging traditional depictions of Latino immigrant adolescents and highlighting the importance of belonging for these youth. [recent immigrant youth, young men of color, social and cultural capital, high school, peers]
Objective To conduct a pilot study to assess the feasibility of modifying food truck meals to meet the My Plate guidelines as well as the acceptability of healthier meals among consumers. Design We recruited the owners of Latino food trucks (loncheras) in 2013-14 and offered an incentive for participation, assistance with marketing, and training by a bilingual dietician. We surveyed customers and we audited purchases to estimate sales of the modified meals. Setting City of Los Angeles Subjects Owners or operators of Latino food trucks (loncheras) and their customers Results We enrolled 22 lonchera owners and 11 completed the intervention, offering more than 50 new menu items meeting meal guidelines. Sales of the meals comprised 2% of audited orders. Customers rated the meals highly; 97% said they would recommend and buy them again and 75% of participants who completed the intervention intended to continue offering the healthier meals. However, adherence to guidelines drifted after several months of operation and participant burden was cited as a reason for drop-out among 3/11 lonchera owners. Conclusions Loncheras who participated reported minimal difficulty in modifying menu items. Given the difficulty in enrollment, expanding this program and ensuring adherence would likely need to be accomplished through regulatory requirements, monitoring and feedback, similar to the methods used to achieve compliance with sanitary standards. A companion marketing campaign would be helpful to increase consumer demand.
Background In the Horne v Flores Supreme Court decision of June 25, 2009, the Court wrote that one basis for finding Arizona in compliance with federal law regarding the education of its English learners was that the state had adopted a “significantly more effective” than bilingual education instructional model for EL students—Structured English Immersion (SEI). Purpose This paper reviews the extant research on SEI, its definitions, origins, and its effectiveness, particularly in contrast to other instructional strategies. This paper asks, Does the research bear out the Court's conclusion? What is the evidence that Arizona's program of SEI is really superior to other approaches, including bilingual or dual language education? How are Arizona's EL students faring under this “significantly more effective” instructional program? Research Design Data on the relative effectiveness of SEI are drawn from a comprehensive review of the literature. Analysis of public documents, particularly records from the Arizona English Language Learners Task Force, which was charged with selecting a research-based instructional program for English learners. Drawing from a recent ethnographic study and student achievement data, we examine the impact of structured English immersion programs on English learners in Arizona thus far, beginning with achievement outcomes. Conclusions/Recommendations There is no research basis for the Court's statement the SEI is “significantly more effective”; at best SEI is no better or no worse than other instructional strategies, particularly bilingual instruction, when they are both well implemented. However, SEI as implemented in Arizona carries serious negative consequences for EL students stemming from the excessive amount of time dedicated to a sole focus on English instruction, the de-emphasis on grade level academic curriculum, the discrete skills approach it employs, and the segregation of EL students from mainstream peers. Moreover, the paper argues that there are, in fact, strategies that can ameliorate these problems as well as provide an additive, rather than a subtractive, educational experience for English learner and mainstream students alike.
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