Beyond remedial dichotomies: Are ‘underprepared’ college students a marginalized marjority?

Abstract

This chapter questions the dichotomous labeling and conceptualization of remedial and nonremedial students, particularly the added distinctions emphasized between four‐year and two‐year colleges, and it calls for a focus on the common challenges among all underprepared college students.

The Impact of a First Year Development Course on Student Success in a Community College: An Empirical Investigation

“…According to the theory, it was considered the responsibility of students in college, like minorities in society, to assimilate to the culture of the college. Applying the model to two-year colleges and commuting students has produced mixed results [67]. There is an assumption that community colleges fail to provide students with opportunities for social integration or that the social aspect of higher education may be less appealing to students attending two-year commuter institutions [64].…”

“…However, the dynamics of race, class, and culture have not yet been adequately researched in community college settings utilizing Deil-Amen's [67] concept of integration. The model has been found to be inadequate for minority students because it assumes disconnection from a home community must occur before integration into a college community can happen [71].…”

“…Tinto is most often cited in and associated with student persistence research [66]. Applying the model to two-year colleges and or commuting students have produced varied results [67]. Some research suggests the model is not relevant.…”

“…The vast majority of two-year students enroll in community colleges while remaining in their communities of origin, so the issue of separating from a culture of origin is minimal. The dynamics of race, class, and culture have not yet been adequately explored in two-year contexts while utilizing the concept of integration to frame the discussion [67].…”

A community college intervention program: The affordances and challenges of an educational space of resistance.

“…In 2015, almost 6.3 million American students were enrolled in a 2-year college (Ginder, Kelly-Reid, & Mann, 2015), and it is more often first-generation college students, low-income students, and language-minority students who attend these institutions in hopes of earning a certificate or transferring to a 4-year institution (e.g., Brock, 2010; Bunch, Endris, Panayotova, Romero, & Llosa, 2011; Karp & Bork, 2012; Olsen, 2003; Roueche & Roueche, 1993). Often these students face greater barriers in completing their academic goals (Aud et al, 2012; Bailey, Jenkins, & Leinbach, 2005) because of a combination of an often-inhospitable institutional climate that relies on remediation (e.g., Bailey, Jeong, & Cho, 2010; Deil-Amen, 2011; Grimes & David, 1999; Roueche & Roueche, 1993) and placement procedures (Bunch & Endris, 2012; Venezia, Bracco, & Nodine, 2010) as well as greater personal (e.g., Cox, 2010; Ivanič, 1998; Jenkins, 2011), linguistic (Kanno & Harklau, 2012), and economic (Leese, 2010) demands than do their peers in 4-year institutions. Therefore, it is of particular importance to explore the ways in which institutional pockets on community college campuses can better support the development and retention of students who are more likely to have been both underserved by K–12 education and are, as a result, more likely to drop out of college.…”