The effort--outcome gap: differences for African American and Hispanic community college students in student engagement and academic achievement.(Report)

Little in higher education seems more intractable than the access and achievement gaps between ethnic groups. White students consistently outdistance African Americans and Hispanics in both enrollment and academic performance (Bailey, Jenkins, & Leinbach, 2005; Cook & Cordova, 2006; Price, 2004). African American and Hispanic college students typically exhibit greater academic risk than their White counterparts; they are more likely to be first in their families to attend college (Bailey et al., 2005; Nunez & Cuccaro-Alamin, 1998), they are more likely to begin college academically under-prepared and in need of financial assistance, they are more likely to juggle full-time work and family responsibilities with their studies (Horn & Premo, 1995), and they are more likely to confront institutional and cultural barriers (Harris & Kayes, 1996; Rendon, 1994; Zamani, 2000). They also perform below their non-minority peers academically in terms of grades, persistence, and goal completion (Harvey, 2001; Price, 2004; Swail, 2003). Despite the negative relationships between minority status and academic performance, African American and Hispanic students report being more engaged in college than their White peers (CCSSE, 2005; Hu & Kuh, 2002; Swigart & Murrell, 2001).

Student engagement represents the effort, both in time and energy, students commit to educationally purposeful activities as well as the institutional conditions that encourage students to engage in such practices (Kuh, 2001). A large body of evidence highlights the positive effect that student engagement has on desired outcomes in college (Astin, 1993a, 1993b; Chickering & Gamson, 1987; Kuh, Kinzie, Schuh, & Whitt, 2005; NSSE, 2000, 2003; Pascarella & Terenzini, 2005). Recent studies suggest that engagement may be particularly important for minority and academically underprepared first-year college students (Cruce, Wolniak, Seifert, & Pascarella, 2006; Kuh, Kinzie, Cruce, Shoup, & Gonyea, 2007).

The primary aim of the study is to understand the relationships between minority status and student engagement and minority status and academic outcomes in two-year colleges. Specifically, this study seeks to determine whether students from various racial and ethnic groups attending two-year colleges differ in the amount of time and energy they devote to educationally effective practices and to determine the extent to which this investment, net of the effect from various pre-college variables, contributes positively to desired outcomes. The focus of this examination is limited to community college students, who as a group are more likely to be in the ethnic minority (Bailey et al.) and possess greater academic risk than their four-year peers (Horn & Nevill, 2006). While voluminous work documents the positive impact of student engagement on academic outcomes, minimal student engagement research has been conducted in community colleges, particularly that which focuses on minority student achievement and persistence (Pascarella, 1997; Townsend, Donaldson, & Wilson, 2004). Contributions to understanding the engagement-outcome relationship for African American and Hispanic students attending community college, therefore, have important implications for educational leaders and policy experts concerned with eliminating the racial disparities in educational attainment.

Racial Disparities in Educational Attainment

One of the most unrelenting challenges confronting higher education is a participation and achievement gap between ethnic groups. For example, U.S. Census Bureau data indicate 60.6% of Asian and 42.8% of White, compared to 32.7% of African American and 24.8% of Hispanic, 18- to 24-year-olds were enrolled in degree-granting institutions in 2005. The National Center for Education Statistics reports that between 2001 and 2003, an average of 66.4% of White students transitioned to college immediately after completing high school in contrast to only 57.2% of African American and 54.2% of Hispanic high school graduates (NCES, 2005). Bailey et al. recently reported that only 7.9% of African American and 15.4% of Hispanic students who began at community colleges between 1995 and 1996 (compared to 24% of their Asian and 17% of their White counterparts) completed at least an associate degree within six years. African American and Hispanic community college students were also found to have transferred to four-year colleges at lower rates (24% and 16%, respectively) than Asian and White students (47% and 32%, respectively) where they were less likely than these peers to earn a bachelor's degree (NCES, 2005).

The U.S. Department of Education identifies seven characteristics that increase students' risk of not succeeding in college: delaying post-secondary enrollment, receiving a GED or not completing high school, being financially independent of one's parents, being a single parent, having dependents other than a spouse, attending college part-time, and working full-time (Horn & Premo, 2005). In 1999-2000, the average number of risk factors for all undergraduates was 2.2. For African Americans and Hispanics, the average was 2.7 and 2.4, respectively (Horn, Peter, & Rooney, 2002). Possession of any one risk characteristic greatly increases a student's chance of leaving college without a credential, and for students who possessed two or more risk characteristics, only 25% eventually earned a degree or certificate (Bradburn, 2002). Community college students, generally, contend with more academic risk than their four-year peers. They are more likely, for example, to be financially independent, single parents, attend college part-time, and work full-time (Hoachlander, Sikora, & Horn, 2003; Horn & Nevill, 2006). Further, students who begin postsecondary education at a community college generally arrive less academically prepared and require transitional support especially in the areas of reading and mathematics more than their four-year peers (Bailey et al.). Almost 60% of community college students, compared to 25% of students in four-year colleges or universities, require at least one year of developmental coursework (Adelman 2005; Horn and Berger 2004). African Americans attending community colleges are almost twice as likely as their White peers to enroll in at least one developmental course where they and other developmental students were 39% less likely than their prepared counterparts to persist and earn a degree or certificate (Wirt et al., 2004).

Literature points to numerous institutional barriers as potentially important contributors to the disparities in educational attainment for many minority college students (Harris & Kayes, 1996; Rendon, 1994; Zamani, 2000). Racially indifferent or non-inclusive campus climates (Cabrera et al., 1999; Townsend, 1994), negative or non-existent academically-substantive relationships with faculty (Astin, 1993a; Pascarella & Terenzini, 2005), and/or culturally monolithic classroom practices are cited often as barriers to minority student retention (Pascarella, Edison, Nora, Hagedorn, & Terenzini, 1996; Schwitzer, Griffin, Ancis, & Thomas, 1999). Minority students' perceptions of ethnocentrism or racial discrimination on college campuses provide further insights. African Americans, for example, often consider racism to be ubiquitous on college campuses (Allen, 1992) and, not surprisingly, they report experiences of stereotyping and prejudicial treatment by faculty to a greater degree than their White peers (Ancis, Sedlacek, & Mohr, 2000). Within campus environments that are perceived by African American students to be discriminatory and unreceptive, the empirical evidence suggests that their academic and intellectual development, social experiences, and institutional commitment are adversely affected (Cabrera et al., 1999; Love, 1993; Townsend, 1994). Such environments have also been shown to adversely affect their academic achievement (Prillerman, Myers, & Smedley, 1989; Smedley, Myers, & Harrell, 1993). Other research (Cabrera et al., 1999; Lee, 2001; Love, 1993; Townsend, 1994) suggests that college faculty who lack a requisite level of cross-cultural skills, or worse, who are indifferent and/or discriminatory in their interactions with minority students, can create significant barriers for minority student persistence. Curricular choices and methods of delivery also influence the success of minority undergraduates. In particular, predominantly White college faculty have been found to display culture-bound pedagogical approaches: a one-size-fits-all style of teaching that may not be effective with the diverse learning styles of students in the ethnic minority (Sanchez, 2000).