Community college students' school-to-work transition outcomes

¶ … Community Colleges on the School-to-Work Transition

What problem did the researcher present for research?

The problem being researched in the article "The Impact Of Community Colleges On The School-To-Work Transition: A Multilevel Analysis" by Catherine Mobley is the ability of community college students to effectively adjust from the school setting to the work setting. School-to-work transitions for community college students, according the authors, have traditionally experienced difficulties in terms of social adjustment despite the notion that community colleges are often considered to be "transitional institutions" Their focus on local labor markets has helped the transition process, as has the technological focus of their curricula. However, "Critics have claimed that community colleges are not fully accountable for student outcomes because they are not required to substantiate their positive claims about job availability, placement, and potential salaries." Furthermore, some critics claim that community colleges to do not adequately prepare students for the social and occupational differences between school and work, and thus fail to meet expectations.

2. Is the problem relevant/important for the socio-cultural context of community colleges?

The problem is relevant to the socio-cultural context of the community college because it addresses the preparedness of students to transition from one type of cultural context (school) to another (work). The study also examines race and gender variables as they relate to influences on student outcomes.

3. Does the researcher provide an appropriate rational for why such a study is important?

The researcher explains the importance of the study by stating that it is designed to fill a gap in the current literature, which has tended to focus more on demographic characteristics of students. The purpose of this study, according to the author, is "to illuminate the multilevel nature of the school-to-work transition. More specifically, the main objective was to investigate whether and how community college-level variables influence student outcomes."

4. If a qualitative approach is used, is the researcher's perspective and relationship to the problem discussed?

There is no discussion on the researcher's perspective and relationship to the problem

5. Does the literature review draw from multiple sources, past and present?

The literature review is quite extensive and draws mostly from scholarly journals dating from 1980 to 2000 (The article was published in 2001). The literature review also covers as wide array of topics related to the subject, without venturing off course and discussing irrelevant studies. Proper support and citations are provided throughout the literature review.

6. Does the literature review provide support for the study, and does it put the problem in context?

The literature review provides support for the study by discussing the many studies that have been performed on school-to-work transition in the past, and how they fail to fully answer the questions posed in the present study. The literature review puts the problem in context by citing several studies that have attempted similar research to the present study, but with different variables or constructs.

9. Who were the subjects, how were they obtained?

The subjects consisted of a national sample of community college students who had earned at least 30 credit hours at a community college. The author arrived at this number based on previous research by Kane and Rouse (1993). The sample did not include any students who had attended a four-year college.

10. What methods were used to collect data, and analysis data? What strategies were used to ensure validity and reliability?

The author used two sets of basic hierarchical models designed to analyze the relationships within and between student-level and community college-level outcomes. Validity and reliability were not discussed.

11.What measures did they use?

According to the author, "These models resulted in an equation for each community college that consisted of regression coefficients, called Betas in HLM, that estimated how the independent variables influenced student outcomes."

12. What answers did the findings provide to the research questions posed as stated?

The results of the study both confirmed and contradicted the hypotheses. For example, the greater focus on vocational aspects did improve wage levels and use of training. However, social class background was a more significantly influential variable on these outcomes than the researcher expected.

13. Do the findings seem plausible given the data analyzes. Do they make sense.

The data analysis was extremely intricate and complex, and was displayed on both written and tabular form. While the details of the analysis were difficult to understand, the overall explanation of the outcomes seemed plausible and logical.

14. Do the findings/conclusions match the questions posed at the beginning of the article?

Despite some unexpected outcomes, the findings do match the questions posed at the beginning of the article.

15. Did the researcher make any suggestions for future research on this topic.

The author states that "Future research could incorporate other institutional and cultural variables, such as the attitude toward school-to-work and policies related to career development and institutional values concerning minority students and students from lower class backgrounds (Grubb, 1999; Laden, 1999). Gonzalez and colleagues (1998) call for the inclusion of economic indicators into such analyses."