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Transitions to College: Lessons from the Disciplines
by William Trent <http://www.tcrecord.org/AuthorDisplay.asp?aid=4442> ,
Margaret Terry Orr <http://www.tcrecord.org/AuthorDisplay.asp?aid=19187> ,
Sheri Ranis <http://www.tcrecord.org/AuthorDisplay.asp?aid=19220> &
Jennifer <http://www.tcrecord.org/AuthorDisplay.asp?aid=19221> Holdaway -
2007
INTRODUCTION
In the fall of 2003, about 70 percent of high school completers entered
college immediately following graduation, a rate that has been relatively
consistent since 1997 (3NCES, 2005). That accounts for about 2.2 million
public and private high school graduates each year, an increasing number of
whom are first-generation college-goers. It does not include first-time
college-goers who are beginning after a substantial stop-out, GED
completers, or increasing numbers of young immigrants who are new college
entrants.
Degree attainment lags considerably. By 2001, only 51 percent of all
postsecondary educational students beginning in 1995-6 had completed any
degree or certificate, and 14 percent were still enrolled. Completion rates
vary widely by race/ethnicity, parents' educational attainment, and family
income (3SSRC, 2005). These disparities have become the focus of
considerable research over the past 20-30 years through a wide range of
disciplines and applied fields, focusing both on students' experiences and
institutional behavior and related policy implications.
The human, economic and social capital invested in this transition, and in
subsequent college completion, is enormous in individual, community, and
institutional terms. Yet, persisting social and economic inequalities in
the United States attributable to economic, racial, and gender disparities
differentially shape the transition into and through postsecondary education
for young people, limiting access and success in particular for poor and
minority youth. Such inequalities occur in a complex terrain of historical,
regional, and political differentiation in the United States. The
demonstrable lack of access to and success in postsecondary education among
underrepresented students in the United States has been persistent and
problematic for very basic but deeply important reasons relating to
individual and family attributes and conditions, institutional structures,
and cultural and economic forces.
Until now, however, such research has not been well synthesized to inform
policies and practices that guide and support this critical transition
period, or to frame further policy-relevant research.
This journal issue presents six discipline and field reviews on what is
known about that critical period in the college-going process. The field
review essays included here are from anthropology (Koyama), demography
(Maralani), economics (Long), higher education (Goldrick-Rab), history
(Gelber), and sociology (Deil-Amen and Turley). In addition, Louie has
crafted an overview essay that opens the volume and sets the stage for the
ensuing reviews. This journal issue's purpose, and the opportunity that
these reviews present, is not simply to encourage further research on issues
of transition. Rather, this work reflects a shared belief that persistent
inquiry-through quality data, scholarship, and comprehensive understanding
across multiple disciplines and fields-can improve equality of opportunity
in higher education through better policies and solutions.
Link to remainder: http://www.tcrecord.org/PrintContent.asp?ContentID=12594
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