ERIC Number: ED358896
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 1993-May-19
Pages: 28
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
Stratified Course Offerings: How Curriculum Structure Relates to Transfer.
Mellissinos, Melissa
A study was conducted to examine relationships between community college transfer and curricula by analyzing course offerings at the remedial and advanced levels. The study analyzed the Center for the Study of Community Colleges' National Curriculum Database, containing data on 1991 liberal arts course offerings for 164 representative community colleges, as well as the National Transfer Assembly Database, containing 1991 transfer rates for 155 community colleges. Each recorded course was grouped by discipline and categorized as remedial (below college proficiency and not carrying college transfer credit), standard, or advanced (carrying a prerequisite in the same or related field as a condition for enrollment). Study findings included the following: (1) remedial course offerings accounted for 11% of liberal arts curricula in the community colleges; (2) two-thirds of the remedial courses were English offerings; (3) advanced course offerings accounted for about 21% of the liberal arts curricula, with humanities constituting the largest portion at 22%; (4) of schools that overlapped between the two databases, only one offered more than 40% of the curriculum at the remedial level, while seven schools offered more than 40% at the advanced level; (5) 37% of ESL classes were offered at the advanced level and 63% were standard; (6) pre-collegiate, freshman, and sophomore stratifications in the curriculum were unrelated to transfer; and (7) neither advanced course offerings nor articulation agreements alone appeared to strengthen the transfer function. A review of the literature on developmental education, the community college sophomore curriculum, transfer, and articulation is included. Contains 14 references. (MAB)
Descriptors: Advanced Courses, Articulation (Education), College Curriculum, College Transfer Students, Community Colleges, Curriculum Evaluation, Curriculum Research, English (Second Language), Higher Education, Remedial Programs, Student Placement, Transfer Programs, Transfer Rates (College), Two Year College Students, Two Year Colleges
Publication Type: Information Analyses; Reports - Research; Speeches/Meeting Papers
Education Level: N/A
Audience: Researchers
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A