African American Transfer Tipping Point

This research aims to identify key factors influencing transfer success among high-leverage African American/Black learners in the California Community Colleges system. Utilizing a mixed-methods approach, the project seeks to identify “tipping points” that facilitate their transfer success. The study was designed to answer two critical sets of research questions:

1. Where along the academic continuum are we losing the greatest proportions of African American/Black students who leave without transferring? Conversely, where are the tipping points that signal students’ transition from being unlikely to reach their transfer goal to being significantly more likely to do so?

2. What are the factors (both academic and non-academic) that contribute to African American/Black students’ likelihood of reaching the tipping point? Which programs and practices are associated with greater persistence to and through the tipping points and, ultimately, the transfer gate?

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Project Team Information

Lead: Katie Brohawn

Team Member(s): Darla Cooper, Alyssa Nguyen, Michelle White, Daisy Segovia

Advisory Members: (Name, Position, Organization at the time of membership)

Natalie Aceves
Educational Director, Transfer Center Norco College

Dr. Arynn Auzout
Partnership Relations Coordinator CCC Transfer Guarantee Agreement to Historically Black Colleges & Universities

Anita Bailey
Program Director Umoja Community
Dr. Antonio Banks Director, Black and Males of Color Success Compton College

Dr. Julianna Barnes
Chancellor South Orange County Community College District

Dr. Lisa Cooper Wilkins
Vice Chancellor, Student Affairs City College of San Francisco

Dr. Keith Curry President
Compton College Audrey Dow Senior Vice President Campaign for College Opportunity

Nzingha Dugas
Executive Director Umoja Community, Palomar College

Sydney Farwell
Transfer Student involved in TTG project Fresno State

Michelle Fowles
Dean, Institutional Effectiveness LA Valley College

Dr. Su Jin Gatlin Jez
Executive Director California Competes

Marcell Gilmore
Educational Research Assessment Analyst Mt. San Antonio College

Dr. Frank Harris
Co-Director of the Community College Equity Assessment Lab (CCEAL) / Professor of postsecondary education San Diego State University/Center for Organizational Responsibility and Advancement (CORA)

Dr. Aisha Lowe
Vice Chancellor CCC Chancellor's Office

Dr. Valerie Lundy-Wagner
Assistant Vice Chancellor, Research and Data CCC Chancellor's Office

Dr. Christopher Nellum
Deputy Director, Research and Policy Education Trust-West

Ken O'Donnell
Vice Provost, Academic Affairs CSU Dominguez Hills

Anthony Onwuegbuzia
Transfer student Compton College Student who transferred to CSU Dominguez Hills

Gerald Richardson III
Student Senate Legislative Affairs Director Reg VI and student in Ventura County CCD Student Senate

Dr. Wendy Sedlak
Strategy Director Lumina Foundation Sabrina Sencil Director, Research and Equity Cosumnes River College

Dr. Jennifer Taylor-Mendoza
Vice President, Instruction Skyline College

Dr. Scott Thayer
President A2MEND (African American Male Education Network and Development)

Dr. Eric Wada
Academic Senate: C-ID Curriculum Director Academic Senate for California Community Colleges (ASCCC)/Los Rios Community College District

Diamund White
Student Senate Legislative Affairs Director Reg III and student at City College of SF Student Senate

Dr. Luke Wood
Dean’s Distinguished Professor of Education, VP for Student Affairs & Campus Diversity, Co-Director of the Community College Equity
Assessment Lab (CCEAL) San Diego State University/Center for Organizational Responsibility and Advancement (CORA)

Helen Young
Project Director CCC Transfer Guarantee Agreement to Historically Black Colleges & Universities

Funder(s):
Lumina Foundation