Evidence That a Greater Presence of Latinx Faculty or Administrators Raises the Completion Rates of Various Cohorts of Community College Students

Abstract

Only a quarter of full-time U.S. students complete their desired goal from community college attendance, with the rate of success even lower for Latinx students. This panel-data regression study looks for evidence regarding the expected influence of increasing the presence of Latinx faculty or administrators on cohort completion rates for all students, only Latinx students, and sub-samples of these two cohort types divided further by economic advantage or college preparation. We find that a one-percentage-point increase in Latinx faculty among full-time instructors or a similar increase in Latinx representation among administrators positively influences nearly all cohort completion rates.

Keywords

community college cohort completion Latinx faculty administrators

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Acevedo-Gil

Santos

R. E.

Alonso

Solorzano

D. G.

(2015). Latinas/os in community college developmental education: Increasing moments of academic and interpersonal validation. Journal of Hispanic Higher Education, 14(2), 101–127. https://doi.org/10.1177/1538192715572893

Alcantar

C. M.

Hernandez

(2020). “Here the professors are your guide, tus Guías”: Latina/o student validating experiences with faculty at a Hispanic-serving community college. Journal of Hispanic Higher Education, 19(1), 3–18. https://doi.org/10.1177/1538192718766234

Aljohani

(2016). A comprehensive review of the major studies and theoretical models of student retention in higher education. Higher Education Studies, 6(2), 1–18.

Arbona

Nora

(2007). The influence of academic and environmental factors on Hispanic college degree attainment. The Review of Higher Education, 30(3), 247–269. https://doi.org/10.1353/rhe.2007.0001

Arellano

(2020). Capitalizing baccalaureate degree attainment: Identifying student and institution level characteristics that ensure success for Latinxs. The Journal of Higher Education, 91(4), 588–619. https://doi.org/10.1080/00221546.2019.1669119

Armstrong

Stewart-Gambino

(2016). Building curricular diversity through a ‘social movement’: How faculty networks support institutional change. Journal of Curriculum Theorizing, 31(1), 112–125.

Assari

(2019). Parental educational attainment and academic performance of American college students; Blacks’ diminished returns. Journal of Health Economics and Development, 1(1), 21–31.

Bailey

Jeong

D. W.

Cho

S. W.

(2010). Referral, enrollment, and completion in developmental education sequences in community colleges. Economics of Education Review, 29(2), 255–270.

Baum

C. F.

(2001). Residual diagnostics for cross-section time series regression models. The Stata Journal, 1(1), 101–104.

10.

Bensimon

E. M.

Dowd

(2009). Dimensions of the transfer choice gap: Experiences of Latina and Latino students who navigated transfer pathways. Harvard Educational Review, 79(4), 632–659.

11.

Braxton

Hirschy

McClendon

(2004). Understanding and reducing college student departure. ASHE-ERIC Higher Education Report, 30(3), 128.

12.

Bristol

Martin-Fernandez

(2019). The added value of Latinx and Black Teachers for Latinx and Black students: Implications for the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act. EdWorkingPaper 19-93. https://doi.org/10.26300/czw4-4v11

13.

Buckley

J. B.

Park

J. J.

(2021). “Hard to tell”: Students making assumptions about compositional socioeconomic diversity on campus. Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, 14(1), 110–122.

14.

Burke

Willis

(2021, April 12). California’s community colleges at critical crossroads as more students opt not to attend. Ed Source. https://edsource.org/2021/californias-community-colleges-at-critical-crossroads-as-more-students-opt-not-to-attend/652637

15.

Calcagno

J. C.

Bailey

Jenkins

Kienzl

Leinbach

(2008). Community college student success: What institutional characteristics make a difference? Economics of Education Review, 27(6), 632–645.

16.

California Community College Chancellor’s Office. (2017, December 6). AB 705 Implementation and timeline, memorandum. https://assessment.cccco.edu/implementation-timeline

17.

Cameron

Trivedi

(2010). Microeconometrics using Stata (revised ed.). Stata Press Books, StataCorp LP.

18.

Cejda

B. D.

Hoover

R. E.

(2010). Strategies for faculty-student engagement: How community college faculty engage Latino students. Community College Review, 29(1), 35–57. https://doi.org/10.2190/CS.12.2.b

19.

Chapa

Schink

(2006). California community colleges: Help or hindrance to Latinos in the higher education pipeline? New Directions for Community Colleges, 2006(133), 41–50. https://doi.org/10.1002/cc.226

20.

Clofelter

Ladd

Vigdo

(2013). Succerss in community college: Do institutions differ. Research in Higher Education, 54, 805–824. https://doi.org/10/1007/s11162-013-9295-6

21.

Cole

(2007). Do interracial interactions matter? An examination of student-faculty contact and intellectual self-concept. The Journal of Higher Education, 78(3), 249–281. https://doi.org/10.1353/jhe.2007.0015

22.

Cole

Barber

(2003). Increasing faculty diversity: The occupational choices of high- achieving minority students. Harvard University Press.

23.

Community College Research Center. (2020, April 30). How will COVID-19 affect community college enrollment? Looking to the great recession for clues. https://ccrc.tc.columbia.edu/easyblog/covid-community-college-enrollment.html

24.

Contreras

(2018). Latino faculty in Hispanic-serving institutions: Where is the diversity? Association of Mexican American Educators Journal, 11(3), 223–250. https://doi.org/10.24974/amae.11.3.368

25.

Contreras

Fujimoto

M. O.

(2019). College readiness for English language learners (ELLs) in California: Assessing equity for ELLs under the local control funding formula. Peabody Journal of Education, 94(2), 209–225. https://doi.org/10.1080/0161956x.2019.1598121

26.

Crisp

Nora

(2010). Hispanic student success: Factors influencing the persistence and transfer decisions of Latino Community College students enrolled in developmental education. Research in Higher Education, 51(2), 175–194. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11162-009-9151-x

27.

Croopnick

(2021). Impact of higher percentages of Black faculty on Blackmale student completion rates in California community college [Master’s thesis]. California State University. http://hdl.handle.net/10211.3/218605

28.

Darity

Hamilton

Paul

Aja

Price

Moore

Chiopris

A. C.

, (2018). What we get wrong about closing the racial wealth gap (pp. 1–67). Samuel DuBois Cook Center on Social Equity and Insight Center for Community Economic Development.

29.

Dee

T. S.

(2004). Teachers, race, and student achievement in a randomized experiment. The Review of Economics and Statistics, 86(1), 195–210. https://doi.org/10.1162/003465304323023750

30.

De Hoyos

R. E.

Sarafidis

(2006). Testing for cross-sectional dependence in panel-data models. The Stata Journal, 6(4), 482–496. https://doi.org/10.1177/1536867x0600600403

31.

Deil-Amen

(2011). Socio-academic integrative moments: Rethinking academic and social integration among two-year college students in career-related programs. The Journal of Higher Education, 82(1), 54–91. https://doi.org/10.1353/jhe.2011.0006

32.

Digest of Educational Statistics. (2018). Faculty in degree-granting postsecondary institutions, by race/ethnicity, sex, and academic rank: Table 315.2018. https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/2018menu_tables.asp

33.

Drukker

(2003). Testing for serial correlation in linear-panel data models. The Stata Journal, 3(2), 268–177.

34.

Excelencia in Education. (2020). A California briefing on 25 years of HSIs. https://www.edexcelencia.org/25yrs-HSIs-California

35.

Fairlie

R. W.

Hoffmann

Oreopoulos

(2014). A community college instructor like me: Race and ethnicity interactions in the classroom. American Economic Review, 104(8), 2567–2591. https://doi.org/10.1257/aer.104.8.2567

36.

Fiske

E. B.

(1988). The undergraduate Hispanic experience: A case of juggling two cultures. Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning, 20(3), 29–33. https://doi.org/10.1080/00091383.1988.9939813

37.

Garcia

G. A.

(2019). Becoming Hispanic-serving institutions: Opportunities for Colleges & Universities. Johns Hopkins Press.

38.

Gilmore

(2019). How faculty diversity affects underrepresented minority (URM) student completion rates at community colleges [Doctoral dissertation]. City University of Seattle. http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11803/823

39.

Goldrick-Rab

(2010). Challenges and opportunities for improving community college student success. Review of Educational Research, 80(3), 437–469. https://doi.org/10.3102/0034654310370163

40.

Gordon

(2019, March 18). California community colleges show litle progress in student graduations and transfers. EdSource. https://edsource.org/20129/california-community-collrges-show-little-progress-in-student-graduations-and-transfers/609965

41.

Hagedorn

L. S.

Chi

Cepeda

R. M.

McLain

(2007). An investigation of critical mass: The role of Latino representation in the success of urban community college students. Research in Higher Education, 48, 73–91. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11162-006-9024-5

42.

Handel

S. J.

Williams

R. A.

(2012). The promise of the transfer pathway: Opportunity and challenge for community college students seeking the baccalaureate degree. College Board Advocacy & Policy Center.

43.

Hanushek

E. A.

Kain

J. F.

O’Brien

D. M.

Rivkin

S. G.

(2005). The market for teacher quality (Working Paper No. w11154). National Bureau of Economic Research. http://www.nber.org/papers/w11154.

44.

Hoechle

(2007). Robust standard errors for panel regressions with cross-sectional dependence. The Stata Journal, 7(3), 281–312.

45.

Hoffman

E. M.

(2014). Faculty and student relationships: Context matters. College Teaching, 62, 13–19. https://doi.org/10.1080/87567555.2013.817379

46.

Huber

L. P.

Vélez

V. N.

Solórzano

(2018). More than ‘papelitos’: A quantcrit counterstory to critique Latina/o degree value and occupational prestige. Race Ethnicity and Education, 21(2), 208–230.

47.

Johnson

K. R.

(2010). The importance of student and faculty diversity in law schools: One dean’s perspective. Iowa Law Review, 96, 1549–1577.

48.

Jordan

P. G.

(2008). Black male students’ success in urban community college: A case study [Doctoral dissertation]. University of Pennsylvania.

49.

Kao

Thompson

J. S.

(2003). Racial and ethnic stratification in educational achievement and attainment. Annual Review of Sociology, 29(1), 417–442.

50.

Köllen

(2021). Diversity management: A critical review and agenda for the future. Journal of Management Inquiry, 30(3), 259–272. https://doi.org/10.1177/1056492619868025

51.

Kurlaender

Carrell

Jackson

(2016). The promises and pitfalls of measuring community college quality. RSF The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences, 2(1), 174–190.

52.

Lucero

Dorantes

A. A.

Holguin Mendoza

Romero Montaño

(2019). Reforzando las redes: Supporting Latina/o undergraduates at a state flagship university. Journal of Hispanic Higher Education, 18(4), 295–316. https://doi.org/10.1177/1538192717741671

53.

Mello

(2018, March 14). At California’s top public universities, why a dearth of Latino professors matters. Cal Matters. https://calmatters.org/education/2018/03/californias-top-public-universities-dearth-latino-professors-matters/

54.

Museus

(2014). The culturally engaging campus environments (CECE) model: A new theory of success among racially diverse college student populations. In Paulsen

(Ed.), Higher Education: Handbook of Theory and Research (Vol. 29, pp. 189–227). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-8005-6_5

55.

National Center for Educational Statistics. (2019). Status and trends in the education of racial and ethnic groups, 2019. US Department of Education. https://nces.ed.gov/programs/raceindicators/indicator_red.asp#:~:text=The%20150%20percent%20graduation%20rate,Black%20students%20(23%20percent

56.

National Center for Educational Statistics. (2020). Characteristics of postsecondary students. Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS). Fall 2018 enrollment. https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator_csb.asp

57.

Nitardy

C. M.

Duke

N. N.

Pettingell

S. L.

Borowsky

I. W.

(2015). Racial and ethnic disparities in educational achievement and aspirations: Findings from a statewide survey from 1998 to 2010. Maternal and Child Health Journal, 19(1), 58–66.

58.

Oyserman

Lewis

N. A.

(2017). Seeing the destination and the path: Using identity-based motivation to understand and reduce racial disparities in academic achievement. Social Issues and Policy Review, 11(1), 159–194.

59.

Pickett

Woodson

Milner

Wood

(2017). Institutional support mechanisms for Black males at community colleges: A mixed-methods study on the perceptions of support mechanisms for academic success at community colleges [Doctoral dissertation]. University of Pittsburgh.

60.

Reardon

S. F.

Galindo

(2009). The Hispanic-White achievement gap in math and reading in the elementary grades. American Educational Research Journal, 46(3), 853–891. https://doi.org/10.3102/0002831209333184

61.

Rodriguez

F. C.

(2015). Why diversity and equity matter: Reflections from a community college president. New Directions for Community Colleges, 2015(172), 15–24. https://doi.org/10.1002/cc.20160

62.

Sandoval-Lucero

Maes

J. B.

Klingsmith

(2014). Black and Latina(o) community college students’ social capital and student success. College Student Journal, 48(3), 522–533.

63.

Stanton-Salazar

(1997). A social capital framework for understanding the socialization of racial minority children and youths. Harvard Educational Review, 67(1), 1–41.

64.

Strayhorn

(2012). College students’ sense of belonging: A key to educational success for all students. Routledge.

65.

Strum

(2010). Separate [not equal to] equal: Mexican Americans before Brown v. Board. Poverty & Race, 19(5), 1–2, 6–8.

66.

Tinto

(1975). Dropout from higher education: A theoretical synthesis of recent research. Review of Educational Research, 45(1), 89–125.

67.

Tinto

(1993). Leaving college: Rethinking the causes and cures of student attrition (2nd ed.). University of Chicago Press.

68.

Torres

Winston

R. B.

Jr Cooper

D. L.

(2004). The effect of geographic location, institutional type, and stress on Hispanic students’ cultural orientation. NASPA Journal, 40(10), 153–172.

69.

Tovar

(2015). The role of faculty, counselors, and support programs on Latino/a community college students’ success and intent to persist. Community College Review, 43(1), 46–71. https://doi.org/10.1177/0091552114553788

70.

Turner

C. S.

(2013). Advancing diversity in higher education. Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, 6(3), 155–157. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0034356

71.

Urrieta

Chavez

(2009). Latin@ faculty in academelandia. In Murillo

E. G.

Villenas

S. A.

Galvan

R. T.

Munoz

J. S.

Martinez

Machado-Casas

(Eds.), Handbook of Latinos and education: Theory, research, and practice (2nd ed., pp. 70–80). Routledge.

72.

Vasquez-Heilig

Flores

I. W.

Barros Souza

Barry

Barcelo Monroy

(2019). Considering the ethnoracial and gender diversity of faculty in United States college and university intellectual communities. Texas Hispanic Journal of Law and Policy, 1(1), 1–33.

73.

Vasquez Urias

(2012). The impact of institutional characteristics on Latino male graduation rates in community colleges. Annuals of the Next Generation, 3(1), 1–12.

74.

Vasquez Urias

Wood

J. L.

(2014). Black male graduation rates in community colleges: Do institutional characteristics make a difference. Community College Journal of Research & Practice, 38(12), 1112–1124. https://doi.org/10.1080/10668926.2012.745101

75.

Wassmer

Moore

Shulock

(2004). Effect of racial/ethnic composition on transfer rates in community colleges: Implications for policy and practice. Research in Higher Education, 45(6), 651–672.

76.

Wedderburn

Ramdeholl

(2021). Activism in the university: Opportunities for reflective dialogue and action. Dialogues in Social Justice: An Adult Education Journal, 6(1), 83–95.

77.

Wood

L. J.

(2012). Black males in the community college: Using two national datasets to examine academic and social integration. Journal of Black Masculinity, 2(2), 56–88.