| Catherine Mobley
University of Maryland
Community colleges and the school-to-work transition: A multilevel analysis
FINAL REPORT:
This project explores two issues: the role of state coordination in the school-to-work transition of community college students and how particular community college level variables affect student outcomes. By using data from a variety of sources, including High School and Beyond and College Board Institutional Files, this study illuminates whether the context and structures of community colleges assist in a more smooth transition (i.e., enable young adults to find a job that matches their training) and result in more positive outcomes (i.e., in terms of wages and income and job satisfaction). More specifically, the multi-level analyses aimed to predict the race, gender, and SES gaps in student outcomes.
The variables modeled at the state level (reflecting state coordination) were: level of state funding, years of existence of state community college system, number of local institutions, type of governance board, degree to which state is involved in program approval, and centralization rank. The variables modeled at the community college level were student enrollments, percentage of faculty that is full-time, transfer rate, and availability of career counseling and job placement services.
The results for the state coordination model suggest that state coordination has more influence over wages and use of training that it does over job satisfaction. The variables that were associated with more positive outcomes in terms of the race gap in wages and use of training were program approval by the state and the presence of a coordinating board. A higher percentage of state funding was associated with a wider gender gap in earnings. The findings for the community college level model suggest that transfer rates are associated with a disequalizing effect on the gender gap in wages, with females earning less than males in community colleges with higher transfer rates. The availability of counseling services also had a disequalizing impact on the gender gap in use of training on the job.
This exploratory study demonstrates the potential of multi-level models in examining the school-to-work transition. Future research should be directed toward developing additional measures of state coordination.
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