On My Own: The Challenge and Promise of Building Equitable STEM Transfer Pathways

by Xueli Wang

2020 ASHE Council for the Advancement of Higher Education Programs (CAHEP) Barbara Townsend Lecture Award
2021 Transfer Champion-Catalyst Award from the National Institute for the Study of Transfer Students (NISTS)
2021 Outstanding Publication Award, AERA Division J Publication and Research

On My The Challenge and Promise of Building Equitable STEM Transfer Pathways is the first book of its kind to provide a detailed, on-the-ground examination of the difficult paths—curricular, interpersonal, and institutional—that students must chart through community college. The book follows 1,670 two-year college students over four years as they begin STEM programs in the Midwest and documents their educational and life experiences as they moved toward, or away, from the prospect of transfer to a four-year institution. Their stories reveal that they were on their own, left to navigate the pathways to transfer without meaningful institutional support.

The students pursued one of four pathways, or momentum linear upward, detoured, deferred, or taking a break . The preexisting and lasting disparities in their access to education and financial resources, their experiences with teaching and advising, and the conundrum between support from and for family, among others, propelled them onto different trajectories in their quest for transfer. As this book makes painfully clear, the current state of transfer acts as a mechanism that perpetuates and worsens inequities in educational outcomes.

As Xueli Wang argues, to cultivate an equitable STEM transfer pathway, culturally relevant and responsive supports that are accessible, welcoming, and validating must be put in place at the institutional level and appeal to the talent, motivation, and unique needs of historically marginalized students. In doing so, postsecondary institutions will be better positioned to fulfill their promise as an equitable pathway to bachelor’s degrees and beyond.

256 pages, Paperback

Published April 21, 2020

Reviews

[Tracy M · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read for work. Some interesting points, but I wish someone would do research on the advisor-advisee relationship and not just on students as a whole. It would be more helpful than another study saying how inadequate advising is to meet students' needs, which we already know.

[Scott · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wang and her team made an impressive attempt to understand why students succeed or don't succeed in transferring in STEM fields. The research design seemed, to my untrained eye, to be a thoughtful and interesting combination of quantitative and qualitative methods that she allowed to evolve throughout the process in order to capture the most information about student experiences. Sometimes her analysis leaned too much on the notion of amazing students being insufficiently supported by institutions. I don't doubt this happens and that institutions have many improvements that they should make but also think it's more complicated than that.

Wang made a comment on the notion of "best practices" that I think is applicable beyond the context here:

"The emphasis on 'practices,' perhaps unintentionally, obscures the difficult deep thinking that must happen as part of the transformative reflection leading to change in practices. In my own experience working on with practitioner colleagues at both community colleges and and four-year institutions, I have increasingly realized that when we use the term 'best practices,' regardless of how rigorous and impactful they might be, the message we are sending is counterproductive to supporting a sustained, iterative, and truly reflective journey toward a real shift in mind-set that drives action to address inequity" (166).

"Best practices" often give the impression of quick fixes for the education machine, applicable to any institution or classroom. But it's not just a machine.

[Kaatje · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was once at a conference where we were discussing the challenge of convincing administrators the work we were doing was worthwhile. We discussed how a blend of narratives and numbers was the way to make a compelling argument. Dr Wang has mastered this approach. Addressing such an important issue - she weaves powerful stories of different student experiences with numbers that support these experiences. So well written, such important advise on how we can do better.

[Laura Hyatt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Title says it all