A study of the progression of black students at an urban community college: A quantitative and qualitative investigation

This study consisted of two studies, quantitative and qualitative. The purpose of part one of this study, quantitative, was to examine the relationship between age, gender, grade point average, enrollment in preparatory coursework, college entrance exam scores and a student\u27s status as completer, persister, or drop-out. The target population consisted of 163 Black students who enrolled in Broward Community College (BCC), Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, for the first time in the Fall of 1986. The longitudinal research data base at BCC tracked the students from the Fall of 1986 through the Spring of 1991. The students were divided into three groups: completers, persisters, and drop-outs. One-Way Analysis of Variance was conducted to compare the means between the three groups and to determine if there was a significant difference between gender, age, GPA, enrollment in preparatory coursework, and college placement exams. The results of part one indicated that there is a significant difference between completers, persisters, and drop-outs related to grade point average and the ASSET-Math college entrance exam. There was no significant difference between completers, persisters, and drop-outs related to gender, age, enrollment in English and Math preparatory coursework, and ASSET-Language college entrance exam. In part two of this study, qualitative, a telephone interview was conducted with forty Black students representing each of the three groups. The aim of the interview was to examine the relationship between educational goals and commitments, background characteristics, socioeconomic factors, social integration, and college services of Black students who: (1) complete programs of study within a five year plan, (2) continue after a five year span, or (3) drop out within a five year span. The results of part two indicated that there are no differences between completers, persisters, and drop-outs related to socioeconomic factors, level of satisfaction with the administration and college environment, background characteristics, and college services that helped or could have helped. There was somewhat of a difference between reasons students entered BCC, commitments, college services used and level of satisfaction with faculty