About the STP3 Project
Information on what the project includes why study occupational transfer and who funds the project
With California projecting considerable shortages in multiple occupations requiring bachelor-level preparation and nearly 75% of the state’s students starting their higher education in community colleges, promoting transfer between community colleges and four-year universities in professional majors offers one strategy for addressing our workforce needs.
What is STP3?
To better understand how students travel through the state’s community colleges and universities—public and private—to ultimately achieve a professional degree, the RP Group is currently engaged in a multi-year, comprehensive study focused on:
- The current infrastructure for transfer between community colleges and four-year institutionsin occupational disciplines
- Ways students use the community college system to preparefor transfer in high-demand disciplines (specifically, engineering, accounting, nursing, teacher education and administration of justice)
- Factors that complicate and support their journey
- Opportunities to increase students’ accessto these pathways andimprove their completion of transfer and a degree
What does the project include?
Current activities focus on (1) quantitative analysis of the paths taken by transfer students who successfully completed a degree, (2) documentation of students’ perspectives on how they prepared for and experienced transfer and (3) engagement of stakeholders—including community college practitioners, four-year educators, employer representatives, students, policy makers and funders—with research findings that can be used to drive action that increases and facilitates transfer.
The project recently concluded an examination of the paths taken by approximately 9,200 transfers who ultimately achieved a bachelor’s degree in accounting, engineering and nursing between fall 1996 and spring 2009. Additionally, we conducted surveys, focus groups and interviews to collect perspectives from 750 successful transfer students in these disciplines—including those at public, private non-profit and private proprietary universities—on their transfer preparation, supports and challenges encountered in their transition to university-level work and ways to improve the transfer experience for future students. We are currently extending this work to investigate transfer in administration of justice and teacher preparation.
The project launched its work in fall 2007, completing an extensive literature review on transfer career-oriented disciplines; a survey of 400 community college practitioners to identify major barriers to and opportunities for transfer in occupational programs; and 60 semi-structured phone interviews with CTE faculty and administrators from community colleges and four-year institutions.
Why study community college transfer in professional majors?
A growing body of research underscores the urgent need to better understand how students use community colleges to launch their journey toward a baccalaureate in career-oriented disciplines and how to increase their success with transfer and degree completion. For example, reports by the Public Policy Institute of California highlight the gap between the growing number of positions that demand baccalaureate-level preparation and the number of individuals available to fill them. Research produced by CSU-Sacramento’s Institution for Higher Education Leadership and Policy indicates that upwards of 75% of California’s students begin their postsecondary education in one of the state’s community colleges. These findings, among others, indicate that without an increase in student transfer, California is likely to face serious workforce shortages in a number of high-growth, high-demand occupations such as accounting, engineering, nursing, and teaching and in emerging sectors like biotechnology, logistics and clean/green technology.
Who supports this project?
The RP Group’s work on community college transfer in career-oriented disciplines is supported by the James Irvine Foundation. The project launched in fall 2007 with a grant from the State Chancellor’s Office.
Additional Background Information
The RP Group developed the following resources at the onset of STP3 to inform and direct our current examination of transfer in professional majors.
Learn about the state of transfer in occupational disciplines across California’s community colleges including analysis of the career and technical education (CTE) course infrastructure, enrollments, transfer rates and destinations (Spring 2009)
Find highlights from a survey of 450 community college practitioners focused on factors that challenge and support CTE transfer (Spring 2009)
Review statewide projections for occupations requiring baccalaureate-level preparation that serve as a basis for this study (Spring 2009)
Get a high-level synopsis of existing research that lays the context for studying transfer in professional majors as well as prior studies on models for and factors impacting CTE transfer (Spring 2009)
