2015-16 GNYC Research

[av_button label=’Meet Our Fellow’ link=’page,1963′ link_target=” size=’x-large’ position=’center’ icon_select=’no’ icon=’ue800′ font=’entypo-fontello’ color=’theme-color’ custom_bg=’#444444′ custom_font=’#ffffff’ custom_class=”] [av_toggle_container initial=’0′ mode=’accordion’ sort=” custom_class=”] [av_toggle title=’Mixed Methods Research Study on Transfer Students’ tags=”] Over the course of the 2015-2016 academic year, GNYC’s first research fellow, Christina Ciocca Eller, advanced doctoral researcher in sociology at Columbia University is conducting a mixed methods research study on transfer students at three CUNY senior colleges. The study focuses on the experiences of approximately 60 first-time students at these colleges. The purpose of the qualitative portion of this study is to learn more about how students make decisions regarding their respective areas of study and the resources they draw upon for support in college. Participants in this longitudinal study include both freshmen and transfer students who were selected at random and compensated for their participation. This study will investigate the ways in which first-time students at a given college obtain information that can assist them in creating academically and personally “satisfying” experiences. Furthermore, it will unpack the different meanings of “student satisfaction” and the ways in which these meanings relate to college persistence – expanding existing knowledge of the ways in which students’ varied interactions with their colleges promote or inhibit positive student outcomes. This study relies heavily on interviews with both college students and administrative staff. It will principally focus on the ways in which students acquire knowledge regarding three different kinds of collegiate support resources:

• Those that promote academic success
• Those that promote satisfaction and happiness
• Those that promote and establish specific pathways that students can follow to achieve a degree

In doing so, it will analyze the relationships between students experience, student satisfaction, and college completion. The study then aims to determine if students who have a qualitatively “better” experience, via the CUNY Student Experience Survey data, are more likely to achieve a degree, and whether and how this relationship differs among the three colleges in the study. The research report from this study will be released Fall 2016. [/av_toggle] [av_toggle title=’High School Exit Survey for New York City Seniors’ tags=”] In 2015-16, our GNYC Research Fellow also worked with the NYC DOE to develop and pilot a survey on college for graduating high school seniors. This senior exit survey will examine high school students’ college preparedness and decision-making process, while also generating information useful in predicting the likelihood of persistence in college settings.  In particular, it identifies the steps that student have taken to prepare and enter college, the role of support structures within schools and families, and students’ sense of clarity and expectations about their post-high school paths.  By collecting this information, the survey will create a longitudinal record of New York City high school students’ college-going attitudes and trajectories, information that can be harnessed to address key issues along the college pipeline and contribute to student success. [/av_toggle] [/av_toggle_container]