Evergreen Valley College: Persistence of New College Students from English 321, 322 and 330 through Transfer Level English (1A), Fall 1988-Spring 1992. Research Reports #257, #258, and #292

Three studies were conducted at Evergreen Valley College, in San Jose, California, to measure the persistence of new college students enrolled in entry-level English courses (i.e., English 321, English 322, and English 330) in fall 1988. Specifically, the studies examined students' persistence from their initial English course through Transfer Level English (TLE) during the four academic years from fall 1988 through spring 1992. In fall 1988, a total of 69 new students were enrolled in English 321, 137 in English 322, and 152 in English 330. Results of the studies of these students included the following: (1) in English 321, only five (7%) of the original fall 1998 group persisted through TLE; (2) for the same group, Blacks had a 29% persistence rate, while all other ethnic groups had rates of less than 10%; (3) in English 322, 23% of the 137 new students progressed through TLE, while 66% achieved competency in the course; (4) 93% of the English 322 students were non-White, with Hispanics comprising 36% and Asians 33%; (5) of the students who entered into English 330, 20% progressed through TLE by spring 1992; (6) out of a group that was 57% female and 43% male, 17% of the females and 23% of the males persisted; (7) in English 330, Hispanic males and Black females had the highest persistence rates at 30% and 45%, respectively; and (8) for all of the groups, the studies showed that the college is not meeting its goals in terms of transferring more underprepared students and protected ethnic groups. Detailed data tables are included. (MAB)