THE COURSE-BASED MODEL OF TRANSFER SUCCESS: AN ACTION-ORIENTED RESEARCH PARADIGM

This article describes an action - oriented paradigm for evaluating transfer success which is course - based rather than student - based. Traditional research typically tracks the performance of community college students in various cohorts (e.g., demographic groups or graduates vs. early transfers) as they transfer to other institutions. The Course - Based Model of Transfer Success (CBMTS) shows how well students who complete course prerequisites at a community college perform in specific courses compared to students who complete the prerequisites at the receiving college. This new paradigm creates the incentive to act because it provides specific guidance to correct students' problems stemming from their curriculum experience. It builds on faculty consensus that students who pass their course are prepared for subsequent courses, which require that course as a prerequisite. The model has proven its usefulness in local applications and has led to a FIPSE - funded (Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education) effort to develop a generic version of the tracking system for nationwide dissemination.