In late 2021, The RP Group conducted a robust quantitative analysis of the transfer trajectories of transfer-motivated African American/Black students. This research identified several factors salient to their journeys. Some of these were quite intuitive—namely, the completion of 15, 24, 30, and 45 units promptly and the passing of transfer-level English and math in the first year. However, further analyses revealed some additional salient factors that predicted student success, including receiving academic counseling in the first year, not being put on academic probation, and participation in Umoja.
To capture a more robust understanding of why these factors were salient and uncover other potential factors that could not be captured in the data, in April 2022, The RP Group conducted interviews with six California community college (CCC) student services professionals and focus groups with 11 African American/Black students from five institutions1 identified as having relatively higher rates of African American/Black student transfer. These conversations also unearthed a set of recommendations for facilitating African American/Black student transfer, presented in the accompanying briefs.