California Community Colleges (CCC) are the main gateway to higher education, and CCC students make up 64% of all undergraduates in the state of California (California Tomorrow, 2008). Since CCCs are the most affordable option for higher education in California, they also serve the neediest students with the greatest socio-economic disadvantage. The system has the highest proportion of students from the lowest income group in the nation. Seventy-five percent of all first-time Latino, African American and Native American college students get their start in California community colleges. Sixty-five percent of students are students of color in the CCC system, the highest proportion in the country (California Tomorrow, 2008). These students come to the CCC the least academically prepared. A query of the State Superintendent of Public Instruction data quest reveals that the 2011 Academic Performance Index (API) of African American, American Indian/Alaska Native, Hispanic/Latino and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander students is significantly lower than the API for white, Asian and Filipino students at every level: elementary, middle, and high school. A closer examination of this data finds that African American students are at the bottom across all grade levels for any ethnic group and income level. African American, Latino, Native American and Pacific Islander students are theoretically on par with white and Asian students when it comes to gaining access to the community college system. However once African-American students are in the system, their outlook for academic success is dismal. A research query of the California Community Colleges Management Information Systems Data Mart reveals that African American students consistently earn lower grade point averages, have lower rates of success in their courses, and persistence from term to term is lower as compared to all other ethnic groups. African American student success rates in basic skills courses mimic the same trends as other academic success indicators for this population. Although African American students comprise 7.49% of the total unduplicated headcount for the California Community College system they make up 17.6% of the total enrollment in Credit and Non-credit Basic Skills courses (Board of Governors, California Community Colleges, 2011). The chart below shows course success rates for basic skills courses one level below transfer and two levels below transfer for both English and math in the 2010-2011academic year. In both scenarios, African American students have markedly lower success rates than their Asian and white counterparts (Board of Governors, California Community Colleges, 2012).
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