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Academic advisement practices and policies in support of Black community college students with the goal of transfer

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Academic advisement practices and policies in support of Black community college students with the goal of transfer

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Content Academic Advisement Practices and Policies in Support of Black Community College
Students with the Goal of Transfer
Shannon Kathleen Durbin
Rossier School of Education
University of Southern California
A dissertation submitted to the faculty
in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Education
May 2024

© Copyright by Shannon Kathleen Durbin 2023
All Rights Reserved

The Committee for Shannon Kathleen Durbin certifies the approval of this Dissertation
Darnell Cole
Doug Lynch
Nicole Maccalla, Committee Chair
Rossier School of Education
University of Southern California
2023

iv
Abstract
This study sought to examine to what extent faculty counselors (academic advisors) at a transferstrong California community college (CCC) utilize core values as outlined by the National
Academic Advising Association (NACADA), to what extent CCC students identifying as
African American and/or Black (AA/B) with the goal of transfer are experiencing core values,
and to what extent are AA/B student transfer advisement needs being met. The core values are a
theoretical framework guiding college and university advisement practices across the United
States and internationally, consisting of the following seven values: Caring, empowerment,
inclusivity, respect, commitment, integrity, and professionalism. For the purposes of this study
these values were categorized under interpersonal advisement and organizational promise. This
study identified a CCC with better-than-average transfer outcomes for AA/B students and used
qualitative methods to interview both faculty counselors and students identifying as AA/B with
the goal of transfer using semi-structured interview protocols. Document review was used to
inform the use of advisement tools and processes. Findings from this study indicate that faculty
counselors utilize core values and AA/B students experience core values within academic
advisement; however, not all core values are as frequently utilized and AA/B students who
worked with faculty counselors who identify as AA/B within Black student organizations had
greater satisfaction in their advisement experiences. This study articulates how core values
manifest at CCCs, what gaps persist, and how accurate and timely academic advising within a
welcoming and culturally inclusive environment improves AA/B student persistence toward the
goal of transfer.

v
Acknowledgements
First and foremost, thank you to my partner Kemp, who supported this goal from day
one. Thank you to Mackenzie and Mingus, who are sound advisors. Thank you Bozzie-boy who
knows exactly when to distract me. Thank you to my mother, who always knew “I was a star”
(inside joke). To my dad who is proud of me. My brothers, for their curiosity in my work. To my
friends and chosen family who never doubted I would get here.
Thank you to those who were critical in circulating the study invitation to the greater
community and to this study’s participants who were generous with their time and in sharing
their experiences. Thank you to my Rossier community. For myself, and many of my fellow
colleagues, life provided more than a few obstacles over the last few years. Nevertheless, these
generous, ambitious, genius colleagues demonstrated grace and bravery throughout, and
challenged me to level up and bring my best. Kim, Carmen, Jovanny, Lorianna, Maria,
Hongchang, Jay, Hector, Brandon, all the Daniels, and so many others, thank you for being
leaders and reminding me there are many people out there working for a more equitable and
beautiful world.
Finally, thank you to my dissertation committee members, Dr. Darnell Cole, Dr. Doug
Lynch, and to my dissertation chair, Dr. Nicole Maccalla (“Dr. M.”). Dr. Cole, thank you for
your critical insights that insist on scholarly bravery. Dr. Lynch, thank you for providing a space
where students emerge emboldened and equipped to lead positive change. Dr. M., your patience,
discernment, and deep knowledge kept this project on track and prevented more than a few
derailments. Thank you all for your unflagging support and the crucial work you put into the
world.

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In these dark times, I have been surrounded by people who apply their scholarship to
bringing in the light. Let that light grow. Fight On!

vii
Table of Contents
Abstract.......................................................................................................................................... iv
Acknowledgements..........................................................................................................................v
List of Tables ................................................................................................................................. ix
List of Figures..................................................................................................................................x
Chapter One: Introduction ...............................................................................................................1
Context and Background of the Challenge ..........................................................................2
Purpose of the Project and Research Questions...................................................................5
Importance of the Study.......................................................................................................6
Overview of Theoretical Framework and Methodology .....................................................7
Methodology........................................................................................................................8
Definitions............................................................................................................................8
Organization of the Dissertation ........................................................................................11
Chapter Two: Literature Review ...................................................................................................12
Community Colleges .........................................................................................................12
California Community College Students...........................................................................13
Postsecondary Advisement Landscape ..............................................................................20
Conceptual Framework......................................................................................................33
Summary............................................................................................................................40
Chapter Three: Methodology.........................................................................................................41
Research Questions............................................................................................................41
Overview of Design ...........................................................................................................42
Data Triangulation and Trustworthiness............................................................................53
Ethics..................................................................................................................................55
Chapter Four: Findings..................................................................................................................57

viii
Summary of Findings.........................................................................................................93
Chapter Five: Recommendations...................................................................................................95
Discussion of Findings.......................................................................................................95
Recommendations for Practice ........................................................................................103
Limitations and Delimitations..........................................................................................112
Recommendations for Future Research...........................................................................114
Conclusion .......................................................................................................................116
References....................................................................................................................................118
Appendix A: Interview Protocol for ACC Students....................................................................135
Introduction for the Interview..........................................................................................135
Interview Questions.........................................................................................................135
Appendix B: Interview Protocol for ACC Faculty Counselors...................................................138
Introduction for the Interview..........................................................................................138
Interview Questions.........................................................................................................138
Appendix C: Recruitment for ACC Faculty Counselors .............................................................142
Appendix D: Recruitment for ACC Students ..............................................................................143
Appendix E: Code Book ..............................................................................................................144

ix
List of Tables
Table 1: Student Persistence Variables in Tinto, Bean, and Astin’s Retention Models................23
Table 2: Study Data Sources..........................................................................................................42
Table 3: Frequency of core values Across Faculty Counselor Interviews.....................................59
Table 4: Pairing Frequencies Among NACADA core values.......................................................73
Appendix E: Code Book ..............................................................................................................144

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List of Figures
Figure 1: NACADA Core Values of Academic Advisement ........................................................36
Appendix C: Recruitment for ACC Faculty Counselors .............................................................142
Appendix D: Recruitment for ACC Students ..............................................................................143

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Chapter One: Introduction
Community colleges serve a unique role within the postsecondary educational landscape
of the United States, providing open access enrollment and a dynamic range of programs
designed to further student knowledge and skills, including career and technical training, as well
as pathways for transferring into 4-year colleges (Perry et al., 2010; Villarreal & García, 2016;
D. Wilson, 2014). While students enroll at community colleges for many reasons, nearly 80%
enter with the goal to transfer to earn a bachelor’s degree (Fink & Jenkins, 2017; Handel &
Williams, 2012). This goal of transfer is embedded into the founding mission of community
colleges, which were created both in reaction to, and in partnership with, 4-year colleges, with
the transfer function allowing for students who were historically excluded to successfully seek
and earn a bachelor’s degree (Handel, 2013; Laanan et al., 2010). A person who transfers and
obtains a bachelor’s degree will earn nearly double the median income of a person with a high
school diploma, and on average earn an income 30% higher than a graduate with an associate
degree (Torpey, 2021).
The CCC system is the largest in the country, enrolling one in four of all community
college students in the United States (Foundation for California Community Colleges [FCCC],
2022b). According to the Public Policy Institute of California, only 19% of CCC students with a
transfer objective achieve this goal within 4 years, and only 28% within 6 years (Johnson &
Mejia, 2020). Evidence demonstrates disparities in transfer rates between various student groups.
Students who have been academically disadvantaged and/or come from historically excluded
racial and ethnic groups transfer at lower rates than students who have been overrepresented in
4-year universities and come from higher-income households (Bragg, 2020; Tinto, 2006;
D. Wilson, 2014). The CCC system has seen recent improvements in overall transfer rates; yet

2
successful transfer rates for students identifying as African American and/or Black (AA/B)
remains the lowest, with nine percent transferring to 4-year universities within 4 years, as
compared to students identifying as White or Asian, which transfer at 17% and 24% respectively
(Bates & Siqueiros, 2019; CCCs, 2020; Johnson & Mejia, 2020).
Community colleges are composed of students, faculty, and support staff, including
faculty counselors, who are available to students for academic advisement and may be positioned
as a consistent point of contact throughout a student’s enrollment at their college (Academic
Senate for California Community Colleges [ASCCC], 2012; Hatch & García, 2017). It is
understood that academic advisement practices have outsized impacts on student persistence
towards the goal of transfer (Crisp & Nuñez, 2014; Mu & Fosnacht, 2019; Rodriguez-Kiino,
2013). This dissertation sought to understand and inform decision-makers how the needs of
students identifying as AA/B with the goal of transfer are being acknowledged and addressed,
and to what extent CCC faculty counselors and advisement practices are supporting student
persistence toward transfer goals.
Context and Background of the Challenge
The CCC system comprised 116 colleges, which enrolled 1.8 million students in 2021,
with 5.6% of students identifying as AA/B (CCC, 2022b; CCC, 2022c). In California, over 60%
of AA/B students begin their higher education journey at a community college and declare the
goal of transfer at the highest rate (79%) compared to students who identify as Latina/o/x (78%),
Asian (77%), or White (75%; Crisp & Nuñez, 2014; Johnson & Mejia, 2020; Woods et al.,
2016). However, of the students with the goal of transfer and identifying as AA/B, over 90% do
not achieve this goal within 4 years (Johnson & Mejia, 2020). Research has shown that CCCs
with higher percentages of students identifying as Latina/o/x and AA/B had overall lower rates

3
of transfer to 4-year universities (Johnson & Mejia, 2020). Data shows that students who identify
as White are nearly three times as likely to transfer within 4 years, and students identifying as
Asian are four times as likely to transfer (Johnson & Mejia, 2020). The transfer rate
discrepancies between students identifying as African American or Black and other student
groups highlights a stark inequity in California’s educational system. The data shows the
majority of California students identifying as African American or Black begin their bachelor’s
degrees at a CCC; however, this student group also has the lowest rate of transfer from
community college to a 4-year university; this highlights a great inequity in California’s higher
educational system (CCCs, 2020; Johnson & Mejia, 2020; Villarreal & García, 2016).
Students arrive at community college with varying levels of academic preparation and
institutional knowledge (Kisker, 2007; Mu & Fosnacht, 2019). First-year college students
making the transition from the secondary educational space (high school) to the higher education
space (college) are expected to experience a sense of disorientation associated with exposure to a
new environment (Hoggan & Browning, 2019). Differences in organizational culture, student
body, institutional resources, teaching methods, faculty expectations of students, and the rigor of
college-level coursework present opportunities and challenges for student growth (Bragg, 2020;
CCCs, 2020; Kisker, 2007). While undergoing this transition, students benefit from student
support services, with counselors positioned as the primary source for broad and targeted
institutional knowledge (Crisp & Nuñez, 2014; Mu & Fosnacht, 2019; Woods et al., 2016).
Comprehensive academic advisement includes academic exploration, monitoring degree
progress, and focused advisement interventions to help students remain on their transfer pathway
(Allen et al., 2014; ASCCC, 2012; Johnson & Mejia, 2020). These interventions are more
effective when students have regular access to counselors (Allen et al., 2014). California

4
community college advisement practices are guided by policies outlined by the state legislature,
governor’s office, and the CCC Chancellor’s Office, and are refined and implemented by the
leadership and faculty counselors at individual campuses. Student-facing staff and faculty
counselors play a critical role in interpreting policies and delivering services, information, and
support to students at key moments in their educational journey (Crisp & Nuñez, 2014; Mu &
Fosnacht, 2019; Rodriguez-Kiino, 2013). Transfer data to the University of California (UC) and
California State University (CSU) campuses for the 2019-2020 academic year showed some
majority Latina/o/x and AA/B-serving CCC campuses were highly competitive or outperformed
CCC campuses with larger percentages of students identifying as White or Asian (California
State University Chancellor’s Office [CSU-CO], 2020; University of California Office of the
President [UC-OP], 2020). Further research into CCC student support shows access to thorough
counseling services improves student outcomes (ASCCC, 2003). This evidence highlights how
individual campuses are succeeding in delivering on their promise of transfer to historically
underserved students despite the trends found on other campuses.
Though there is a large amount of research focusing on transfer student persistence in 4-
year universities, as well as research focusing on transfer-bound students in community colleges
who identify with minoritized racial and ethnic groups, research that focuses on community
college students identifying as AA/B and how academic advisement impacts their goal of
transfer is lacking. This study focused on this specific group of transfer-bound students,
highlighting their voices, as well as the voices of student-facing counselors who participate in
facilitating the transfer function. In order to understand how academic advisement services are
impacting transfer outcomes for students identifying as AA/B, this research seeks to determine
how and in what ways faculty counselors and advisement practices are supporting student

5
transfer persistence at one specific campus within the CCC system. The purposely chosen school
is a large urban campus among the top five CCCs in enrollment with a larger percentage of
students identifying as AA/B at nearly eight percent as compared to the average enrollment
across all CCCs of less than six percent (CCC, 2022b). This campus also transfers a
proportionately higher rate of students identifying as AA/B into 4-year universities, transferring
65 students to CSU campuses in the 2019-2020 academic year, as compared to the CCC average
of 22.5, and 58 to UC campuses compared to the average 7.8 (Community College Research
Center, 2022; CSU-CO, 2020; UC-OP, 2020). To protect the anonymity of the organization
throughout this study, the pseudonym Aim Community College (ACC) will replace the actual
campus name.
Purpose of the Project and Research Questions
This study is conducted using the NACADA core values to understand CCCs academic
advisement practices, policies, and procedures that support successful transfer for students who
identify as AA/B. To better understand the student experience and existing transfer supports for
students identifying as AA/B, both student and advisor perspectives were included in the study.
The following research questions are used to guide the study:
1. What NACADA core values, under organizational promise and interpersonal advisement,
are utilized by ACC advisors in support of students transferring into 4-year colleges?
2. How and to what extent do students who identify as African American and/or Black with
the goal of transfer experience the NACADA core values, under organizational promise
and interpersonal advisement, during the advisement process?

6
3. How and to what extent are advising practices, policies, and procedures meeting the
transfer needs of ACC students identifying as African American and/or Black, and how
can they be improved?
Importance of the Study
Community colleges were created specifically to “democratize” education, transforming
the opportunity of learning into a “non-elite’’ egalitarian pursuit (Handel, 2013; Laanan et al.,
2010). However, students coming from lower socioeconomic households, first-generation
students, students who have faced systematic academic disadvantages, and who have been
historically excluded in 4-year universities still transfer at lower rates than students from higherincome households, homes with multigenerational college attendance, and/or identify as White
or Asian (Porchea et al., 2010; Prescott, 2019, 2010; Villarreal & García, 2016). The consistently
lower transfer rates of CCC students identifying as AA/B is a failure of the CCC to fulfill its
mission and a social justice issue. Nearly 70% of the students served in the CCC system are
students who identify from historically excluded ethnic or racial groups, yet these student
populations are the least likely to achieve their goals of transfer (CCC, 2022b; Johnson & Mejia,
2020).
A fundamental promise of community colleges is to support and improve successful
transfer of community college students identifying as African American/Black into 4-year
colleges. Improved CCC student retention will fulfill the CCCs’ mission of “putting students
first,” it will provide students with increased social capital and career mobility, benefit 4-year
institutions with a culturally representative student body, help fulfill the economic needs of
historically excluded communities, while providing a more competitive and qualified domestic
workforce in the largest and most economically impactful state in the United States (CCC,

7
2022d; Laanan et al., 2010; Shapiro et al., 2017). This study seeks to understand what
advisement policies, procedures, and practices are positively influencing transfer into 4-year
universities, and to what extent these practices can be applied in other CCC campuses. Data
collected from the CCC Chancellor’s Office refutes research that claims higher percentages of
students identifying as AA/B within a campus negatively impacts AA/B transfer rates (CSU-CO,
2020; UC-OP, 2020; Johnson & Mejia, 2020). In fact, this data verifies that campuses with
higher-than-average AA/B student populations may transfer at greater rates than campuses with
less students identifying as AA/B (CSU-CO, 2020; UC-OP, 2020). A purposeful sample of a
CCC campus with higher-than-average transfer rates of students identifying as AA/B can provide
rich information and practical applications for other CCC campuses, academic advisement
counselors, and transfer-supporting services.
Overview of Theoretical Framework and Methodology
The NACADA core values provide a useful framework for this study, developed from
theoretical and practical advisement practices designed to build professional and productive
relationships between students and faculty counselors within the college context (NACADA,
2017b). The core values are seven principles of academic advisement: caring, commitment,
empowerment, inclusivity, integrity, professionalism, and respect (NACADA, 2017b). This
model positions the faculty counselor as central in connecting students with knowledge,
resources, and tools through value-driven advisement practices in support of student persistence
and success. The core values provide a framework to understand what advisement practices are
being employed by faculty counselors and to what extent these values are being received by
students within the advisement context, as well as the connection between these values and
student satisfaction. This framework is appropriate for this study because the vast majority of

8
students entering community college are students with the goal of transfer to a 4-year university
and are students who are underrepresented within 4-year universities (Fink & Jenkins, 2017;
Handel & Williams, 2012; Johnson & Mejia, 2020). The seven core values, their definitions and
organization under interpersonal advisement and organizational promise, will be discussed
further in Chapter Two.
Methodology
Using qualitative methods, this research seeks to understand CCC academic advisement
practices, policies, and procedures that support successful transfer for students identifying as
AA/B. Aim Community College (ACC) serves as the site for the study. The proximity of the
research location and the researcher, the significant AA/B student body, and the promising
transfer rates make this college a promising site to conduct research. A purposeful sample of
students who have the stated goal of transfer, and who identify as AA/B, were invited to share
their knowledge using individual semi-structured interviews. Additionally, faculty counselors
and other student-facing staff who directly aid in transfer services were interviewed to better
understand the organizational climate, advising practices, policies, and procedures. Community
college documents and artifacts addressing the existing policies, protocols, services, and student
outcomes were used to triangulate the interview data.
Definitions
This research study uses specific terms to describe and guide the research. The following
terms are defined as follows:
AA/B is an abbreviation to refer to people who self-identify and/or are categorized under
race/ethnicity as African American and/or Black.

9
Academic advisement has been defined by NACADA (2006) and seats the practice within
“the teaching and learning mission of higher education” using “a series of intentional interactions
with a curriculum, a pedagogy, and a set of student learning outcomes.” An academic advisor or
faculty counselor provides guidance to students as they frame and synthesize their academic and
professional goals.
Disadvantaged background is a term that refers to persons who meet two or more of
federally identified criteria (National Institutes of Health, 2020). The criteria as reported by the
National Institutes of Health (2020) for student training programs:
1. Were or currently are homeless, as defined by the McKinney-Vento Homeless
Assistance Act;
2. Were or currently are in the foster care system, as defined by the Administration for
Children and Families;
3. Were eligible for the Federal Free and Reduced Lunch Program for 2 or more years;
4. Have/had no parents or legal guardians who completed a bachelor’s degree (see FirstGeneration and Continuing-Generation College Students: A Comparison of High
School and Postsecondary Experiences;
5. Were or currently are eligible for Federal Pell grants;
6. Received support from the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women,
Infants and Children (WIC) as a parent or child;
7. Grew up in one of the following areas: a) a U.S. rural area, as designated by the
Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Rural Health Grants
Eligibility Analyzer, or b) a Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services-designated
Low-Income and Health Professional Shortage Areas (qualifying zip codes are

10
included in the file). Only one of the two possibilities in #7 can be used as a criterion
for the disadvantaged background definition.
Faculty counselor or counselor are used interchangeably in this research and refer to
community college staff who engage in academic advisement counseling services with students.
First-generation college student refers to college enrolled students whose parents or
guardians did not complete a bachelor’s degree (U.S. Department of Education, 1998). Students
who meet this federal definition can be eligible for Pell Grant funding, which is a common
source of funding for community college tuition and other college-related expenses (The Institute
for College Access & Success, 2021). This definition does not take into account students who
may have other family members (e.g. siblings, aunts, etc.) who may have attended college
(Center for First-Generation Student Success, 2017).
Historically excluded refers to those who identify with racial, ethnic, social status, or
other identities that have been “excluded from full rights, privileges and opportunities”
(Diversity Officer Magazine, n.d.). In the context of this study, historically excluded students are
those who have been and remain underrepresented in 4-year colleges and universities. This term
is embraced in research to replace the term “underrepresented minorities” which does not
acknowledge the systematic racism and oppression that has impacted BIPOC communities and
their ability to be fully represented in higher education institutions (T. L. Williams, 2020).
Socioeconomic status (SES) refers to the “social standing of class of an individual or
group” (American Psychological Association [APA], n.d.). SES is a relative term, comparing
groups with low, medium, or high incomes (Worthy et al., 2020). SES is highly correlated to the
quality and level of education attained, health outcomes, and career mobility (Worthy et al.,
2020).

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Transfer refers to the goal, state of being, and/or process of matriculating from a 2-year
community college setting to a 4-year bachelor conferring college or university.
Organization of the Dissertation
Five chapters are used to organize this study. This chapter provides the reader with an
overview of the historical and current background of the community college system, the
challenges to support historically excluded students in their goal of transfer to a 4-year college,
the promising impacts of robust academic support services, and the theoretical frameworks
guiding the study. Chapter Two reviews the existing literature providing both a national and
California-specific context for community colleges as institutions, community college student
goals and known barriers to transfer, the factors that uniquely impact students who are
academically disadvantaged and/or have been historically excluded from 4-year universities, and
the role of postsecondary academic advisement, including poor and promising practices. Chapter
Three details the study methods including, sampling procedures, site and sample description, and
procedures for collecting and analyzing data. Chapter Four presents the results from the study,
connecting back to each of the stated research questions. Finally, Chapter Five shares
recommendations and best practices in community college advising, specifically for meeting the
unique needs of AA/B students, consisting of recommendations from the existing literature,
confirmed in this study, as well as new promising practices identified through this research.

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Chapter Two: Literature Review
The literature review provides an overview of the histories, challenges, and policies as
they relate to CCC academic advisement practices, and how these practices support transfer
outcomes for students identify as AA/B. The review begins by locating the community college
system within the greater higher education landscape and continues with an overview of the CCC
system, the students within the system, and the goal and barriers to transfer. The review then
highlights academic advisement histories, philosophies, and approaches as they relate to
retention and persistence within historically underrepresented and excluded communities. The
review concludes with the study’s conceptual framework.
Community Colleges
This section of the literature review is an overview of community colleges within the
higher education landscape. This review begins with the national context of the community
college system, the history, purpose, and its relationship and place within the education pipeline.
The following section addresses specific characteristics of the CCC system, and its impact on
education, policy, and transfer programming.
National Context
Community colleges are unique American institutions created with the intention to
provide postsecondary educational opportunities regardless of social and SES (Handel, 2013;
Handel & Williams, 2012).These colleges play a key role within the postsecondary educational
system, offering open access enrollment, free and subsidized college-level education, vocational
and certification programs, and curriculums that encompass transfer-level general education and
degree-specific courses (American Association of Community Colleges [AACC], 2018; Handel
& Williams, 2012). Increasingly, CCs are providing a primary pathway to obtaining a 4-year

13
degree, with 39% of undergraduate students beginning their baccalaureate journey at one of the
1,043 campuses nationwide in 2020 (AACC, 2022). According to the National Center for
Education Statistics (2020) nearly 5 million students in the 2019-20 academic year enrolled in
public community colleges. Historically, the primary focus of community colleges is their role in
preparing students for transfer into a 4-year university (Pressimone Beckowski & Winfield,
2021).
California Community Colleges
The CCC system is the largest in the United States, with 118 campuses hosting one out of
every four community college students within the United States (CCC, 2022b; FCCC, 2022a).
CCCs serve over 1.8 million students seeking to improve their career prospects, obtain
credentials, and earn bachelor’s degrees (CCC, 2022b). The impact of such a large public sector
organization can be quantified in many ways, specifically curriculums designed to increase
student earning potential, the number of jobs created, and how students who achieve intended
outcomes impact overall economic growth (AACC, 2018; Perry et al., 2010).
California Community College Students
Students in California are increasingly beginning their baccalaureate journeys at CCC’s;
however, students with the goal of transfer continue to transfer at low rates (Johnson & Mejia,
2020). Nineteen percent of students with the goal of transfer successfully transfer within 4 years;
this percentage only reaches 28% within 6 years (Johnson & Mejia, 2020). This section
addresses the importance of the goal of transfer and earning a bachelor’s degree, as well as the
known barriers to transfer, and how this impacts students who have come from historically
excluded and academically disadvantaged communities.

14
The Goal of Transfer to Four-year Universities
The CCC system has created academic and technical programming which connect to
expanded economic opportunities, such as workforce training, vocational, technical, and
certification programs, as well as associate degree programs, and guided pathways to transfer
into 4-year universities to earn bachelor’s degrees (CCC, 2022a). Students come to community
colleges with a variety of goals, but the largest group of community college students enroll at a
community college with the goal to transfer into a 4-year university (Fink & Jenkins, 2017;
Handel & Williams, 2012). Within California more than 75% of community college students
declare the goal of transfer, highlighting the importance and need for proportional resources and
guidance to help students remain on their transfer pathways (Johnson & Mejia, 2020). This study
is focused on this sizable group of students who enter community college with the explicit goal
of transfer. An increase in student transfer increases the opportunity for students to complete
bachelor’s degrees.
Policy and higher education leaders have identified the goals of increasing the number of
Californians with bachelor’s degrees to meet the growing and changing job market (Handel &
Williams, 2012). The Public Policy Institute of California estimated 40% of all jobs in 2020–30
will require a bachelor’s degree (Johnson et al., 2019). Research shows that people with a
bachelor’s degree have improved earning potential and increased social mobility, are less likely
to experience poverty, incarceration, and preventable illness, and are more able to build up
cultural capital, which can be shared with the next generation of degree-seekers (Johnson et al.,
2019; Laanan et al., 2010; Ma et al., 2019). People with bachelor’s degrees are half as likely to
be unemployed, and research in 2019 showed workers aged 25-34 with a bachelor’s degree earn
a 37% higher median annual income than those with a high school diploma (Ma et al., 2019;

15
NCES, 2021). This evidence highlights the importance of increasing the number of students who
realize their goal of transfer. Knowing the majority of CCC students have the goal of transfer,
and understanding the array of positive impacts a bachelor’s degree can facilitate, it is essential
to improve transfer rates in the CCC system which enrolls 25% of all community college
students in the United States, and transfers less than one-fifth of all transfer-declared students
(FCCC, 2022a; Johnson & Mejia, 2020).
In 2017 CCC Chancellor Eloy Ortiz Oakley released a Vision of Success report, which
charged the leaders of all 118 CCC campuses to deliver on “7 Core Commitments” (CCC-CO,
2021c). Those core commitments include, focus relentlessly on students’ end goals, design and
decide with the student in mind, pair high expectations with high support, foster the use of data,
inquiry, and evidence, take ownership of goals and performance, enable action and thoughtful
innovation, and lead the work of partnering across systems (CCC-CO, 2021c). Since the release
of this report, student outcomes have improved across all targeted areas (CCC-CO, 2021a). The
goal to improve successful student transfers to UC and CSUs by 35% by the year 2022 was
achieved and announced in the 2021 State of the System report (CCC-CO, 2017b; CCC-CO,
2021a). However, according to a 2020 report by the Public Policy Institute of California, of CCC
students who declare the goal of transfer to a 4-year university, only 19% transfer within 4 years
(Johnson & Mejia, 2020). Among student populations that have been historically excluded from
4-year colleges, the transfer rates are lower. Though transfer rates continue to improve, there is
much room for improvement, especially among students from historically excluded populations.
The majority of students attending CCCs are from the lowest socioeconomic bracket, and
they are the least likely to transfer on time or at all (Handel & Williams, 2012; Maccalla et al.,
2020; Porchea et al., 2010). The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (2023) defined SES as a

16
combination of “wealth, income, occupation, and education.” Within the United States, the
impact of educational and economic policies that benefited White populations, and excluded
BIPOC populations, have had disproportionately negative and lasting impacts minoritized
communities (APA, 2017). Consequently, many African American communities are placed in
lower-SES categories, are more likely to attend under-resourced public K–12 schools and are
placed on a pathway with many barriers to accessing and completing a postsecondary degree
(Tinto, 2006; D. R. Williams et al., 2016). Sixty percent of California students identifying as
AA/B begin their higher education journey at a CCC, which represents less than six percent of
all CCC students (CCC, 2022b). Within the 2014–15 cohort only five percent of all CCC
students identifying as AA/B successfully transferred within 4 years (Johnson & Mejia, 2020).
This highlights the challenges to match the transfer goals of individual students and students
from specific racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic groups, with CCC institutional goals.
Known Barriers and Challenges to Transfer
The central purpose of community colleges is to create accessible pathways to career and
degree advancement. Community colleges remain the primary baccalaureate pathway for
students who have been academically disadvantaged in public K–12 education, students who are
traditionally underrepresented in 4-year universities, students who are the first to attend college
in their family (first-generation), and students who are coming from lower-income/low SES
households (Johnson & Mejia, 2020; Laanan et al., 2010). The CCC mission statement is
“putting students first”; however, the vast majority of CCC students who declare the goal of
transfer, do not transfer to 4-year universities (CCC, 2022d).
As compared to the UC and CSU public 4-year university systems, students enrolled at
CCC campuses are more representative of California’s demographic diversity. According to the

17
U.S. Census Bureau (2021), California’s population is nearly 40% people who identify as
Hispanic/Latinx and 6.5% who identify as African American/Black. Of the CCC 2019-2020
cohort, 46% of enrolled students identified as Hispanic/Latinx and 5.6% identified as African
American/Black, compared to the Fall 2019 UC cohort where 22% of enrolled students identified
as Hispanic/Latinx, and 4% of students enrolled in UC’s and at CSU’s identified as African
American/Black (CCC, 2022b; CSU, n.d.; UC, n.d.). Despite the collaborative transfer pathway
programs developed to clarify and encourage transfer into the UC and CSU systems, this
evidence points to the lack of successful transfer of students who come from historically
excluded racial and ethnic backgrounds into 4-year universities. Understanding the barriers to
successful transfer is complex with much of the research pointed toward what is lacking or
failing to provide support.
Community college students who have identified the goal of transfer often encounter
financial barriers when pursuing their goals. Students coming from lower-SES households are
less likely to maintain enrollment, complete courses, and successfully transfer to 4-year
universities (Tinto, 2006; D. Wilson, 2014). Research has shown that full-time enrollment
increases the likelihood of program completion and earlier transfer (Johnson & Mejia, 2019;
Tinto, 2006). On average, new community college students are older than 1st-year students
entering 4-year universities, and they are more likely to have financial responsibilities that
compete with the time and cognitive capacity necessary for full-time enrollment (Crisp & Nuñez,
2014; Kezar et al., 2020; Porchea et al., 2010). Clear information regarding how to apply and
qualify for financial aid is tied to student persistence (Handel & Williams, 2012). Students
coming from lower-SES households are often eligible for various forms of financial aid;
however, they may not have accurate perceptions of their aid eligibility due to confusing federal

18
and school application processes and insufficient institutional guidance (Handel, 2014;
D. Wilson, 2014). These factors result in many qualified students not receiving full financial aid.
According to Martorell and Friedmann (2018), in California “more than 20 percent of seemingly
eligible CCC students do not receive Pell Grants,” which, in 2018, represented $130 million
dollars of undisbursed aid (p.3). The barriers to persistence are compounded when students come
from lower-income households, and they are the first in their families to attend college.
In the fall 2021 term, 30% of students enrolled in the CCC system were first-generation,
which means neither parent or guardians had earned a bachelor’s degree (Maccalla et al., 2020).
Students who are the first-generation are more likely to come from lower-SES households (Fry,
2021). According to the Postsecondary National Policy Institute (2021), the household wealth of
a first-generation student is nearly two-thirds less than the income of continuing-generation
students. This group of students is often left to navigate novel community college and federal
policies on their own, and consequently, they are less likely to file for financial aid (Handel,
2007; D. Wilson, 2014). Some research has shown that despite the individual’s academic
preparation, students who are first-generation have similar persistence and completion outcomes
as college students who had ranked within the lowest academic quartile in high school (Porchea
et al., 2010). This evidence demonstrates that lack of procedural knowledge and institutional
guidance can be as detrimental as lack of academic preparation. However, students who are firstgeneration have expressed the positive impact of being immediately assigned to an academic
counselor upon entering community college, and research shows that sustained connection with
an academic advisor improved first-generation student retention odds 13% upon each advisement
meeting (Rodriguez-Kiino, 2013; Woods et al., 2016). Additional research points to the benefits
of advisement services being centralized, coordinated, and connected to specific services that

19
speak to student’s various salient identities and needs (Kezar et al., 2020; Young‐Jones et al.,
2013). Providing support for the whole student includes access to financial aid, counseling, and a
clear academic curriculum that supports persistence to successful transfer.
The CCC system tracks student transfer persistence primarily by the number of
completed units (60) and gateway courses in English and math (CCC-CO, 2022b). Often
students who were academically disadvantaged and earned poor evaluations scores on
assessments have been placed into remedial non-transferrable math and English courses which
add time, costs, and increase the dropout rate (Johnson & Mejia, 2019; Villarreal & García,
2016; Woods et al., 2016). This practice disproportionately impacted students from historically
excluded racial and ethnic groups and was over representative of students who identify as
African American or Black at 39% and Hispanic or Latina/o/x at 30% (Davis & Palmer, 2010;
Mejia et al., 2021; Perry et al., 2010). Proficiency in English composition and quantitative
reasoning are benchmarks for successful transfer and persistence toward obtaining a bachelor’s
degree (Handel, 2007; Johnson & Mejia, 2019; Villarreal & García, 2016). In 2017, state
assembly bill, AB-705, addressed the concern of remedial course placement requiring CCCs to
“maximize the probability” that students would complete transfer-level English and math courses
within a year, and mandated that individual campuses would create holistic assessment criteria
for English and math course placement (AB-705, 2017; Mejia et al., 2021). Since its
implementation in 2017-18, rates of completion of transferable English and math courses have
risen 12 and 21 percentage points respectively, with the majority of new students beginning
community college in transfer-level English, and half completing at least one transfer-level math
course (CCC-CO, 2022b; Mejia et al., 2021). Clear transfer pathways include transfer-level
English and math, as well as general education and courses that transfer to specific degree

20
programs in 4-year universities. The following section addresses the efforts made by researchers
and practitioners to understand what impacts student retention and persistence.
Postsecondary Advisement Landscape
This section reviews prominent student retention and persistence theories, the role of
academic advisement within higher education, advisement philosophies, and review both
questioned and promising transfer student advisement policies and practices. According to the
National Center for Education Statistics (2022), retention is a term used to describe the
percentage of first-time students who return to continue their higher education degree objective.
However, the way higher educational institutions measure retention may vary and has not been
consistently used to measure the progress of transfer students (Crisp & Nuñez, 2014).
Prominent Retention Theories
Over the last 50 years the question of what environmental factors influence college
student persistence toward degree completion, known to colleges and universities as student
retention, has been an area of consistent study. In 2012 the federal government began collecting
data on student retention and graduation rates, disaggregating the data by gender, race, ethnicity,
and age, and these statistics were then factored into national college rankings (Bastedo &
Bowman, 2010; NCES, n.d.). The following sections address prominently used retention theories
across the higher education landscape.
Tinto, Bean, and Astin
The first college student retention theories, focusing on both student characteristics and
the college environment, were presented in the 1970s (Aljohani, 2016). Within research of
student retention and persistence many theoretical models are cited, however, the following are
among the most prominently utilized in research: Tinto’s (1975, 1994) institutional departure

21
model/student integration model, Bean’s (1980, 1982) student attrition model, and Astin’s (1984)
student involvement model. All three models offer a framework for understanding how student
persistence, or lack thereof, is impacted by the quality of the higher educational environment.
These theories were constructed using psychological and sociological theories formed from
research outside the higher educational context (Aljohani, 2016).
Tinto’s institutional departure model advances the theory that new college students are
more likely to persist toward degree completion with the successful navigation of the following
stages: separation, transition, and incorporation (Aljohani, 2016). Tinto’s model supports the
linkage between retention and how much the student integrates with the college’s academic and
social environments, which requires the student to detach from their pre-college environments to
embrace their new college environment (Aljohani, 2016; Tinto, 1994). Tinto’s theory has been
criticized for not being effective in understanding the concerns of historically marginalized
college students, and in response the institutional departure model has expanded to focus more
on how environments, family, friends, and faculty impact student retention (Crisp & Nuñez,
2014; Tinto, 2006).
Bean’s student attrition model focuses on student pre-college characteristics, academic
and environmental variables, psychological and academic outcomes, and how they impact the
student’s intent to drop out (Bean & Metzner, 1985). In the creation of the model the researchers
sought to produce an adaptable framework that could address a wider variety of student
populations and college environments, such as non-traditional student populations and 2-year
college institutions (Bean & Metzner, 1985). The student attrition model acknowledges that
environmental factors impacting student persistence included environments outside the college
campus (Aljohani, 2016). Like Tinto, Bean’s student attrition model includes student pre-college

22
characteristics as variables in student retention; however, Bean rejected the use of theoretical
frameworks acquired from studies of suicidal motivations and behaviors, instead linking student
persistence to theories developed from employee satisfaction research (Aljohani, 2016; Cabrera
et al., 1992).
Astin’s student involvement model centers on student engagement with the college
experience, which includes academic and social environments (Astin, 1984). The model is
broken into input, environment, and outcomes; input being the culmination of student experience
before entering college, environment encompassing all the student experiences at college, and
outcomes being the skills and knowledge the college wishes to impart on the student (Elliott,
2020). Astin’s student involvement model shares similarities with Tinto’s institutional departure
model, which both support the idea that retention is tied to student engagement with their college
institution (Aljohani, 2016; Astin, 1984). Similar to Bean, Astin’s model also focuses on student
buy-in and satisfaction as being critical to maintaining enrollment (Aljohani, 2016; Astin, 1984).
Given Astin’s theory emphasizes individual student engagement with college-related activities,
this model struggles to include community college, non-traditional, and commuter student
populations, who may spend limited time on campus (Aljohani, 2016; Astin, 1984). Table 1
provides an overview of how prominent retention theories overlap based on key student
indicators.

23
Table 1
Student Persistence Variables in Tinto, Bean, and Astin’s Retention Models
Student’s
pre-college
characteristics
Student/
college
match
External
environmental
factors
Academic
performance
Student
involvement
Tinto’s
institutional
departure
model/
student
integration
model (1975)
x x x x
Bean’s student
attrition
model (1980)
x x x
Astin’s, student
involvement
model (1984)
x x x
Student Retention Integrated Model
The study of community college student populations and students coming from
historically excluded populations lead to the creation of the student retention integrated model
(Nora & Rendon, 1990). A group of professors and higher education directors across four states
collaborated to statistically analyze Bean and Tinto’s models, refining, and combining elements
and variables to create the student retention integrated model (Aljohani, 2016; Cabrera et al.,
1992). Rather than focusing on students who “dropout” or “withdraw,” the student retention
integrated model highlights persistence as the end goal. This model further articulates the greater
role the environment plays in a student’s decision to remain enrolled in college, including
financial considerations and support from family and friends (Aljohani, 2016). Another key

24
element in this model is institutional commitment, and academic and social integration (Cabrera
et al., 1992; Nora & Rendon, 1990). Research has shown that students who had more
encouragement from family and friends, faculty, and academic counselors had firmer
commitments to their educational institution (Crisp & Nuñez, 2014; Nora & Rendon, 1990).
Advisement and Advisement Approaches
This section reviews academic advisement in higher education, providing an overview of
the profession’s history, the current role of academic advisement and student retention, and
advisement practices in community colleges. Academic advisement is a dynamic field that has
changed from a faculty job duty to a distinct profession. Though the practice of academic
advisement is not standardized, higher education institutions often invest in advisement services
and training to support retention strategies and improve graduation rates (Elliott, 2020; Mertes,
2013; Mu & Fosnacht, 2019).
Background
Academic advisement emerged as the higher education landscape expanded, first as an
administrative necessity and then as a defined administrative profession (Himes, 2014; Kuhn,
2008). College faculty had once overseen the role of student advisement; however, and as
curriculums grew from a dictatorial set of majors and courses to a proliferation of degrees with
elective course options, students both required and sought more expansive academic advisement
(Himes, 2014; Kuhn, 2008). The increasing complexity of both academic options and college
operations provided a rationale to separate advisement from faculty responsibilities at most
college institutions, additionally, students benefited from advisors being outside the
faculty/student power dynamic (Kuhn, 2008). Today the academic advisement occupation has
grown from a job delivering a rote set of tasks and prescriptions, to a self-aware profession

25
integrated with student satisfaction, performance, and persistence (Hatch & García, 2017; Kuhn,
2008). Recognizing the impact of regular and timely student advisement, higher educational
organizations frequently incorporate academic advisement interventions into their student
retention plans (Elliott, 2020; Mertes, 2013; Mu & Fosnacht, 2019).
Tracking Retention
The ability to retain undergraduate students and graduate those students within a 4-year
and/or 6-year timeframe has moved to the forefront of how the success of colleges is measured.
The federal government requires colleges to report retention data on first-time, full-time
students/freshmen to the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), and this data
is factored into university rankings (Tugend, 2018; Wexler, 2016). In 2019 IPEDS reporting
expanded to include “Outcome Measures” which captured data on part-time and transfer students
(Yuen, 2019). Until recently, the lack of data on transfer students left an incomplete picture of
college-attending student populations, as well as how universities and educational programs were
truly performing.
Role of Advisement
The growing interest in student retention theories coincided with the professionalization
of academic advisement as an occupation with scholarly interests, educational purpose, and the
formation of the National Academic Advisement Association in 1979 (NACADA; Beatty, 1991;
NACADA, 2006). NACADA has served to legitimize, challenge, and expand the academic
advisement profession, offering the following summary (NACADA, 2006):
Academic advising, based in the teaching and learning mission of higher education, is a
series of intentional interactions with a curriculum, a pedagogy, and a set of student
learning outcomes. Academic advising synthesizes and contextualizes students’

26
educational experiences within the frameworks of their aspirations, abilities, and lives to
extend learning beyond campus boundaries and timeframes.
At the most basic level academic advisement serves to assist students in navigating the
college environment to achieve their personal, academic, knowledge, and career goals (Himes,
2014). Advisors are positioned as the most consistent point of contact for the student, tasked with
delivering opportune and accurate information, facilitating connections to resources, and offering
an environment where students may openly seek guidance (Elliott, 2020; Mu & Fosnacht, 2019).
The structure of advisement services and policies varies widely across institutions. Services may
be optional, they may be tied to specific programming, or they may be mandatory and campuswide.
Advisement Models
Academic advisement, academic counseling, and/or faculty counselors are found on
every college or university campus, yet the structure, philosophies, and integration of these
services can be radically different from institution to institution. Within the field of advisement
there are several widely used models, which include prescriptive, developmental, and
proactive/intrusive advisement.
Prescriptive Advisement. The prescriptive approach was the basis from which academic
advisement philosophies and approaches were developed. As the name implies, the prescriptive
approach analyzes the student’s concern and then provides a remedy (Crookston, 1972). The
prescriptive approach is a model where an accountability relationship is implied; there is an
expectation the advisor will provide quality information and the student is expected to follow the
guidance or potentially be subject to retention or policy implications (Appleby, 2008; Crookston,
1972). This advisement approach has been criticized because it is embedded within a hierarchical

27
framework of advisor as authority over the student; however, within institutions where there is
high student to advisor ratios, prescriptive advisement offers a method to deliver critical
information to students who may have no other source for comprehensive information (Lee,
2018).
Developmental Advisement. Developmental advisement arose from life cycle and
development theories focusing on individuals within the process of change (Himes, 2014; King
et al., 2009; Lee, 2018). Developmental advisement looks at the whole person, seeks to establish
a trust relationship between the advisor and student, and to use the information gathered from
these interactions to guide the student towards their goals (Himes, 2014; Lee, 2018). Built into
developmental advisement is the idea that a college student is experiencing a time of accelerated
choices, pressures, and change (Himes, 2014; King et al., 2009). During this time of transition, a
college student is exposed to new ideas, social structures, and opportunities (King et al., 2009).
As the student moves through their college experience their belief systems can change and the
student may develop their own internal compass to navigate external challenges, otherwise
known as “self-authorship” (Baxter Magolda, 2008).
Self-Authorship. Students may enter college assuming their role is to learn and receive
information, and they may come to understand that education has the ability to grow the student
into a creator and contributor of knowledge (Baxter Magolda & King, 2008). The idea of selfauthorship comes from developmental theories, which acknowledge individuals exposed to new
ideas and paradigms may use self-reflection to question and expand their understanding of the
world (King et al., 2009). This exposure to a new world view is disorienting but offers the
individual the opportunity to redefine their identity and beliefs within the context of more
complex and nuanced understanding of the world (Baxter Magolda, 2008; King et al., 2009).

28
Within the context of being a student, self-authorship is manifested as a student comes to
understand their responsibility and active role in their own learning (King et al., 2009). The
advisor who practices developmental advisement with the goal of supporting self-authorship will
approach advisement sessions in the spirit of both supporting and challenging student
assumptions about their learning and meaning-making processes (Baxter Magolda, 2008).
Developmental advisement toward the goal of self-authorship is used widely and seen to support
the mission of many colleges looking to foster core liberal arts values.
Proactive and Intrusive Advisement. Proactive, or intrusive advisement, is a model
utilized in college retention efforts, initiated by the advisor with the intent to intervene at critical
moments in a student’s academic program (Mu & Fosnacht, 2019). This advisement model is not
usually applied to all student populations; rather, it is data-driven and targeted toward students
are seen to be “at risk” and/or students who have strict conditions applied to their status as a
student (e.g., students on academic probation, student athletes; Mu & Fosnacht, 2019). Students
subject to this advisement are monitored by tracking key performance indicators, such as midterm grades, and are often required to meet with an advisor prior to registration (Museus &
Ravello, 2010). This approach has been reinvestigated for how students perceive the practice and
is found to be more effective when combined with culturally sensitive and holistic advisement
approaches (Mertes, 2013; Museus & Ravello, 2010). The proactive approach remains active in
many colleges and universities because of its effectiveness in improving student retention
outcomes (Heissrer & Parette, 2002; Levin et al., 2010; Museus & Ravello, 2010).
Advisement and Student Retention
Research across higher educational institutions has linked academic advisement with
improved student retention (Hatch & García, 2017; Mu & Fosnacht, 2019; Woods et al., 2016).

29
Comprehensive and timely advisement is seen by many universities as a strategy for improved
student retention. Advisors may conduct specific retention-related tasks, such as mandatory
advisement, mid-term check-ins, and perform course plan audits (Heissrer & Parette, 2002; Mu
& Fosnacht, 2019). Research into student retention of historically excluded college students
points to inconsistencies in academic advisement effectiveness. In colleges where the majority of
students, faculty, and advisement staff identify as White, students identifying with other racial
and ethnic groups may benefit less from the advisement services (Lee, 2018; Walker & Okpala,
2017). Within the national professional academic advisement community there is a history of
investigation, critical discussion, and sharing of promising practices (Beatty, 1991; Himes, 2014;
NACADA, 2006). Critical race theory is highlighted as a promising theoretical framework to
improve advisement services for historically excluded student populations (Lee, 2018; Mertes,
2013). Leading student retention theories highlight the importance of students integrating with
their environments, often by leaving their former environments behind; however, these theories
have been criticized as not accounting for the values and cultures of students outside the
historically dominant culture (Mertes, 2013).
Academic Advisement in California Community Colleges
“Faculty advisor” is the professional title for academic advisors in the CCC system. In
2012 the ASCCC revised the 1994 The Role of Counseling Faculty in the California Community
Colleges paper which outlines the mission, qualifications, and expectations of faculty advisors.
In terms of responsibilities in assessing, planning, and tracking student academic progress and
aligning student goals and academic objectives with curricular pathways, faculty advisors in the
CCC system serve similar and/or identical duties to academic advisors in other community
college systems, colleges, and universities (ASCCC, 2003; ASCCC, 2012). However, CCC

30
faculty advisors are state mandated to have master’s level credentials in counseling to aid in their
understanding and diagnosis of student needs (ASCCC, 2012). Additionally, there is an
expectation faculty advisors will understand how to design and facilitate curriculum in service of
their advisement practice (ASCCC, 2012). The ASCCC highlights core competencies faculty
advisors obtain from master’s education programs in counseling, such as “ability to help students
learn problem-solving and decision-making skills,” “knowledge of the use and misuse of
assessment instruments,” and “knowledge of and sensitivity to social, cultural, and ethnic
issues,” among other specialized skills (ASCCC, 2012). The ASCCC highlights the importance
of faculty advisors in their role of facilitating student transfer to 4-year universities, which
includes understanding articulation agreements, transcript evaluation, and creating course plans
that align with the student’s academic goals and the curricular requirements of the receiving 4-
year institutions (ASCCC, 2003).
Guided Pathways, Transfer Admission Guarantee, and Associate Degree for Transfer
The research shows that articulation agreements, clear transfer pathways, active and
engaged transfer partnerships between community colleges and 4-year universities and academic
advisement improve transfer outcomes (Bragg, 2020; Laanan et al., 2010). Though this evidence
exists, until recently there hadn’t been a unifying model for reforming how community college
support services are delivered and what those services should include. Relatively recently these
elements have been drawn together into a practitioner’s framework.
The Community College Research Center at Columbia University’s Teachers College
released research that provided a unifying framework that could align existing community
college services and programs, as well as build out and create new programs to improve student
credential retention known as “guided pathways” (Community College Research Center, 2022;

31
Jenkins et al., 2018a). Guided Pathways was embraced for its evidence-based models and
organizations such as the AACC took the lead in facilitating guided pathways reforms across the
country, featuring the four pillars: (a) mapping the pathway and end goals, (b) helping the
student onto the path that aligns with their goals, (c) assisting with keeping the student on the
path, and (d) ensuring the student is learning (CCC-CO, 2017a; FCCC, 2022b; Jenkins et al.,
2018a).
In 2016 the CCC Chancellor’s Office selected 20 CCCs to participate in guided
pathways, which was funded by a one-time $150 million dollar grant from the California State
Budget (CCC-CO, 2017b; FCCC, 2022b). A second cohort has been added to the guided
pathways program with continued funding by large philanthropic organizations and fees from
participating community colleges (FCCC, 2022b). The guided pathway programs take several
years to establish, as they require changes to organizational thinking, establishing methods to
collect and report on data, and identifying strategic goals tied to student outcomes (Jenkins et al.,
2018). Following this stage community colleges restructure their advisement processes to focus
on student goals and how those integrate with specific academic pathways, as well as train staff
in the process as well as the ideas and resources underpinning the academic and career pathway
plans (Jenkins et al., 2018). Much is still to be learned as CCC and other community colleges
across the country explore the guided pathways approach to improved rates of retention, transfer,
and credential completion. The California public university systems have partnered on additional
guaranteed transfer programs.
California community colleges and some University of California campuses participate in
the Transfer Admission Guarantee (TAG) program (UC, 2023). First launched in the 1980’s, the
TAG program guaranteed admission to CCC students who met specific university, major, and

32
unit requirements (San Diego Union Tribune Education Desk [SDUT-ED], 2012). For students
who have committed to a specific major and UC campus, this program offers a roadmap for
guaranteed admission. Different UC campuses have participated in this program over the years,
but due to impaction and volume of applications at some UC campuses, the participating
campuses are subject to change and may not include the most sought-after campuses (SDUT-ED,
2012; UC, 2023). The UCs TAG requirements have a baseline unit requirement, but course
requirements vary across campuses and majors (UC, 2023).
In 2010 the associate degree for transfer (ADT) was created as a guaranteed admission
pathway between CCCs and California State Universities (CSU Public Affairs, 2021). The ADT
allows students to both earn a 2-year associate degree in the arts or sciences, as well as have
guaranteed priority admission to a CSU campus (CSU, n.d.-a). Because this program has specific
and ridged requirements, including the completion of all lower division requirements and the
completion of a minimum of 60 units before transfer, this program is particularly effective for
students who have a decided on their major when entering community college (CSU, n.d.-a).
CSUs are the largest public university system in the country, serving nearly 460,000 students in
2021, and consequently, many campuses and college majors are impacted; therefore, students
may not be able to transfer to their first-choice school (CSU, n.d.-c). Students who are exploring
their major, change the major focus in community college, or are interested in applying to both
colleges inside and outside the CSU system may encounter challenges when strictly following
the ADT curriculum.
There are multiple and interconnected transfer pathway systems throughout the California
public university system. Each system has unique requirements, curriculum, dates, and deadlines,
which can change from year to year. Individual campus participation is limited by impaction and

33
the popularity of specific campus and specific majors. By default, CCC faculty counselors
(academic advisors) are positioned as the central touch point for all programs.
Conceptual Framework
Building from the NACADA Statement of core values (NACADA, 2017b), this study
centers the student experience, focusing on if and how students are experiencing NACADA core
values, to what extent faculty counselors are employing core values, and if these practices are
meeting the needs of AA/B students with the goal of transfer. Academic advisement is a unique
and targeted opportunity to support student transfer goals (Hatch & García, 2017; Mu &
Fosnacht, 2019). NACADA’s seven core values articulate the guiding principles of the studentadvisor relationship, drawing from both theory and practice, providing a conceptual framework
that is nimble, inclusive, and centers student success (NACADA, 2017b).
As outlined in Chapter One, the purpose of this study was to understand CCC academic
advisement practices, policies, and procedures that support successful transfer for students who
identify as AA/B. The work of Austin, Tinto, and Bean are critical frameworks for understanding
student persistence; however, these theories tend to center student pre-college factors, college
administration and administrative processes, and/or negative student progress indicators. This
study sought to identify and center the experiences and actions of faculty counselors and students
within a community college with stronger-than-average transfer outcomes and to discover what
environment the institution is cultivated, as well as what environment is being perceived by
students identifying as AA/B. In seeking to understand what is being experienced, NACADA
core values provided a platform to both engage with faculty counselor and students as compared
to NACADA core competencies, which center the advisement practitioners (NACADA, 2017a).
Therefore, NACADA’s statement of core values is a useful conceptual framework, providing a

34
theoretical and experience-based lens in which we can understand how CCC advisors are
providing services that support student transfer goals, within a relational language shared
between students and faculty counselors (NACADA, 2017b). The inclusive conceptual
framework draws core values from student development theories, advisement philosophies, and
from the lived experiences of advisors working with diverse student populations across all higher
educational institutions (Damminger & Drake, 2016; NACADA, 2017b). The seven core values,
related theories, and practices are defined as follows.
NACADA Core Values
The Statement of core values for academic advisement was published by NACADA in
2017. These core values are the product of a multi-stage process overseen by various
stakeholders and capturing feedback from advisement leaders and practitioners across all 10
NACADA regions (Damminger & Drake, 2018; NACADA, 2017b). The NACADA core values
advising framework allows for the incorporation of other advisement models. Older advisement
models hold various theoretical and philosophical viewpoints, but tend to focus on external
factors, student benchmarks, and administrative processes, whereas NACADA core values is
centered on student responsive advisement principles adopted by the individual advisor
(NACADA, 2017b). The 2-year process of naming, refining, reforming, and defining a futurelooking action-oriented statement of core values was guided by the following question to
advisors: “What are the values that guide your practice?” (Damminger & Drake, 2018). The
resulting seven core values are considered “fundamental” and “equal in importance,” and have
informed hiring processes, guided colleges in drafting vision and goal statements, and presented
professional and philosophical guideposts to practicing advisors (Damminger & Drake, 2018).
For this study the seven core values have been grouped into two categories: organizational

35
promise and interpersonal advisement (see Figure 1). Organizational promise includes the
following core values, professionalism, integrity, and commitment; and interpersonal advisement
includes, caring, empowerment, inclusivity, respect (NACADA, 2017b). There is overlap
between the meanings, implications, and associated practices of the seven core values; however,
one set of values is more closely aligned with the formal practices of higher education
institutions and another set of values is more closely aligned to the student-advisor relationship.

36
Figure 1
NACADA Core Values of Academic Advisement
Note. Adapted from NACADA Core Values of Academic Advisement by NACADA, n.d.
(https://nacada.ksu.edu/Resources/Pillars/CoreValues.aspx). Copyright 2023 by NACADA.
Organizational Promise
For the purposes of this study, organizational promise refers to the practical, institutional,
and system-related definitions associated with three of the seven core values. Those three core
values are commitment, integrity, and professionalism. These three core values are organization-

37
facing and can be aligned to operational inputs, such as institutional benchmarks, deliverables,
and guarantees of service. NACADA has defined each core value. A description of the
commitment, integrity, and professionalism values and their relationship to this study are as
follows.
Commitment. In the context of academic advisement commitment relates to how an
advisor uses external professional, institutional, and scholarly tools to impact student success
(NACADA, 2017b). Commitment refers to the individual advisor’s dedication to students,
colleagues, the higher educational institution, as well as the advisor’s investment in their
advisement practice (NACADA, 2017b). This core value highlights the importance of continued
professional curiosity, learning, and growth with the goal of improving student services.
Integrity. The evolution of academic advisement is tied to the evolution of higher
education’s organizational promises, values, and ethics (NACADA, 2017b). Institutional
retention and transfer-function goals are connected to academic counselor’s job descriptions and
responsibilities. The knowledge, actions, and quality of service provided by academic
counselor’s impact student success and, by extension, organizational success.
Professionalism. To support student transfer goals advisors are responsible for
understanding how to effectively communicate current policies, interventions, and applications.
Higher education is an ever-changing and dynamic environment grounded in a mission to serve
the individual and unique needs of students (NACADA, 2017b). Advisors are there to help
discover, reframe, refine, and align students to their chosen pathway by presenting clear and
useful information, policies, and tools.
When applied to the student transfer function, these three overlapping core values
provide organizational guideposts, encourage accountability, and present a framework for

38
tracking the effectiveness of advisement practices and interventions. The remaining core values
have a clearer connection to student-advisor relationship-building principles. The following
section outlines their definitions and their relationship to student transfer goals.
Interpersonal Advisement
For this study the remaining four core values are categorized under interpersonal
advisement; these values are caring, empowerment, inclusivity, and respect. These four values
are directed at the student-advisor relationship and are underpinned by philosophical,
developmental, and social justice principles (NACADA, 2017b). In the context of community
college transfer student advisement, these overlapping values characterize the relational and
interactive aspects in student-advisor interactions that can promote trust, wellbeing, and growth.
Caring. As defined by NACADA, caring is a relationship-building expression meant to
“challenge, support, nurture, and teach” students (NACADA, 2017b). Advisors activate this
value when they assiduously observe, listen, and seek to understand and relate to student points
of view (NACADA, 2017b). Within the context of the student transfer function, caring
encourages students in their goals and seeks to support student development.
Empowerment. This value overlaps and builds upon the caring value by recognizing
student’s unique abilities, naming those abilities, and connecting those abilities to the student’s
educational pathway (NACADA, 2017b). Empowerment innumerate an individual’s qualities,
highlights, and contextualizes the value of those qualities. In the context of student transfer,
empowerment can be a tool to uncover, elevate, and build student confidence, aligning unique
personal abilities to the goals in their educational journey.
Inclusivity. The community college system was designed to create a pathway to higher
education for historically excluded students (Handel & Williams, 2012). Academic counselors

39
have the responsibility to support an environment where all students can feel safe, valued, and
served, which requires a sustained commitment to self-reflection, professional development, and
education (NACADA, 2017b). This value, in the context of student transfer, can operate to
affirm a student’s sense of belonging, legitimize educational goals, and support a student’s
unique experiences as an asset within the higher education landscape.
Respect. This value overlaps with inclusivity and caring and seeks to build positive
student-advisor relationships through empathy and appreciation (NACADA, 2017b). This value
reaffirms the importance of centering student needs in all aspects of advisement (NACADA,
2017b). Respect within the student transfer function serves to build trust and unlock complexities
within the student’s academic journey, which can inform transfer pathway decisions.
The combination of NACADA’s seven core values provides an inclusive multi-pronged
framework to help understand how community college academic advisement is being practiced
and how it contributes to transfer goals of students who identify as AA/B. In this study the core
values have been categorized into organizational promise and interpersonal advisement (see
Figure 1). Categorizing these values into two groups allows the study to focus on academic
organizational policies and procedures, and the student-advisor relationship. Research has shown
academic advisement can positively impact student transfer outcomes, yet less is understood
about the intersection of organizational academic advisement policies and the student-advisor
relationship (Hatch & García, 2017; Mu & Fosnacht, 2019; Woods et al., 2016).The literature on
community college students with the goal of transfer has largely focused on general student
performance and retention indicators (Hatch & García, 2017; Tinto, 2006; Villarreal & García,
2016). Research has focused on specific student populations within community colleges,
including students from a lower SES, first-generation, and students from historically excluded

40
populations (Crisp & Nuñez, 2014; Johnson & Mejia, 2019; Mertes, 2013). However, there is not
significant research focusing on students identifying as AA/B with the goal of transfer within the
context of academic advisement practices and policies. This study seeks to uncover the
promising organizational advisement practices and interpersonal dimensions within the studentadvisor relationship that support students identifying as AA/B in their goal of transfer.
Summary
The purpose of this study is to understand CCC academic advisement practices, policies,
and procedures that support successful transfer for students who identify as AA/B. This study
contributes to the research of student development and persistence in higher education grounded
by NACADA’s core values as seen through the framework of organizational promise and
interpersonal advisement. The next chapter summarizes this study’s approach to examining the
experiences of students who identify as AA/B with the goal of transfer, and to what extent CCC
academic counselors and transfer-focused staff are supporting these goals through core values
within organizational promise and interpersonal advisement practices.

41
Chapter Three: Methodology
Chapter Three presents the research methodology, which includes research questions,
study design, how data was collected, and a detailed description of the analysis methods for this
study. This chapter provides information on the setting and participants who are the focus of the
study and discusses the positionality of the researcher. This chapter also addresses how the study
was constructed to ensure it was ethically conducted. Lastly, this chapter reviews the study’s
validity and reliability in assessing data and what limitations and delimitations are present. The
purpose of this study is to understand CCC academic advisement practices, policies, and
procedures that support successful transfer for students who identify as African American and/or
Black.
Research Questions
1. What NACADA core values, under organizational promise and interpersonal advisement,
are utilized by CCC advisors in support of students transferring into 4-year colleges?
2. How and to what extent do African American and/or Black students experience the
NACADA core values, under organizational promise and interpersonal advisement,
during the advisement process?
3. How and to what extent are advising practices, policies, and procedures meeting the
transfer needs of ACC students identifying as African American and/or Black, and how
can they be improved?

42
Overview of Design
This study aligned the research questions to interview questions. Each research question
related to one or both of the study’s participants. The interview questions found in Appendix A
and Appendix B were designed to capture data that would help answer the research question and
illuminate NACADA core values.
Table 2
Study Data Sources
Research Questions Interview
(students)
Interview
(CCC faculty
counselors)
Document
review
What NACADA core values, under
organizational promise and interpersonal
advisement, are utilized by CCC advisors in
support of students transferring into 4-year
colleges?
x x
How and to what extent do African American
and/or Black students experience the
NACADA core values, under organizational
promise and interpersonal advisement,
during the advisement process?
x
How and to what extent are advising practices,
policies, and procedures meeting the needs
of ACC students identifying as African
American and/or Black, and how can they be
improved?
x x

43
Research Setting
The study site and participant selection approach include a purposeful sample of enrolled
students who identify as African American and/or Black at ACC and faculty counselors who
serve to facilitate the student transfer function on the ACC campus. Aim Community College
(ACC) is an urban community college campus within the state of California. In 2020, ACC had
over 20,000 enrolled students with 14% who identified as AA/B. Within the overall student
population nearly 40% of enrolled students identified the goal of transfer. In the 2019-2020
academic year ACC transferred 65 students identifying as AA/B to a California State University,
65% more than the average rate of 22.5 students across 118 CCCs (CSU-CO, 2020). In that same
year, ACC transferred 58 AA/B-identifying students at University of California campus, 87%
more than the average rate of 7.8 across 114 CCCs (UC-OP, 2020). The college has 55 offices
and programs overseen by faculty counselors (academic advisors) focused on student transfer
support with a student to counselor ratio of 2.5. Across the CCC system academic advisors are
referred to as faculty counselors. This study includes interviews with six faculty counselors and
seven students. This site was selected because when compared to geographically and
demographically similar CCC campuses this site transfers a higher percentage of students
identifying as AA/B to 4-year colleges and universities. Aim Community College has a Black
student support program that includes AA/B faculty counselors who advise students identifying
as AA/B. To reach AA/B student populations, recruitment was made through this organization’s
listserv, which includes self-identified AA/B students regardless of organization participation.
Outreach to faculty counselors was made through the general faculty counselor listserv and was
followed up by direct emails from this study’s researcher. Online virtual interviews were
conducted for this study using a purposeful sampling approach. Students who identify as AA/B

44
and have chosen the goal of transfer to a 4-year university were interviewed using the protocol
found in Appendix A. Faculty advisors and other transfer-function supporting staff were
interviewed using the protocol in Appendix B.
The Researcher
The researcher is a White, middle-class, middle-aged, cis, bi-identifying woman who did
not attend public schooling in Southern California; therefore, her lived experiences and many of
her salient identities are different from the students, staff, and college administrators she is
working with in this study (Kang et al., 2016). The researcher’s experience as a transfer student
and as an academic advisor within Southern California will provide some areas of understanding
of the higher education landscape and student needs. However, the researcher is aware that she
comes from outside the community she is working with in this study, and that both her salient
identities and lack of shared experience can impact her ability to anticipate concerns and relate to
specific experiences (Duke & Martin, 2011). National student advisement organizations are
vocal and transparent in supporting diversity, equity, and inclusion in their practices,
programming, and in their approaches to serving students and achieving learning outcomes
(NACADA, 2017b). However, the researcher is still subject to her biases, blind spots, and
assumptions; viewpoints which are often echoed in the federal, state, and institutional structures,
laws, and access to resources (Duke & Martin, 2011; Ladson-Billings, 2021). This researcher
believes that recognizing personal and professional biases is essential in constructing research
that can anticipate research pitfalls and barriers (Boote & Beile, 2005). As such, this research
seeks the guidance and review of seasoned research professionals who can contribute personal,
experiential, and professional guidance that acknowledges the historical, economic, social, and
cultural barriers preventing students identifying as AA/B from accessing and thriving within

45
higher educational system (Noble & Roberts, 2019; Sue, 2005). This research recognizes the
study participants have expert knowledge worthy of better understanding. Interviews were
recorded, transcribed, and presented verbatim to allow for accurate accounting of expert insights.
The researcher implemented note taking practices to capture context that may not be evident in
transcription and built in time following each interview to reflect-on-action and document the
unique discoveries within each interview (Creswell & Creswell, 2018; Merriam & Tisdell, 2016;
J. P. Wilson, 2008).
Data Sources
This study utilized qualitative methods using semi-structured interviews and the review
of organizational documents both during and after the interview process. Interviews were
conducted with students and with faculty counselors assigned specifically to the student transfer
function to triangulate data across roles and perspectives. Interviews were recorded and
transcribed verbatim. In the first phase of analysis transcripts were reviewed manually and
assigned codes. In the second phase, codes were further analyzed, revised, and expanded to align
with the study’s research questions. In the third and final phase, codes were categorized for
themes using Atlas.ti. Throughout the analysis process research questions were revisited to
ensure alignment of findings with study purpose.
ACC Student Interviews
The study includes individual semi-structured online interviews with ACC students who
identify as AA/B and have the goal of transferring to a 4-year college or university to understand
how interpersonal advisement and organizational promise support transfer. Semi-structured
interviews permit the researcher to guide the interview process based on current knowledge,
while allowing for knowledge discovery during the interview process (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016).

46
The utilization of semi-structured interviews provides a direct method to capture student’s
understanding and knowledge based on their experiences (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). Students
were recruited through mass email from ACC advisement centers, which included institutional
review board (IRB) approved details about the study. This study conducted 1-hour Zoom
interviews with seven students who identify as AA/B and have the goal of transfer. Interviews
were recorded using Zoom, transcribed using the Rev.com transcription service, and transcripts
were analyzed in three phases, with the last phase using Atlas.ai. These approaches are described
in more detail in the following sections.
Student Interview Participants
This study used purposeful sampling to reach students who identify as African American
and/or Black with the goal of transferring to a 4-year college via campus student organizations.
From this outreach, seven students were interviewed who met the study’s criteria. In addition to
meeting the above criteria, students needed to have completed at least one semester at ACC to
ensure advisement services have been provided, and in all cases, students had attended multiple
semesters ranging from 1.5 semesters to several years.
Aim Community College houses a Black student support program which is unique to the
ACC campus and includes AA/B faculty counselors who advise AA/B students. Student
outreach and recruitment for this study was made through this organization’s email listserv,
which captures students identifying as AA/B and does not require the student to be involved in
the Black student support program. In this study, some of the students were involved and advised
in this organization and some students were aware of but not involved or advised through this
organization.

47
For this study, persistence towards the goal of transfer was measured by the student’s
intent to transfer and enrollment in coursework linked to transfer pathways. Most students in this
sample had knowledge of, or had directly participated in, student advisement programming
specifically supporting students who identify as African American and/or Black; however, the
extent and depth of participation varied greatly across students. Information on interview
instrumentation and alignment to research questions (RQs) are in the following section.
Student Interview Instrumentation
Participants who identify as AA/B and have the goal of transfer into a 4-year college or
university were purposely recruited and participated in online semi-structured interviews
utilizing open-ended questions to understand to what extent they are being supported by faculty
counselors (academic advisement counselors) and advisement practices (Merriam & Tisdell,
2016; Patton, 2002). A total of 15 questions and 16 probes were asked of each student
participant, found in Appendix A. Questions one to seven were aligned to RQ3: How and to what
extent are advising practices, policies, and procedures meeting the needs of CCC students
identifying as African American and/or Black, and how can they be improved? Questions eight
to 15 were aligned to RQ2: How and to what extent do African American and/or Black students
experience the NACADA core values, under organizational promise and interpersonal
advisement, during the advisement process? Zoom interviews allowed for increased safety from
COVID-19 exposure, schedule flexibility for students, and enabled students to make more
choices about their interview environment. Recruited students were asked questions drawn from
RQ2, and RQ3, and align NACADA core values, and Patton’s interview question types
(NACADA, 2017b; Patton, 2002). Questions were constructed from an asset-based framework,
which seeks to understand and uncover both what is working and where there are areas of

48
improvement (Ghaye, 2010; Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). The same data collection procedures and
data analysis are used for ACC students and ACC faculty counselor interviews. These sections
follow the descriptions of the faculty counselor and instrumentation sections.
Interview, ACC Faculty Counselors
This study utilized individual semi-structured interviews of ACC faculty counselors who
support the transfer function and included faculty counselors in general counseling and in special
student programs. The use of semi-structured interviews allowed the researcher to provide a
purposeful entry point into an interview process, providing a data collection pathway aligned to
the conceptual framework, while also allowing for discoveries and unanticipated information to
emerge (Esposito & Evans-Winters, 2022; Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). Guidelines and policies for
academic advisement and transfer initiatives are articulated in state policies, from the CCC-CO,
and at the ACC campus level; however, ACC faculty counselors possess knowledge earned from
their advisement experience, and therefore, have a unique vantagepoint to share to what extent
these policies are being adopted and implemented. Interviews are a unique research method
allowing a researcher to capture complex, experiential, and expert information that would
otherwise be difficult or impossible to collect (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016).
Faculty Counselors Interview Participants
This study used purposeful sampling to reach ACC faculty counselors who serve the
student transfer function. The faculty counselors research participants were recruited via direct
email through a faculty counselor listserv. This study interviewed six faculty counselors who met
criteria aligned with the study’s purpose and RQ’s. To achieve a saturated sample all recruited
faculty counselors worked with large and diverse student populations which included students
who identify as AA/B with the goal of transfer. Additionally, faculty counselors were required to

49
have worked at ACC for at least 1 year to ensure they have familiarity with ACC’s culture,
approaches, and policies, and ranged from 1.75 years to over 21 years. Aim Community College
houses a Black student support organization which includes AA/B faculty counselors. Though all
ACC faculty counselors were notified of this study, no faculty counselors from the Black student
support organization participated in interviews. Further details on faculty counselor interview
instrumentation and alignment with RQs is found in the following section.
Faculty Counselors Interview Instrumentation
Semi-structured interviews with open-ended questions were conducted with a purposeful
selection of study participants employed by ACC in roles that support the student transfer
function. A total of 15 questions and 28 probes were asked of faculty counselors, found in
Appendix B. Because ACC faculty counselors are not themselves seeking to be supported in
their goal of transfer, and they may not identify as AA/B, these interview questions were aligned
with RQ1 and RQ3, the NACADA core values aligned with interpersonal advisement, and
Patton’s interview question types (NACADA, 2017b; Patton, 2002). Questions were designed to
be asset-based, with the intent to seek quality data on promising practices as well as areas where
further improvements can be made (Ghaye, 2010).
The interview instrumentation for ACC staff was similar to ACC students; however, the
interview questions for ACC faculty counselors relate to a limited set of RQ’s. Questions oneeight are aligned to RQ1: What NACADA core values, under organizational promise and
interpersonal advisement, are utilized by CCC advisors in support of students transferring into 4-
year colleges? Questions nine-15 are aligned RQ3: How and to what extent are advising
practices, policies, and procedures meeting the needs of CCC students identifying as African
American and/or Black, and how can they be improved? In the areas of data collection and

50
analysis, the approach to ACC students and faculty counselors were the same. The procedures
for data collection and data analysis were the same for both ACC student and ACC faculty
counselor interviews. The following sections have combined both interview groups.
Student and Faculty Counselors Interview Data Collection Procedures
Interview data was collected over the Spring 2023 semester. Semi-structured interviews
were conducted online with study participants using the Zoom video conferencing application.
All participants were interviewed one time, with the interview lasting approximately 1 hour to an
hour and a half. Both students and faculty counselors were asked 15 questions with additional
question probes related to specific RQ’s. Faculty counselors were asked questions related to RQ1
and RQ3 which relate to NACADA core values, under organizational promise and interpersonal
advisement, to what extent these core values are being utilized and meeting needs in the
advisement setting. Students were asked questions related to RQ2 and RQ3, which also relate to
NACADA core values, under organizational promise and interpersonal advisement, and to what
extent these core values are being communicated and experienced within the student transfer
process. Though some of the student interview participants were advised by faculty counselors
within the Black student support organization, none of the faculty counselor interviews included
faculty from this organization; therefore, the data samples are parallel but not matched.
Interviews were recorded using Zoom. Audio transcripts were transcribed verbatim by Rev.com
transcription service. During the interview the researcher performed a standardized procedure for
notetaking to capture key information which included date, time of day, interviewee’s
environment, as well as interviewer’s reflections during the interview (Merriam & Tisdell,
2016). Immediately following the interviews, the researcher took 15–30 minutes to write down
reflections, observations, reactions, any contextual information was relevant to the discoveries

51
surfaced in the interview, and the researcher’s concerns and questions around researcher bias and
positionality (Duke & Martin, 2011; Ladson-Billings, 2021; Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). The
researcher housed collected data in their personal computer, backing up data using an external
drive.
Student and Faculty Counselors Interview Data Analysis
Data analysis began during the interview data collection processes. According to Esposito
and Evans-Winters (2022), the process of collecting data and analyzing data are interrelated and
simultaneous. Following each interview notes were reviewed, and the researcher engaged in a
reflective practice to extract key themes, impressions, feelings, and ideas sparked from the
interview. Interviews were recorded using Zoom’s audio recording. The audio recording was
sent to Rev.com to be transcribed verbatim. The first phase of analysis began with a review of
transcripts and interview notes/reflections to identify codes linked to the conceptual framework’s
core values within organizational promise and interpersonal advisement. The second phase of
analysis sought to connect codes to broader themes. In discovering themes, the researcher
employed the idea of “theme as an argument” drawing out a code from one or two words to a full
sentence that expresses the contexts and actions associated with the theme (Esposito & EvansWinters, 2022, p. 128). These processes were iterative and guided by the conceptual framework
and RQs. In this phase the researcher employed a memoing strategy which helped elaborate on
the arguments being made within each theme (Esposito & Evans-Winters, 2022). In the final
phase of interview data analysis, the student and faculty counselor data were organized and
compared using both themes derived from NACADA core values and themes that emerged from
the interviews. The inclusion criteria for NACADA core values was drawn from the definitions
outlined by NACADA (2017b) and are articulated in Chapter Two’s conceptual framework.

52
Core value exclusion criteria for faculty counselors included a lack of evidence and/or specificity
regarding the reasoning and/or motivations describing advisement approaches and actions in
relationship to core values. Similarly, core value exclusion criteria for students included lack of
evidence, specificity, and/or context in reaction to advisement approaches, experiences, and/or
resources in relationship to core values. Examples of data that demonstrate core values are
provided in the verbatim quotes of faculty counselors and students in the Chapter Four: Findings
and in the Appendix E: Code Book.
Document Review
This study includes a purposeful sample of pre-identified and emergent public records
and visual documents as potential corroborate and elaborative evidence of advisement practices
in support of students who identify as AA/B and have the goal of transfer to a 4-year college or
university. Merriam and Tisdell (2016), qualify documents as materials that communicate and
provide meaning for the subject of research. Pre-identified documents include transfer planning
guides, sample course plans, and transfer videos, articulation agreements and transfer roadmaps
which draw connections between the transfer resources and how these resources are being
conveyed and operationalized within student transfer advisement. In the course of the interviews
and document review, emergent documents related to ACC-specific transfer roadmaps and
articulation resources were discovered and considered in the data analysis (Merriam & Tisdell,
2016).
Data Collection Procedures
All documentation referenced can be accessed through ACC’s websites. In some
instances, references to internal advisement tools were screen shared during the interview
process for the purpose of clarifying the functionality of the tool and without sharing any student

53
specific data. These tools were not captured as images, but rather recorded through written
descriptions and through the descriptions provided in the interview transcripts.
Data Analysis
Data analysis was performed through the collection of data and defined method of
analysis. According to Esposito and Evans-Winters (2022), a research document is a “social
text”; therefore, the researcher should interpret documents “within its social context” (p. 105).
Despite CCC system-wide guidelines and procedures for student transfer support, access to
information and advisement services vary from student to student. The degree to which students
who identify as AA/B are receiving transfer support services is tied directly to the core values
found within organizational promise and interpersonal advisement. As is the case with
conducting interviews, document review provides data relevant to the study’s purpose and RQ’s,
and as such was analyzed within the context of this study (Esposito & Evans-Winters, 2022;
Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). The data obtained from document analysis provided concrete
examples of advisement tools and the accessibility of these tools to faculty counselors and to
students. Thus, providing a clearer view of the activities surrounding the advisement processes at
ACC.
Data Triangulation and Trustworthiness
This study invested in several strategies to achieve a high standard of data triangulation
and trustworthiness. Qualitative research studies utilizing data triangulation and trustworthiness
are transparent in their methods, clear and understandable, and are transferable (Merriam &
Tisdell, 2016). For this study data triangulation, peer review, and data saturation were employed.
The first strategy is data triangulation to establish trustworthiness by comparing data
from different sources and perspectives (Esposito & Evans-Winters, 2022; Merriam & Tisdell,

54
2016). As the purpose of this study is to understand how academic advisement practices support
students who identify as AA/B with the goal of transfer, the perspectives of both students
encountering the transfer process, and the faculty counselors implementing transfer support,
must be understood and compared. This purposeful selection of study participants, and the
alignment to guiding RQ’s and NACADA core values, and data transparency ensured a high
level of reliable data. Interview data were compared with the data drawn from documents related
to the student transfer function, and how advisement is supporting students in their goals related
to transfer.
The second strategy for reliability and trustworthiness is peer review. The researcher is
subject to bias and blind spots and cannot know or anticipate all the components necessary to
shepherd new research to reliable conclusions. Therefore, it is important that the research be
reviewed, challenged, and examined by peers for its validity (Creswell & Creswell, 2018;
Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). This research is overseen and co-authored by researchers and tenured
faculty who have expertise in research practices, higher education, and the study of persons who
have been historically excluded from academic spaces.
The last strategy to ensure trustworthiness is recording interview data mechanically and
analyzing the data from verbatim transcripts. As described earlier in this chapter, interview data
was recorded and transcribed, and researcher notes and memos sought to capture the interview
contexts. Whenever possible, the researcher used the verbatim words of the participants, rather
than summarize in their own words.
The qualitative research approaches, methods, and analysis in this study are aligned to the
research purpose, RQ’s, theoretical and conceptual frameworks, as well as trusted practices
within the qualitative research field. The strategies of triangulation, peer review, and

55
mechanically recorded data and analysis of verbatim transcripts of the study participants provide
a high level of validity and reliability in this study. The following section addresses the ethics of
this study.
Ethics
Researchers have clear responsibilities when working with human participants. It is the
responsibility of the researcher to inform the participant of the study’s purpose, protect the
person’s identity, and for the researcher to seek to do no harm (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). The
IRB processes provided clear oversight and guidance to ensure research methods were ethically
designed and implemented. This study required IRB approval from USC and from the
community college campus being studied. Participation in this study was voluntary and
conducted with adults who were provided informed consent information with the right to
withdraw without loss of benefits (Esposito & Evans-Winters, 2022). A qualitative study with
purposeful sampling using interviews cannot provide research participant anonymity; however,
their information can be confidential (Esposito & Evans-Winters, 2022). To protect the identities
of the participants they were provided a pseudonym, with each student provided the letter “S”
and faculty counselors provided the letter “FC,” followed by a number. All transcripts, notes,
documents, and other research materials were stored in the researcher’s password protected
personal computer or in password protected cloud technology provided by the researcher’s
university. A 20-dollar gift certificate was provided upon the completion of the interview in
gratitude for the participants’ time and insights. Information gathered was not shared with other
study participants. Interviews were conducted virtually, one-on-one, to allow the individuals to
remain safer from COVID-19 exposure and so they may choose a place where they are

56
comfortable being interviewed. Research proceeded with successful proposal defense and
approval from both institution’s IRB divisions.
The purpose of this study is to understand ACC’s academic advisement practices,
policies, and procedures that support successful transfer for students who identify as African
American and/or Black. This study collected data from an urban community college within the
state of California. Findings are relayed in Chapter Four.

57
Chapter Four: Findings
The purpose of this study is to understand CCC academic advisement practices, policies,
and procedures that support successful transfer for students who identify as African American
and/or Black. This study also examines the extent to which these advising practices, policies, and
procedures are supporting AA/B students in their goal of transfer to a 4-year institution. The
study utilized individual semi-structured interviews with students who identify as AA/B with the
goal of transfer and interviewed faculty counselors who advise students with the goal of transfer.
The study’s RQs are aligned to the seven advisement principles identified by NACADA as core
values categorized under organizational promise: commitment, integrity, and professionalism,
and interpersonal advisement: caring, empowerment, inclusivity, and respect (NACADA,
2017b). These categories provide the theoretical framework for this study. The following RQs
guided this study:
1. What NACADA core values, under organizational promise and interpersonal
advisement, are utilized by ACC advisors in support of students transferring into 4-
year colleges?
2. How and to what extent do students who identify as African American and/or Black
with the goal of transfer experience the NACADA core values, under organizational
promise and interpersonal advisement, during the advisement process?
3. How and to what extent are advising practices, policies, and procedures meeting the
transfer needs of ACC students identifying as African American and/or Black, and
how can they be improved?

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This chapter is organized by RQs. The first RQ is answered with faculty counselor
interviews, the second RQ is answered with student interviews. The third RQ is answered from
both faculty counselor and student interviews.
Research Question 1: What NACADA Core Values, Under Organizational Promise and
Interpersonal Advisement, Are Utilized by ACC Advisors in Support of Students
Transferring into 4-Year Colleges?
This research produced consistent evidence that ACC advisement practices incorporated
core values found under organizational promise and interpersonal advisement. Aim Community
College faculty counselor interviews demonstrated core values throughout advisement
approaches, methods, and philosophies. The following section begins with organizational
promise and is followed by interpersonal advisement. Organizational promise contains the three
core values of commitment, integrity, and professionalism, which were evident and intermingled
across faculty counselor advisement practices.
Table 3 presents the frequency of core values across faculty counselor interviews. In this
table the variability across faculty counselors is evident. Generally, the earliest interviews
presented greater frequency of core values both in overall numbers and within each value. This
table also highlights the more frequently utilized values; the top three being commitment,
professionalism, and caring. Table 3 also illustrates the least utilized value, integrity, which is the
only value that was absent from some faculty counselor interviews and whose overall frequency
was five times less than the most frequent core value of commitment.

Table 3
Frequency of core values Across Faculty Counselor Interviews
Interpersonal Advisement Organizational Promise
Caring Empowerment Inclusivity Respect Commitment Integrity Professionalism
FC1 15 14 13 9 17 4 10
FC2 10 7 5 8 12 1 12
FC3 8 8 8 6 6 2 8
FC4 7 6 6 9 9 0 6
FC5 2 1 4 4 5 0 3
FC6 2 3 6 5 7 3 6
Overall frequency 44 39 42 41 56 10 45
Note. The table is a heat map to show where there is a concentration of information or a lack of information and help show the
contrast. The color of each cell or rectangle relates to the magnitude of data collected.
56

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Organizational Promise
The separation of core values into organizational promise and interpersonal advisement is
a method to refine and discern advisement elements within this study. The core values of
commitment, integrity, and professionalism within organizational promise strongly align with
college policies and administrative processes; however, this is not the full extent in which these
core values are expressed. The core values within organizational promise overlap, interweave,
and merge within an advisement continuum relating to college processes and institutional
guidelines, but also apply to the philosophical missions and ethical considerations within higher
education institutions. The definitions of these values are intentionally flexible to allow for
unique and targeted approaches to advisement based on institutional criteria and the student
populations being served; therefore, this research often identified multiple core values within one
faculty advisor sentence or statement.
Throughout the faculty counselor interviews evidence of NACADA’s core values of
commitment, integrity, and professionalism is evident in student advisement approaches towards
transfer. These values were apparent in faculty counselor culture, the perceptions of ACC as a
college, and in ACC’s leadership focus. “We have a big culture of transfer,” remarked faculty
counselor one (FC1), “I think we have to meet that expectation that people have of us.” This
commitment to transfer was echoed by FC4, “We are really good in transfer, so students who
want to transfer come to us.” FC4 noted, “whereas some schools transfer is its own office, [at
ACC] everybody’s a transfer counselor.” To achieve a strong transfer culture, faculty counselors
describe ACC as a college focused on employee training, tools, and knowledge sharing between
colleagues and departments to support transfer student advisement, demonstrating the core
values of professionalism and integrity.

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Aim Community College’s investment in both in-house and external professional
development ties to the core values of commitment and professionalism, which center
professional development and advising for the greater good. According to FC4, “because transfer
is so ingrained, I think our professional development for transfer advising is phenomenal.”
According to the interview with FC1, ACC’s “support resources are leaps and bounds above
other campuses.” FC4 speaks about the frequency of trainings, “it doesn’t matter how long
you’ve been on the campus, everyone’s getting the trainings.” Other faculty counselors talk
about ACC leadership culture. FC5 said, “I feel like we’re all working towards the same values.”
FC5 continues, “they give us the tools to do our job and the support; [ACC] make[s] it very
readily available.” FC2 notes this shared baseline transfer knowledge among faculty counselors,
“it’s kind of infusing transfer in a lot of different places where students already are or want to
be.” Across FC interviews, FCs demonstrated they were aware of a variety of training
opportunities and the importance of these trainings to support student persistence. In addition to
having a strong awareness of training and tools, FCs across interviews took pride in being up to
date on the most current information.
Aim Community College’s professional development includes in-house training on
multiple student advisement tools and resources, as well as a professional development fund to
cover the costs of higher education conferences and outside trainings. Though faculty counselors
note the array of training opportunities, training specifically addressing the topics of equity and
diversity is optional. FC2 notes “I do feel like we could improve on training related to equity,” as
“the people who sign up tend to be the ones who really want to, [and] are already doing this
work.” FC3 and FC4 explain they always saw the same people at trainings and conferences
focused on race and ethnicity in higher education. FC3 suggests that all faculty should have a

62
“universal base requirement for professional development,” to ensure there was a minimum
amount of training in the areas of equity and diversity. Multiple faculty counselor interviews
acknowledge ACC provides access to equity training tools, but perceive these tools were not
affecting the most critical areas where student equity gaps persisted.
Mandatory minimum equity training for faculty counselors and teaching faculty is
highlighted in multiple faculty counselor interviews. FC2 states, “I think would be really helpful
to try to close some of these gaps that we have in our pass/fail rates for very specific classes.”
Regarding the achievement gaps in STEM courses FC2 continues, “you can see that they’re
disproportionately affecting our Black and African American students.” FC4 shares these
concerns and notes, “I think we could do a better job in the classroom in some instances, based
on the feedback that I’m hearing from some students.” FC4 explained, “[students] tell me, yeah,
I feel like I’m hearing microaggressions all the time”; FC4 continues, “they’re telling us, [and]
we got to listen.” The values of commitment, integrity, and professionalism were evident
throughout the topic of faculty training and in the tools faculty counselors use in their
advisement practices. The core value of integrity, which is aligned with accountability to
students, was least represented across faculty counselor interviews. Inconsistent individual
investment in equity and diversity training by faculty advisors and teaching faculty is an area
where accountability can be improved.
Aim Community College uses standard tools available to all CCC campuses and has also
developed unique tools specific to the ACC campus. The ACC in-house student tracking systems
collect notes on individual students, allowing faculty counselors to input information about
student progress and student interactions that can be viewed by other student services staff,
faculty counselors, and teaching faculty. FC1 demonstrates the core value of commitment by,

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“collecting information to figure out what I need to do” to prepare for the student appointment
and to make sure the student is “okay and feeling satisfied with the interaction.” FC3 highlights
the core value of integrity, explaining the advisor notes are “gear[ed] away” from a FCs
“personal judgment and thoughts of what happened” and focus on the “actual wording” of what
the student said and “if there was a concern that came up in the session.” When an ACC student
is experiencing challenges a faculty counselor can “flag” the student within this tracking system.
FC2 explains flagging initiates a “wraparound support system where non-instructional faculty
and teaching faculty are working together to keep tabs on students,” including student referrals to
campus resources. In all cases, these tools support the core values of professionalism by
documenting student interactions with ACC representatives and resources and provide context
and guidance to the network of ACC staff and faculty interacting with students.
Aim Community College faculty counselors also utilize standard articulation tools
available to any CCC or California public university. The college has gone a step further and
created its own in-house articulation web-based database that includes private in-state and outof-state institutions, as well as comprehensive course pathways between ACC and specific
universities. FC2 describes the website as having, “great resources and tools that I use probably
on a daily basis,” noting, “it’s nice to have it all centralized on one website.” These tools allow
faculty counselors to align specific transfer goals and requirements with specific course
sequences and, in some cases, guaranteed admission to certain majors in certain 4-year
universities.
Students are often looking at multiple institutions when planning for transfer; therefore, it
is important that transfer information is accurate. FC6 explains the ACC articulation officer is
providing regular updates on transferable courses and programs: “They’re always on top of this

64
so they’re always keeping us up to date.” FC4 notes this articulation information “eliminates
questions and eliminates error because it’s been vetted,” confirming to the faculty advisor and
student the specific courses are approved for transfer. FC4 elaborates on the importance of
trusting ACC articulation information: “We don’t like gray area [at] ACC, we want to know for
sure that it’s going to be approved.” These articulation tools are integrated into the software used
by faculty counselors and students which, according to FC2, “helps students track their progress
towards their GE requirements” and “helps them when they’re meeting with counselors” to see
and understand what is left to complete and how many semesters it will take. Faculty counselors
spoke about using these tools in their transfer advisement practices and showing students how to
use these tools to find reliable transfer information. In addition to faculty counselor training and
tools, knowledge sharing is another component supporting the core values of commitment,
integrity, and professionalism in academic advisement.
Faculty counselors seek knowledge in multiple ways including connecting with teaching
faculty and campus programs and developing relationships with representatives at other colleges.
FC1 seeks out opportunities to get involved in committees “to meet more people outside of my
department, which is incredibly helpful too for building connections.” FC2 built up their network
of internal and external contacts, saying, “I literally have them on speed dial and we have a
group chat on text message” and whenever there is a question, “we’ll just text each other, oh,
does anybody know X, Y, Z?” Several faculty counselors noted the importance of connecting
with teaching faculty. FC6 explains they “try to collaborate with instructional faculty because
they will be the experts in their field” which helps advise students on curriculum and careerspecific information. Faculty counselors demonstrate a commitment to actively seek information
across ACC programs and departments, as well as connections outside of ACC.

65
Each semester faculty counselors are provided an updated list of university
representatives from other colleges. Faculty counselors use these network connections to answer
questions about specific transfer programs and to provide students with a personal contact at the
university they wish to transfer to. FC6 notes “whenever we need to reach out to a rep, we have a
direct connection.” FC4 explains if there is any question on whether a course is transferable,
“we’re contacting the reps ourselves and getting it approved.” Throughout the faculty counselor
interviews it was evident counselors utilized training and tools to guide students accurately and
thoroughly in their transfer goals. When information was not apparent, they sought and shared
knowledge with campus partners and off-campus partners to ensure student transfer information
was accurate and timely. This demonstrates faculty commitment to student transfer goals through
professional networks with emphasis on being accountable to students regarding transfer
information accuracy.
Across faculty counselor interviews tools, training, and knowledge sharing were regular
themes which align with the core values of commitment, integrity, and professionalism. Though
these tools are readily available, multiple faculty counselors were concerned the tools and
training were not reaching the staff and faculty who needed these resources most, specifically
training and tools intended to serve historically excluded student populations. Overall, ACC
demonstrates a culture that centers transfer services and underpins those services with
investments in creating in-house resources that go beyond the standard transfer tools utilized
across CCCs, as well as fostering and sharing transfer networks across public and private
universities.

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Interpersonal Advisement
Interviews with faculty counselors presented clear evidence of NACADA’s core values
organized under interpersonal advisement, which include caring, empowerment, inclusivity, and
respect. Though all core values were present in this study, there were differences in frequency of
usage across faculty counselor interviews, as well as stronger representation of some core values
overall (e.g., commitment, professionalism) and lesser representation in others (e.g., integrity and
empowerment). This is expressed in many ways both directly and indirectly. Dominant themes
included creating student-centric physical and virtual advisement spaces and tailoring
advisement strategies to the needs of the specific student.
Faculty counselors show they are intentional about creating a welcoming advisement
environment. When first meeting a student, FC6 explains they are “trying to build that
environment where students feel comfortable.” FC6 continues, “I want them to have a good first
impression when meeting with the counselor” as they “tend to come back and use our services.”
FC2 highlights the importance of caring, “students who are brand new to the college
environment have no idea even what questions to ask” and “asking for help can be really
daunting.” FC3 demonstrates the importance of inclusivity and respect, “I try to be more
relatable” explaining that “it feels like you are talking to somebody who knows themselves.”
Students can access academic advisement in person, on the phone, and through live video
conferencing; each advisement mode comes with its own set of considerations when preparing a
welcoming advisement space.
Multiple faculty counselors express the unique considerations of advising students
virtually. FC2 advises exclusively online; they begin their session confirming with the student
the technology is working properly and then “it’s really just establishing a rapport and figuring

67
out in the very beginning, what is [the student’s] priority for this time?” FC1 chooses to have a
non-virtual background populated with books and collectables which helps spur conversation;
“when I counsel, I think [students] do appreciate feeling like there’s a human, it’s a real
environment.” FC4 acknowledges the challenges of a hybrid environment, “where before was
working together and looking at the computer” in the same physical space, “now we’re
relearning how it works and weighing the pros and cons of the student being seen where they
need to be seen.” Throughout the interviews, faculty counselors demonstrated their interest and
thoughtfulness in building an advising environment that responded to the needs of their students.
When faculty counselors advise in person, they consider ways to make the physical space
inviting to students. FC3 asks themselves, “what do I want them to see when they come in? And
how do I want them to feel?” FC3 also demonstrated caring and inclusivity, “I want them to feel
like they’re welcome, that this is their space and that they belong here.” FC4 shares their office
space with other faculty counselors and explains, “I vacuum the floor all the time, everyone
laughs at me–I like it to be open and sunny and bright.” Demonstrating the core values of
inclusivity and empowerment, FC4 continues, “I’m a queer counselor, so I have some of my
stuff up there that shows that it’s a safer space.” FC3 sets up their office so when students sit
down at the computer monitor, they see a “background saver that says, ‘I’m so glad that you’re
here.’” FC5 explains they realize that for some students ACC is “maybe the only place they’re
getting that support” and they “try and meet the student where they’re at.” This theme of trying
to understand what a student needs in relationship to their specific academic and personal
situation ran throughout the faculty counselor interviews, illustrating how the core values of
caring, empowerment, inclusivity, and respect are interwoven and interrelated.

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Throughout faculty counselor interviews, the expression of “meeting a student where
they are” was noted multiple times. FC3 highlighted the importance of being caring and
inclusive, “I try to use a lot of equity focused counseling–I thank them for coming in” and try “to
validate those things [students] do bring just from their own personal experiences.” Similarly,
FC4 notes the importance of connection, “I think there’s a lot going on in the students’ lives,” so
FC4 tries to strike a balance by being “super unconditionally supportive but very real with
[students] too.” FC6 explains the importance of being responsive to the needs of students, “it
feels more authentic when you just go with the flow because you’re just more present in the
moment.” FC1 echoed this idea, explaining, “It’s been years of getting to that sweet spot” where
“the energy, the vibe, [and] environment” are relaxed and welcoming. Creating these physically
and emotionally safer spaces was a shared goal across faculty counselor interviews, which
requires a certain amount of professional experience and the ability to perceive the needs of
others, spoken and unspoken, and to adjust meet those needs.
Faculty counselors highlight their strategies for listening and understanding student
concerns in advisement appointments. FC2 shares, “I try to do a good job of asking and repeating
and reflecting back” to the student, to discover the “main issue or whatever the question is that
they’re asking.” FC1 says they are intentional about “giving them space,” explaining they need
to keep themselves “at bay for a minute, to make sure [the students] are getting everything out,”
and then provide words of encouragement, such as, “I have your back” and “I hear you.” FC1
notes the importance of highlighting resources that may be pertinent to specific student
populations without “shoving [it] down their throats.” FC1’s approach is to provide a “list and
then trying to present it as a grouping, instead of, ‘I’m targeting you.’” FC3 explains “my own
personal experience and how I counsel has been written out with [an] equity framework.” FC3

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considers the individual student and highlights resources that may be useful to them, “saying, ‘oh
here, did you know this existed?’” FC4 echoed this approach, saying “even though they’ll get
good support no matter where they go, I want to always expand their options to more than just
the one that might come to mind.” These advisement approaches demonstrate the core values of
caring, inclusivity, and respect, showing the advisor is listening and seeking to understand the
needs of the student in front of them, while being conscious of how to present information to
empower students to make their own decisions.
Aim Community College serves students from diverse populations with intersecting
identities and needs. FC4 notes, a faculty counselor will meet with “homeless students right in
between millionaire students.” FC3 explains, “We’re doing a lot of more social work type
things” as different student needs arise at different points in the semester which can include
guidance on “anything from housing and food insecurity, [to] books, and financial aid.” FC1
explains, “When it’s relevant, I self-identify with a disability” because it can show students with
disabilities that “[I] understand having something that you have.” This illustrates the wideranging experiences and needs students bring along with their academic and career interests. This
also shows how faculty counselors are prepared to address a variety of needs and even share their
own experiences to facilitate connection and delivery of important information, creating an
environment of caring and empowerment.
Faculty counselors reflect on the question of ACC’s support climate for students
identifying as African American and/or Black. FC3 decorates their office with “pictures of
multiple students that represent multiple backgrounds, so students see themselves” and “feel
encouraged.” FC6 explains that meeting students where they are may require reassigning a
student to another counselor the student can relate to better, explaining, “as long as they feel

70
supported, that’s the most important [thing] for me.” FC1 describes, “as we all know,
representation matters,” explaining the importance of “working with someone who you feel more
close to or similar to or can relate to more.” FC4 sees a need for improved programming for
students identifying as AA/B, “I would like to see us move further in a space to where all
students, but especially Black students, are feeling like this is their place.” Faculty counselors
demonstrate an understanding of intersecting student needs, while retaining a self-awareness of
what services they can offer to individual students.
The core values organized under interpersonal advisement and organizational promise
were evident throughout faculty counselor advisement practices, most frequently in the values of
commitment, professionalism, and caring. Faculty counselors demonstrate they assess the
advisement environment and employ advisement approaches that draw out critical student
information to better understand the needs to be addressed. This research also shows faculty
advisors are careful to deliver information that is appropriate to specific student needs, while
including a breadth of support options that are inclusive of multiple identities and interests.
Faculty counselors profess a self-awareness and commitment to student support, which includes
redirecting students to another counselors or services to ensure students have the best
accommodations. Though the presence of core values was regularly demonstrated, there were
differences across faculty counselor interviews and in the frequency and utilization of core
values.
The evidence largely illustrates an advisement culture embedded in core values; however,
it should be noted that some faculty counselors were more descriptive and forthcoming in their
responses as compared to others, and some faculty counselors were more aligned with the core
values within interpersonal advisement or organizational promise. Of the seven core values,

71
integrity was the least coded value. The core value of integrity was coded five times less than the
most frequently coded value of commitment, and in some interviews, integrity was not coded at
all. This may be due to several factors which could point advisement training opportunities. For
example, inconsistency of equity training across faculty counselors and teaching faculty was
noted in several interviews as a gap that impacted students identifying as AA/B. However, it may
also be due to the way the value of integrity presents itself in conversation or limitations in the
research that made the value of integrity harder to identify compared to other core values.
Lastly, it is important to note that participation in this study was voluntary and data was
collected in interviews, not through observation; therefore, the faculty counselor participants are
a self-selecting group. As such this group will likely have some commonalities which may align
their points of view in regards to policy, advisement practices, campus culture, and student
concerns. Additionally, all faculty counselors interviewed were outside of the Black student
support program. This is important because multiple student interview participants were advised
exclusively through these programs, which will be discussed in RQ2. Overall, these findings
demonstrate ACC faculty counselors incorporate and employ core values as outlined by
NACADA in their advisement practices.
Research Question 2: How and to What Extent Do Students Who Identify As African
American and/or Black With the Goal of Transfer Experience the NACADA Core Values,
Under Organizational Promise and Interpersonal Advisement, During the Advisement
Process?
This research produced consistent evidence that students who identify as AA/B with the
goal of transfer do experience NACADA core values within the advisement process, with some
values experienced more frequently than others. Core values experienced by all students

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included professionalism, commitment, and empowerment, with respect and integrity
experienced by most students, and caring and inclusivity experienced by some students. For this
RQs, the findings for organizational promise (commitment, integrity, and professionalism) and
interpersonal advisement (caring, empowerment, inclusivity, and respect) are often intertwined
and coupled in various combinations. The data collected from student interviews shows
advisement interactions move fluidly between practical advising, such as degree planning and
policy, and advising toward relationship building. There are many instances where student
advisement interactions demonstrate multiple core values, with strong relationships both within
and across interpersonal advisement or organizational promise. This section looks at the most
frequent core value pairings and will discuss how these pairings manifest within transfer
advisement between students identifying as AA/B and faculty counselors. It is important to note
that most student experiences with faculty counselors were positive; however, there were
students who had both positive and negative experiences.
Table 4 presents the frequency of pairings among NACADA core values. In this table the
relationships between core values are more evident, highlighting frequent value intersections, as
well as core value deserts where there is an absence of value pairings. This table also highlights
the predominance of values experienced under organizational promise as compared to
interpersonal advisement.

Table 4
Pairing Frequencies Among NACADA core values
Interpersonal Advisement Organizational Promise
Caring Empowerment Inclusivity Respect Commitment Integrity Professionalism
Caring
Empowerment 4
Inclusivity 6 3
Respect 6 8 4
Commitment 5 9 2 5
Integrity 0 1 0 1 4
Professionalism 1 9 0 3 17 2
Note. The table is a heat map to show where there is a concentration of information or a lack of information and help show the
contrast. The color of each cell or rectangle relates to the magnitude of data collected.
70

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Most Frequent Pairings
This section looks at the most frequent pairings of core values based on student
interviews. The same core values reoccurred in different pairings which include commitment and
professionalism, empowerment and professionalism, commitment and empowerment, and
empowerment and respect. This section elevates the verbatim words of the student participants
whenever possible.
Commitment and Professionalism. Across all student interviews the most frequent
pairing of core values are commitment and professionalism, which are both organized under
organizational promise. Separately, commitment and professionalism are the most paired with
other core values, demonstrating their dominance across student interviews. The combination of
commitment and professionalism is so prevalent it is nearly double the frequency of the second
most frequent pairings.
In student interviews the evidence of commitment and professionalism present multiple
scenarios where faculty counselors leverage policy to aid the specific circumstances a student is
facing. Student 1 (S1) shares an interaction with their faculty counselor:
You know how you transfer and [there are] certain things counselors don’t really
technically have to look at? Well, when it comes to mine, my counselor has been helping
me in regards to fixing up my GPA, making it to where those early sessions were
redacted. She’s basically helping me transition financially. What I need to apply to. What
programs they have to offer.
This demonstrates how this faculty counselor uses their understanding of policy to guide S1
through multiple processes, which support continued enrollment and improve the likelihood of
transfer to another institution.

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In another interview, S4 shares transfer advisement interactions across multiple faculty
counselors and multiple appointments:
They brought up other statistics from schools and then they told me which schools are
impacted [and] which schools are not impacted because I was worried, I wouldn’t get
into [those] schools. They’re like, “Well, because of your major, which is English
creative writing, [then] that’s not an impacted major, so there’s a good chance you’ll get
in.”
This shows the importance of shared transfer-specific knowledge across faculty counselors to
articulate a pathway that aligns the student’s academic progress with their desired transfer goals.
S6 describes multiple faculty counselor advisement sessions which occurred both on
campus and by telephone:
They all seem really knowledgeable. Obviously [ACC has] a lot of people transfer there,
so I’m sure they’re answering these questions in a wide variety of ways all the time if
you’ve been working there for a while. But yeah, usually they’re pretty helpful. Some of
them, they’ll share the screen or send me an email and go through an actual document
with me and say, “Hey, this is what you want to look at.”
This shows a network of consistent and comprehensive enrollment and program support across
multiple advisement modalities, as well as a general understanding by students that ACC
specializes in transfer support.
These are examples of commitment and professionalism and show faculty counselors
providing dependable and thorough transfer support. Students seek out the assistance of faculty
counselors for enrollment, administrative, and policy support, and are generally satisfied with the
outcomes of these services. Advisement is rooted in addressing the practical needs of students as

76
they navigate institutional policies and is often accompanied by elements of interpersonal
advisement.
Empowerment and Professionalism. The combination of empowerment and
professionalism was one of the second most frequent pairing across the seven core values and
brings together elements of organizational promise and interpersonal advisement. The
relationship of professionalism and empowerment is demonstrated by a transfer of knowledge or
understanding within the space of advisement between a faculty counselor and a student. That
knowledge can allow the student more control over their academic experience and provide tools
for independently furthering their goals.
S3 describes their interaction with a faculty advisor regarding competing academic
interests:
We were on the phone, and I told her that I was either considering kinesiology or trying
to do dance and kinesiology at the same time. And then that kind of just evolved into me
accepting that I didn’t want to continue pursuing dance in a professional environment,
that I wanted to keep it as a recreational activity, and just settling on kinesiology…
This shows that preparing for transfer often necessitates making choices based on how
competitive a student wants to be and how quickly they want to transfer.
S2 compares the types of support received from faculty counselors in programs that
specifically support Black students and programs that support foster youth:
They’ve been more helpful as far as making sure I have everything that I need, whether
it’s food, whether it’s gas cards, whether it’s even just small resources of getting my fees
reimbursed, which is more money in my pocket. So, it’s like I’m not worried about the
financial part of everything, and I could just focus on school.

77
The comparison speaks to the specific needs of S2 and how students have distinct priorities to
support their goals toward transfer. It also demonstrates there are multiple options for targeted
student support.
These examples show the space of academic advisement is grounded in curricular and
practical goals while there are different vantage points to address student needs. Students seek
support from faculty counselors to identify the necessary academic pathways and support
services to achieve their transfer goals. Student empowerment is another core value which was
paired frequently with other core values within organizational promise and interpersonal
advisement.
Commitment and Empowerment. These core values are also the second most frequent
pairing across the seven core values. Commitment is organized under organizational promise and
relates to faculty advisor knowledge and application within the advisement space. Empowerment
is found within interpersonal advisement and is demonstrated when shared knowledge motivates
a student to persist in their goals.
S1 shares their impressions of faculty counselor advisement appointments:
That’s a great feeling to not have to go through [it] alone. You don’t have to feel like,
“Okay, well, I have to figure this out by myself, because there’s nobody to help me.” It’s
not that stigma of it’s just you trying to make it in life. There’s people who want you to
succeed.
This shows how faculty counselors are using their knowledge to motivate students.
S7 describes an advising appointment related to their goal of transfer into a selective
private university:

78
My counselor is telling me, “You should really apply. You have such good grades. You
are very competitive for this. You can definitely get this scholarship.” Hearing that, it
definitely makes me feel like I should definitely apply for this scholarship because this
person is telling me that I’m a very good person to get this scholarship and all that. That I
have what it takes to get this scholarship, so that was really nice.
This interaction demonstrates faculty counselor knowledge in regard to specific university
programs, the program requirements, and then connecting the dots between the student’s
accomplishments and qualifications with the scholarship opportunity.
These examples demonstrate faculty counselors are applying their knowledge of policy
and opportunities within their advisement appointments. The results of these appointments are
students are feeling more positive and informed about their progress toward the goal of transfer.
The last core value pairing shows the relationship between empowerment and respect.
Empowerment and Respect. This last frequent pairing of core values comes under
interpersonal advisement. The core value of respect is centered on student needs and relationship
building, whereas empowerment is the engine fueled by these interactions. The combination of
these core values was expressed in multiple student interviews.
S1 speaks about their interactions with a faculty counselor within a program that
specifically supports Black students:
When I was returning back, I really had no one to go to. I didn’t know anything that I was
doing. I didn’t even know where to pick up afterwards. The group of people within the
club, the program leader [name removed], has been a tremendous help for me. Honestly,
[they are] like a second mother to me, and that’s something that I don’t really say lightly.

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This experience demonstrates to the importance of representation in the faculty advisor
community and within student services and programming.
S3 describes their development as a student within the context of advisement
appointments:
My goals have changed since I’ve started at [ACC]. And the ability that I am honest with
myself of the things that I can take on, being a working student, have changed. So yeah,
the meetings and the conversation is very different than what it was 4 years ago.
This shows consistent advisement support in a respectful environment supports student growth
and development towards improved school/life balance.
S7 describes the environment of a program dedicated to student success for students
identifying as AA/B:
I have a strong relationship with everyone at [ACC student organization] and they know
me, so sometimes I’m just there for my meeting and I just pop at somebody’s office. I
don’t even need an appointment. I can just be like, “Hey, can you help me with this little
thing?” Then it’s going to help me with whatever it is that I need. That makes my life
easy.
This demonstrates the importance of having a dedicated space for students who identify as AA/B
and how this supports their personal and academic growth.
Though every student interviewed shared positive experiences with a faculty counselor at
ACC, some students also had negative experiences. Though these examples were few, they point
to AA/B student transfer barriers and opportunities for improved ACC programming and
training. Among these examples we can further identify a contrast between AA/B student

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advisement with AA/B faculty within the Black student support program versus advisement
outside of this program.
Core Value Deserts
Across core value pairings there were three combinations that produced zero results.
These are labeled core value deserts and include: caring and integrity, inclusivity and integrity,
and inclusivity and professionalism. The intersection of caring and integrity is matching the
actions of nurturing and teaching with the values of honesty and accountability. The pairing of
inclusivity and integrity is the establishment of equity-based environments with accountability to
students. Lastly, the grouping of inclusivity and professionalism is combining an engaging and
diverse environment with advisement practices focused on goals and measurable outcomes.
This lack of data provides an opportunity to review and analyze advisement services,
practices, and approaches to assess where improvements can be made. Among the positive
advisement experiences with faculty counselors, students also had negative experiences. RQ3
addresses this research in more detail.
Research Question 3: How and to What Extent Are Advising Practices, Policies, and
Procedures Meeting the Transfer Needs of ACC Students Identifying As African American
and/or Black, and How Can They Be Improved?
The following data demonstrates a complex environment of resources and support
systems that interweave within the space of academic advisement. Faculty counselors display
strong awareness of student policy and programming, while expressing a need for ACC program
improvements. Students who identify as AA/B generally view advisement and interactions with
ACC faculty counselors as positive; however, some students had inconsistent and negative
advisement experiences. Notably, AA/B students who were advised with faculty counselors who

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also identify as AA/B had increased satisfaction and access to resources. RQ3 begins with an
overview of findings from faculty counselors, followed by findings from students.
Faculty Counselors
Across faculty counselor interviews, faculty display a depth and breadth of knowledge
around academic and transfer policies, procedures, and student programming. Faculty counselors
demonstrate an eagerness to both stay up to date on student programming and to deliver
information to students who may benefit from a specific service or program. Participation in this
study was voluntary; therefore, faculty counselors were self-selecting and will likely have
common experiences and understandings in regards to policy, advisement practices, campus
culture, and student concerns. Data was collected through one-on-one interviews and not through
observations of counselor-student advisement. These factors influence what is seen and
understood by the participants and by the researcher. Faculty counselors also acknowledge their
personal limitations and identify areas where student programming can be improved.
Resource Awareness and Professional Networks. Over multiple interviews, faculty
counselors explain the importance of being current on transfer programs and policies and their
reliance on networks both within ACC and at other campuses. FC1 explains,
I’m always learning something every month where I’m like, “I didn’t know we had that.”
It’s always something where you’re like, “We have so many resources, it’s an
embarrassment of riches.” It’s so much, you can’t even know it all. That’s why it’s good
to have the connections as well, and for students to be able to visit different people.
This demonstrates the complexity and volume of transfer information and how faculty advisors
utilize their colleagues to fill in gaps of knowledge. This also shows that knowledge is shared

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across campus and students have options when selecting faculty counselors who have a greater
capacity to relate to the student’s specific needs.
Authentic, Accurate, and Tailored Advisement. Interpersonal advisement relies on
faculty counselors to create an inviting and comfortable environment for students so they can
receive information and deliver advice to students. FC3 expresses the importance of having a
network within the context of providing comprehensive guidance to students:
Those two [go] hand in hand, the validation of the concern–just it being okay and hearing
it–but then also trying to find the solution. And that requires, you know, you have some
real institutional knowledge of what we offer and what’s available and what steps you
can take. And then when I don’t know, we do have a good department where we can go
and ask each other.
This demonstrates that the foundation of advisement at ACC is communication and
understanding the student situation, and then utilizing knowledge and professional networks to
deliver accurate and tailored student support.
Academic Advisement By and With the Black Community. Multiple faculty counselor
interviews noted the importance of programming focused on supporting students who identify as
AA/B. One student organization in support of AA/B students was cited many times both by
faculty counselors and students. FC2 explains their experience with a specific AA/B student
organization:
I feel like they’re effective and I don’t know anything in terms of numbers or what kind
of outcomes they track. But I will say anecdotally, I’ve worked with a lot of students who
I refer to [AA/B student organization] and they ended up really loving their experience.

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This program offers a space for AA/B campus community, improved access to resources, and
both faculty and student-led events.
This specific AA/B student organization has a physical location on campus with faculty
counselors, tutoring, and student events organized by people identifying as AA/B. This program
advises students utilizing wraparound academic and needs-based services. FC6 shares an
overview of the organization’s approach to advisement:
It’s more like intrusive counseling. So, they have a case management through that
program. Students are required to meet with the counselor a certain amount of times per
semester. So, they support students not just academically but also help them with their
personal challenges, their financial challenges they have, [and] certain grants through that
program.
This demonstrates the intersection of services that students receive. Though this AA/B student
organization has a positive and prominent profile on the ACC campus, faculty counselors see
other areas where support is needed for students identifying as AA/B.
Lack of Black Identifying Teaching Faculty. Several faculty counselors expressed their
concerns for lack of academic faculty support for students identifying as AA/B. FC4 explains, “I
think we could do a better job in the classroom in some instances, based on the feedback that I’m
hearing from some students.” FC4 continues, “which is [to] create spaces that are welcoming,
inviting, empowering for all students, but especially Black students because we’ve missed the
mark in higher education historically.”
Several faculty counselors noted the lack of AA/B-identifying teaching faculty in the
classroom and the lack of mandatory professional development in the areas of equity and
diversity. FC3 wishes these trainings were mandatory and believes the lack of training “is

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hurting our Black and Latinx students.” This demonstrates some of the tensions found between
faculty counselors and teaching faculty.
Importance of Faculty Counselors Who Identify as AA/B. In addition to the perceived
gaps in classroom instruction and support, faculty counselors outside of AA/B specific programs
see the importance of representation in their advisement appointments. FC3 explains how they
approach advisement with students identifying as AA/B, “I try to be real to who I am as a
counselor that’s Black and a female, and oftentimes I feel like there’s a pressure to conform or to
speak certain ways or to use certain terms;” FC3 continues, “I try to be as authentically myself in
my advisement sessions.” This is an example of faculty counselor awareness of their role in
connecting with students identifying as AA/B.
Cohort Advisement Focused on Students of Color. Faculty counselors note the needs
of students are changing. Multiple faculty counselors are involved in pilot case management
programs to address specific student populations in their 1st year at ACC. According to FC3, one
program focuses on 1st-year students who identify as AA/B and students identifying as Latinx.
FC3 describes the program as “culturally responsive, cohort-based” with assigned peer
navigators from the AA/B or Latinx communities. FC2 notes, “There’s a lot more that a student
may need that they don’t realize they need.” FC2 continues, these programs assign students to a
primary counselor so they can return to the same person and “know that he or she is going to
remember what we talked about.” These are examples of programming being developed to
address the gaps in services for students identifying as AA/B.
Across faculty counselor interviews there is evidence that counselors are aware and
knowledgeable of the advising practices, policies, and organizations that support AA/B student
transfer. Faculty counselors are also aware of the barriers to AA/B student success and

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participate in trainings and programming to address those barriers. This research shows there is
significant knowledge and infrastructure in place to support students identifying as AA/B, but
there continues to be systemic organizational roadblocks, particularly in classroom
representation and curricular support. The next section looks at AA/B student experiences with
transfer advisement support.
Students
Student interviews reveal that all students had positive advisement experiences where
they received information in support of their transfer goals. However, though all students
reported positive advisement experiences, some students also experienced inconsistent or
negative advisement experiences. Notably, AA/B students who were advised in Black student
support programs with faculty counselors who identify as AA/B had consistently positive
advisement experiences. AA/B students who were not advised within Black student support
programs noted moments where advisement lacked consistency and/or clarity. In the following
sections students highlight advisement tools, resources, and information related to their academic
persistence, as well as negative advisement experiences.
Supportive Advisement Experiences. Across AA/B student interviews, students view
their interactions with faculty counselors as mostly beneficial. S4 describes advisement meetings
as “very helpful” and notes their faculty counselor “was very nice and encouraging.” S1 explains
the faculty counseling appointments make it so “you don’t feel alone” and “there’s people who
want you to succeed.” S2 notes, “every counselor that I visited, they’ve always all supported
[me].” These are examples of advisement interactions demonstrating NACADA’s core values
and how transactional support overlaps with interpersonal advisement. Though most of the
feedback from students was positive, there were students who reported inconsistent or even

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negative experiences with faculty counselors. The negative experiences, though fewer, are very
impactful and point to key areas where improvements can be made.
Clarity, Accuracy, and Empowerment. Students noted the information they received
from faculty counselors in advisement appointments was clearly delivered, comprehensive, and
accurate. S6 notes, “[faculty counselors] all seem really knowledgeable.” When S3 meets with
their faculty counselor they are directed to website resources “where I can just look at it for
myself and come back to it [and this] was helpful for me.” S5 says their faculty advisor shared
advisement appointment notes after their meeting and encouraged them, “to stay in contact to
make sure that I’m taking the right courses.” It is important to note that lack of clarity was also
cited in negative advisement experiences. Most interactions demonstrate faculty counselors are
guiding students to information, showing students how the tools work, and delivering the
information in a way where it can be used after the advisement appointment. In the cases where
these services fall short, student persistence towards their goal, time to transfer, and successful
transfer can be impacted.
Welcoming Advisement Spaces. Students generally describe the environment they
experience in advisement appointments in positive and accessible terms. S1 explains that when
“transferring to a new school where you don’t really know anybody” faculty counselors are
“setting the foundation.” Regarding accessing information S3 says that “when I talked to a
counselor, they laid it out pretty plain and clear for me” and “that was helpful.” S4 noted they
have seen several faculty counselors and they “were very nice and they were very supportive of
my goals.” S6 describes one of their advisement experiences, “they’ll sit on the phone with me
for 30, 45 minutes to tell me every single possible class I would need to take to do what I’m

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trying to do.” These are examples of how practical and institutional advisement practices are
interwoven with developmental and interpersonal approaches.
Tailored Transfer Advisement Experiences. Advisement appointments with faculty
advisors are expected to provide concrete policy and course scheduling information, as well as
strategies for successful transfer. S6 says “I can come out straight and tell them, ‘Hey, this is the
school I’m trying to go to, [so] what do we need to do?’ … and they always jump right in and
help me.” S1 says their faculty counselors “have that connection of knowing people from
different schools” and contact counselors at these universities to confirm transfer policies and
promising practices for transfer. These interactions demonstrate students understand they can go
to their faculty counselor for transfer-related questions and can receive targeted transfer-specific
information.
Interpersonal Advisement and Personal Growth. Several students shared key
transitional moments experienced within the context of their advisement relationships. S5
describes, “I’ve kind of awakened to the fact that you want to take your education serious and
it’s not necessarily a chore.” S1 recalls an interaction they had with their faculty counselor, “she
was just like, ‘I’m so proud of you’” and “just to hear that from someone who knew you from 2
years ago, from when you started to now, it kind of made my day, honestly.” S6 shares “staying
in contact with your advisors, making sure you’re staying on the right track” is what “helped me
define and give myself that clarity [to] walk down this path.” These interactions with advisement
services demonstrate how reliable faculty counselor support is helping students persist towards
personal and academic goals.
Lack of Clarity and Specificity in Transfer Process. Students identify other areas of
improvement for academic advising. S6 suggests advisement processes to be “streamlined from

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that person’s perspective” in an effort “to better prepare somebody from point A to point B” by
creating “clear benchmarks.” Regarding campus resource communication, S3 explains the emails
they receive for services are “very generalized” and they suggest communication can recognize
“the socioeconomic and mental health background of students.” S2 wished ACC would “start
paying attention a lot more to your non-traditional students,” explaining, “That’s where
[advisement] needs a little bit more time because you have life, you have other things that aren’t
just a cut and dry formula.” These observations demonstrate where advisement practices can be
better tailored to the needs of individual students and their transfer goals.
Black Student Support Programs. Aim Community College houses several Black
student support programs, which are led by faculty counselors and by students identifying as
AA/B. Faculty counselors across ACC were invited to interview for this study; however, no
interviews with faculty counselors in ACC’s Black student support programs were obtained.
Student interviews demonstrate that some students identifying as AA/B are highly aware of
services in support of Black students, whereas other students were only vaguely aware.
S1 shares their experience with one of these organizations, “the first thing that pops into
my mind is community,” explaining “when I was returning back, I really had no one to go to.”
S1 continues, this group “has been a tremendous help for me.” This experience is echoed by S7
who identifies the same ACC Black student organization explaining they are “available generally
to speak about anything, and they advertise it in this way.” S7 continues, “It’s nice to have
somebody who looks like you who you can talk to,” explaining, “we get to interact with them on
a personal level and get to know them as human beings, which makes it easier to feel free to talk
to them.” The theme of representation was noted in multiple student interviews.

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Across interviews, students reflected on their understanding of how Black student
programs participate in the dissemination of academic advisement information. S2 explains the
importance of connection with faculty counselors within Black-led ACC organizations, “before I
even knew about the program, it was very hard for me to get things that I needed” but their
connection to the faculty counselors in these programs “get[s] things moving and rolling.” In
regard to information pertaining specifically to programming, events, and support for AA/B
students, S1 noted “I think for students who aren’t in the club, there is no way for them to gather
the information.” This sentiment is echoed in the reflections of S6, who hasn’t yet participated in
programming for students identifying as AA/B, explaining:
I haven’t had anybody specifically reach out and tap me on the shoulder and say, “Hey, I
see you’re doing X, Y, Z. Well let’s see if we can help you with this or let me point you
in the right direction here,” which would be helpful.
This demonstrates how students identifying as AA/B benefited from their connections with
Black faculty counselors and programming that focuses on AA/B student community, and the
lack of connection with AA/B programming may impact a student’s connection to resources.
Though all students shared positive advisement experiences, some students also had negative
advisement experiences.
Negative Advisement Experiences. Across interviews students expressed positive
advisement experiences which demonstrate AA/B students are experiencing NACADA core
values. However, students also expressed uneven or negative advisement experiences. These
experiences included lack of faculty counselor knowledge, ridged approaches to transfer
planning, and disrespect.
S6 talks about having inconsistent experience across faculty counselors:

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She was knowledgeable. It was like she’d done this multiple times, where she was, it was
giving me the type of energy and walking me through the process and explaining things
as we’re going along … then [when] we’re talking about different situations with the
other [faculty counselor], she just didn’t seem as knowledgeable. So, it was like, yeah, it
was a clear difference.
This demonstrates that there are effective faculty counselors at ACC, but students will not
necessarily be advised by counselors with the same level of knowledge. Additionally, faculty
counselors may present information to students in ways that are less comprehensive or clear to
the student.
S2 expressed frustration with the advisement process surrounding the University of
California guided transfer pathway program, known as the Intersegmental General Education
Transfer Curriculum (IGETC):
Sometimes I feel okay, but sometimes I still feel like a little, I don’t want to say lost. … I
don’t feel like I’m clear. I don’t feel clear. I don’t have clarity. There’s still things that
I’m trying to figure out or I don’t feel like I have any other options … but to follow this
plan, versus seeing if there’s another way.
S2 continued, further explaining the rigidity of specific general education requirements,
including the completion of math and science courses, which for students interested in some
professional programs in private universities, are not always required for transfer.
They’ll just see all the W’s [withdrawals from classes] that I have on my transcript, and
It’ll be like, “Well, you don’t have your math, you don’t have this.” So, it’ll constantly go
back to following that IGETC kind of thing, versus really seeing what the best path is for
me to get out of [ACC].

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This demonstrates how advisement around the transfer process can be inflexible and faculty
counselors may depend on formulas for transfer which may not apply to the individual student
and their transfer goals. This may also highlight areas where ACC can focus on training outside
of the guided pathways for transfer.
S7 describes a negative interaction with a faculty counselor in a program meant to
support students with disabilities:
One time, I had a conversation that felt a bit upsetting with the [students with
disabilities faculty counselor] … She wasn’t even listening. … It was very stigma based.
I was like, “Why are you even the counselor for ADHD [attention-deficit/hyperactivity
disorder] if this is the type of things that you’re telling me and you’re not even listening
to what I actually need?”
This is an example of a student seeking specialized support from a faculty counselor and feeling
a lack of respect and professionalism which resulted in the student not obtaining the information
they needed for support.
S1 recalled their experiences with faculty counselors before getting involved in the Black
student support program.
Honestly, I want to say it’s common for me, because up until I found that program [Black
student support program], that’s all I heard. It’s, “I don’t know. Have you contacted your
schools?” Especially when it came to the prerequisites. They’re just like, “We don’t
know which ones coincide. Just contact the school to figure it out.” It was just a lot of,
“Figure it out by yourself.” And in those moments, it kind of made me question, like, “Is
this something I want to do? I’m not even getting the help I need.”

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This shows S1’s advisement experiences prior to joining the Black student support program were
not providing the necessary information to effectively plan for transfer. The student connects
these experiences with frustration and questions their place in college. S1 then shares how their
experiences with advisement at ACC changed when they discovered the Black student support
program, “the group of people within the club, the program leader, [name removed], has been a
tremendous help for me.” S1 further explained this program provides financial resources for
college expenses not covered by financial aid, hosted conferences, has invited HBCUs to speak
to ACC students, and leads workshops. S1 summarized their impressions of these services.
I think that’s just a really great experience. … I feel like especially as a Black student
coming in from certain backgrounds, you … Honestly, I didn’t even think I was going to
graduate. So just to have these experiences to know like, “Oh, I have options.” It’s kind
of pretty amazing, because I’m like, “I’m not limited to just one thing.”
This shows that S1 not only went from negative advisement experience to a positive experience
but experienced a transformational moment. S1 went from questioning their place in higher
education, to being excited, informed, and understanding they had multiple academic
opportunities available to them. All the interviews with students who were advised within the
Black student support program noted the increased access to information and resources, and
articulated they felt supported by a community.
These negative experiences, in contrast with positive advisement experiences, provide
concrete examples of where critical changes can and should occur to improve AA/B student
transfer outcomes. Students who receive advisement that is prescriptive, does not consider the
specific goals of a student, and cannot support changes in a degree plan can impact the student’s
time to transfer and may damage their ability to transfer. All students who reported these

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negative advisement experiences went on to have positive advisement experiences, which
demonstrates their resilience and commitment to their academic goals.
Students consistently reported positive interactions with faculty advisors and identified
advisement tools and resources that supported their transfer goals. However, students also
highlighted the lack of guidance for specific student needs, including financial aid, mental health,
and non-traditional student programming, as well as a need for increased clarity around the
transfer process. Notably, students advised within the Black student support programs reported
universally positive advisement experiences and greater access to resources. Programming in
support for students identifying as AA/B was the most frequently cited, as well as the benefits of
having connections with faculty counselors identifying as AA/B.
Summary of Findings
In summary, these interview findings revealed (a) NACADA core values are present and
employed by faculty counselors at ACC in support of African American and/or Black students
with the goal of transfer; however, inconsistencies in diversity and equity training and lack of
AA/B teaching faculty representation persist, (b) students who identify as African American
and/or Black do experience NACADA core values in their advisement appointments with faculty
counselors; however, not all core values are experienced as readily or experienced at all, and
importantly, students outside of Black student support programs experienced more inconsistent
or negative advisement experiences, whereas students advised within these programs reported
increased access to information and resources, (c) Aim Community College’s advising practices
and policies are meeting the needs of some students identifying as African American and/or
Black, but it is unclear if, and to what extent, NACADA core values are related to AA/B student
persistence towards the goal of transfer. Notably, AA/B students experience greater satisfaction

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when working with individuals and programs specifically focused on supporting students
identifying as African American and/or Black and in other programming that focused on specific
student identities, experiences, or resource needs. As no interviews with faculty counselors who
advise within ACC’s Black student support programs were obtained during the data collection
period, data on the specific advisement practices, philosophies, and resources utilized by faculty
counselors in these programs is still waiting to be discovered. In general, these findings
underscore the presence of NACADA core values and general student satisfaction with transfer
advisement experiences, while illuminating areas where critical changes can be made to improve
AA/B student transfer experiences. Chapter Five further discusses the findings within the context
of the literature and conceptual frameworks along with recommendations for practice.

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Chapter Five: Recommendations
The purpose of this study is to examine to what extent faculty counselors within a
purposefully selected transfer-strong CCC utilize NACADA’s core values of organizational
promise and interpersonal advisement in their advisement practices, to what extent students
identifying as African American and/or Black with the goal of transfer experience NACADA’s
core values within the advisement space, and lastly, to what extent are advisement practices
meeting the needs of students identifying as African American and/or Black (AA/B). The
organizational context of this study is a CCC with generally strong transfer outcomes and a
substantive population of students identifying as AA/B, in which the study participants were
faculty counselors and students who identify as AA/B with the goal of transfer. To obtain the
necessary data for this study both faculty counselors and students voluntarily participated in
individual semi-structured interviews.
This chapter presents a discussion of findings and recommendations for practice based on
the findings described in Chapter Four. The discussion of findings section summarizes the three
RQs within the context of the literature review and the conceptual framework presented in
Chapter Two. The recommendations for practice section also draws from the literature and
conceptual framework. The last section of this chapter addresses the study’s limitations,
delimitations, recommendations for future research, and conclusion.
Discussion of Findings
This section is a discussion of how the findings in this study align with the literature
review and the conceptual framework. The conceptual framework is adapted from NACADA’s
seven core values organized under organizational promise, which includes the values of
commitment, integrity, and professionalism, and interpersonal advisement, which includes the

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values of caring, empowerment, inclusivity, and respect (NACADA, 2017b). The next section is
a focused discussion of the three RQs and the supporting literature.
RQ1: What NACADA Core Values, Under Organizational Promise and Interpersonal
Advisement, Are Utilized by ACC Advisors in Support of Students Transferring into 4-
Year Colleges?
The data collected from faculty counselor interviews demonstrates that faculty counselors
at the selected CCC site utilize the seven core values as outlined by NACADA. There is
variability however in the extent to which individual faculty counselors embody the seven values
and noted differences in the level of emphasis on specific core values. NACADA core values
(NACADA, 2017b) are formulated by an international advisement task force and intend to guide
any advisement role or position within in any college setting in any country. The interview
protocol is designed to conclude if, when, and how faculty counselors are utilizing NACADA
core values in their advisement practice in support of transfer goals for students identifying as
AA/B.
Some faculty counselors present evidence of utilizing many core values, some present
evidence of incorporating all seven core values into their practice, and some faculty counselors
demonstrate more frequent utilization of core values in their approach to advisement. Organizing
the seven core values into groupings under organizational promise (commitment, integrity,
professionalism) and interpersonal advisement (caring, empowerment, inclusivity, respect)
serves to articulate how faculty counselors incorporate institutional policy and procedural
advisement with developmental and relationship-building advisement approaches. Core values of
commitment, professionalism, and caring were the most frequent overall; however, there were
differences in the frequency of core value usage across faculty counselor interviews. For

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example, the frequency of usage between a faculty counselor who most utilized a given core
value compared to the least. Comparing faculty counselors coded the most for a given core
value, to a faculty counselors coded the least produced the following: commitment was coded 3.5
times more, professionalism four times more, and caring 7.5 times more. Therefore, part of the
consideration is how deeply are NACADA core values embraced an operationalized within an
individual’s advisement practice. Similarly, where core values were fewer or absent across
faculty counselor interviews, as is the case with the value of integrity, this offers a question of
how this value can be better defined and incorporated within advisement practices.
The profession of faculty counselor has many regulatory and training elements already in
place to support strong and responsive academic advising practices within community colleges.
Mandatory faculty counselor credentials for employment in a CCC require master’s-level
counseling degree with a demonstrated ability to guide students in problem-solving and decisionmaking processes, while being aware of, and sensitive to, ethnic and cultural differences
(ASCCC, 2012). As was noted in the findings, ACC promotes a culture of transfer and actively
supports this culture through in-house tools, trainings, and by facilitating network connections to
ensure accuracy of information and providing a university touch point within the transfer
destination. Though trainings are regularly offered, multiple faculty counselors noted that
trainings in the areas of equity and diversity were not mandatory and were often attended by the
same faculty counselors and teaching faculty. This underscores the importance of ACC faculty
counselors’ incorporation of core values into their advisement practices, as well as faculty
counselor participation in trainings to gain the necessary knowledge for effective advisement.
The literature also supports the importance of a nuanced and comprehensive approach to
academic advisement.

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The literature on student retention to transfer and graduation from a 4-year university
shows the primary function of community college is to facilitate transfer to 4-year colleges
(Pressimone Beckowski & Winfield, 2021), which greatly improves financial, social, and health
outcomes for individuals, and greatly increases employment opportunities in California where an
estimated 40% of jobs require a bachelor’s degree (Johnson et al., 2019; Laanan et al., 2010; Ma
et al., 2019). The literature provides robust evidence that academic advisement impacts student
retention and persistence towards graduation (Hatch & García, 2017; Mu & Fosnacht, 2019;
Woods et al., 2016), and suggests developmental and integrative advisement approaches are
effective for students who identify from historically excluded communities (Lee, 2018; Mertes,
2013). Thus, academic advisement is a critical element across higher education, and its
implementation under NACADA’s core values aligns advisement to the state requirements for
faculty counselors and is supported by literature demonstrating student retention outcomes are
improved by inclusive advisement practices. Aim Community College boasts comparatively
stronger transfer outcomes relative to other CCCs and proposes the question, to what extent are
these outcomes related to the incorporation and utilization of NACADA core values in academic
advisement practices. Thus, the literature and study data indicate that NACADA core values
provide an effective and inclusive approach to support student transfer goals.
RQ2: How and to What Extent Do Students Who Identify As African American and/or
Black With the Goal of Transfer Experience the NACADA Core Values, Under
Organizational Promise and Interpersonal Advisement, During the Advisement Process?
The data collected from interviews with students identifying as AA/B with the goal of
transfer demonstrates that students often experience NACADA core values during the academic
advisement process. The literature indicates that clearly defined transfer pathways and engaged

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transfer partnerships between colleges improve transfer outcomes (Bragg, 2020; Laanan et al.,
2010). Another factor in improved student retention is institutional commitment (Cabrera et al.,
1992; Nora & Rendon, 1990) and support from a personal and professional networks (Crisp &
Nuñez, 2014; Nora & Rendon, 1990).
The data collected in this study demonstrates commitment and professionalism are the
most experienced core values by students, which manifests in robust faculty counselor networks
both inside and outside ACC, as well as a campus-wide expectation that all faculty counselors
are trained in transfer counseling. Interviews with AA/B students who are advised and participate
in programming that specifically support students who identify AA/B experienced increased
sense of community on campus and improved access to academic and financial resources. It is
important to highlight that in the case of one student, they had negative academic advising
experiences until they were advised through the Black student support program, which was
critical to their transfer planning and their sense of belongingness within higher education. Thus,
students identifying as AA/B benefit from regular connections with knowledgeable staff who
also identify as AA/B within ACC’s Black student support program, as well as a robust network
of faculty counselors trained in the policies and approaches for successful transfer.
Notably, the most frequently experienced core values are commitment and
professionalism which are organized under organizational promise in this study. The core value
of commitment relates to faculty advisor professional development with the goal to better
understand how to support student success, and professionalism is an advisement approach
focused on clear communication of policies and procedures in alignment with a student’s
individual needs (NACADA, 2017b). The core values of integrity and inclusivity are the least
frequent values in student interviews. Integrity is defined as accountability to students and was

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paired most frequently with commitment (NACADA, 2017b). Inclusivity relates to the creation
of equity-based environments and was most paired with the value of caring, which is advising
focused on challenging, nurturing, and teaching students (NACADA, 2017b). These
comparatively less frequent core values present opportunities to examine and develop
advisement practices that strengthen and build student-advisor relationships and to discover and
define safe and welcoming advisement environments.
In this study, students react most positively to advisement that is underpinned by faculty
counselor training and student goal setting, which align with the most frequently cited core
values of commitment and professionalism. This underscores the importance of faculty
counselors having access to, and participation in, a wide variety of trainings, as well as
advisement procedures that clearly define pathways to academic success. Within this study,
students who participate in specialized programming, such as ACC’s Black student support
programs, are required to meet with faculty counselors, whereas students not participating in
specialized programs are not required to meet for advisement. Importantly, students experience
core values when they are being advised. Increased faculty training and articulated student goals
are only useful if they are reaching the students in need of these services.
The literature also identifies the role of commitment and professionalism in student
retention and transfer and the creation of welcoming and integrative advisement environments.
In regards to the less frequently experienced core values of integrity and inclusivity, the greater
establishment of equity-based environments where faculty counselors are accountable and
services are reliable may already be modeled within ACC programs such as the Black student
success programs and other student support service programs. Further investigation into these

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program structures, services, philosophies, and outcomes could provide critical guidance both
within ACC and throughout the academic advisement discipline.
RQ3: How and to What Extent Are Advising Practices, Policies, and Procedures Meeting
the Transfer Needs of ACC Students Identifying As African American and/or Black, and
How Can They Be Improved?
This study provides evidence that students identifying as African American and/or Black
with the goal of transfer are generally experiencing effective advising practices at ACC;
however, it is not clear that these experiences are related to NACADA core values. Notably,
students advised through programming that supports specific student populations who identify
AA/B report improved access to resources when advised through ACC’s Black student support
programming. In some cases, AA/B students also reported greater satisfaction when advised by
faculty counselors in programs focused on their other identities, experiences, and needs.
Research about academic advisement suggest students who identify as AA/B continue to
have lower rates of transfer as compared to other student groups in part due to the lack of faculty
counselors and teaching faculty identifying as AA/B (Crisp & Nuñez, 2014; Lee, 2018; Walker
& Okpala, 2017). The literature further identifies students, who are involved in programming
that focuses on specific student populations, are more satisfied, engaged, and have greater
success rates for transfer (CCCs, 2020). Additionally, students identifying as AA/B cited
increased motivation towards the goal of transfer based on interactions with engaged teaching
faculty in key transfer courses (Villarreal & García, 2016).
In this study, AA/B students who receive advisement through Black student support
programming, led by faculty counselors and staff identifying as AA/B, consistently report
positive experiences. Some AA/B students in programming that focuses on other student

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identities and experiences also report increased satisfaction with academic advisement. These
other programs include advisement for students who are economically and/or academically
disadvantaged, and programs for former foster youth. Students who were advised in more
generalized settings report less consistent advisement experiences.
AA/B students involved in Black student support programming report the majority of
information related to resources, social/networking activities, and academic and transfer policies
is provided in these programs. Several students who are not involved in Black student support
programming noted a lack of connection and clarity around transfer policies and processes. This
study was not able to obtain interviews with faculty counselors within ACC’s Black student
support program; therefore, there is data waiting to be uncovered that can articulate advisement
practices, approaches, and resources contributing to greater AA/B student satisfaction within
these programs. The value of such data has great potential for the academic advising profession
in general and would contribute to the understanding of promising practices in support of AA/B
student academic persistence, transfer, and baccalaureate graduation rates across higher
education in the United States.
Faculty counselors identifying as AA/B and faculty counselors not identifying as AA/B,
note the importance of representation of AA/B faculty counselors and teaching faculty at ACC.
The faculty counselor participants in this study highlight the value of students connecting with
ACC faculty and staff who can personally identify with their experiences and can provide
professional guidance to accomplish academic goals. The literature also identifies the importance
of representation in advisement; however, as the objective is to better serve AA/B community
college students with the goal of transfer, it is also critical to consider what other factors are
adding and detracting from AA/B academic advising experiences. Further research into

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promising academic advisement practices found within such programs must also examine the
methods, philosophies, and resources that create an environment of support and success.
Aim Community College is a transfer-strong institution with a higher-than-average
percentage of faculty counselors identifying as AA/B (CCC, 2019; CCC-CO, 2022b); however,
the concentration of AA/B faculty counselors is overwhelmingly within Black student support
programming. Consequently, students who self-identify with a specific group based on race,
ethnicity, status as former foster youth, financial and/or academic needs, have opted into
programming that not only requires regular advisement to register for classes, but also provides
faculty counselors who personally identify with the student group they are serving and/or are
trained in the nuances of that specialized programming. Thus, the combination of opting into
programming ensures more regular touchpoints with faculty counselors and relationship
building, within a context of specialized knowledge and a community that often shares specific
life experiences. These participant insights and literature helped drive recommendations for
practice in the next section.
Recommendations for Practice
As the study findings and literature have indicated, faculty counselors and students
identifying as AA/B are utilizing and experiencing NACADA core values within academic
advisement settings. Additionally, students identifying as AA/B are generally benefiting from
academic advisement in support of their goal of transfer, particularly when advisement is housed
within programming that supports specific student populations, and notably when AA/B students
participate in ACC’s Black student support programs, though it is unclear if this is related to
NACADA core values. The three recommendations for practice in this section are offered as
interlinking approaches to bolster existing programming to further improve student engagement,

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persistence, and successful transfer to a 4-year university, through the definition and
implementation of student programming focused on integrity and inclusivity, mandatory
advisement and articulated transfer benchmarks, and finally, the creation and expansion of
advising cohorts focusing on the needs and resources of students identifying as AA/B with the
goal of transfer. These recommendations will be discussed in detail in the following section.
Recommendation 1: Defining and Operationalizing the Core Values of Integrity and
Inclusivity
It is recommended that all faculty counselors and academic advising professional have
familiarity with NACADA core values, their definitions and how these values can be applied to
advisement practices and policies. Aim Community College demonstrates a culture of caring and
professionalism with the goal of facilitating transfer, interweaving policy knowledge with
personal and experiential knowledge, which can inform the practices on other campuses. Aim
Community College and other campuses with existing advisement training can benefit from
conversations, investigations, and internal assessments of how core values are already integrated
into their campus and where there are opportunities to bolster lesser utilized core values, as well
as analyze what existing programs are already showing effective practices impacting AA/B
student transfer outcomes.
According to the CCC 2020 report on improving AA/B student outcomes, across CCC
campuses students identifying as AA/B are lacking faculty and staff for which they can identify,
producing an unwelcoming campus environment (CCCs, 2020). Research shows student
outcomes improve in campus environments where students feel safe, welcomed, and free to
speak honestly about their needs and experiences (Mu & Fosnacht, 2019; Smith et al., 2018). It is
recommended that faculty counselors lead the effort to systematically investigate, define, and

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intentionally program the core values of integrity and inclusivity into advisement practices. This
work should begin by looking at successful programs that specifically support students
identifying as AA/B.
Of the seven core values, integrity and inclusivity were least present in data from both
faculty counselors and students. Findings in this study are supported by the literature which
indicates students have better retention and persistence towards the goal of transfer when they
have a sense of belonging on campus (Bragg, 2020; Crisp & Nuñez, 2014; D. Wilson, 2014).
Because academic advisement in central in these efforts, ACC, and advisement counselors in
other college settings, should identify if and how students are feeling welcomed on their
campuses. Faculty counselors and academic advisors can lead and develop student success
programming with a reflective and structured approach to observe, empathize, and define how
the core values of integrity and inclusivity can be better integrated into advising practices, asking
the question, are there programs on campus that are already accomplishing these goals, and what
is making these successful programs work.
According to Culver et al. (2021), in Liberatory Design Thinking (LDT) faculty
counselors must (a) observe a problem, (b) empathize with what is observed, (c) seek to define
what is been observed, (d) ideate among stakeholders, (e) prototype the changes, (f) test the
solution, and finally reflection should be integrated at each stage, which helps identify what
works and what elements are missing or need adjusting. LDT is strongly aligned with NACADA
core values, which already emphasize professional development with the goal to improve student
outcomes (NACADA, 2017b). Faculty counselors and academic advisors are well suited to
initiate this process and, as shown in the research, already have a basis for the first, second, and
third stages of LDT; however, it will require formalizing the observation, empathy, and

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definitions into a process where substantive data is collected and shared in open and formalized
settings among faculty counselors and student stakeholders.
Once faculty counselors have moved through the first three stages, in the fourth stage,
ideation, participation should widen to other stakeholder groups. LDT recognizes the need for
institutional buy-in when initiating a broad change within and organization, which is necessary to
authorize, support, and build momentum for the change initiative (Culver et al., 2021). The
consensus building process should be ongoing and organized, assigned to an elected task force,
and shared out among the broader advisement population. During this stage stakeholder groups
can be incrementally broadened based on their proximity to day-to-day direct student
engagement. According to Kisker (2007), a broad coalition of stakeholders builds trust and
articulates the individual roles across institutional players. Based on these findings, teaching
faculty can both contribute and benefit from participating in solutions. In this research, students
report positive and negative experiences with teaching faculty, with faculty counselors noting a
core group of teaching faculty who participate in equity training. Engaged faculty counselors can
help identify a continuum of student engagement and organizational accountability, as well as
affirm common practices and tools, and contribute to building consensus across communities.
The next group of stakeholders should include campus leadership in student and academic
affairs.
It is essential these groups have buy-in for successful implementations when proceeding
to phase five, prototype. Institutional leadership should be fully engaged at this stage to support
the implementation of a campus-wide advisement strategy (Culver et al., 2021). Any successful
initiative will require the support of college leadership who can both champion the idea and
provide expertise regarding a budget to develop training, tools, and marketing for the initiative.

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Successful progress through these stages will lead to step 6, test, where faculty counselors and
other identified college stakeholders will put plans into action.
According to Culver et al. (2021), at all phases leaders and stakeholders should practice
reflection, conducting their work openly, observing and communicating what actions are to be
taken and remain responsive to insights across stakeholder groups. The LDT model supports
centering experts at key phases in the process and elevates the knowledge of stakeholders to
allow for a collaborative design that should guide faculty counselors and others on the best
approaches to advance integrity and inclusivity into advisement processes. The implementation
of this recommendation can also inform the following recommendations.
Recommendation 2: Mandatory Advisement Touchpoints and Articulated Transfer
Benchmarks
This study finds that students responded favorably to regular mandatory advisement with
faculty counselors in which clear plans toward transfer goals were articulated. The literature
finds that academic advisement impacts student retention both direct and indirectly, and positive
student perceptions of advisement increase a student’s connection to campus (Mu & Fosnacht,
2019). Of NACADA’s core values, commitment and professionalism were most frequently cited
by students identifying as AA/B. Within the literature, student respondents highlight professional
advisement staff and existing transfer partnerships among the most significant success factors for
student persistence from community college to 4-year universities (Elliott, 2020; Handel, 2007;
Rodriguez-Kiino, 2013). Students across this study pointed to clarity and defined roadmaps as
important factors toward their goal of transfer, which aligns with research across community
colleges where successful transfer strategies include establish transfer pathways, articulated
benchmarks, and one-on-one student advisement (Fink & Jenkins, 2017). Faculty counselors at

108
ACC demonstrate the knowledge, capability, network connections, organizational mandate, and
interest in advising students in their specific transfer goals; however, students who are not
participating in specific student programs may not be required to seek advisement at key
moments and/or have an assigned advisor.
Across CCCs, it is common for students not to be assigned to a faculty counselor or
advisor. Typically, there are only certain conditions in which students must seek academic
advisement. Students who participate in specific student programming will often have mandatory
advisement prior to registration and therefore, are more likely to establish a relationship with a
specific advisor on campus who is tracking their progress and transfer goals. Students outside
specific student programming may not be required to have regular advisement touchpoints and
therefore are seeking advice on a more ad hoc and transactional basis. Students who are seeking
to transfer to institutions outside of California’s public university system are particularly
disadvantaged in the transfer process, as articulation agreements and transfer benchmarks are
specific to the transfer destination and often fall outside readily available articulated transfer
pathways. Therefore, ACC and other institutions should consider how to develop these studentadvisor relationships in a way that does not create additional barriers to transfer.
Aim Community College provides several established models for mandatory advisement
embedded within their programs that support students with specific educational and/or financial
needs and in programs supporting students who identify as AA/B. In this research, models
supporting students who identify as AA/B demonstrate student satisfaction, increased access to
resources, and connections to transfer planning and colleagues within desired transfer
institutions. Students who identify as AA/B outside these programs would benefit from
mandatory touchpoints. California community college campuses can utilize existing practices

109
within their colleges or other CCCs that create advisement-based programming that establishes
space for students who identify as AA/B and builds counselor-student relationships.
Though the California public university system has made, and continues to pursue,
reforms which outline and even guarantee admission to other public California colleges, students
seeking degrees in private institutions or in specialized programs rely heavily on faculty
counselors to ensure they are pursing the appropriate courses for transfer. Considerations for
improving support and transfer outcomes for students identifying as AA/B with the goal of
transfer are twofold: (a) engaging with more students identifying as AA/B though mandatory
advisement to improve AA/B student satisfaction and retention and (b) articulating a series of
benchmarks and corollary dates, actions, and/or events in support of timely persistence toward
transfer, which can be applied to programs both within the public California university system
and private universities. Thus, the review of how, when, and how often students are advised, as
well as what transfer exploration processes are utilized, and what tools can be introduced and
then made available to students to track their progress both within and outside the California
public university system, is vital to improving AA/B student satisfaction, retention, and
persistence towards transfer.
Recommendation 3: Cohort Advisement Based on Specific Student Populations
California community colleges are serving the largest population of community college
students in the United States (CCC, 2022b; Creswell & Creswell, 2018; FCCC, 2022b). Students
come to community college with a wide range of goals and desired outcomes, while community
colleges endeavor to adhere to their open access mission and to be unobtrusive in their policies
(Laanan et al., 2010); however, for students with the goal of transfer, research shows the
academic performance in the 1st year of college and early transfer preparation strongly impacts

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student persistence (Porchea et al., 2010; Voorhees & Zhou, 2000; D. Wilson, 2014). As has
been noted, academic advisement has a measurable impact on student retention (Hatch & García,
2017; Tinto, 2006; Woods et al., 2016), students who are linked to programs with dedicated
advisement touchpoints report higher satisfaction (Rodriguez-Kiino, 2013), and students
identifying as AA/B who are enrolled in AA/B student support programs report greater sense of
wellbeing, campus engagement, and academic success (CCCs, 2020). Central questions for
designing cohort advisement for students identifying as AA/B is (a) developing mechanisms to
recognize students who will benefit from cohort advisement during initial enrollment at ACC, (b)
purposeful design of mandatory advisement faculty counselor teams, and (c) defining critical
touchpoints and transfer preparation activities to improve AA/B student satisfaction, retention,
and persistence toward their goal of transfer.
In an effort to identify AA/B students for advisement cohorts, community colleges should
utilize knowledge from existing ACC programs in support of AA/B students, which already
demonstrate successful student outcomes related to student satisfaction and persistence toward
transfer goals. The literature shows advising cohorts and learning communities produce greater
student satisfaction, stronger class pass rates, and generally improve transfer outcomes (Smith et
al., 2018; Tinto, 2006; Woods et al., 2016). A self-study articulating the outcomes of students
identifying as AA/B with the goal of transfer who are engaged in AA/B-focused programs,
compared to the same self-identified student groups not engaged in these programs, will offer a
baseline for program justification and design.
The design of advisement cohorts will require an understanding of both student needs and
the needs and constraints of faculty counselors. The literature has shown that traditional spaces
of academic advisement are not always perceived as welcoming to students identifying as AA/B

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(CCCs, 2020; Mitchell et al., 2010); however, ACC already has large scale AA/B-focused
programs that can offer insights into addressing these concerns when designing cohort
advisement teams. Additionally, the results of the LDT process to implement inclusive
advisement environments in which AA/B students experience the core value of integrity can also
inform elements within the design of cohort advisement. For faculty counselors, the advising
cohort model has the benefit of directing faculty counselor knowledge toward student
populations who most benefit from regular transfer advisement. However, it is important to note
the literature recognizes that state schools experience impaction and often lack of sufficient
resources to support students, which includes the number of faculty counselors available to
advise students (Johnson & Mejia, 2020; Tinto, 2006). Aim Community College has already
demonstrated institutional awareness of how to support faculty counselors during crunch periods
by hiring temporary advisors to help manage the influx of student appointments. Therefore,
when community colleges are designing cohort advisement model for students identifying as
AA/B, it is essential to both understand and incorporate the promising practices found within
existing programming, as well as evaluate current faculty advisement structures to support this
programming.
Lastly, community colleges can use existing campus data on student outcomes,
experiential knowledge of faculty counselors, and the feedback from AA/B students to refine
current transfer programming benchmarks and seek to further define and refine this data into
targeted transfer-bound advisement benchmarks. As was demonstrated in this research, the
development of in-house tools for tracking student persistence, transfer policies, and transfer
roadmaps to between a community college and 4-year private and out-of-state colleges provides
an added layer of information to specifically support individual students. California community

112
colleges and other colleges can look to examples like ACC’s Black student services
programming, the participating faculty counselors, and programmatic elements to better
understand the approaches, methods, and resources that support transfer outcomes for AA/B
students and historically excluded students. Additionally, established networks between
community college faculty counselors and academic advisors at 4-year universities helps ensure
transfer roadmaps are accurate, timely, while establishing a campus community relationship
prior to transfer. It should be noted that these materials and connections to resources are
activated within the advisement space, where transfer benchmarks are clearly outlined and tied to
timeframes and key deadlines. Thus, in creating advisement cohorts requires identifying AA/B
students with the goal of transfer, designing advisement cohorts that improve student
engagement and satisfaction, which inform, activate, and provide benchmarks toward the goal of
transfer.
Limitations and Delimitations
This study sought to identify if a transfer-strong CCC utilized NACADA core values in
academic advisement, to what extent students identifying as AA/B with the goal of transfer
experienced core values, and finally, to what extent are the transfer advisement needs being met
by students identifying as AA/B. This research provided evidence that ACC utilizes NACADA
core values within a campus-wide culture of transfer success and offers replaceable promising
practices to support students identifying as AA/B with the goal of transfer. This research also
underlined the research of many others, demonstrating that cultural representation matters when
it comes to successful student outcomes. This is true in advisement and in the classroom. More
can be understood about how core values can be refined and operationalized to better serve
historically excluded students, as well as how campuses can better facilitate regular touchpoints

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and connections between students and counselors without producing additional barriers to AA/B
student success.
In pursuing this research, I was able to collect a purposeful sample of seven interviews
from students and six interviews from faculty counselors. This is not a large enough sample to be
statistically significant; however, the data collected was focused on unique subjects with primary
knowledge with the goal to collect firsthand narratives of academic advisement practices within
a specific cite and satisfies the criteria for a qualitative study (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). The
subjects of this study are underrepresented in the existing research, as such a qualitative study
was the appropriate approach to discover emerging themes. However, the narrow scope relating
to a specific transfer-strong college within the largest community college system in the United
States may limit the transferability of results to other studies including historically excluded
students seeking transfer pathways in higher education (Creswell & Creswell, 2018).
The methodology of this study also presents limitations. This study’s methods used
individual interviews with subjects who are embedded in a unique community college site with
relatively greater financial resources and distinct programmatic objectives centering the goal of
student transfer. Participation in this study was voluntary and occurred over several months’
time. This study did not collect data from faculty counselors within the ACC Black student
support program during the data collection period. Data collection did not include direct
observation of faculty counselor and student advisement sessions. Consequently, the data
gathered through interviews using NACADA core values did not tease out the nuances of
advisement approaches utilized within ACC’s Black student support programs. Additionally,
though the creation of NACADA core values was a transparent global effort lead over years and
vetted by academic advising professionals and stakeholders, there is little research using

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NACADA core values as a theoretical framework, and thus, subsequent research will provide
more insight into how it can be best used in research.
The delimitations in this study relate to the perspective of the researcher and the
boundaries applied to the research (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). Though care was taken to elevate
the words of the people being interviewed throughout this research, every researcher makes
choices of what to include or exclude, and no researcher can be completely neutral in their
position (Esposito & Evans-Winters, 2022). As such, the decisions made in choosing student and
faculty populations, the site of study, the research methodology, interview protocols, and
approach to constructing themes and findings are all subject to the researcher’s point of view.
The same study with similar objectives, in the hands of a different researcher could produce
other results and formulate different conclusions.
Recommendations for Future Research
The purpose of this study is to examine to what extent faculty counselors within a
purposefully selected transfer-strong CCC utilize NACADA’s core values of organizational
promise and interpersonal advisement in their advisement practices, to what extent students
identifying as African American and/or Black with the goal of transfer experience NACADA’s
core values within the advisement space, and lastly, to what extent are advisement practices
meeting the needs of students identifying as African American and/or Black (AA/B). This
section offers three future research recommendations which include (a) utilizing NACADA core
values as theoretical framework in other community college settings to identify promising
practices, (b) build out NACADA core values framework to derive increasingly replicable
qualitative, quantitative, and mixed method studies, which could inform (c) further research into
promising practices used in ACC’s Black student support programs to inform the creation of

115
similar programs within advisement practices in support of students identifying as AA/B will be
articulated, shared, and implemented in community colleges across the United States.
First, because this study found evidence of NACADA core values being utilized by
faculty counselors and being received by students at a transfer-strong community college, and
because the impacts of these core values, especially within targeted student programming,
produced greater student satisfaction, access to resources, and improved clarity around the
transfer process, these approaches and relationships should be examined in other community
college settings to test the validity of the approach and reliability of the methods. Because the
CCC system is the largest community college system within the United States, research across
various CCC campuses could provide some consistent conditions in regard to transfer policy,
common tools, articulation pathways, curriculum, and advisement mandates, which could shed
light on how the presence of (or lack of) NACADA core values are impacting AA/B student
persistence towards transfer (CCC, 2022b; FCCC, 2022). Additional research in these areas will
produce a clearer understanding for more reliable and effective support solutions.
Second, because the definitions of NACADA core values are provided as a template for
advisement based on the feedback and evaluations of global advisement leaders and
practitioners, the profession would benefit from having robust qualitative, quantitative, and
mixed method research that further explores how core values are understood and programmed
within community college advisement. Further research along these lines will develop and refine
a methodology that can capture increasingly discrete data connecting academic advising
practices and approaches to student outcomes. A clearer understanding of how academic
practices influence student success will also highlight methods for institutional change.

116
Finally, the work of ACC’s Black student support programs may provide a replicable
model to inform the creation of similar programs on other campuses, with the potential to
positively impact the transfer outcomes of AA/B students across the country. This study found
this program was positively received by students and increased AA/B student access to critical
transfer knowledge and resources. Researchers can take this information and dig deeper, seeking
data from the experts who practice advisement and receive advice in support of successful
transfer. These insights will underpin the mission and values of community colleges and provide
guidance to advisement programs backed by robust evidence, which in turn can leverage the
change initiatives that impact campuses, community college systems, and national policies in
support of transfer students identifying as AA/B.
Conclusion
Nationwide enrollment in college is declining, with overall enrollment dropping 15%
between fall 2010 and fall 2021 and enrollment among Black students decreasing 27% (NCES,
2022b). The benefits of a bachelor’s degree have sizable impacts on an individual’s financial,
social, and health outcomes, and increases an individual’s access to employment opportunities
(Johnson et al., 2019; Laanan et al., 2010; Ma et al., 2019). According to the U.S. Bureau of
Labor Statistics (2023), people who identify as African American and/or Black with a bachelor’s
degree experience a 21% increase in employment as compared to those with a high school
diploma (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2023). Community colleges are the primary gateway
for students identifying as AA/B to earn a bachelor’s degree, providing affordable access and
comprehensive student programming to achieve the goal of transfer to a 4-year college (Handel
& Williams, 2012; Perry et al., 2010; Villarreal & García, 2016; D. Wilson, 2014). Historically,
students identifying as AA/B have had the lowest rate of successful transfer to 4-year colleges

117
(CCC, 2022b; Johnson & Mejia, 2020). The literature indicates the 1st year of enrollment, course
choices, and comprehensive transfer planning strongly impacts student persistence toward the
goal of transfer (Porchea et al., 2010; Voorhees & Zhou, 2000; D. Wilson, 2014). Additionally,
the literature points to improved student satisfaction, engagement, and retention for AA/Bidentifying students when there is regular and positive engagement with academic advisement
(Mu & Fosnacht, 2019; Smith et al., 2018). Thus, this research sought to discover what
NACADA core values were present and experienced by students identifying as AA/B within a
transfer-strong CCC and if these advisement practices are meeting their needs. This research
found promising advisement practices and demonstrated high satisfaction, positive engagement,
and within programming that focused specifically on the AA/B community, increased access to
resources for AA/B-identifying students. This is important because AA/B student performance is
stronger when academic advisement creates an environment where students can receive
knowledge and are empowered by tools tailored to their personal, academic, and career goals,
thus improving the likelihood of transfer and baccalaureate completion.

118
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Appendix A: Interview Protocol for ACC Students
The following sections present the interview protocol used with ACC students.
Introduction for the Interview
Thank you for taking the time to interview with me today. You were selected for this
interview because you are a student who identifies themselves as African American or Black and
you have the goal of transfer into a 4-year college or university. I know we have just met, so I
wanted to share a little bit about me. I am also a student. I have studied fine art and public policy
in the past. I am currently pursuing a doctorate degree at USC, which is why I am reaching out to
you today. I am hoping to better understand how you are navigating your goal or transfer and
accessing academic advisement within this school. Do you have any questions about the purpose
of this study?
So that I may accurately document our conversation today, I would like to record our
interview. Your responses will remain confidential, your real name will not be used in any
published materials, including the final dissertation. Before we begin, do you have any questions
about the interview process? Do you have any questions about the recording or confidentiality?
Do I have your permission to participate in this study?
Thank you.
Interview Questions
The following interview questions speak to RQ3: How and to what extent are advising
practices, policies, and procedures meeting the needs of CCC students identifying as African
American and/or Black, and how can they be improved?
1. What has been your biggest challenge as you pursue your goal of transfer? What has
helped you overcome those challenges?

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2. What are some of the most useful tools for working on your transfer goals? Tell me more
about how this has helped you so far.
3. Can you tell me about a time you talked with your counselor about your transfer goals? In
what ways was that helpful?
4. What would you change about the transfer process? Tell me more about how that would
be helpful to you?
5. What is the hardest part of your transfer planning?
a. Have you talked about this with your advisor?
b. If not, who have you talked with?
6. Has there been anything in the transfer process that has been unclear or confusing? How
have these questions been clarified?
7. What departments do you use on campus to help you with your transfer goal? Which
departments do you use the most?
The second set of questions speaks to RQ2: How and to what extent do African American
and/or Black students experience the NACADA core values, under organizational promise and
interpersonal advisement, during the advisement process?
8. Tell me what a typical advisement appointment looks like? How have your appointments
changed since the first one you had?
9. How do you feel when you are going to visit your academic counselor? How do your
advisement meetings progress from meeting to meeting?
10. Give me an example of how your academic counselor listens to you? Do you feel like
you can share all your questions/concerns?

137
11. What would you improve about the transfer process at ACC? Are there things you have
learned on your own that you think would be helpful for other students?
12. Tell me about a time when you felt like your needs were being understood? How did that
feel to you?
13. When your advisor is not immediately available, where do you go to get your transfer
questions answered?
a. Do you feel like you can get the information you need when you need it?
b. What other offices do you use for support?
14. Do you feel like you can approach your advisor with all your transfer goals and ideas? If
not, where do you go to work out these ideas?
15. How do you feel when you leave your advisement meetings?

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Appendix B: Interview Protocol for ACC Faculty Counselors
The following sections present the interview protocol used with ACC faculty counselors.
Introduction for the Interview
Thank you for taking the time to interview with me today. You were selected for this
interview because you are employed by ACC and you serve students in their goals of transfer. I
know we have just met, so I wanted to share a little bit about me. I am currently pursuing a
doctorate degree at USC, which is why I am reaching out to you today. I am hoping to better
understand how students who identify as African American or Black with the goal of transfer are
able to navigate this goal at ACC. Do you have any questions about the purpose of this study?
So I may accurately document our conversation today, I would like to record our
interview. Your responses will remain confidential, your real name will not be used in my notes
or in the final dissertation. Before we begin, do you have any questions about the interview
process? Do you have any questions about the recording or confidentiality? Do I have your
permission to participate in this study?
Thank you.
Interview Questions
The first set of questions speaks to RQ1: What NACADA core values, under
organizational promise and interpersonal advisement, are utilized by CCC advisors in support of
students transferring into 4-year colleges?
1. Tell me what a typical advisement appointment looks like?
a. In what ways are you guided by your supervisor in your advisement practice?
b. In what ways do you track interactions with individual students?
c. What are the mandated reporting tools used in advisement?

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2. How do you prepare your office environment for student appointments?
a. What advisement philosophies do you draw on for your work?
b. How does ACC support personal development?
3. Give me an example of how you show your students their concerns have been
understood?
a. In what ways is student satisfaction tracked?
b. How do counselors receive performance feedback?
4. What areas can be improved to clarify the transfer process?
a. What systems are in place to track student progress?
b. How do you measure student success?
5. How do you show students you understand their academic goals?
a. What kinds of deliverables are supplied to the student in the advisement process?
b. How do you know when a student transfer plan is working?
6. What resources exist outside the faculty counselor-student relationship where transfer
questions can be answered?
a. In your experience how effective are those resources?
b. What is the role of advisement in serving student transfer goals?
7. How do you disarm students when you first meet with them?
a. How do students respond to this?
b. Have your methods changed as you have advised longer? In what ways?
8. How do you show students their goals are important?
a. Can you tell me about a time you needed to challenge a student’s assumptions
about their goals?

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b. Can you tell me about a time you gave a student a pep talk about their goals?
The second set of interview questions speak to RQ3: How and to what extent are advising
practices, policies, and procedures meeting the needs of CCC students identifying as African
American and/or Black, and how can they be improved?
9. What do you find to be the biggest barriers for students who want to transfer?
a. What ways you have helped students overcome those barriers?
b. Where can faculty counselors learn about barriers that impact different student
populations?
10. Which advisement tools have you found to be the most effective in supporting the goal of
transfer?
11. Can you share an example of when you helped a student meet their goal of transfer?
a. Have you ever advised a student to revise their goals?
b. Can you share more about that?
12. How would you improve current transfer support services?
a. To what extent are transfer student outcomes tracked at the advisement level?
b. How do you learn what is effective in helping student’s transfer?
13. What is the biggest hurdle for you when advising students towards their 4-year college
transfer goal?
a. What resources are you provided to support transfer?
b. When you are working on a challenging student case, where or whom do you go
to for advice?
14. What parts of the transfer advisement process are the most difficult to explain to
students? What approaches have you developed or adopted to make it clearer?

141
15. In what ways do faculty counselors collaborate with other offices or departments focused
on transfer services?
a. How often do you engage with these other offices?
b. Do any of your services overlap?

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Appendix C: Recruitment for ACC Faculty Counselors
Appendix C: Recruitment for ACC Faculty Counselors

143
Appendix D: Recruitment for ACC Students
Appendix D: Recruitment for ACC Students

144
Appendix E: Code Book
Appendix E: Code Book
Code Description of code Example from data
FC: Advisement
Philosophy
Faculty counselors
expressed advisement
philosophy.
FC2: “I try to take on a student-centered
approach, which I mentioned before of
trying to see the student where they are
at that moment. And I will say that my
philosophy or my approach has changed
over the years.”
FC: Advisement
tools
Tools used for the purpose
of advisement.
FC6: “Tools that we tend to use a lot will
always be like assist.org for articulation,
looking at that. Looking at ... I will
always look at the websites, of course,
each university website.”
FC: Area of
advisement focus
Focused areas of
advisement beyond general
population advisement.
FC3: “I’m also helping us develop a
student care teams model, which is a
wraparound service model, which that is
case management based.”
FC: Caring Examples of caring core
value as expressed by
faculty counselors.
FC1: “I think that goes back to the
student-centered piece of, ‘Your wins
are going to look different than someone
else’s wins, and that’s just the way life
is. And it doesn’t make it any less or
more important than this other person’s
win that they just had. Or when you have
a stumble, they have a stumble. We can’t
compare.’”
FC: Caseloads Information on advisement
caseloads.
FC2: “I have approximately anywhere
between 150 to 250. And I work
primarily with students who are
beginning the process at [ACC], so in
outreach.”
FC: Changing
patterns of student
needs and wants
Faculty counselor
observations of changing
student needs.
FC4: “Where before it was working
together and looking at the computer and
maybe even calling the school together
and now, we’re relearning how it works
and outweighing the pros and cons of the
student being seen where they need to be
seen.”
FC: Collaboration Examples of collaboration
between faculty counselors
and other colleagues,
including administrators,
teaching faculty,
FC4: “I think student service is only one
small part of it as you know. They’re
with their professors a lot more, they’re
with their classmates a lot more. So I
think continuing the work that we’re

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leadership, and colleagues
outside of ACC.
trying to do in the classroom, which is
create spaces that are welcoming,
inviting, empowering for all students,
but especially Black students because
we’ve missed the mark in higher
education historically.”
FC: Commitment Examples of commitment
core value as expressed by
faculty counselors.
FC6: “Our articulation officer, they’re
always on top of this so they’re always
keeping us up to date. And then the
pathways that we created, we have
roadmaps for students, too. So, I think
those are really helpful for us and for
students to track their own progress,
too.”
FC: Empowerment Examples of empowerment
core value as expressed by
faculty counselors.
FC1: “I want to make sure that they’re in
the driver’s seat, but that they’re
understanding their choice of options. “
FC: Examples of
positive advising
approaches and
interventions
Notable faculty counselor
approaches to advisement.
FC2: “and there is an energy, or you can
feel when you walk into the center, this
energy of feeling welcome. People are
genuinely happy to see you, and there’s
students hanging out in their lounge, and
you can see, oh, that’s kind of a cool
place for me to go and just hang out with
other students and maybe meet people.”
FC: Examples of
ACC’s support of
staff and training
Training for ACC faculty
counselors
FC3: “So whereas some schools transfers
is its own office, everybody’s a transfer
counselor. So, everybody gets trained on
the same stuff. Transcript evaluation,
we’re all expected to do all of the same
work. Nobody does not do one thing.
Now we have specialized people who do
all of the evaluations, but any counselor
should be able to evaluate, use assist.”
FC: FC
Performance
Feedback
Any feedback on academic
advisement.
FC5: “as a faculty member, I’m
evaluated. Is it every fourth or eighth?
After all these years, I’ve lost track of
how many times, but either every fourth,
sixth or eighth semester, I get evaluated
by a full-time faculty member.”
FC: Impressions of
ACC Institution
Faculty counselor opinions
about the college services
and environment.
FC4: “ACC is definitely a separate beast
for sure. It really is a wonderful place to
work. I don’t know. I fall in love with
students wherever I am, it doesn’t truly,

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truly feel super different other than in
general counseling in particular I think
ACC has this reputation of being great,
and I hate saying the best because I’m so
not into that. But we are really good at
what we do and the members show
that.”
FC: Inclusivity Examples of inclusivity core
value as expressed by
faculty counselors.
FC1: “And then also when it’s relevant, I
self-identify with a disability, and I think
that that also helps a lot too, to be like,
“I totally understand having something
that you have to go through in that,
having these extra layers.” Because
many students have a disability as well
as any other status. So I think that those
things help to just be vulnerable, explain
things.”
FC: Information
Gathering
Examples of how faculty
counselors collect
information pertaining to
advisement.
FC3: “They are a research, planning, and
professional development for California
community colleges. So they do a lot of
research and PD for colleges. So they
were doing a lot of research over the
pandemic about students of color and
getting them to transfer. So they have a
lot of reports on that too.”
FC: Initiative to
learn more
Examples of initiative to
learn more about
advisement practices,
services, and approaches.
FC4: “It’s very easy for them to come in
and say, I just need an English clearance
and you can clear them and get them out
the door. But I’ve noticed how important
it’s to say, okay, I’m going to do that
clearance, but let me take a look at your
ed plan real quick. Have you thought
about what we’re doing next semester?
Have you thought about transfer?”
FC: Integrity Examples of integrity core
value as expressed by
faculty counselors.
FC6: “I would say holistic. And also, I
try to be as relatable as I can with
students. I think that’s important because
I think when students feel comfortable
and you have some type of connection, I
think students will tend to want to come
back and always meet with you. And I
think that’s important that as long as one
student feels connected with one faculty
member, I think data shows that they
tend to be more successful.”

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FC: Interpersonal
Advisement
Examples of interpersonal
advisement practices by
faculty counselors.
FC1: “So it’s kind of collecting
information to figure out what I need to
do on my end, and then how we can
make sure they’re okay and feeling
satisfied with the interaction. And
because the appointments are short,
typically it ends with, “This is a great
start to the conversation. Let’s make sure
that we pick it up again. Are you
available next week or the week after?”
So, I try and make sure we talk about
when they’re coming back, so that they
understand this isn’t a stagnant one of.
This is a conversation we have to keep
going.”
FC: Nature of
advisement
appointment
What faculty counselors
understand as expected
advisement practices.
FC3: “Yeah. I would say probably the
same answer as previously is just
establishing a rapport with students and
seeing them for where they are at that
moment and not making any
assumptions for what their needs are,
what their questions are, what they
might be coming to me for or why. I try
to approach it from a curious standpoint
of how is it that I can best support the
student.”
FC: Non-direct
advisement work
duties
Work that is related to
advisement but is not direct
academic advisement
between a student and
faculty counselors.
FC3: “It’s just to get a better
understanding. My work is shifting.
Currently, right now I am split about,
realistically on paper I’m split 80/20.
20% I am reassigned to oversee some of
our guided pathways. So, I co-lead our
Guided Pathways Initiative for the
campus, and then the 80% I am doing
academic counseling. So, my schedule’s
open for counseling.”
FC - Organizational
Promise
Examples of organizational
promise practices by
faculty counselors.
FC3: “a lot of my own personal
experience and how I counsel has been
written out with equity framework. So, it
just aligns well with that. And it’s a lot
of checking in with students, being
grateful for them coming in. And
sharing, so I had a student yesterday and
I had a busy day. I told them I’d follow

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Code Description of code Example from data
up, called them at seven, and they said,
‘Thanks for taking your time.’”
FC: Perceived
Student Hurtles
What faculty counselors
understand as barriers to a
student’s academic
progress.
FC2: “Oh, yeah. I think a lot of it can
start a lot earlier. So, I’m always pushing
for it. I’m probably biased because it’s
the population that I work with, but I’m
always pushing for educating students
on career exploration and college
exploration before they step foot at
community college.”
FC: Professionalism Examples of
professionalism core value
as expressed by faculty
counselors.
FC6: “It’s more like intrusive counseling.
So, they have a case management
through that program. Students are
required to meet with the counselor a
certain amount of times per semester.
So, they support students not just
academically but also help them with
their personal challenges, their financial
challenges they have, certain grants
through that program.”
FC: Programming
and Info directed
for students
identifying as
AA/B
Faculty counselor
observations and
knowledge of ACC
academic and social
programs focused on
supporting students
identifying as AA/B.
FC2: “Because one of the things that I
think can help is increasing our
persistence rates of not having students
stop out from college and
disproportionately it’s our Black and
African American students who are
stopping out. So I think having that
enhanced support where students have
their own assigned counselor, and not
only counselor, but financial aid person
and making those services much more
accessible, I think can help decrease
some of these barriers of why students
are stopping out because there’s a
variety of reasons.”
FC: Quote of Note Impactful quotes by faculty
counselors.
FC2: “Yeah, I know my philosophy and
my model for advising, and I know that
could be different from other people’s. I
think if we had more opportunities for
case management, we do have a lot of
special programs, but I think there’s a
purpose for what like drop-in counseling
and kind of quick counseling, fast. That
serves very much a purpose. And I think
that what could expand is I think slower

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Code Description of code Example from data
counseling. And I know that’s not
effective and it’s not efficient, but
sometimes that’s what students need is
to spend more time with a counselor to
really understand what is it that they’re
heading towards.”
FC:
Recommendations
Faculty counselor
recommendations for
trainings, services,
programming, and
organizational change.
FC4: “this is kind of a wish, because I
don’t know if it’s going to happen, but
why wouldn’t a student want to know
who their counselor is? Maybe from the
first day these are the five counselors
that you can work with or this other
large list.”
FC: Respect Examples of respect core
values as expressed by
faculty counselors.
FC1: “So I think that kind of thing,
giving them space. Also, the key phrases
of, “I have your back. I hear you. Let’s
try and do X, Y, Z.” And I’ll try and
repeat back to them, “These are the
things I’m understanding are the main
concerns, these are the minor concerns.”
Or, “Can you please help me understand
that that’s correct. And let’s figure out
the first thing to work on.”
FC: ACC Support
Services and
Resources
Examples of ACC support
services and resources as
noted by faculty
counselors.
FC3: “I think ACC is unique because of
the availability of special programs. I
think I’ve worked on different campuses
and there’s not as many special
programs, but the special programs are
pretty well-developed and there seems to
be a larger awareness of them across the
campus and the support that they offer.”
FC: Space of
Advisement
Descriptions of physical and
philosophical advisement
spaces.
FC5: “Something we’ve talked about in
our program is really the aspect of
hospitality, and I know that’s going to
sound strange, but customer service and
kind of from a trauma informed lens of
being just when they come in, being
very welcoming, explaining everything,
being very clear and consistent really.
FC: Student
Engagement
Opportunities
Examples of programming
intent on engaging
students.
FC1: “So they give you more
opportunities, and just the support as far
as compensation, resources for students,
for us. Students also have the travel,
study abroad opportunities, which I
think every college might have, but I

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feel like they’re bringing those back,
which is another draw again.”
FC: Tracking
Systems for ACC
Students
ACC tools and systems that
capture student data
regarding persistence,
retention, and transfer.
FC4: “We have a pretty great note system
that’s homegrown to ACC where all
academic counselors and career
counselors share a note system. So, we
do have to be a little bit careful with how
much we include in there because it’s
access to everybody, every counselor,
and we always write it keeping in mind,
obviously with FERPA that a student
could request it at any point.”
FC: Transferspecific
information and
programming
Information and
programming that
specifically focuses on
transfer.
FC4: “I would probably say the biggest
barriers are access. I think it’s
interesting, you come to community
college for transfer, but there are some
guaranteed pathways, but not to some of
our major schools. So you can do all this
work and not be accepted. And that for
me is a big barrier. So where are the
guarantees that if I work hard for 2, 3,
even 4 years, that I know I can get into a
school, transfer, and get a degree? So
that is a big barrier.
Also, the financial support. So not all
students will have access to being able to
understand the financial component of
how much it’s going to cost them.”
Student: Advice to
other students
Student’s advice to other
ACC students.
S6: “Having good people around, I think,
and people that keep you motivated.
There’s so many different types of... The
people that you have around affect
everything, because essentially it
changes your perspective on things.”
Student: Caring Examples of caring core
value as expressed by
students.
S1: “Yeah, you don’t feel alone. That’s a
great feeling to not have to go through
alone. You don’t have to feel like,
“Okay, well, I have to figure this out by
myself, because there’s nobody to help
me.” It’s not that stigma of it’s just you
trying to make it in life. There’s people
who want you to succeed and stuff like
that.”

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Student: CC Student
Degree or Major
Student’s current major
and/or degree objectives.
S3: “When I was fresh out of high
school, I wanted to major in dance and
pre-med. As time moved on, I think I’ve
attempted creative writing. I’ve
attempted music, came back to dance,
and now I’ve settled on kinesiology.”
Student:
Commitment
Examples of commitment
core value as expressed by
students.
S1: “But now, it’s just amazing. The
counselors that I meet with, they know
me. Personal connection. They’re like,
“Oh, you need this? That’s what we
talked about last time. Let’s just
continue it.” It’s kind of like a personal
but school orientated conversation now.”
Student: Curricular
Obstacles
Student experiences with
ACC-related obstacles to
academic goals.
S3: “I don’t know too many people who
have been an undergrad for so long, but
it’s a community college. It’s a vast...
You’ll meet everyone on campus here.
So I know I’m not the only person that is
struggling to finish undergrad, but that’s
just one aspect that I wish was a little bit
more visible to the eye.”
Student:
Empowerment
Examples of empowerment
core value as expressed by
students.
S1: “Honestly, the first thing that pops
into my mind is community. When I was
returning back, I really had no one to go
to. I didn’t know anything that I was
doing. I didn’t even know where to pick
up afterwards. The group of people
within the club, the program leader,
Sherry Bradford, has been a tremendous
help for me. Honestly, that’s like a
second mother to me, and that’s
something that I don’t really say
lightly.”
Student: Examples
of effective
advising
interventions
Examples of effective
advising interventions as
experienced by students.
S2: “To be honest, I think the fact that
they do have the [name removed]
program, that is a very big help because
before I even knew about the program, it
was very hard for me to get things that I
needed, even with financial aid to get
things through. But going through them,
they can make phone calls, or they can
recommend me to somebody who can
make phone calls and get things moving
and rolling. And so, I feel like that

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program itself is a very big help for
students of color.”
Student:
Experienced a lack
of information
Examples of students not
finding information they
are seeking from ACC
and/or faculty counselors.
S2: “The first time I really actually talked
with a counselor was obviously through
the [name removed] and we kind of set
up a plan, but that was in 2019. And then
the second time I talked to an actual
academic counselor at the school, and
that’s when I started to get more of like,
I think, a feel of the classes that I need.”
Student: Inclusivity Examples of inclusivity core
value as expressed by
students.
S7: “Especially now because I have a
strong relationship with everyone at
[name removed] and they know me, so
sometimes I’m just there for my meeting
and I just pop at somebody’s office. I
don’t even need an appointment. I can
just be like, ‘Hey, can you help me with
this little thing?’ Then it’s going to help
me with whatever it is that I need. That
makes my life easy.”
Student:
Information
Systems
Student experiences with
how academic and other
ACC-related information is
presented.
S6: “Not to say that people aren’t
prepared now. There are a lot of
resources, but the resources available
honestly, just show me that it could be
even cooler. So, getting someone from
point A to point B could be way more
streamlined from that person’s
perspective. And then, like I said, having
these maybe even clear benchmarks,
like, okay, this is a three-step process,
we do X, Y, Z.”
Student: Integrity Examples of integrity core
value as expressed by
students.
S2: “I mean, at the beginning of the
semester, they’ll usually be like, ‘Hey,
do you have all your classes?’ And
usually you’ll say yes or no, and they’ll
look over your ED plan, and then they’ll
kind of try to start planning out, say
maybe for another semester, or if you’re
trying to transfer, they’ll be like, ‘Okay.
Well, we have this meeting for, say, UC
or whatever.’ So it depends on if you’ve
already have all your classes, it’s pretty
quick. It’s more of just a check-in versus
advisement. But I know towards the end
of the semester like, say, gearing up for

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the next semester that’s when it’s a little
bit more thorough. They’re trying to
make sure you’re on track and
everything else.”
Student:
Interpersonal
Advisement
Examples of interpersonal
advisement practices by
students.
S1: “Oh, I love it. Especially in person.
Everybody just greets you. They know
you. They’re like, ‘Hey, how are you?
How have you been?’ It’s like family.
You know those family reunions you go
to? They’re like, ‘Hey, how are you?
How have you been? I haven’t seen you
forever.’ It’s like that, but I definitely
love it.”
Student: Nature of
Advisement
Appointment
Student perceptions and
observations of advisement
appointments.
S2: “It kind of jumps back to what I was
saying about the non-traditional
students. I feel like with the advisement
part, that’s where it needs a little bit
more time because you have life, you
have other things that aren’t just a cut
and dry formula.”
Student: Negative
ACC Experience
Negative student
experiences with ACC as
an institution.
S3: “There’s no way to avoid, or if you
feel like what you want to do and you’ve
been accepted into a program and you
take out loans for it, and then you get
there and realize, ‘This is not what I
want at all,’ it’s kind of too late. I mean,
what can you do at that point? It’s just a
learning experience. I don’t really know
what could have been done to prevent
that.”
Student: Negative
ACC FC
Experience
Negative student
experiences with ACC
faculty counselors.
S1: “And then also I know ACC does
offer certain programs where if you are
graduating, they do offer workshops and
stuff, but sometimes I feel like those
workshops are honestly catered to
everybody, if that makes sense. So it’s
kind of hard, especially when you’re a
full-time student, you work. Sometimes
the workshops conflict with other time
schedules and stuff like that. So I would
say more availability of understanding of
if a student is coming to you for help,
don’t just literally say, ‘Oh, I don’t
know. Contact the school yourself. Do it

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yourself.’ I think those are the two big
things for me.”
Student: Nonorganizational
barriers to pursuing
education goals
Student experiences with
non-ACC barriers to
academic progress.
S3: “What would I improve about the
transfer process? I’m going to say I think
recognizing the socioeconomic and
mental health background of students is
going to play a major part, because right
now the emails that I get from the
college, they’re very generalized.”
Student:
Organizational
barriers to pursuing
education goals
Student experiences with
ACC-specific barriers to
academic progress.
S1: “I just wish more counselors will
honestly take the time to help you
instead of saying, ‘I don’t know,’ or,
‘It’s honestly not popping up in my
system, so you would just have to
contact the school.’ Basically, just
leaving it for you to do yourself. It’s
already hard enough. It shouldn’t be this
hard, though. So, I would say that.”
Student -
Organizational
Promise
Examples of organizational
promise practices by
students.
S1: “It’s kind of sad because I am
finishing up, so it’s just like I won’t have
that anymore. Honestly, it feels good to
know that you have people who are there
to help.”
Student:
Perseverance and
Persistence
Examples of students
demonstrating
determination in their
academic goals.
S3: “There’s pros and cons to starting
and finishing college in 4 years versus
longer than that. I have a lot of real-life
experience, and I have a lot of work
experience, because, in my past,
whenever I feel overwhelmed and I get
ready to make a decision, something in
my schedule has to not be there
anymore. It’s always going to be school.
I’m always going to have to choose to
work and support myself before I can
choose school.”
Student: Positive
ACC Experience
Positive student experiences
with ACC as an institution.
S6: “Same old people, the advisors and
my friends. I got a nice group of friends
that are all, a lot of my friends are
already working in their careers, but
some of them, or most of them went to
school or are in the process of doing
something similar, and they just help me
out any possible way I can. Try to

155
Code Description of code Example from data
connect me, and just try to stay
focused.”
Student: Positive
ACC FC
Experience
Positive student experiences
with ACC faculty
counselors as an institution.
S6: “I usually get pretty excited. I never
met with them in person. I usually meet
with them on Zoom or over the phone. I
usually get pretty excited because I’m
going to get my questions answered. I
like to just know stuff. So it really, really
adds a level of clarity for me. So yeah, I
get pretty excited before just to ask some
questions or hear him explain things.”
Student:
Professionalism
Examples of
professionalism core value
as expressed by students.
S1: “I think the amount of information
that the counselors have to offer me,
including the different resources. So, this
is where it kind of means to go above
and beyond for me. You know how you
transfer, and then certain things
counselors don’t really technically have
to look at? Well, when it comes to mine.
But my counselor has been helping me
in regards to fixing up my GPA, making
it to where those early sessions were
redacted. She’s basically helping me
transition financially. What I need to
apply to? What programs they have to
offer? There’s an [name removed]
community. So even if a school has that,
she’ll kind of be like, “Hey, this school
offers this if you want to continue to be
in a leadership or even a program.”
Student:
Programming for
student identifying
as AA/B
Student observations and
knowledge of ACC
academic and social
programs focused on
supporting students
identifying as AA/B.
S7: “Yeah, so we do have a lot of specific
help. We have our own counselors, our
own specific tutors. We are able to ed
classes. We have a priority enrollment,
which is helpful, too. We have all sorts
of different mental health related
hangouts and support. We really have
excellent counselors.”
Student: Quote of
Note
Impactful quotes by
students.
S5: “Basically, I’ve written down my
goals. I’m a goal-seeking ... I’m very
good at acquiring things, and I’m very
good at being persistent, so those are
traits that I rely on that are going to get
me through the process.”

156
Code Description of code Example from data
Student:
Recommendations
for Services
Student recommendations
for improving services for
students.
S2: “I’m not sure about how it is in the
admissions process, but I could assume
that it’s not something where they take
like, ‘Oh, you’re an African American
student. This program would be great for
you.’ If anything, they’re pushing more
of the [name removed] program or the
[name removed]. So yeah, if you catch
my drift. Just a little bit more visibility.”
Student: Respect Examples of respect core
value as expressed by
students.
S4: “Yes. I talked with, I believe... I
wouldn’t say I have a set counselor. I
talk with [name removed] and, you don’t
need her name or anything like that, and
she was very nice and because she was
also a creative writing major, and she
recommended me classes and set it up
and she was very nice and encouraging.”
Student: Showing
Independent
Initiative
Students demonstrating
their self-reliance to obtain
information in support of
their goals.
S2: “I know those are available, but I
think in my case, I’m going to have to
obviously retake it. I haven’t really been
able to, because even with those
supports, it’s like we’re at a community
college, not at a regular four-year
college where we’re on campus all the
time, or we can take the time that we
need to come see the tutoring and stuff.
It’s like a lot of it is on our own.”
Student: ACC
Support Services
Examples of ACC support
services and resources as
noted by students.
S7: “I just recently spoke to a counselor.
I’m a part of [name removed] group,
which I can’t quite remember why am I
a part of the group. I have ADHD.
Maybe it’s related to that, something like
that. They gave me a really good tip.
They told me to apply for the [name
removed] Scholarship, which I didn’t
know existed. They really pushed me to
do that.”

Abstract (if available)

Abstract This study sought to examine to what extent faculty counselors (academic advisors) at a transfer-strong California community college (CCC) utilize core values as outlined by the National Academic Advising Association (NACADA), to what extent CCC students identifying as African American and/or Black (AA/B) with the goal of transfer are experiencing core values, and to what extent are AA/B student transfer advisement needs being met. The core values are a theoretical framework guiding college and university advisement practices across the United States and internationally, consisting of the following seven values: Caring, empowerment, inclusivity, respect, commitment, integrity, and professionalism. For the purposes of this study these values were categorized under interpersonal advisement and organizational promise. This study identified a CCC with better-than-average transfer outcomes for AA/B students and used qualitative methods to interview both faculty counselors and students identifying as AA/B with the goal of transfer using semi-structured interview protocols. Document review was used to inform the use of advisement tools and processes. Findings from this study indicate that faculty counselors utilize core values and AA/B students experience core values within academic advisement; however, not all core values are as frequently utilized and AA/B students who worked with faculty counselors who identify as AA/B within Black student organizations had greater satisfaction in their advisement experiences. This study articulates how core values manifest at CCCs, what gaps persist, and how accurate and timely academic advising within a welcoming and culturally inclusive environment improves AA/B student persistence toward the goal of transfer.

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Asset Metadata

Creator Durbin, Shannon Kathleen (author)

Core Title Academic advisement practices and policies in support of Black community college students with the goal of transfer

School Rossier School of Education

Degree Doctor of Education

Degree Program Organizational Change and Leadership (On Line)

Degree Conferral Date 2024-05

Publication Date 01/03/2024

Defense Date 12/19/2023

Publisher Los Angeles, California (original), University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag academic advisement practices,academic advisor,African American student voices,African American students,Black faculty representation,black representation,Black student support,Black student voices,black students,California,California Community Colleges,caring,commitment,community college,empowerment,faculty counselors,guided pathways,Higher Education,inclusivity,Integrity,interpersonal advisement,Liberatory Design Thinking,NACADA,NACADA core competencies,NACADA core values,OAI-PMH Harvest,organizational promise,professionalism,promising practices academic advisement,representation,respect,student retention,student voices,transfer,transfer persistence,transfer strong,transfer students

Format theses (aat)

Language English

Contributor Electronically uploaded by the author (provenance)

Advisor Maccalla, Nicole (committee chair), Cole, Darnell (committee member), Lynch, Doug (committee member)

Creator Email sdurbin@usc.edu,shannondurbin@gmail.com

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-oUC113800490

Unique identifier UC113800490

Identifier etd-DurbinShan-12586.pdf (filename)

Legacy Identifier etd-DurbinShan-12586

Document Type Dissertation

Format theses (aat)

Rights Durbin, Shannon Kathleen

Internet Media Type application/pdf

Type texts

Source 20240105-usctheses-batch-1118 (batch), University of Southern California (contributing entity), University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses (collection)

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