An Intersectional Ethnographic Study of Community College Students in Co-requisite Composition Courses at a Large Urban Community College

Developmental education reform efforts and research focused on improving success outcomes have steadily increased during the twenty-first century. Curricular reforms, such as co-requisite courses, and placement reform, such as directed or informed self-placement, implemented at colleges and institutions have shown promising results for student success, especially for those from marginalized populations. However, most of the research on placement reform has been conducted at four-year institutions, though two-year colleges support most developmental education programs and the students who place into them. Therefore, additional research is warranted to examine the benefits of placement reform at two-year colleges. Further, little research has been conducted on the impact of the K-12 schooling experiences of students on their placement into developmental education courses. Regarding self-directed placement projects that provide co-requisite composition options, little research examines how students’ K-12 experiences impact their perceived ability to complete college coursework. As such, this study addresses this gap in literature by examining the K-12 experiences of students who place into co-requisite composition courses at a large urban community college. This study uses a critical ethnographic approach to collect and analyze data. The data was collected over two academic semesters and includes 20 participants enrolled in co-requisite composition courses at a large urban community college. The data set includes field notes from co-requisite course observations, semi-structured interviews with participants, and writing samples produced by participants in the course. The researcher used Nvivo to code and analyze data and the interpretations are guided by Collins’ (2019) Intersectionality as a Critical Social theory as the framework for the study. The findings of the study are divided into three categories: K-12 Experiences, Between High School and College, and College and Co-requisite experiences. Each category is divided into themes and sub-themes that highlight the systemic and institutional barriers that impacted participants’ experiences and perceived abilities to complete college coursework. Further, the data reveals that participants had highly positive experiences with the placement process and co-requisite courses at the research site, which has implications for developmental education and placement reform.