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In California, state legislation SB-1440 aimed to streamline transfer via Associate Degrees for Transfer. An ethnographic study of one community college examines how the policy reshaped campus practices, practitioners, and transfer-seeking students, revealing mismatches between student aspirations, institutional acceptance, and practitioner implementation. Students created a counter-space, suggesting transformative policy built on transfer infrastructure.",{"@graph":69,"@context":122},[70,84,105],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":40,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/using-ethnography-to-understand-how-policy-reform-influences-the-transfer-process-at-one-community-college/594796/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/using-ethnography-to-understand-how-policy-reform-influences-the-transfer-process-at-one-community-college/594796.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"Mary Man","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-29","2026-10-15",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":34},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",{"@type":106,"mainEntity":107},"FAQPage",[108,114,118],{"name":109,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":111},"What problem does the study address about community college transfer outcomes?","Question",{"text":112,"@type":113},"The study addresses persistently low transfer success rates despite students’ high aspirations to move to bachelor’s degree programs.","Answer",{"name":115,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":116},"How does SB-1440 intend to change the transfer process?",{"text":117,"@type":113},"SB-1440 is described as reform policy meant to streamline transfer through Associate Degrees for Transfer in California’s tiered higher education system.",{"name":119,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":120},"What disconnects does the study find between policy goals and campus reality?",{"text":121,"@type":113},"Findings indicate a gap between students’ aspirations and the state institutions accepting the Associate Degrees for Transfer, plus limited alignment between practitioner efforts and students’ awareness of improvements.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":124,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":126,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":128,"site_id":62},594796,1792165021,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":131},{"doc_id":128,"user_id":132,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":39,"category_name":40,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":34,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":139,"language":140,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":141,"faqs":142,"seo_title":143,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":144,"read_time":145,"preview_page_count":4},7421720224475,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_276721f389ce27ea32af1340a28f341c","UC Berkeley  \nBerkeley Review of Education  \nTitle  \nUsing Ethnography to Understand How Policy Reform Influences the Transfer Process at One Community College  \nPermalink  \n[https://escholarship.org/uc/item/2n2153rn](https://escholarship.org/uc/item/2n2153rn)  \nJournal  \nBerkeley Review of Education, 7(2)  \nAuthor  \nFelix, Eric R.  \nPublication Date  \n2018-01-01  \nDOI  \n10.5070/B8bre7229718  \nPeer reviewed  \n[eScholarship.org](eScholarship.org) Powered by the California Digital Library  \nUniversity of California  \nAvailable online at [http://Escholarship.org/uc/ucbgse_bre](http://Escholarship.org/uc/ucbgse_bre)  \nUsing Ethnography to Understand How Policy Reform Influences the Transfer Process at One Community College  \nEric R. Felix 1  \nUniversity of Southern California  \nAbstract  \nA critical function of community college is providing students with pathways to a bachelor’s degree through transfer. Although students hold high aspirations of transferring, their rates of success are extremely low. In California, policymakers have used legislation as a primary mechanism of addressing transfer inefficiencies in the state’s tiered higher education system. This article explores the ways that recent state-level reform policy SB-1440 (Student Transfer Achievement Reform Act, 2010)—intended to streamline the transfer process through Associate Degrees for Transfer—affected existing practices, practitioners, and transfer-seeking students atone community college. Employing an ethnographic approach, this study highlights the interaction between the existing context and policy mandates that reshape campus transfer culture. The findings indicate that, although the transfer policy reform was intended to improve transfer pathways for students, there was a disconnect between students’aspirations and the state higher education institutions accepting these Associate Degrees for Transfer. Additionally, there was a misalignment between campus practitioners’ efforts to implement transfer reform and students’ awareness of improvements. To compensate for this disconnect, students formed a student counter-space. These findings suggest the need for transformative higher education policy, built upon concepts of transfer infrastructure, to improve college opportunities and outcomes for students across the state.  \nKeywords: community college, transfer, students of color, higher education, college access, ethnography  \nAnna2 is studying to become an elementary school teacher at Sotomayor Community College (SCC) . Her friend Evelyn wants to be a criminal analyst like on CSI: Crime  \n1 Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to: Eric R. Felix, Center for Urban Education, Rossier School of Education, University of Southern California, 3470 Trousdale Parkway-WPH 702-H, Los Angeles, CA, 90089. Email: [eric.felix@usc.edu. I would](eric.felix@usc.edu. I would) like to thank the students and practitioners at Sotomayor Community College for the experiences they shared on navigating the transfer process. I am also grateful to Lanita Jacobs for guidance on this research project and Román Liera for support during therevision process. In addition, I appreciate the thoughtful insight and feedback from Leah Faw, the editorial board, and anonymous reviewers at the Berkeley Review of Education.  \nBerkeley Review of Education Vol. 7 No. 2, pp. 77–114  \n78 Felix  \nScene Investigation. Both are Latinas, second-year students, and graduates from the local high school. Evelyn plans to earn her associate degree so that she can start working immediately, before potentially transferring to a four-year institution to earn a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice. Anna wants to get her associate degree as well, but insists that she will transfer to the local university to get her bachelor’s degree and credential to become a teacher. Anna enrolled at SCC because her older sister also attends the institution, and her family thought it would be a practical and afford","cbCaimIVH8Udzlq4","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaimIVH8Udzlq4","pdf",580610,39,"English","# Abstract\n## Study purpose and context\n## Policy reform and Associate Degrees for Transfer\n## Ethnographic approach\n## Key findings and implications","[{\"question\":\"What problem does the study address about community college transfer outcomes?\",\"answer\":\"The study addresses persistently low transfer success rates despite students’ high aspirations to move to bachelor’s degree programs.\"},{\"question\":\"How does SB-1440 intend to change the transfer process?\",\"answer\":\"SB-1440 is described as reform policy meant to streamline transfer through Associate Degrees for Transfer in California’s tiered higher education system.\"},{\"question\":\"What disconnects does the study find between policy goals and campus reality?\",\"answer\":\"Findings indicate a gap between students’ aspirations and the state institutions accepting the Associate Degrees for Transfer, plus limited alignment between practitioner efforts and students’ awareness of improvements.\"}]","Using Ethnography to Understand How Policy Reform Influences the Transfer Process at One Community College | PDF",1792079864,98]