Who’s got my back? Investigating the relationship between belongingness, race, and instructional modality among “straight A” community college students

College belongingness has long been associated with academic success and persistence in postsecondary education. As belongingness is a subjective feeling of connectedness that is difficult to measure, one common way of conceptualizing college belongingness has been through observable behaviors, such as faculty-student and peer-to-peer interactions, that promote academic and social integration. Studies have historically looked at these two aspects of college integration as separate-but-related entities using Tinto’s Theory of Student Departure which contends that academic integration is the focus of classroom activities, while social integration is best achieved through campus activities. Unfortunately, this renders a deficit view of non-traditional pathways to higher education such as community colleges (CCs) and online education, which paradoxically are also touted as avenues to educational equity for historically marginalized student populations in the United States. To provide a better understanding of belongingness among non-traditional college students, researchers have suggested that both social and academic integration can be achieved within college classrooms by promoting socio-academic integrative moments (SAIMs). As racially minoritized students have a more difficult route to attaining a postsecondary education and also perceive more hostile climates on 4-year college campuses than their White counterparts, stigmas related to non-traditional pathways such as CCs and online learning, may be particularly relevant for high achieving CC students of color who intend to transfer (ITT) to a 4-year institution. As such, the present study utilizes a large secondary dataset from the Community College Survey of Student Engagement (CCSSE) to investigate the SAIMs of this specific subset of CC students in face-to-face/hybrid and online CC courses. Results indicate that “A-average” CC students of color who intend to transfer (ITT) report higher SAIMs than their “A-average” White peers. Statistically significant results were found in the Black/African American-White and Hispanic/Latino-White student comparisons, with Cohen’s d effect sizes for racial differences in SAIMs being small or very small. Additionally, within each of the four racially minoritized groups (Asian, Black/African American, Hispanic/Latino, and Multiracial) studied, “A-average” CC ITT students report lower SAIMs in online courses compared to face-to-face/hybrid modalities. Effect sizes for the difference in instructional modalities were in the medium range based on Cohen’s (1988) guidelines. Implications of these findings as well as limitations of the study are discussed.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ed.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Educ Policy, Orgzn & Leadrshp

Grantor

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2025

Author dc:creator

• Pasha, Nausheen

Contributors dc:contributor

• Mason, Curtis
• Huang, Wen Hao David
• Baber, Lorenzo
• Ruedas-Gracia, Nidia

• Community College
• Student Belongingness
• Racial Diversity
• Online Education
• Socio-Academic Integrative Moments
• Online and Face-to-Face/Hybrid Instructional Modalities, Classroom Belonging, High Achieving Community College Students, Vertical Transfer Students

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2025 Nausheen Pasha

Language dc:language

en, eng

Handle dc:identifier

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/129187

OAI record oai:identifier

https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=etdms&identifier=oai%3Awww.ideals.illinois.edu%3A2142%2F129187