Instructor Continuity: A Tool for Increasing Student Success in First-Year Composition Sequences

Incorporating instructor continuity into the first-year composition (FYC) sequence represents an opportunity for community colleges to make an informed scheduling and advising decision in order to assist in the goal to increase student success rates in FYC. Utilizing course completion data from a community college in northern Alabama, this study examined the differences in composition class sequences taught by the same instructor and composition class sequences taught by different instructors. Findings indicated that students who had the same instructor for both composition courses in their FYC sequence were more likely to pass the second composition course than students who had different instructors for the courses.