Chapter 9: Distant Neighbors: Building a P–20 Community of Practice

Over a dozen colleges dot the map of Long Island, New York, each located within one of the 125 public school districts serving the area. Many Long Islanders stay within the region when they choose a college; the two community colleges in the region enroll over 50,000 students. Geographic proximity, however, hardly guarantees familiarity with the world of college. Indeed, Long Island students making this transition from high school to college, like their peers throughout the country (Wexler, 2016), frequently find themselves in a world vastly different from the one they left at high schools a short distance away. In the span of a few weeks, they confront a new environment fraught with the daunting challenges of adjustment.