In his proposed budget for 2018-19, Governor Jerry Brown included a proposal to fund the states California Community College system more equitably. The new formula would allocate resources to community college districts based more on student needs, along with incentivizing programs and practices that increase student success and completion in higher education. This report states how equitable funding models in higher education can work and how advocates can get engaged as policymakers discuss and decide on how to fund Californias community colleges. ; The Education Trust-West ; Equity Alert
Student success is a primary goal of all institutions of higher education. At Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs), unique institutions located in tribal communities primarily serving American Indian students, student success initiatives take a variety of forms. This report highlights student success initiatives at several TCUs. ; American Indian College Fund
In 2015, the Oregon Legislature enacted House Bill 2016, which directed the Oregon Department of Education (ODE) to develop and implement a statewide education plan for African American/Black students who are in early childhood through postsecondary education programs. The bill directed the ODE to convene an advisory group comprised of members of the African American/Black community and other stakeholders from across the state to provide guidance to the Department regarding the plan. This report examines the education plan for African American/Black students and all indicators of student success. ; Oregon Department of Education
This paper describes the first-year activities of a five-year project funded by the U.S. Department of Education as part of the Indian Education Demonstration Grants for Indian Children program. The project brings students, families, the tribal government, and the tribal community together to improve the lives and education of students, as well as their families and community, through a comprehensive change in school culture. The project utilizes a unique, multifaceted approach to offer academic and student support; a four-year Biomedical Science program; Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) enrichment; professional development; and community engagement. The overall goal is to assist American Indian (AI) students in making successful transitions to post-secondary educational and career pathways, particularly in STEM fields. The paper describes the work-in-progress and lessons learned, shedding light on current issues in education and encouraging open dialogue about improving the lives of students, families, and communities.
College completion is a priority for federal and state governments as well as policy makers and funders. Yet a major barrier exists for many students seeking college certificates or degrees. This report points out several strategies to improve developmental education for student success. ; Grantmakers For Education
Nearly sixteen years into the new democracy, student success at South African universities continues to be differentiated along lines of race. The tendency has been to define the problem in terms of student deficit. This article suggests that this is a limited view of a complex problem. The study investigates the case of a South African universitys engineering department and its historical struggle with the success of black students. It is an exploration of students progression through a design course and the associated pedagogical realities. Using a social realist approach, this study shows that the higher education environment is a complex of necessary contradictions which create a situational logic for agents. In the process of navigating the inconsistencies of a system in which academic development and quality assurance work against each other, it seems that black students get caught in the middle, with deleterious consequences for the countrys transformative agenda.
Nearly sixteen years into the new democracy, student success at South African universities continues to be differentiated along lines of race. The tendency has been to define the problem in terms of student deficit. This article suggests that this is a limited view of a complex problem. The study investigates the case of a South African universitys engineering department and its historical struggle with the success of black students. It is an exploration of students progression through a design course and the associated pedagogical realities. Using a social realist approach, this study shows that the higher education environment is a complex of necessary contradictions which create a situational logic for agents. In the process of navigating the inconsistencies of a system in which academic development and quality assurance work against each other, it seems that black students get caught in the middle, with deleterious consequences for the countrys transformative agenda.
Set within the context of the current fiscal and political climates, community colleges have received growing attention with their role being articulated as critical to economic recovery. Recent initiatives have heightened the expectations placed on community colleges to improve institutional efficiency and effectiveness in addressing the nation's workforce needs and increasing degree attainment rates. This emphasis on community colleges creates an opportunity for this sector of higher education to better define assessment measures to guide data-driven decisions. To inform these efforts, this study aims to provide a better understanding of the institutional factors that promote persistence, particularly in the areas that may be within the discretion of community college leaders to initiate change. Community college scholarship has contributed greatly to an understanding of the student experiences that promote successful outcomes, yet these inquiries struggle to provide a more sophisticated understanding of institutional contexts. The Beginning Postsecondary Students (BPS) Longitudinal Study is utilized in this study to examine a nationally representative sample of 5,410 community college students, following their trajectories from initial enrollment in postsecondary educational in 2003-04 through 2009. The study offers a unique perspective in examining students' mobility by accounting for every institution attended in students' 6-year trajectories, which resulted in an institutional sample of 1,584 colleges. After an extensive search of the literature, this study appears to be one of the first in the field of higher education to date to utilize multiple membership random effect modeling (MMREM) in applied research on college students. Advancing the statistical inquiry is particularly critical for community college research, because 2-year students have the highest student mobility rates nationally (National Student Clearinghouse Research Center [NSCRC], 2012b). Furthermore, with the improved accuracy in estimates, researchers seeking to contribute to the national dialogue on community college accountability should be confident in their capacity to publish findings with a high degree of confidence.In addition to informing research, the results have implications for theory, practice, and policy. Institutional effects were identified in several areas where strategic decisions could be made to implement change, regarding the percentage of part-time faculty, distance learning offerings, and career placement services. Perhaps the most informative results come from the many student-level and college-level findings that point to the critical role of intentional efforts to engage students through academic integration, involvement, and interaction. Paired with these conclusions is the finding that larger investments in academic support expenditures have a strong positive impact on persistence. Higher education decision-makers need to evaluate their prioritizing of funds to determine ways to minimize nonacademic overhead and support costs to be able to divert more resources to academic support. This research clearly highlights the importance for a variety of community college stakeholders to better understand the relationship between institutional efforts and student outcomes.
This study investigated how education policy influences student success, and if there are linkages between K-12 education policy and higher education. Historically, education has primarily been a function of state and local governments. The role of the federal government drastically changed with the passage of the No Child Left Behind Act in 2001. This thesis focused on the influence of No Child Behind on several indicators of student success in K-12 and postsecondary education. All fifty states were examined in this study. This approach is rather unusual since it is typical to focus on one state or a small group of states. In addition to the state level analyses, macro analyses were also conducted to generate sounder policy prescriptions. This study tested three primary research questions. The first research question tested possible changes in several measures of student success since the implementation of No Child Left Behind. The second research question analyzed the relationship between K-12 education policy and higher education. The third research question addressed the possibility that state education reforms have had an impact on test scores, graduation rates, and college enrollment. Findings showed that K-12 test scores have improved on the national level since the implementation of No Child Left Behind, but there are several states that have witnessed a decline in test scores since legislation was enacted. There was no relationship between the state reforms and the variables that measured student success. Based on the findings, policy prescriptions were generated for both leaders within education and policymakers. ; 2009-05-01 ; M.A. ; Sciences, Department of Political Science ; Masters ; This record was generated from author submitted information.
This report shows how in order to improve success outcomes in higher education, colleges and universities need to focus on personal relationships as a means to increase retention, recruitment, and transition outcomes and support among all students, particularly for minority males in STEM. In this regard, the strategies, as implemented at the four different sites, suggest student success is highly contingent on supportive institutional contexts and response to students individual backgrounds. ; Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities
Minority Serving Institutions have inspiring students and dedicated faculty, and their initiatives to help traditionally underserved students are having an impact in their respective communities and across the country. Yet, all too often, these success stories go untold or are shared with only a small group of insiders. As a result, some MSIs have an image problem: Too many people either have not heard of them at all, or what little they do know about them is negative. It is long past time for MSIs to take control of their storiesto seize the lead in telling them, and to find wider audiences for them. In this report, the authors point to examples of MSIs telling a better story in myriad ways including through the use of educational data, by participating in national research studies, by communicating their success in diverse venues and to multiple audiences, and by engaging institutional presidents in story telling and speaking out on national issues. ; The Center for Minority Serving Institutions at the University of Pennsylvania
Investing in community colleges is a central part of the Biden administration's education agenda, with the goal of strengthening America's middle class and opening the benefits of education to all Americans. CCRC has conducted 25 years of research on how community colleges can more effectively educate students and set them up to successfully transfer to a four-year college, launch a family-sustaining career, or upskill to get a better job. Our research has led to the conclusion that systemic, whole-college reform is needed to reach all students and to help many more of them reach their goals. Guided Pathways is a comprehensive reform approach whereby community colleges fundamentally redesign their programs and support services in ways that create clearer, more educationally coherent pathways to credentials with strong labor-market value. It is currently being implemented by hundreds of colleges across the country. Guided Pathways is not an intervention but rather a framework that the federal government, states, and colleges can use to strengthen community colleges and improve student outcomes. In this brief, we explain what Guided Pathways is, why we think it has promise, what it costs, and how it can help improve student success on a large scale and thus grow a stronger, more prosperous, and more inclusive middle class.
"It denies that all people who face trauma and pain in their lives inevitably are wounded or incapacitated or become less than they might" is the most prominent strengths perspective definition for this chapter (Saleebey, 1996. Saleebey, 2006)." This impeccably describes how all students should be viewed and understood. As an alum of three Historically Black Colleges Universities (HBCUs), I experience a great sense of pride and reverence to teach at an HBCU. Strength in the familiarity of institutions and seeing students brings back memories of myself. On the other hand, a challenge can be transference, and countertransference, between students and myself because of such a presumed relationship, as an unconscious redirection of past feelings. This is of great significance as "we" both have made assumptions that we've entered this space via the same experiences or circumstances, which is often untrue and represents a false sense of commonality. Essentially both the student and I need to enter each experience open to learning, understanding our differences and acknowledging our strengths. I challenge myself regularly to be a professional that students can model and aspire to emulate. The core objective within most, if not all, of the classes that I facili- tate, is to empower students to see me as they see themselves and to understand that their opportunities are limitless. The educational philosophy of the classroom should be to transform the lives of students from diverse backgrounds, to become leaders who are politically aware and compassionate. Furthermore, it is my goal to ensure that students will engage actively as change agents capable of addressing societal and global problems. By adding the strengths perspective to the classroom environment, the intention is to help shape and transform student experiences through supportive interactions. "Words do have power to elevate or destroy" is essential in the classroom environ- ment through verbal and visuals expressions of "it's a safe space" (Saleebey, 1996). ...
Latinx students are a growing population in postsecondary education but attain degrees at a pace behind their non-Latinx peers. This research examines a partnership between a research university (RU) and career and technical education (CTE) high school, Hillside Technical High School (HTHS). Through a 2-year ethnographic case study, we found that different logistics and cultural values were primary contributors to the bifurcated pathway between high school and college. These pathways were most successfully connected through strategies such as flexibility, personal relationships, and incorporation of community resources as well as viewing the students as resources. Our study suggests a need to reframe partnerships in recognition of the assets that students bring to these e orts, while also creating opportunities for additional faculty support and community involvement.
Dr. Nancy Thomas, Director of the Institute for Democracy in Higher Education (IDHE) initiates by discussing what happened in the 2018 election to make IDHE optimistic; what is happening now during the Covid-19 pandemic and why it is problematic, what IDHE advised to increase student voter participation in the past, and ideas for adjusting to uncertainty in the upcoming 2020 election. Hayley Spellman, President of the KSU independent student organization Wildcats Vote, describes the importance of building campus/community coalitions, transitioning into a new world of organizing for the still-untapped power of the youth vote, and advocating for methods to make elections free, open, and accessible during a global crisis. Ron Orchard, Graduate Masters candidate in Veterinary Medicine and Public Health, describes urgent campaigns for the community that students are called to join, asking participants to focus now on re-defining what is meant by "essential", listening first to what community members say are their needs before acting on their behalf, maintaining focus during a crisis with no apparent end, and examining how the mission of our organizations might evolve to meet these needs.
