Refuse to Lose | Targeting particular groups
Another widespread approach to bolstering retention grows out of research showing that particular groups of students are particularly vulnerable to dropping out.
In 1998, when J. Herman Blake became director of the African American Studies Program and professor of sociology at Iowa State University in Ames, two out of every three African-American students who entered the university were failing to graduate. “So many of our black students came in with low self-esteem, almost with the attitude that they are not supposed to make it,” he said. “They never really came to see themselves as scholars.” He noted that research by psychologist Claude Steele of Stanford University and others has shown a strong relationship between academic success and a positive self-image among students of color.
“As Steele implies, some of the things that are supposed to promote positive identity have the opposite effect,” Blake said. “Students who come in wanting to hold on to their blackness develop negative thoughts about themselves that sometimes get in the way of their making the transition to seeing themselves as scholars. So our challenge is to raise their levels of self-esteem and to show them that they can have it all — higher education and the ’hood.”
In 1998, when J. Herman Blake became director of the African American Studies Program and professor of sociology at Iowa State University in Ames, two out of every three African-American students who entered the university were failing to graduate. “So many of our black students came in with low self-esteem, almost with the attitude that they are not supposed to make it,” he said. “They never really came to see themselves as scholars.” He noted that research by psychologist Claude Steele of Stanford University and others has shown a strong relationship between academic success and a positive self-image among students of color.
“As Steele implies, some of the things that are supposed to promote positive identity have the opposite effect,” Blake said. “Students who come in wanting to hold on to their blackness develop negative thoughts about themselves that sometimes get in the way of their making the transition to seeing themselves as scholars. So our challenge is to raise their levels of self-esteem and to show them that they can have it all — higher education and the ’hood.”
 | J. Herman Blake, director of the African American Studies Program and a professor of sociology at Iowa State University, talks with students David Romero and Nicole Edmond. |
Blake initially assumed that providing black and Latino faculty members as role models would excite students about what they could ultimately achieve. “But it did not work that way,” he said. “The role models were seen as the exception, not the rule.”
Instead, Blake’s strategy was to “increase the academic rigor” of the curriculum through means such as longer reading lists. “When students are challenged in a respectful context, they rise — and some ask for even more,” he said.
He also spearheaded the creation of three student support groups:
David Romero, a pre-med biology major, is originally from El Salvador. He says that, without the support of the A-Society and related services, he probably would have broken under the pressures and dropped out of school. He now serves as a student coordinator in the program and describes his greatest challenge as reaching certain students. “Some just don’t realize their potential,” he laments. “It’s a slow process.”
The process of student support is also at work at Michigan State University. In 1988 officials at the East Lansing campus launched an eight-week residential summer program for first generation, low-income students who had shown resilience in overcoming societal difficulties. The program, known as the Summer University Program — Excellence Required (SUPER), offers coursework, tutorial sessions, self-appraisal skill development, and regular meetings with faculty and mentors. And it doesn’t end when fall semester begins. Support continues into the first year on campus, and SUPER students are encouraged to remain in the same dormitory where they began to help preserve the ties they built during the summer. SUPER participants currently receive free tuition, room, board and books, as well as a modest stipend.
Judy Tran, a current Michigan State student, praised the extensive support she received from the SUPER staff and her fellow students. “Before starting college I was afraid and very frustrated because I wasn’t really positive about the idea of college and moving away from home,” said Tran, who was a C student in high school but has become a B student at college.
“Being in a group with many other students from different backgrounds and being given all these great opportunities has opened me up to many things,“ Tran added. “SUPER gives me courage, motivates me to do well, and prevents me from falling into any type of failure.”
Student Tecreshia Hoover agreed, saying: “My confidence level has skyrocketed while being a part of SUPER.” She added, though, that she had to overcome the problem of being “labeled.” “I was angry at first because some people said that the program was for ‘dummies,’ and I did not think that I was a dummy. Eventually, though, I figured that if they were offered the opportunity to learn about a huge campus prior to the regular school year, earn credits and meet new and important people on campus, they would do it, too.”
Data show that, between 1995 and 2001, the average first-to-second-year retention rate for SUPER students was 85 percent. That figure eclipses the 79 percent rate for non-SUPER students eligible for the program and compares favorably with the 87 percent figure for the university at large.
Similar successes have been achieved through a comparable effort in California — the Academic Advancement Program (AAP) at UCLA. The program grew out of the civil rights movement of the 1960s and now provides services to approximately 6,000 low-income students of all races, half of them Latino and 20 percent Asian. AAP includes a residential summer program, as well as coursework during the first year of college. Graduation rates for AAP students have risen by 30 percentage points since 1984 and now stand at about 80 percent.
Adolfo C. Bermeo, director of AAP since 1986, has moved the program away from its initial emphasis on remediation and what he termed “a survival mentality.” Now it has shifted toward a “pedagogy of excellence” that pushes students to see themselves as scholars who are an integral part of the university community. “We stress taking ownership of their undergraduate experience,” he said.
Bermeo has worked hard to educate senior administrators and faculty members about the program and its success with students who might generally be expected to be academic failures. “We publicize our data on graduation rates,” he said. “All of this has shifted perceptions both about the program and about first-generation college, low-income and underrepresented students.”
Students with learning disabilities also are prone to self-image problems. At Vincennes University in southwest Indiana, the Student Transition into Educational Program (STEP) was launched in 1991 with the goal of achieving a 40 percent semester-tosemester retention rate for such students. It has far surpassed that goal — in fact, it has doubled the retention rate to 80 percent. The program serves about 100 students a semester by providing special academic courses and tutoring.
Jane Kavanaugh, a founder and co-director of the program, said that one of her main challenges is to confront the “learned dependence” and behavioral problems of learning-disabled students and the fact that for much of their lives they have been allowed to set relatively low standards for themselves. “If you raise the bar, they rise to the occasion,” she said. “When they arrive the first semester, they’re one kind of student; a few semesters later, they’re almost a different kind. The students almost change each other.”
First-year student Marla Cloud concurred. “STEP helped me realize that I can do it and that I’m not stupid,” she said. “It’s given me a little bit more courage to make something out of my life.”
Instead, Blake’s strategy was to “increase the academic rigor” of the curriculum through means such as longer reading lists. “When students are challenged in a respectful context, they rise — and some ask for even more,” he said.
He also spearheaded the creation of three student support groups:
- The Band of Brothers, which targets males, especially African-Americans.
- The Circle of Trust, which targets women.
- The A-Society, which focuses on scholarly topics as well as practical items such as study skills, resumé writing and internship opportunities.
David Romero, a pre-med biology major, is originally from El Salvador. He says that, without the support of the A-Society and related services, he probably would have broken under the pressures and dropped out of school. He now serves as a student coordinator in the program and describes his greatest challenge as reaching certain students. “Some just don’t realize their potential,” he laments. “It’s a slow process.”
The process of student support is also at work at Michigan State University. In 1988 officials at the East Lansing campus launched an eight-week residential summer program for first generation, low-income students who had shown resilience in overcoming societal difficulties. The program, known as the Summer University Program — Excellence Required (SUPER), offers coursework, tutorial sessions, self-appraisal skill development, and regular meetings with faculty and mentors. And it doesn’t end when fall semester begins. Support continues into the first year on campus, and SUPER students are encouraged to remain in the same dormitory where they began to help preserve the ties they built during the summer. SUPER participants currently receive free tuition, room, board and books, as well as a modest stipend.
Judy Tran, a current Michigan State student, praised the extensive support she received from the SUPER staff and her fellow students. “Before starting college I was afraid and very frustrated because I wasn’t really positive about the idea of college and moving away from home,” said Tran, who was a C student in high school but has become a B student at college.
“Being in a group with many other students from different backgrounds and being given all these great opportunities has opened me up to many things,“ Tran added. “SUPER gives me courage, motivates me to do well, and prevents me from falling into any type of failure.”
Student Tecreshia Hoover agreed, saying: “My confidence level has skyrocketed while being a part of SUPER.” She added, though, that she had to overcome the problem of being “labeled.” “I was angry at first because some people said that the program was for ‘dummies,’ and I did not think that I was a dummy. Eventually, though, I figured that if they were offered the opportunity to learn about a huge campus prior to the regular school year, earn credits and meet new and important people on campus, they would do it, too.”
Data show that, between 1995 and 2001, the average first-to-second-year retention rate for SUPER students was 85 percent. That figure eclipses the 79 percent rate for non-SUPER students eligible for the program and compares favorably with the 87 percent figure for the university at large.
Similar successes have been achieved through a comparable effort in California — the Academic Advancement Program (AAP) at UCLA. The program grew out of the civil rights movement of the 1960s and now provides services to approximately 6,000 low-income students of all races, half of them Latino and 20 percent Asian. AAP includes a residential summer program, as well as coursework during the first year of college. Graduation rates for AAP students have risen by 30 percentage points since 1984 and now stand at about 80 percent.
Adolfo C. Bermeo, director of AAP since 1986, has moved the program away from its initial emphasis on remediation and what he termed “a survival mentality.” Now it has shifted toward a “pedagogy of excellence” that pushes students to see themselves as scholars who are an integral part of the university community. “We stress taking ownership of their undergraduate experience,” he said.
Bermeo has worked hard to educate senior administrators and faculty members about the program and its success with students who might generally be expected to be academic failures. “We publicize our data on graduation rates,” he said. “All of this has shifted perceptions both about the program and about first-generation college, low-income and underrepresented students.”
Students with learning disabilities also are prone to self-image problems. At Vincennes University in southwest Indiana, the Student Transition into Educational Program (STEP) was launched in 1991 with the goal of achieving a 40 percent semester-tosemester retention rate for such students. It has far surpassed that goal — in fact, it has doubled the retention rate to 80 percent. The program serves about 100 students a semester by providing special academic courses and tutoring.
Jane Kavanaugh, a founder and co-director of the program, said that one of her main challenges is to confront the “learned dependence” and behavioral problems of learning-disabled students and the fact that for much of their lives they have been allowed to set relatively low standards for themselves. “If you raise the bar, they rise to the occasion,” she said. “When they arrive the first semester, they’re one kind of student; a few semesters later, they’re almost a different kind. The students almost change each other.”
First-year student Marla Cloud concurred. “STEP helped me realize that I can do it and that I’m not stupid,” she said. “It’s given me a little bit more courage to make something out of my life.”
