ALEX TEMPLETON EDH 798 CAPSTONE

DR. ACKERMANSPRING 2009

Decisive Minority Retention: Renovating educational theory

and pipelines

Study Overview

Problem StatementHypothesisOverviewMethodResultsConclusionsDiscussion

Problem Statement(s)

Traditional student retention theory stems from traditional student demographics, and are becoming less effective for student persistence and retention of populations that continue to diversify.

Current educational structures and policies of the K-16 educational pipeline are deterrent to effective persistence, and retention theory and practice for minority college students

Hypotheses

New and revised models from programs of student persistence and retention are more effective for minority student persistence and retention

K-16 educational policy and pipeline affect contemporary models and practice of persistence and retention

New and revised theory and practice focusing on Latina/o retention can be adopted and adapted for most minority student populations.

Method

Survey Questions

Purpose, Mission, and Goals1. What is the purpose, mission, or goal of this program, and how does it align with any other program or

institution’s purposes missions, or goals? 2. What have been the key components that have been ongoing in this program, what components have

changed, and why? Persistence, Transfer and Retention3. How do you or how does your program DEFINE participant persistence, transfer, and retention

between secondary and/or post-secondary education? 4. How do you or how does your program QUANTIFY participant persistence, transfer, and retention

between secondary and/or post-secondary education?Model/Theory5. Can you please explain any theoretical or practical models or schema that you use to design or

structure your program?6. Can you please describe in detail the sequence and structure of your leadership program? 7. Can you please describe in detail any assessment, benchmarking, or evaluation of outcomes for your

program?Student development8. What individual or group developmental domains/dimensions does this program address i.e.

(academically, cognitively, socially, personally, emotionally, or spiritually?)9. Are there any particular case studies that you could offer that would exemplify your program? Further Reference10. Please list any resources, individuals, or references that you would recommend on behalf of your

experience with this program and its purposes and functions: (articles, books, journals, articles, databases, reports, archives, etc).

 

Results (themes)

Results (cont.)

Family and parental leadership. Constant engagement or "follow through" was reflected for those programs that took place over the period of ten months or more.

Parental, teacher, and relative involvement, and peer encouragement.

Parental involvement within every phase of transition from secondary to post-secondary educational institutions.

Programs that continuously provide resources to students in lower socioeconomic sectors on higher education prior to post-secondary enrollment.

Programs that provide resources from the community outside the institution.

Programs that help students in attaining resources while navigating within the college.

Program personnel who provide mentoring, counseling, and necessary interventions before and during secondary to post-secondary transition and enrollment.

There is a strong relationship between education and community involvement, and descriptions of quasi-political aspirations for the Latina/o community, more than are reflected in academe, yet, the literature constantly stresses the need for further research for minority student retention in academe.

Traditional Student Retention

Tinto (1975, 1987, 1993)

Built over the eras

Based on studies done with traditional student populations at residential colleges

Based on sociological concepts of suicide and tribal rites of passage

Interactionalist = Student’s Responsibility for Assimilation

Pipeline

Figure . Chicanas and Chicanos attained low academic outcomes at each point along the educational pipeline in 2000. (Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, National Center for Educational Statistics, and the National Survey on Earned Doctorates.)

•Fragmented secondary and Post-Secondary educational systems•Ever-growing populations of diverse students

•Slow evolution of persistence and retention theory and practice at 4-year Institutions

•Catalyst students: Preparation, and immigration

Theorem

Reframing Retention (Braxton, Hirschy, and McClendon, 2004)

Intervention (Seidman, 2005)Chicana/o Latina/o Persistence & Retention

(Nora 1987, 2004, 2006)Social and Cultural Capital/Critical Race

Theory (Wells 2008; Yosso 2006)Communal Cultural Wealth (Luna 2008; Yosso

2006)

Reframing Retention

Reframing Retention (Braxton, Hirschy, and McClendon, 2004) "communal potential as the anticipation of membership in a particular

community of a college, with the perception that a subgroup of students exists with which the student shares, values, beliefs, and goals" (pg. 33).

Institutional actors such as faculty, staff, or students make up multiple communities with distinctive cultures that characterize them. "Some of these communities hold a peripheral position in the social structure of the institution, whereas other communities hold a position of dominance as their cultures define the character of the institution" (pg. 33).

Therefore, any actors who set up barriers, whether structural, social, or psychological, thereby perpetuate this structure of dominance, while knowingly (or unknowingly), positively (or negatively), compelling student's whose culture of origin is distinctly different from the dominant culture (Kuh and Love, 2000), to assimilate in order to experience social integration. "If not, such minority students will not perceive that potential for community exists for them" (pg. 33), and "experience less social integration" because their communal potential and the institution's community culture do not seek congruency…

Intervention

Seidman (2005) RET = EID + (E + In + C)IV.

RETention = EarlyIDdentification + (Early + Intensive + Continous)InterVention

Student Retention Specialist (SRS) model (Phillips, 1991) applied by (Escobedo 2007)

Four-Year College (Nora, 2004, 2006)

Nora (2004, 2006) [cont.]

Chicana/o & Latina/o Retention (Nora, 1987, 2004, 2006) as applied by

(Gándara, 2009) in Puente Project

Social and Cultural Capital/Critical Race Theory

Refutes cultural deficit Genetic Social

Social and Cultural Capital/Critical Race Theory (Wells 2008; Yosso 2006) Communal Cultural Wealth (validation) (Luna 2008;

Yosso 2006) as applied by Nora Luna (2008).

Student Initiated Retention Programs (SIRPs)

Policies

Oseguera (2009), Yosso & Solórzano (2006), Venezia et al. (2005) and Luna (2008, pg. 23) report:

Increase abundance and access to academic guidance counselors

Increase access to academically rigorous enrichment programs and courses (GATE, Honors, AP, Magnet, etc.)

Decrease tracking Latino students into remedial or vocational courses

K-12 bilingual/multicultural teachers to challenge cultural deficit models and acknowledge cultural wealth

Decrease overreliance on high stakes standardized assessments; to allow teachers time to guide students towards higher education

Support Precollege and bridge programs.

Distribute, regulate and clarify parent and student knowledge of college information

Create campus-wide retention committees responsible for monitoring student retention, and holding university administrators accountable for prioritizing retention

Front load institutional financial aid; provide financial aid literacy programs for students and their families to diminish student doubt and overestimations of financing tuition

Involve parents as educational partners, and equally distribute information on their rights, academic enrichment, ELL, and college preparatory programs.

Use learning communities, interactive learning strategies, and mandate and sustain orientation programs.

Collect data, conduct program evaluations, and seek out institutional grants for successful retention.

Implications

Adapt and adopt theory and practice for new generations of students

Acculturate not assimilate (Tierney, 1992, 2000)

Address the student not as the reason for fractured educational pipelines, but as a product of them

Programs are only patchwork

Thank You!

Questions?