College Access and Success for Underrepresented and Underserved Students

Design is everywhere, but for many African American and Latino youth, the journey to a design career can be overwhelming. Limited access and too few opportunities prevent the majority of these youth from even beginning the journey. Design Journeys: Strategies for Increasing Diversity in Design Disciplines explores diversity in design disciplines and presents fifteen strategic ideas to expose African American and Latino youth to design-related careers. This solutions-based thesis introduces a map charting a design career from grade school to a seasoned professional. The “Design Journey Map” contains four color-coded passages that are overlapped with career competency components that simultaneously cultivate soft skills together with the hard skills youth learn along the journey to a design career. The intent of this research is to inform and empower future African American and Latino youth, their parents and other educational stakeholders, about the journey to obtain a design-related career. The objective of this study is to analyze the design journeys of current African American and Latino designers and learn what influenced their career paths. This research is important because it shows the journey to become a designer and provides principles of the solution for closing the diversity gap in the design industry.

This paper results from programming of Indigenous Logix: Mathematics|Culture|Environment (IndigiLogix). IndigiLogix’s intention is to increase Indigenous students’ love for mathematics as well as college access and success. Through IndigiLogix, it was transparent that the mathematics knowledge imparted to our Indigenous students derived from a western K-12 educational view. Thus, we found the need to conceptualize curriculum that centers on the fact that Indigenous Knowledge has Always Been Mathematics Education (IK-HABME). Through IK-HABME, we honor our relations with Elders, Community Partners, Indigenous youth, the natural world and real-life experiences, all while avoiding colonial constructs and measures of success.

In higher ed today, student success is focused on retention, graduation, or completion rates. Institutions appear to be stuck in the paradigm that if college students simply complete their degrees, they will be successful. Unfortunately, students are not really being taught how to define success for themselves, beyond institutional goals.

To contribute to a healthier and happier society, university leaders need to relay to students the interconnectedness between mental health and well-being and student success. We need to redefine “student success” from being completion metrics to producing holistic well-being outcomes.

This is a monthly series of articles on student well-being.

Link to March article: https://www.ecampusnews.com/2019/03/13/its-time-to-redefine-student-success/

This paper argues for a change in policy regarding what is to be reported in the annual Global Education Monitoring (GEM) Report published by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Using Datnow and Park's Co-Constructionist framework, the paper looks at the multiple, overlapping contexts within which the GEM Report is developed and notes the critical absence (policy of omission) of reporting on a significant underserved population; forcibly displaced women. It argues that the inclusion of reporting on this particular population will better enable UNESCO to achieve its educational goals.

The widening of access into higher education institutions in South Africa has rapidly transformed the student population to become more diverse. Students vary in age, race, culture, backgrounds, educational experiences, academic potential and university expectations. Widening university access with the commensurate need for success requires intervention mechanisms to ensure university management addresses student challenges, especially at first-year undergraduate level. Access and success cannot be achieved without understanding students' university expectations and experiences, as these are critical factors that are integrated with retention and success. This paper examines the gap between students' expectation and experience and argues that the intensity of such a gap can negatively impact the goal of achieving access and success amongst students from diverse backgrounds. The study utilised a pre-and post-survey to collect quantitative data from 95 first-year teacher education students at a university of technology in South Africa. The results indicate that there is a significant gap between students' expectations and their actual university experience with regard to the following indicators: social engagement, academic engagement and seeking academic support. It is posited that such a mismatch between students' university expectations and experience can result in students feeling disconnected to the institution, which could lead to academic failure and high drop-out rates. This study recommends that an intentionally planned first-year experience programme is required to entrench a more inclusive and sustainable first-year experience for 'all students' which could close the gap between students' expectation and experience and access and success.

t a time when the need for and the effectiveness of a Common Entrance Test (CET) to professional colleges is debated across the country, The Hindu Centre for Politics and Public Policy’s third Policy Watch looks at the working of the professional college admissions system. It studies the efficiency of the implementation of affirmative action policies in Tamil Nadu’s professional education institutions to meet the underlying social justice
objectives by looking at the mechanism used to determine admissions to these courses. This analysis points out that the abolition of the CET in Tamil Nadu has benefitted
students from the Other Communities and the Backward Classes more than those from other socially deprived classes, such as the Most Backward Classes, and the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. The solution to work out an efficient affirmative action policy, according to the author, lies in reorienting both the school education system and the CET mechanism.

Historically, in the field of writing studies, critical conversations around transitioning from secondary to post-secondary academic writing situations have centered on pedagogical and programmatic perspectives. For the most part, student experiences have been absent from these conversations, and voices of racially marked students have remained all but entirely absent. This article details some of the writing and high-school-to-college transitioning experiences of nine Black American students collected from interviews at a predominantly White university in the southern United States. These accounts show what gaps exist in current scholarship and disciplinary knowledge about student writers and transitioning as well as how college educators might create antiracist, culturally sustaining writing pedagogy at the transition level.

Background/Context English language learners (ELLs) are the fastest growing segment of the K–12 student population in the United States, yet they encounter substantial problems entering higher education. The gap between ELLs and non-ELLs is particularly acute for four-year college access. Research has been largely silent on ELLs’ college advancement, and we know little about what inhibits ELLs’ college access. Purpose To examine the process of ELLs’ college planning in order to determine which stages of college planning present difficulties to ELLs and why. College planning is conceptualized as consisting of five milestones: (a) aspiring to college, (b) acquiring college qualifications, (c) graduating from high school, (d) applying to college, and (e) enrolling in college. Research Design Secondary data analysis of the Education Longitudinal Study of 2002. Only students who participated in all of the first three waves (2002, 2004, and 2006) of data collection were included (N = 12,4...

An investigation of non-accredited training within the NSW community college network. Each year the Adult and Community Education (ACE) department of the NSW government invests in non-accredited education as part of its funding commitment to vocational training for Access and Equity groups. This research project investigated the impact and effectiveness of this type of training through several different lenses. The opinions of college leaders and students as well as industry leaders were sought out and presented along with data comparing the effectiveness of accredited vs non-accredited training. In particular, the impact on students' employability was assessed. A number of recommendations for improvement in the delivery of the program were made.

The widening of access into higher education institutions in South Africa has rapidly transformed the student population to become more diverse. Students vary in age, race, culture, backgrounds, educational experiences, academic potential and university expectations. Widening university access with the commensurate need for success requires intervention mechanisms to ensure university management addresses student challenges, especially at first-year undergraduate level. Access and success cannot be achieved without understanding students' university expectations and experiences, as these are critical factors that are integrated with retention and success. This paper examines the gap between students' expectation and experience and argues that the intensity of such a gap can negatively impact the goal of achieving access and success amongst students from diverse backgrounds. The study utilised a pre-and post-survey to collect quantitative data from 95 first-year teacher educa...

MORE REAL explores the question of "studio culture" in architecture schools. The authors conducted a survey of architecture faculty during the Fall 2019 ACSA Conference, Less Talk | More Action, which asked respondents, "What is your experience of studio culture?" The following paper discusses the design of the survey and conference engagement , analyzes the quantitative (demographic data and data about the respondent's position within the school) and qualitative (response to the "studio culture" question) information gathered in the survey, and discusses the MORE REAL session hosted at the ACSA conference. The authors identify a range of consistent themes that emerged in the survey responses and discuss the implications of those themes. Finally, the authors outline strategies for refining and expanding the survey design, as well as strategies for reaching a more representative set of survey participants in future iterations of MORE REAL. INTRODUCTION As instructors, we design our studios. We set the tone, control the pace, and shape studio culture. But few studio professors have received formal training in teaching methods, and we often find ourselves replicating the flawed models we experienced when we were students. While we regularly discuss project structures and course content with our colleagues, we rarely consider how we teach: the social dynamics we foster in our studios and the relationships we build with our students. If our goal as studio instructors is to foster positive studio environments where students feel ownership, agency, and support, we must explicitly consider studio culture as a defining component of our pedagogy.

When school counselors are available and able to provide assistance to students and families navigating the college admissions process, college enrollment rates increase and opportunity gaps begin to close. Recent attention and focus on programs designed to decrease the summer melt demonstrate the impact school counselor outreach and support can have on college enrollment.

Northeastern University’s ten-year strategic goal has been to climb the US News rankings, which it has achieved in part by becoming a much more selective institution. Fall 2014 saw 49,822 undergraduate applications for 2,800 seats - a ratio of 18 applicants per seat, rejection of 95% of all applicants. The question becomes whether an elite or an aspiring elite institution, one that was formed with social-responsibility at its core, can offer access to different target audiences given amended administrative priorities. Northeastern claims in its mission statement to utilize its “knowledge and resources as positive forces for change in both our local communities and our global society.” This paper assesses the efficacy of one strategy that is being employed in the attempt to do just that.

MORE REAL explores the question of "studio culture" in architecture schools. The authors conducted a survey of architecture faculty during the Fall 2019 ACSA Conference, Less Talk | More Action, which asked respondents, "What is your experience of studio culture?" The following paper discusses the design of the survey and conference engagement , analyzes the quantitative (demographic data and data about the respondent's position within the school) and qualitative (response to the "studio culture" question) information gathered in the survey, and discusses the MORE REAL session hosted at the ACSA conference. The authors identify a range of consistent themes that emerged in the survey responses and discuss the implications of those themes. Finally, the authors outline strategies for refining and expanding the survey design, as well as strategies for reaching a more representative set of survey participants in future iterations of MORE REAL. INTRODUCTI...

Postsecondary educational institutions are most recently aware of large demographic shifts in the traditional age population of college-bound students as it flat lines by 2025. However, this prestige traditional age student market is drastically diminishing in number, which has necessitated in college and universities looking to other traditional-age populations across the marketplace of students to maintain enrollments as private universities or to serve the public workforce needs as a state-supported institution. Emerging populations that have been heavily recruited include historically underrepresented populations of low-income, first-generation, and additional minority groups. Colleges and universities have struggled to not only connect with these students in admissions efforts, but to retain them as they persist towards graduation. This paper will address how colleges and universities can address the enrollment management challenges with historically underrepresented student populations through a campus-wide capacity building approach. Implications from the cultural, economic, and academic achievement gaps will be addressed to inform strategies and initiatives for college student access and success.

Background/Context English language learners (ELLs) are the fastest growing segment of the K–12 student population in the United States, yet they encounter substantial problems entering higher education. The gap between ELLs and non-ELLs is particularly acute for four-year college access. Research has been largely silent on ELLs’ college advancement, and we know little about what inhibits ELLs’ college access. Purpose To examine the process of ELLs’ college planning in order to determine which stages of college planning present difficulties to ELLs and why. College planning is conceptualized as consisting of five milestones: (a) aspiring to college, (b) acquiring college qualifications, (c) graduating from high school, (d) applying to college, and (e) enrolling in college. Research Design Secondary data analysis of the Education Longitudinal Study of 2002. Only students who participated in all of the first three waves (2002, 2004, and 2006) of data collection were included (N = 12,4...