African American Retention at ISU
Christopher Childs, M.A, Research Analyst, Office of Student Success
On October 14, 2009 President Bradley presented the strategic plan for Indiana State University. Goal One sought to increase student enrollment and retention as well as to reduce time to graduation. Embedded in Goal One was also the desire to narrow the retention and graduation gap between African American students and the rest of the student body by 50% (Office of Institutional Research, 2012a).
By the Numbers: Enrollment and Retention of African American Students
ISU has made noted gains with regards to enrollment of African American students. In Fall 2010, 586 African American students enrolled as first-time, full-time, bachelor degree seeking (FTFT-BDS) freshmen. This was an increase of 227 students from the previous year’s cohort. Currently (Fall 2012), the African American first year enrollment is at its highest in 15 years with 655 students enrolled Fall 2012 (Office of Institutional Research, 2012a).
In regards to retention, between 2010 and 2011, retention of FTFT-BDS African American students decreased from 55% to 43%. As a result of growing yields of African American students with stronger entering GPAs, combined with focused attention on African American student success through the ISUcceed Program (described below), retention of African American students was up 8.5% this year (Fall 2012), more than three times the total campus retention increase of 2.5%. This increase enabled a substantial movement forward in reducing the retention gap, with more efforts planned on the path toward achieving the 2017 goal for African American students of at least 58% (Institutional Research, 2012a).
Factors Impacting African American Student Retention
Cross and Slater (2001), in their study of persistence rate differences between African American and non-African American students, suggested that financial resources, the racial climate on campus, the availability of strong programs, and geographical location are strong predictors of African American retention. Holmes, Ebbers, Robinson, and Mugenda (2007) suggested that academic preparation, lack of African American faculty/staff, and alienation are key factors impacting African American student retention. Furthermore, Seidman (2005) noted that students of color tend to more often be first generation students. Seidman’s research also showed that first generation students are likely to have low parental support, less resources to pay for college, lower self-esteem, and lower expectations for going to college and completing a degree vis-à-vis their counterparts with parents that did attend college.
Informed by research such as this, the Office of Student Success at ISU has been seeking to support programs and initiatives that help to address these issues where possible such as through a new First Generation Student - First Generation Faculty mentoring program, strengthening the LEAP summer bridge program, and working collaboratively with other units on campus such as the University College and the African American Cultural Center.
Getting to Know Our Students through MAP-Works
Another focus of the Office of Student Success has been to use demographic data, as well as information on students’ social and academic experiences at ISU, to get a better idea of what will help them succeed. A primary source for this information has been via MAP-Works. MAP-Works is a tool for early identification of students at potential risk of leaving the institution. By using university data, linked to information from faculty, staff, and the students themselves, MAP-Works builds a risk factor profile of ISU students at potential risk of academic difficulty and/or dropping-out. Then this system provides an alert to advisors, faculty, and residential life staff among others about these at-risk students (EBI MAP-Works, 2012). In Appendix A is a figure of the sub-scale scores from the MAP-Works Survey that is administered during the first three weeks of the fall semester. While the differences between African American students versus White students are small, the biggest difference is the students’ perception on if they can afford colleges. Many of the means of the sub-scales between African American and White students are significantly different from each other, such as ability to afford college and satisfaction of the University.
In addition to looking at MAP-Works, The Office of Student Success compared sub-groups of the University by building demographic comparison tables. The table below provides a profile of ISU African American FTFT-BDS freshmen from fall 2012 versus the total FTFT-BDS cohort using a combination of BANNER and MAP-Works data.
Table 1
First-Year Demographics
Measure / African Americans N=641 / Total Cohort N=2,080Pell Grant / 526 (80%) / 1414 (53.2%)
First Generation / 388 (64.5%) / 1228 (56.1%)
Avg H.S GPA / 2.83 / 3.06
Avg SAT Math / 412.12 / 460.22
Avg SAT Verbal / 408.47 / 463.57
Avg ACT / 16.87 / 19.34
Marion County / 238 (36.3%) / 420 (15.8%)
Cook County / 143 (21.8%) / 182 (6.8%)
As shown in the table, there is a much greater proportion of African American students who come from families with low-incomes as indicated by the proportion differences of those with Pell grants. More African Americans are also first generation students, have lower high school GPAs, and have test scores that are lower as compared to the total cohort. In addition, African American students disproprtionately come from major metropolitan areas, Marion County (Indianapolis) and Cook County (Chicago) in particular.
The ISUcceed Program
One retention effort that is starting to use MAP-Works information to better inform decision making is the ISUcceed Program (pronounced I Succeed Program). According to Stephanie Jefferson, Director of the Charles E. Brown African American Cultural Center and Director of ISUcceed , this program (which is free and open to all students) was created to assist students with the transition from high school to ISU. The program accomplishes this by addressing issues that inhibit academic and social transition, such as time management, engagement, and study skills. This helps the student develop academic, leadership, and professional skills.
The ISUcceed program has four components - Summer Orientation for students and parents, ISUcceed Prep-Fall Orientation, the ISUcceed Scholars Program, and Refocus. The Summer Orientation component introduces new students to faculty and staff. Students learn from upperclassmen and graduate students about the academic expectations and resources to be successful. During Summer Orientation, parents learn how to assist their student in college and introduce them to ISU support resources. The ISUcceed Prep-Fall Orientation is held prior to classes and helps students get acquainted with ISU and introduces them to their graduate counselor and other new students. In the ISUcceed Scholars Program, students meet on a bi-weekly basis with graduate counselors and go through academic seminars, tutoring, leadership development, and social activities. The fourth component is Refocus, which helps students who are placed on academic probation to get back on track through intrusive counseling and academic seminars.
Aiding African American Student Retention
Retention can seem like a daunting task given the myriad of individualized reasons a student might chose to leave an institution. Yet, ironically, just 25 more students retained equates to a 1% increase in retention. In other words, retention is achieved one student at a time and any staff or faculty member has the potential for aiding a student to succeed in reaching their educational goals and helping to build a culture of student success. A research report by the Southern Regional Education Board (2008) examined the college culture at schools that had both diverse populations and high retention rates. They found that at these institutions, employees from top to bottom believed that student success was his/her job. A culture such at that here at ISU might have these features (SREB, 2008):
1) Go out of your way to help students. If you see a student that seems lost, try to help them find what they are looking for. If a student seems to look sad while you pass him or her in the quad, stop and ask them what’s wrong and if you can help.
2) Service with a smile. We are not a fast food restaurant but making sure you have a positive attitude when talking to students can help.
3) Try to meet one student during the week. This might be hard depending on where your office is located, but meeting students and actually saying hello to them on campus will make them feel wanted here and make the environment warmer for them.
4) Mentor a student. Share your knowledge with a student. This can be anything from navigating through the college environment to career advice. The interactions can be informal, maybe lunch every other week.
5) Attend on-campus events. Go to sporting events and show your sycamore pride. This is a great opportunity to meet students. Or, consider inviting a student along to a game or event.
6) Participate in BFSC Events with students. The Black Faculty and Staff Caucus coordinates a number of engaging activities with students. For more information on the Black Faculty Staff Caucus please contact Christopher Childs at .
7) Always think of ways to help students feel comfortable at ISU. Always be thinking of how you can improve retention. This can be simple things like wearing your nametag or offering to lead a workshop through the African American Cultural Center , Office of Residential Life, or through the Office of Diversity.
References
Cross, T., & Slater, R. B. (2001). The troublesome decline in African-American college student graduation
rates. Journal of Blacks in Higher Education, 33, 102-109.
EBI MAP-Works (2012). MAP-Works process. Retrieved from http://www.webebi.com/retention/process
Holmes, S. L., Ebbers, L.H., Robinson, D. C., & Mugenda, A. G. (2007). Validating African American
students at predominantly white institutions. In A. Seidman (ED.), Minority student retention
(pp.79-96). Amityville, NY: Baywood.
Office of Institutional Research. (2012a). Pathway to success 2012. Retrieved from http://irt2.indstate.edu/ir/index.cfm?fuseaction=sp.main
Office of Institutional Research. (2012b). First time full time bachelors degree seeking freshman retention and graduation rates 2001-2011 by ethnicity. Retrieved from http://irt2.indstate.edu/ir/assets/files/data/ret/2010/success/FTFTBDSSuccessFall2010Ethnicity.pdf
Seidman, A. (2005). Minority student retention: Resources for practitioners. In Gaither, G (Eds.), Minority retention: What works? (7-24). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Southern Regional Education Board. (2008). Promoting a culture of student success: How colleges and universities are improving degree completion. Retrieved from www.sreb.org
Appendix A