Browsing by Author "Blanc, Robert"

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
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    Mainstreaming of Developmental Education: Supplemental Instruction and Video-based Supplemental Instruction
    (1997) Martin, Deanna C; Arendale, David R.; Blanc, Robert
    The foregoing should not be interpreted to suggest that SI is a one-size-fits-all solution to academic problems. Data suggest that the SI experience can move a student’s performance from below average to average, from average to above average, from above average to excellent. In the lower ranges of performance, it appears that participation in SI can elevate a student’s grade from sub-marginal to below average. At UMKC as at other Universities, however, practitioners have found that there are students for whom SI offers insufficient support. Typically, these students fall at or near the bottom of the fourth quartile in terms of entry-level scores and/or high school rank. SI is not scheduled often enough, nor does it have sufficient structure, breadth, or depth to meet the needs of this population. On other campuses, these students would typically be tracked into developmental courses which, for UMKC, has never been an option.
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    Mentoring in the classroom: Making the implicit explicit
    (1994) Martin, Deanna C; Blanc, Robert; Arendale, David R.
    In the SI model, mentorship stands at the center of students' relationship with the SI leader, a peer or near-peer who has previously done well in the class. The leader assumes the mantle of the model student who attends all lectures, takes exemplary notes, and in every way demonstrates the qualities which will assure success in the course. The leader convenes sessions outside class hours. Students attend voluntarily. The sessions blend what-to-learn with how-to-learn-it, artfully mixing study skills with content in ways that empower students in both. SI produces the most dramatic results in the traditional high risk classes where assistance is available to all students in the class. Improvement in student performance and reduction in attrition rates attest to the overall success of the SI model and the mentorship it embodies.
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    Supplemental Instruction: Supporting the classroom experience
    (National Resource Center for the First Year Experience and Students in Transition, 1996) Martin, Deanna C; Blanc, Robert; Arendale, David R.
    In 1983, the Department of Education certified SI as a model retention program that the Department recommended for replication. Underlying that decision were data that demonstrated to the satisfaction of the panel that SI was successful in retaining students and could be transported to other venues where similar success might ensue. A decade of data collection has demonstrated the correctness of the panel's decision. Although much attention has focused on the effectiveness of SI in the four-year tertiary institutions, careful analysis of data suggests that the model has been similarly effective in the two-year tertiary institutions. The reasons for the effectiveness of SI remain somewhat elusive. Achievement data support the inference that SI contributes to higher levels of student achievement and, therefore, to increased rates of persistence. As much as the difficulty of the curriculum inhibits student success, SI serves as an effective counter. Both subjective evaluations by SI supervisors and anecdotal evidence from participants bolster claims that SI counters the isolation that leads to a substantial number of voluntary withdrawals from tertiary institutions. A specific goal of SI programs, although not readily quantifiable, is the reduction of the level of perceived incongruence between institutions and individuals. Effective mentorship, a key component of the SI program, stands against abandonment of the pursuit of higher education by students who incorrectly assess the nature of the institution. To this extent, SI stands in the mainstream of curricular responses to Professor Tinto and other students of the problem of inappropriate student departure from the two-year tertiary institutions. Further support for the SI program derives from what has been called the unintended, salutary side effects of the adoption of the model. Across a broad field, practitioners have noted that SI contributes significantly to the career awareness and professional development of SI leaders. Institutional leaders have noted the faculty development aspect of the SI program. And, in a time of scarce economic resources, the cost-effectiveness of the SI model emerges as a strong argument for its implementation. In recent years, with heightened institutional awareness of the transitional risks that endanger first-year students in tertiary education, Tinto's research has become central to retention programs. The Freshman Year Experience has developed in the milieu of declining pools of potential students. Once the tertiary institutions have exhausted the declining clientele, they need to look to retain rather than to replace students who might depart the institution. SI offers a strong component to the choice of strategies the institutions can bring to bear on the problem.