Browsing by Subject "first-year students"

Now showing 1 - 7 of 7
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    Creating a Successful Transition for Working-Class First-Year Students
    (Journal of College Orientation and Transition, 2013-06-06) Soria, Krista
    This study explored differences between working-class and middle/upper-class first-year college students enrolled at large, public research universities. Results from administering the Student Experience in the Research University survey at 11 universities in 2010 (n = 23,331) suggest that working-class first-year students reported a less welcoming campus climate, lower academic engagement, higher academic disengagement, and fewer academic interactions with classmates compared with middle/upper-class students. Recommendations for first-year transition programs and new student orientation practitioners are discussed.
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    EOA best practices clearinghouse directory 2018 (4th ed.).
    (Educational Opportunity Association and the University of Minnesota, 2018) Arendale, David R.
    (Purpose) The purpose of this directory was to identify, describe, and evaluate evidence that the education practices improve academic performance, close the achievement gap, and improve persistence towards graduation for low-income, first-generation, and historically-underrepresented 6th grade through college students. (Method) The sample for the directory was derived from TRIO and GEAR UP professionals located in the upper Midwest region that are affiliated with the Educational Opportunity Association (EOA). EOA and the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Minnesota created a clearinghouse to disseminate evidence-based practical activities and approaches to improve success of students who are low-income, first-generation, and historically-underrepresented in education. The administrative and education best practices in this publication have been reviewed and approved by multiple members of an external expert panel of qualified reviewers. Each practice has been approved as promising, validated, or exemplary based on the level of evidence supporting it. The rigorous standards applied during the review process are similar to previous national evaluation efforts by the U.S. Department of Education (Results) The approved education practices of this 353 page directory represent each of the five major federally-funded TRIO and GEAR UP programs: (a) Educational Talent Search, “Emergency Field Trip Contingency Plan”, “Program Policies and Procedures Handbook”, “Peer Coaching Handbook”, “Academic Improvement Plan”, “Middle School Summer Curriculum”, (b) Upward Bound, “Upward Bound Senior College Exploration”, “Study Hall Days at a College Campus”, “Podcasting Academic and Career Counseling”, “Academic Advising Management System”, and “Planning Effective Campus Visits”; (c) Educational Opportunity Centers, “Coaching TRIO Students”, “Right Start to College Seminar for Adults”, and “Post service Assessment Tool”; (d) Disability Services, “Access College Today Program”; (e) Student Support Services, “Creating Global Experiences for College Students”, “Advising Syllabus”, “Integrated Approach to the First Year Experience”, “Horizons Study Abroad Experience”, “Procedures for a Study Abroad Program”, “Evaluation Tools for a Study Abroad Program”, “Integrated Learning Course”, “Tutoring for Students with Disabilities”, and “Tutor Training and Professional Development”; (f) Ronald E. McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement, “McWrite: Developing Scholarly Writing Skills”; and (g) GEAR UP, “High School Financial Literacy Curriculum”. (Implications) Rather than looking to others for solutions, the federally-funded TRIO and GEAR-UP grant programs have the expertise needed to solve vexing problems with student success. These programs are incubators of best education practices that can be implemented elsewhere. Detailed information is provided about the education practice purposes, educational theories that guide it, curriculum outlines, resources needed for implementation, evaluation process, and contact information. Educators need to investigate these education practices to discover effective learning practices that can be adapted and adopted for use in supporting higher student achievement, closing the achievement gap, increasing persistence to graduation, and meeting the needs of culturally-diverse and historically-underrepresented students. (Additional Materials) Appended to the directory are: (1) Profiles of TRIO and GEAR UP Programs with Best Practices; (2) EOA Clearinghouse External Expert Panelists; and (3) Procedures for Evaluation of Submissions to the EOA Clearinghouse.
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    Increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of learning for first year students through Supplemental Instruction
    (National Association for Developmental Education and National Center for the Study of the First Year Experience and Students in Transition, 1998) Arendale, David R.
    Developmental educators have a historic opportunity to reinvent themselves as resources for the entire campus -- students and faculty alike -- in partnering with the new enriched learning environment. The learning process must be expanded beyond the traditional classroom walls. Additional partners must be added to the learning environment. The Supplemental Instruction (SI) program serves as a catalyst for an improved and effective learning environment. SI is flexible to meet the learning needs of students and compliment an enriched learning environment managed by the classroom professor. Through its use, the efficiency and effectiveness of learning can be improved.
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    Integrating strengths-based education into a first-year experience curriculum
    (Journal of College & Character, 2013-06-03) Stebleton, Michael; Soria, Krista; Albecker, Anthony
    This article describes an initiative that integrated a strengths-base curriculum into a first-year experience program at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. Using a positive psychology framework, students completed the StrengthsQuest and participated in activities designed to help them learn and apply their signature talent themes. A pre- and post-survey were included to assess measures related to students’ self-awareness. The results suggest that a curriculum based on strengths positively impacts students’ awareness of their strengths, a factor that, in turn, has positive implications for students’ major/career choices and future decision-making. Strategies for practice and guidelines for future research are highlighted.
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    Supplemental Instruction in the first college year
    (National Resource Center for The First Year Experience and Students in Transition, 1992) Martin, Deanna C; Arendale, David R.
    SI as a Continuation of First Year Experience Programs, Focus on High-Risk First Year Classes, SI is Helpful for a Variety of Student Subpopulations, Theoretical Framework for First Year Student Programming, SI Facilitates Development of Community, SI Facilitates Student Involvement with the Institution, SI Facilitates Academic and Social Integration, Research on Affective and Cognitive Development, and Supports Collaborative Learning
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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.
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    Understanding the Supplemental Instruction model
    (Josey-Bass, 1994) Arendale, David R.
    It has been nearly two decades since Supplemental Instruction first in higher education. After starting at the University of Missouri-Kan in 1973, SI has been implemented at a variety of institutions across the States and around the world. Borrowing ideas from developmental psychology, SI has attempted to encourage students to become active investigators of strategies they have heard about from teachers and advisors. As new tional theories and practices have surfaced, the SI model has been ad incorporate the best in educational research. With the increasing diversity of today's college students and the alternative admission programs, the student body is continuing it's into a heterogeneous group reflective of American society. The pop professional literature often carries articles decrying the poor academic level of students or the poor quality of teaching by classroom pr Few solutions have been offered that work. From our point of view, that is moot. Many professors have tenure and colleges need all the stud they can recruit. Rather than blaming either party, strategies must b oped that allow students to succeed while ensuring that academic are maintained, if not strengthened. SI, as one component, can contr an overall institutional plan for student success.