Transcript Increasing Student Success for Community College Students

Reframing At-Risk to High Potential:
Supporting the Achievement and Success of
First Generation, Multicultural, and
Underprepared College Students
New Jersey City University
July 15, 2013
Thomas Brown
[email protected]
Mario Rivas, Ph.D.
[email protected]
A good workshop is one that provides
information with which you agree.
A good workshop is one that provides
information with which you agree.
A better workshop is one that provides
information that you will use.
Saber
Entender
Sentir
Escoger
y Hacer!
ThinkingFeelingDOING!
There are within each of us
the seeds of who we might
become.
Thich Nhat Hanh
The task of the excellent teacher is to
stimulate "apparently ordinary" people
to unusual effort. The tough problem
is not identifying winners: it is in
making winners out of ordinary
people.
K. Patricia Cross, Professor of Higher Education Emerita
University of California, Berkeley
Most importantly, science faculty
must find a way to provide the
welcome and success nontraditional
science students require in the
classroom....
Gateway vs. Gatekeeper
No science student should be
allowed to say “no” to science
without a struggle.
They're Not Dumb, They’re Different
Sheila Tobias, 1994
What obstacles did you need to
overcome in order to succeed in
college and beyond?
Who, or what, helped you to make to
and through college?
Excellence Redefined
Talent Development
The belief that students can learn anything
the institution teaches, provided the right
conditions are established—including
challenge and support….
Increasing Persistence
Habley, Bloom, & Robbins, 2012
The interactions students have in the
academic and social domains are critical to
their satisfaction, achievement and success.
Professor Vincent Tinto, Syracuse
Leaving College: Rethinking the Causes and
Cures of Student Attrition (1993, or Way Back When…)
Imagine a school where all kinds of people
feel comfortable showing up, secure in the
knowledge that they have a place they
don’t have to defend every time they turn
around, where they are encouraged to do
their best, and are valued for it….
Power, Privilege & Difference
Allan G. Johnson, 2006
Students in science courses report being
put off by the “classroom culture.”
Sheila Tobias, 1994
 Few opportunities for group work
 Telling is not teaching; students don’t take
an active role in the learning process
 Lack of community—no connections
forged among students
 Lack of inspiration, i.e., no overview of
course goals—absence of a “road map”
 Sense of competition, where classmates
are enemies—comparisons
Mission
Answers the question:
Why does NJCU exist?
The New Jersey City University mission is
to provide a diverse population with an
excellent university education.
NJCU Mission Statement
Diversity to inclusivity
Inclusivity is about equitable
outcomes for all students
NJCU Graduation Rates*
Total
Asian
Black
Hispanic/Latino
White
39%
47
30
39
40
* Graduation in 6 years. Entering Cohort 2005
NCES College Navigator http://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator
NJCU Strategic Direction & Goals
GOAL 2: ACHIEVE STUDENT SUCCESS:
ACADEMIC, PERSONAL, AND SOCIAL
2.4 Enroll a diverse student body that
will succeed at NJCU and beyond.
NJCU Strategic Plan Working Document, April 2013
This session:
A Focus on Nursing Students
 Examine challenges and successes in increasing
persistence of students who are first generation,
multicultural, and underprepared
 Discuss barriers to students success
 Share effective theoretically based practices—
individual and institutional
 Solve the Mideast crisis!
What do we know?
US Population
African Am./Black
Asian American
Hispanic/Latina/o
Native American
White
12.5%
4.4
15
1.0
67.4
STEM Workforce
4%
16.4
4.7
.4%
74.5
Source: National Science Foundation
What do we know?
US K-12 education in science and math is woefully
lacking in preparing students for college.
Our public school system comprises the foundation
of progress. As it exists today, that system compares
abysmally with other developed—and even
developing—nations, particularly in the fields which
underpin most innovation: science, mathematics and
technology….
Norman Augustine, CEO, Lockheed Martin
2006 “Rising Above The Gathering Storm”
What do we know?
The science pipeline is leaking
 750,000 high school sophomores
expressed an interest in science
 590,000 still interested in senior year
 340,000 would take a first year science course
 206,000 would graduate in science or
engineering
 61,000 would go on to graduate school
 9700 would complete degrees
To few women and students of
color enter science and math
fields, and when they do…
They too often encounter:
 Inadequate preparation from substandard
secondary schools
 A lack of community in classes
 Difficulty getting assistance and support
 Low expectations from peers
 Negative assumptions from faculty about their
ability to succeed
 Low self attributions
Why do Diversity and
Equitable Outcomes Matter?
Who will do science in the next century?
That depends on who is included in the
pool. The old rules don’t work in the new
reality. It’s time for a different game plan
that brings in new players from the
bench.
Shirley Malcolm, American Association
of the Advancement of Science, 1990
Students At-Risk
First-generation/Low SES
Students with disabilities
Multicultural (Asian, Black, Hispanic/Latino, etc.)
Student-Athletes
First-year students
Undecided students
LGBTQ students
Underprepared students
Veterans
Transfer students
Undocumented (AB540)
Veterans
Students At-Risk
Multiple issues…
First-generation/Low SES
and also
Students with disabilities
Multicultural (Asian, Black, Hispanic/Latino, etc.)
Student-Athletes
First-year students
Undecided students
LGBTQ students
Underprepared students
Veterans
Transfer students
Undocumented (AB540)
Veterans
Treating students the same may be
equal treatment,
Treating students the same may be
equal treatment,
but it is not equitable treatment.
When equal is not equitable
Equal treatment for children in
unequal situations is not justice.
Governor Jerry Brown, California
State of the State, 2013
A Principle:
Human beings seek to economize
on the energy required to make
distinctions.
Human beings seek to economize on the
energy required to make distinctions.
Most houseplants die because
we treat them all the same.
The assumption that all students come
with an understanding of the collegiate
world unintentionally places students
even farther out on the margins of the
institution.
First Generation College Students
Ward, Siegel, & Davenport, 2012
While students must accept responsibility
for their own success or failure, institutional
actors, particularly faculty members, also
bear individual and collective responsibility
for student outcomes.
Achieving Equitable Outcome for All Students
AAC&U, 2005
Educators are lights in the labyrinth
Students carry a heavy burden when they
face an unfamiliar culture with no support
system, and it is the college’s duty to help
them succeed.
Administrators, faculty, and staff must be
informed and engaged with every student for
all students to thrive.
“Let’s Help Students Speak Up Across the
Cultural Divide.” Culver, 2012
Attributes/calidades of campus
environments that support students who
are at-risk to actualize their full potential
Intentional
Structured
Proactive
Helping students move into college is
far and away the most important task
for educators.
Arthur Chickering
ACT National Curriculum Survey
April 2013
 98% of high school teachers report their
students are well, or very well prepared,
to do college level work.
 26% of college faculty report that
entering students are well, or very well,
prepared to do college level work.
Students usually have a realistic
understanding about the demands of
academic work and what is required to
be successful in their classes.
Strongly agree/agree
13%
Disagree/strongly disagree
69%
Brown Survey of Faculty 2001-2012
48% reported A/A- as their average high
school grade.
90% earned a B average or higher.
66% expect to earn at least a B
average in college.
2010 CIRP Survey
Do students understand what is required to
be “successful”?
How many hours did you study during a
typical week in your last year of high
school?
63% Five hours or less
35% Fewer than two hours a week!!
2010 CIRP Survey
I have to teach students how to
study before I can get to course
content…
Faculty respondent
We must create “micro safe
spaces” that become pockets of
possibility for our students
Michelle Fine
From “at-risk” to High Potential…
The Herschbach Approach
Dudley Herschbach,
Chemistry Professor Harvard University
The theme of his message on the first day of
class, not a text assignment or a problem set…
 It’s more important to be ardent than to be
“brilliant.”
 He tries to get his students to believe they can
succeed if they stick around and give
themselves a chance to succeed.
 Meets with a student advisory committee for
feedback on how the course is going
Many non-traditional students want their
doubts [dudas] erased about their being
capable of learning….
This is especially true for first generation
students, Hispanic and African American
students….
Laura Rendon 1994, 2001
What’s missing in tests of ability is motivation.
What we really need to know about students is
whether they will keep going when things get
frustrating.
Success is not just a function of talent, but also
the capacity to stand defeat.
Emotional Intelligence, Daniel Goleman
Validation Outcomes
I scored 700 on my SATs and I have a
Ph.D. in Biology from the University of
California, Davis….
Dr. Robert Urtecho, Dean
College of the Sequoias
People with a growth mindset do not
give tests the power to define them.
Mindset, Dr. Carol Dweck, 2008
Cognitive, Emotional, and Behavioral
Barriers to Student Success
 Low ability attributions
 Ego vs. Task involvement
 Reluctance to seek assistance
The Cycle:
ThoughtsFeelingsBehaviors
Reaction/Behavior
Students
Actions/Behaviors
(mine)
Observation
Thoughts
(beliefs/assumptions)
Feelings
(positive/negative)
Cognitive, Emotional, and Behavioral
Barriers to Student Success
 Low ability attributions
 Ego vs. Task involvement
 Reluctance to seek assistance
Attributions are beliefs that
1.
2.
Explain reasons for successes or
failures,
Influence expectations, future efforts,
persistence on educational tasks, etc..
Brown & Rivas, 1997, 2004, 2011
Ability Attributions…
By the time students reach high
school, they generally believe that
ability is a relatively fixed,
unchangeable capacity.
British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 1983
Undermining Attributions
Negative thoughts about ability &
task difficulty that can inhibit
students’ “direction, strength, and
persistence of behaviors toward a
goal.”
Attribution Theory of Achievement and Emotion
Ability
Perception
Feelings
Actions
Low
Shame &
Doubt
Task-Difficulty Goal Expectancy
High
Helpless
Hopeless
Low
Give up
(Drop out)
Weiner, 1972 & 1977
“I am not smart and don’t belong in college!”
“No soy inteligente.” “Soy bruta!
A critical element in increasing
student success
Examine and challenge low ability and
high task-difficulty attributions
(beliefs)— this applies to educators
and students alike.
“I can’t do Calculus….”
“Those students
can’t do Calculus….”
Is there “Math DNA?”
A “Calculus gene?”
What Background is required
for success in Calculus?
What Background is required
for success in Calculus?
Pre-Calculus
Algebra/Trig
Algebra
Basic Math
Shift attributions (beliefs)
from ability to background…
Students’ attributions and those of
faculty and staff.
It’s not enough to change
what we do;
we must also change what we
believe.
ThoughtsFeelingsActionsOutcomes
Believing talent can be developed
allows people to fulfill their potential.
Dweck, 2006
Change meaning of ability/intelligence from fixed to
EXPANDABLE
Emphasize the plasticity of the brain. (Rivas 2012)
Each time you learn, you develop more neuronal
connections– you expand your ability to think more
effectively!
Learning involves forming new associations…
going from assimilation to accommodation. Piaget
Identity and Stereotype Threat
Our social identities come from a variety of
places:
Our race, sex, age, political affiliations, medical
diagnoses, high schools, colleges, even our
favorite baseball teams.
Each of those identities comes along with a set
of expectations, labels, or stereotypes.
Stereotypes
Asian students in math and science?
White male and black male athletes (e.g.,
basketball, 100 meter races)?
Second language speakers and writing
proficiency?
Women in science and math?
Stereotype Threat
 We all “know” that women and students of color
can't compete with men in higher math.
 We “know” Asian students are better than White
students in math and science.
 We all “know” that White men can't win 100 yard
dash races against Black men….
And then there's a curious fact:
Take away the threat to identity, and they'll
do fine….
Identity and Stereotype Threat
Women, Black, Latino students’
academic performance declines
in situations identified as testing their
intellectual ability.
Whistling Vivaldi, Claude Steele, 2011
The pressure of a stereotype can distract
students’ focus in learning situations
In addition to learning new
skills, knowledge, and ways
of thinking, students are also
TRYING TO SLAY A GHOST
IN THE ROOM, THE
NEGATIVE STEREOTYPE
AND ITS ALLEGATION
ABOUT THEM AND THEIR
GROUP
Adapted from Steele, 2010
Stereotype threat affects the
ability to be effective with…
•
•
•
Emotions
Behavior
Thinking
Stereotype threat affects the ability to
function effectively…
1. Become anxious about
confirming the stereotype,
e.g., increased heart rate,
blood pressure, and
related physiological
signs of stress.
These reactions interfere with performance
Stereotype threat affects the ability to
function effectively…
2. Affects students’
ability in being able to
complete behavioral
tasks in a more
effective manner.
Stereotype threat
caused a lessening of
facility to write one’s
name in a research
study.
These reactions interfere with performance
Stereotype threat affects our ability to
function effectively…
3. Affects our ability to use our mind in an
effective manner:
• Performance-worsening rumination;
• Impairs working memory;
• Activates “worry circuits” in the brain
versus “reasoning circuits.”
These reactions interfere with performance
Stereotype threat activates neural
“worry circuit” structures…
Subjects under stereotype threat
for math activated neural “worry
circuit”- social emotional
processing region of ventral
anterior cingulate cortex rather
than neural networks associated
with math reasoning- angular
gyrus, left parietal, and pre-frontal
cortex.
Adapted from Steele, 2010
Reducing stereotype threat
Steele, 2010
The negative effects of Stereotype Threat
can be lessened when:
Educators must challenge themselves to
understand the impact of Stereotype Threat,
and they must model non-stereotypical
behavior toward students.
Reducing stereotype threat:
A personal testimony
It would be years before I got any direct
praise from my faculty advisor, whose job it
was to help me develop into a scientist, [but]
his interest in me was intense from the
beginning.
I took a message from him: he had faith in
me as a worthy partner. My race and class
identities didn’t get in the way.
Claude Steele, 2010
Cognitive, Emotional, and Behavioral
Barriers to Student Success
 Low ability attributions
 Ego vs. Task involvement
 Reluctance to seek assistance
Task versus Ego-Involvement
Ego involvement- negative emotions
occur and undermine achievement
because students are focused on
comparing themselves to others rather
than task of developing competence.
Ego-Involvement
Compare and despair….
The Challenge
Shift students from
Ego-Involvement to
Task-Involvement…
Rivas 0-100% Competence Method
100
Break the Task Into
Do-able Components
0
Task versus Ego Involvement
100
100
95 Ideal others
40 Shame, despair, anger
frustration, fear, etc.
0
Task Involvement
(Focus on Task)
0
Ego Involvement
(Focus on Comparison to Others)
“Compare and Despair”
Task versus Ego Involvement
100
100
95 Ideal others
80
40
0
Task Involvement
(Focus on Task)
Shame, despair, anger
40 frustration, fear, etc.
0
Ego Involvement
(Focus on Comparison to Others)
“Compare and Despair”
Task versus Ego Involvement
100
100
95 Ideal others
80
40
0
Shame, despair, anger
40 frustration, fear, etc.
0
Task Involvement
Ego Involvement
Task-involvement creates hope and confidence (belief
in self) as progress is made toward competence goal!
Despite the debilitating effects of inferior
secondary schools, the typical minority
student in science is generally the best
student who survives that background.
Campbell, Denes, & Morisson
Change the meaning of “failure”
 Human
 Natural
 A critical part of learning and
development
 A test of resilience
Help students see faculty as resources for
learning rather than punishing judges.
Carol Dweck, 2008
The 0-100% Learning, Teaching and
Advising Method to support students to
share the responsibility for learning and
shifts from a focus on grades to a focus
on mastery.
0-100% Learning Model
100
Sedulous
0
0-100% Learning Model
100
Sedulous
Adjective:
Painstakingly
persevering
0
0-100% Learning Model
100
Sedulous
Adjective:
Painstakingly
persevering
Maria was sedulous: she
never gave up despite
the frustration and pain
often associated with
becoming an
0 effective/successful
learner.
“0 – 100% Competence
Advising Method”
100
1. Establish competency level student will
seek to achieve (0-100%).
2. Identify courses and strategies that will enable
student to develop skills to achieve goal.
3. Review and evaluate progress
toward goal achievement and
skills development.
Rivas,1988, 1990, 2004, 2011
0
Breaking Tasks Into
Do-able Components
100
80
}
•Background
•Time & Effort
•Strategies
40
0
When student sees task in do-able steps which can be mastered with effort, there
is increased hope because the goal is do-able and achievable.
Students need to understand that
process is important not just getting
the answer—or the grade.
Faculty Viewpoint
Understanding College Success, 2003
Negative Emotions and Learning
 Stereotype Threat
 Shame and Doubt
 Frustration
Negative Emotions and Learning
 Shame and Doubt and Learning
“ Everybody is born unique…”
…But most of us die copies.”
Between Unique and Copy Is
Our Fear to Act Our Uniqueness
Copy
Unique
Fear
Fear is a major factor that inhibits community college
students from achieving academic and career goals.
Developing a Competent Self
Saber,
Entender,
Sentir,
Escojer,
y Hacer
Emotional Intelligence is an important variable in
knowing and understanding who we are, who we
can choose to be, and who we can become!
Gestalt Educational Counseling
Learning which involves a change
in self organization - in the
perception of oneself - is
threatening and tends to be
resisted.
“Freedom to Learn”
Carl Rogers
How times does a child fall when
learning to walk before she
gives up?
The child never gives up: there is an
inborn drive to stand, walk, be competent!
Our students’ history as
learners too often includes…
 Reaching out with hope of being
accepted, supported, of being able to
realize their needs and goals…
 And, instead, their experience is of
not being accepted, supported,
allowed to meet their goals…
So, they LEARN to withdraw, not believe
in themselves, not to THINK and ACT
with confidence (faith in themselves)
Gestalt Personal Development
“It is our birthright to
achieve completeness.
Fritz Perls
There are parts of our
learning self that we split
off from ourselves when
we have difficult
experiences as children.
Me/Not Me:
Healing the Split in the Learning Self
100
We are “somebody.”
Our body carries our
history of learning
and development.
} Not Me “No Puedo”
Zone of Contact with
Developing Self
} Me “Si puedo”
0
Developing Integrity as a Learner: Having a unified
self that thinks, behave, and feels consistent with
cherished goals.
Thinking
Behaving
Feeling
“Acting according to what one thinks and feels is integrity.
If I say I will succeed, do I feel strongly about what I say,
and do I behave consistent with what I say?”
The Gestalt Cycle of Experience:
FeelingBehaviorsThoughts
Action
Mobilization of Energy
Contact with the
Learning Self
Integration of more
Complete learning self
Sensations
(positive/negative)
Move to new
Learning experience
Negative Emotions and Learning
 Frustration
“ Maturity is the ability to handle
frustration.”
Perls
Creating a classroom of support
 Building trust
 Inspiring personal growth
 Supporting learning
We have to develop teaching
strategies that…



Support students to grow through
their shame and doubt
Reinforce that the student is in
development
Promote deep learning
The first day of class: Establish an
open, trusting relationship with
students
Personalismo
Quality interaction seems to be
more important that any other
single college factor in
determining the persistence of
ethnically diverse students.
Astin, Levin and Levin, Brown & Rivas
0-100% Method in the Classroom to
Promote More Involvement & Learning
1. 0-100% “how much do you trust me”
introductory faculty discussion at
beginning of semester;
2. 0-100% Jigsaw learning technique,
where Latino/a students develop more
confidence in their knowledge going
from 35% rating to 90%;
3. Success Teams where strong students
help weaker students to become more
skillful.
Jigsaw Method: Promoting “deep learning “ and
“increased sense of confidence and competence” in
Latino/a students
1. Divide students into groups of 4, counting off 1,2,3,4;
2. Assign 4 question prompts (from homework, readings,
etc.) to coincide with groupings;
3. Have students take 5 minutes to answer the question
corresponding to assigned #1, 2, 2, 4;
4. Have #1’s, #2’s, etc. pair off with like #’s and answer
question, adding info to original ans;
5. Repeat step 4.
6. Return to home 1,2,3,4 group and share individual
answers.
7. Discuss answers with entire class.
0-100 Pre-Post Assessment –Jigsaw
Learning Method Psychology 1A class,
Merritt College
“0-100%, how confident are you that
you are clear about answer?”
Latinos/as (n=13)
Before: 21.4
After : 88
Others (n=20)
49
90
One finding: confidence gap is
lessened significantly after exercise!
Study Skills and Teaching:
Helping Students
Recognize Meaning and Organization
• Cook (1983) taught students how to recognize types of
structures used to communicate information in science
textbooks, e.g., enumeration, generalization, sequence.
Students improved their mastery of knowledge and test
scores.
• Drawing concept maps of chapters helps students understand
the overall meaning of chapters.
• Teaching students how to use different memory strategies
helps them to retain information, e.g., mnemonics, peg
method; using visualization.
• Using the 0-100 Learning Method to be more focused when
reading: 0-100, how much do I know material? 0-100 how,
much do I want to master material? 0-100 how much do I know
the material as I read?
We have to create new neuron
networks in the brain…
Re-integrate the past into the present, but
with an adult capability for self-support,
for reaching out with hope for success..
Learning Involves Building
Neuron Associative Networks
Cognitive, Emotional, and Behavioral
Barriers to Student Success
 Low ability attributions
 Ego vs. Task involvement
 Reluctance to seek assistance
At-risk students have difficulty:
Recognizing that a problem exists
Asking for help once they realize that
they have a problem
Asking for help in time for the
assistance to be of benefit
Levin & Levin
Active outreach
 Means taking a personal interest in
students and approaching them with an
open caring attitude.
 A personal relationship with a concerned
member of the campus community can
reduce the psychological distance that
hinders academic integration.
Active outreach
 Early outreach is the key to effective
support for at-risk students.
 Effective educators must insist on
regular contact whether students think
they need it or not.
Advisors validating students
Build a relationship with students.
• Ask questions about their life, struggles they have
been through.
• Emphasize the importance of education for their
families.
Do not assume all students know how to get involved
and how to access campus information.
Advisors should take the first step in reaching out to
assist students and helping them to get involved in
campus life.
Rendon, 2012
Validating students
Whenever possible, affirm
students as being capable of
college-level work.
Indicate to students that what they
know and the backgrounds they
bring are as important as what
others know and bring to college.
Rendon, 2012
Top retention practices – Four-year Colleges
with high Hispanic Enrollment
Practice
Hispanic
>20%
All other
four- year
colleges
Mandated placement in courses based on test
scores
32%
30%
Required remedial/developmental coursework
18%
19%
Tutoring
29%
19%
Training of faculty advisors
11%
10%
Comprehensive learning assistance center
14%
13%
Academic advising center
11%
11%
Early warning system
18%
13%
What works
Collaborative learning techniques
Small study groups
Supplemental Instruction
Faculty and peer mentors
On-going professional development
Science advisors
Intrusive/relational advising
Exit interviews—persisters and leavers
What works
Better test questions
Teaching the structure of disciplines
Teaching attention and memory strategies
Self-control Strategies
Building self-esteem and self-confidence
Emotional and moral support*
Professional socialization*
Developing cultural competence in white peers*
Loftin, Newman et. Al., 2012
There are within each of us
the seeds of who we might
become.
Thich Nhat Hanh
Treat people as if they were what
they should be, and you can help
them become what they are
capable of becoming.
Goethe
There comes that mysterious meeting
in life when someone acknowledges
who we are and what we can be,
igniting the circuits of our highest
potential.
Rusty Berkus
Success =
Commitment
+
Determination
Success =
Commitment
+
Determination
+
HARD WORK
Time
Adapted from Jaime Escalante
Comments?
Questions?
Challenges?
Successes?
Reframing At-Risk to High Potential:
Supporting the Achievement and Success of
First Generation, Multicultural, and
Underprepared College Students
New Jersey City University
July 15, 2013
Thomas Brown
[email protected]
Mario Rivas, Ph.D.
[email protected]