Structured Study Hall Days at College Campus by UB Students. Wichita State University (KS) (approved Promising Practice10/20/13) The Communication Upward Bound’s (CUB) model supports high school student success through a variety of carefully coordinated activities. One of them is “Study Hall Days”, a structured study hall hosted on the Wichita State University campus when public school classes are not in session. Most high school students remain at home or only come to the school for athletic team practices when school officials have in-service days for staff development or professional meetings. Research studies document the adverse effects this interruption on their learning. The CUB model of Study Hall Days creates an activity-rich learning environment for them. Several activities include: (1) use of supplemental curriculum materials to deepen understanding of current topics in their classes including use of the ComFit Online Learning Center, (2) private tutorial sessions with CUB tutors and staff members, (3) practice on time management and metacognitive skills to strengthen their development as autonomous learners and proficiency with self-directed learning, (4) attendance of college classes related to their future academic majors, (5) interactions with college faculty members and students, and (6) preparing for college entrance and course placement assessments. These activities groom participants to higher success in high school and college. [Click on this link to download this best education practice.]
Best Education Practice: Tutoring College Students with Disabilities
Tutoring for Students with Disabilities. Wichita State Univesity (KS) (approved Promising Practice 10/15/13) Taken from the abstract: "TRIO DSS tutors are trained to work with students with disabilities, whether the disability is physical, psychological, neurological, or other. Their training includes specific workshops on different types of disabilities and how to work with students with disabilities in individual situations. Tutors are given the student’s learning styles (visual, auditory, kinesthetic, or a combination) and work with a student’s learning style, adapting their tutoring methods to match the student’s learning methods. The tutoring program model of student academic support is designed to assist students with disabilities at the college level pass courses in which they face academic hardship due to their disabilities, and to help them move forward toward their goal of a four-year degree while experiencing new and innovative learning strategies". [Click on this web link to download the education practice.]
Best Educatiion Practice: Summer Program Curriculum for Middle School Students
Summer Program Curriculum for Middle School Students. Wichita State University (KS) (approved Promising Practice 9/25/13) Taken from the abstract: "The Summer Enrichment Program (SEP) is designed to assist students in improving learning skills and provide college awareness while they develop a sense of achievement by knowledge and motivation. The goals of the SEP is to 1) prepare students for postsecondary education; 2) improve students' attitudes toward learning and education in general; and 3) reduce learning loss that some students experience during summer vacation. Research has shown that students' skills and knowledge often deteriorate during the summer months, with low-income students facing the largest losses. Instruction during the summer has the potential to stop these losses and propel students toward higher achievement." [Click on this web link to download the education practice.]
The Hidden Supply of High-Achieving, Low Income Students: Many low-income high achievers never think of applying to selective schools
From the National Bureau of Economic Research: In The Missing "One-Offs": The Hidden Supply of High-Achieving, Low Income Students (NBER Working Paper No. 18586), Caroline Hoxby and Christopher Avery study every student in the high school graduating class of 2008 who scored at the 90th percentile or above on the SAT or ACT and whose high school GPA was A- or above. They show that despite the fact that these high-achievers are well qualified for admission at America's most selective colleges, the vast majority of low-income high achievers do not apply to any selective school.
More than 50 percent of low-income high achievers apply exclusively to non-selective two-year and four-year schools that typically have low graduation rates and low instructional resources. Only 8 percent of them apply in a manner similar to that of high-income high achievers, who normally apply to several "peer" schools where the median student has scores like their own, the graduation rate is high, and instructional resources are ten times those at non-selective schools. High-income high achievers also usually apply to a few "reach" and "safety" schools.
These authors show that because low-income high achievers rarely apply to selective colleges, there are many more low-income high achievers than admissions staff thought. What the admissions staff see are eight to fifteen high-income applicants for every low-income applicant. However, the ratio of high-income high achievers to low-income high achievers is only about two-to-one in the population. The authors eliminate a number of explanations for low-income high achievers' failure to apply to selective colleges, including cost. They show that very selective colleges offer high-achieving, low-income students such generous financial aid that they could attend these colleges and pay less than they are currently paying to attend the much less selective colleges in which they enroll.
Nor do low-income high achievers fail if they apply to selective colleges. The authors show that if a low-income student and a high-income student with the same achievement apply to the same college, they have outcomes (matriculation, persistence, on-time graduation) that are so similar that they cannot be distinguished statistically. A lack of effort on the part of selective colleges does not explain these results, either. Their admissions staffs visit hundreds of high schools, organize campus visits, and work with many local college mentoring programs.
Why, then, do the vast majority of low-income, high-achievers not apply to very selective colleges? The authors show that those who do not apply are dispersed: they are "one-offs" in their high schools and localities. Thus, there is no cost-effective way for colleges to reach them using the traditional methods listed above, all of which work best when students attend a school with a critical mass of high achievers (such as a magnet school) or live near a selective college (such as the Harlem students who live near Columbia University). This dispersion also explains why the students' counselors do not develop expertise about very selective colleges. If a counselor has 350 advisees (the typical number in the United States) and only encounters a high achiever once every few years, that counselor will develop skills to help her other advisees -- many of whom may be struggling to stay in school or attend any postsecondary institution -- rather than skills that will help the rare one-off.
Best Education Practice: Planning Effective College Tours for High School Students
Planning Effective College Tours for High School Students. Wichita State University (KS) (approved Promising Practice 9/25/13) Taken from the abstract: "Conducting college campus visits for aspiring postsecondary students is a common practice for many high school-to-college bridge programs. The approach taken by the Communications Upward Bound (CUB) program at Wichita State University has developed an effective means to make this process highly efficient and effective for its’ students. Rather than accepting the standard campus visit program by the host college that all visiting colleges experience, the CUB programs works collaboratively with the institution to customize the experience based on the needs and interests of the students. This approach has increased student interest and engagement in comparison to previous years when the campus visits were not differentiated and customized." [Click on this web link to download the education practice.]
10 'Best Practices' for Serving First-Generation Students and Searchable Database of Best Practices
By Justin Doubleday from the Chronicle of Higher Education.
A report released on Thursday by the Council of Independent Colleges gives guidance to institutions that want to improve resourcesfor students who are the first in their families to attend college.<Click on this link to download the entire report of identified best practices.>
<Click on this link for the website established for the identified best practices from the project.> With two generous grants from the Walmart Foundation, the Council of Independent Colleges funded 50 college success programs across two cohorts of private colleges and universities in 2008 and 2010. For a full list of funded programs, see the Program Profiles page. Although all 50 programs focused on assisting first-generation students succeed in higher education, each program went about this in different ways. CIC identified 13 broad strategies that were implemented by multiple institutions. The programs are grouped by these strategies in order to help other colleges and universities find and implement the best strategies for a given institution.
Based on the experiences of 50 colleges that received grants from the group and the Walmart Foundation to enhance such programs, the report lists 10 "best practices" to promote first-generation students' academic success. Those suggestions are as follows:
1. Identify, actively recruit, and continually track first-generation students. Aid eligibility is one indicator institutions can use to help identify first-generation students.
2. Bring them to the campus early. Summer bridge programs let colleges better prepare first-generation students for the rigors of higher education. The programs also give students a chance to bond with classmates, meet faculty and staff members, and become familiar with the campus.
3. Focus on the distinctive features of first-generation students. First-generation students on any given campus will often share one or more characteristics. Building support systems around those similarities can help colleges better meet students' needs.
4. Develop a variety of programs that meet students' continuing needs. Colleges should develop programs that prepare first-generation students for academic success during college and for careers after graduation.
5. Use mentors. Mentors, whether they are fellow students, staff or faculty members, alumni, or people in the community, can provide valuable guidance to first-generation students. Some of the best mentors are those who were also the first in their families to attend college.
6. Institutionalize a commitment to first-generation students. Colleges should involve the entire campus community in promoting the success of first-generation students. That approach creates a supporting and welcoming environment.
7. Build community, promote engagement, and make it fun. Colleges need to focus on more than academic performance to improve retention. Through nonacademic activities, students can build meaningful relationships.
8. Involve families (but keep expectations realistic). First-generation students often struggle more than their peers with moving away from home. Communicating with families can help keep them connected to their student while he or she is away.
9. Acknowledge, and ease when possible, financial pressures. With many coming from low-income families, first-generation students often struggle with finances. Colleges should provide financial-aid information to students and parents whenever possible. Creating scholarships specifically for first-generation students can help as well.
10. Keep track of your successes and failures: What works and what doesn't? Colleges should look beyond grade-point averages and retention rates to assess its first-generation programs. Other methods for measuring success include: college records, surveys, in-depth interviews, and focus groups.
Best Education Practice: College Visit for High School Students with Disabilities
Access College Today Program. Wichita State University (KS) (approved Promising Practice 9/25/13) Taken from the abstract: "The Access College Today program provides students with disabilities, in their junior or senior year of high school, a customized field trip to Wichita State University where they learn what they need to do for successful transition from high school to a postsecondary institution with special attention to the needs of students with their needs. This approach is unique among the common campus tour offered by most colleges for similar students. The goals of the ACT program: 1) expose high school students with disabilities to a four-year university, 2) learn what is required to be admitted to college, 3) learn about financial resources available to eligible students for college, 4) learn of services available to them at the university based on their needs as a student with a disability, and 5) meet current or former college students and learn of their experiences at college." [Click on this web link to download the education practice.]