Tutor Training and Professional Development. Wichita State University (KS) (approved Promising Practice 9/25/13) Taken from the abstract: "Peer tutoring has become a familiar tool that many schools utilize to reinforce classroom teaching and increase student success. For this reason, the Student Support Services (SSS) Project at Wichita State University (WSU) has implemented a Tutor Training and professional development program to assist new and returning tutors to develop strategies to support learning and enhance academic performance and improve the tutoring process to establish, implement, and maintain a comprehensive and quality tutor-training program." [Click on this web link to download the education practice.]
Best Education Practice: McWrite Scholarly Writing Skill Seminar Series
McWrite: Developing Scholarly Writinig Skills. Wichita State University (KS) (approved Promising Practice 10/15/13) Taken from the abstract: "The McWrite model for developing scholarly writing skills was developed at Wichita State University to help students with difficulty mastering the mechanics of writing (punctuation, grammar, sentence structure, paragraph development) and scholarly writing required for graduate studies. According to Schumacher and Gradwohl-Nash (1991), three purposes of writing are fostering understanding, changing conceptions. and developing thinking skills. This is consistent with Piaget’s theory of cognitive development (1958). All participants of the Wichita State University TRiO McNair Scholars Program participate in monthly, hour-long group sessions to develop increased competency in these three essential skills. McWrite benefits students in all areas of their academics, fostering increased confidence in their writing abilities, and success in graduate school. A unique feature of the McWrite program is the sustained and systematic approach to development of writing skills for all McNair Scholars, regardless of previous academic success. This program is part of the core of the TRiO McNair program rather than an optional activity with limited attention". [Click on this web link to download the education practice.]
TRiO Works: Who Has Been Served and Some of the Best Practices
Best Education Practice: Assessment Tools for Equal Opportunity Center TRIO Programs
Post Assessment Evaluation Tool for EOC Programs. Wichita State University (KS) (approved Promising Practice 9/25/13) Taken from the abstract: "There is a perennial need to develop assessment tools for TRIO program services in general and Educational Opportunity Centers (COE) program services in particular. The post-service assessment tool for an EOC program is designed to help EOC staff and administrators to use a generic tool and collect relevant evaluation data to assess and seek improvement in the quality of services. The goals of this practice is: 1) to develop a generic quantitative survey based tool to assess service efficacy; 2) to measure the self-reported learning outcomes of the EOC services; 3) to assess the efficacy of the EOC staff in providing these services." [Click on this web link to download the education practice.]
Best Education Practice: Academic Advising Management System
Academic Advising Management System, Wichita State University (KS). (approved Promising Practice 10/11/13). From the abstract: "One service that the Wichita State University (WSU) Upward Bound Math Science (UBMS) Program provides in support of its mission is academic advising.A key practice with the WSU approach is the data collection and management of information essential for effective advising of the students. This information includes students’ progress towards completion of their required curriculum and enrollment pattern in math and science courses. It is also used for strategic planning purposes by the UBMS program personnel for whom the information helps inform study group formation, tutoring needs and summer course design. While Upward Bound programs commonly provide academic advising services to its students, the WSU approach is more comprehensive and includes additional stakeholders. [Click on this link to download the education practice.]
Best Education Practice: Podcasting Academic and Career Counseling for Post 9/11 Veterans
Podcasting Academic and Career Counseling for Post 9/11 Veterans. Wichita State Unviersity (KS) (approved Promising Practice 10/15/13) Adding audio podcasting to the Upward Bound Veterans program allows our students to listen to important information when and where they want. Podcasting is a simple way to provide information through the human voice some students prefer rather than reading a handout. Listening to audio and video podcasts has rapidly grown recently due to widespread ownership of iPods, smartphones, and desk/laptop computers. Podcasting can be as simple or complex as you want. The most important element is the quality of information and its direct relevancy to the listeners. [Click on this web link to download the education practice.]
New Research Confirms Some TRiO Best Education Practices
Dr. Shawn Harper previews research findings he'll be releasing formally today about the black and Latino male students who succeed in New York City high schools (and he said there was no reason to believe similar qualities don't help similar students in other urban high schools). The study wasn't of elite charter schools or wealthier parts of the city, but of students who had achieved academic success in regular high schools. Harper found not only that such students exist (no surprise to him, but perhaps to those who lament the dearth of such students) but that many of them have no idea that they would be attractive candidates for admission to some of the most elite colleges in the United States.
Harper -- director of the Study of Race and Equity in Education at the University of Pennsylvania -- attracted considerable attention last year for a study in which he identified successful black male college students and examined the factors that led to their success. This new study is in a way the flip side of that research -- as his focus was on students in New York City high schools who could succeed in college (although he also included a group of New York City high school graduates who were in college for comparison purposes).
But what were the common characteristics that seemed to propel these students to succeed?
- Parental value of education. Many spoke of parents who related their own lack of education to their lack of money, and told their children they wanted better options for them.
- High expectations. The report says that "almost all" of the students in the study "remember being thought of as smart and capable when they were young boys."
- Learning to avoid neighborhood danger. Those who lived in unsafe neighborhoods reported parents who kept them inside whenever possible. Likewise, many of the students reported spending after-school hours in school buildings, in settings where they could study and also socialize in safer environments than were available to them near their homes.
- Avoiding gang recruitment. Many said that by becoming known as smart, and by having parents who didn't let them spend time outdoors, they weren't recruited into gangs.
- Teachers who cared and inspired. Harper asked the students to name and describe favorite high school teachers, and he noted that none of them had difficulty doing so, describing challenging teachers who knew and cared about them. He said that the teachers of these students are working in ways counter to the image of out-of-control urban schools.
- Reinforcement of college-going culture. One student noted that, at his high school, every day that a student was accepted at a college, the entire school was told about this over the public address system. While college-going might not be the norm for his socioeconomic group, he came to think of college-going as the norm from hearing these messages over and over again.
Read more: http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/09/30/new-study-explores-qualities-help-black-and-latino-males-succeed-high-school#ixzz2gOH4XCrF
Inside Higher Ed