Sheila McCants Career Counselor Dr. Idelia Phillips Director of Career and Technical Education Manatee Community College

1. Sheila McCants Career Counselor Dr. Idelia Phillips Director of Career and Technical Education Manatee Community College Bradenton, Florida

2. Webinar Objectives • Using the MCC 2004 Retention Study on “Perceptions of African American Males” and Diffusion of Innovation Model(s) as Backdrops • Participants will: • Learn to examine their institutions existing resources in • both the academic and student development arenas • Learn low-cost marketing strategies for attracting and • retaining minority students • Share ideas and resources for providing academic & student • support to minority students. • Contribute to a “best practices” document that will be available to • webinar participants after the session.

3. General Information RE: Academic Outcomes of Minority Students

4. Obstacles to Survival in a GLOBAL SOCIETY For Minority Students

5. After Access to EDUCATION, the Most Significant Obstacle to a Minority Student’s Survival in a Global Society is: RETENTION

6. Retention: Ability of an educational institution to retain a student from admission through graduation

7. Attrition: Inability of an educational institution to retain a student from admission through graduation

8. WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT RETENTION (& ATTRITION) • Wide Spread Interest • Minority Student Rates, particularly Minority Male • Retention Rates Continuously Lag Behind White • Students • Retention Rates Have Changed Very Little over the • Past 30 yrs • Cost of Attrition = Loss of Revenue

9. Cost of Attrition For a single student taking 12 credit hour per semester: 12 credit hours X $80/credit hour = $960.00 4 semesters @12 credits/semester = $3840.00 Multiply by attrition rate for first-time freshman of 33% (national attrition average) (For MCC – 3,000 first-time students) $3840 X 1,000 = a loss of $3,840,000 over 4 semesters

10. Other Costs of Attrition • Loss of revenue for the bookstore • Loss of revenue for the cafeteria • Loss of revenue for local businesses • Loss of other revenue for other campus entities • Loss of revenue to the community • Loss of institutional financial aid • Cost of recruitment of a replacement student

11. Review of the Literature on African American Student Retention: Summary of the Impact of Certain Social, Financial and Environmental Factors Females (+) Academic performance increases with association with academically successful peer (-) Self-esteem (-) Social expectations (-) First-generation (+) Mentor

12. Review of the Literature on African American Student Retention: Summary of the Impact of Certain Social, Financial and Environmental Factors Males (+) Academic performance increases with association with academically successful peer (+) Mentor

13. Review of the Literature on African American Student Retention: Summary of the Impact of Certain Social, Financial and Environmental Factors Females/Males (-) Levels of Parental Support (-) Limited Resources to pay for college (-) First-generation (-) Unprepared academically (-) Lack of Family/Community Support (-) Inadequate Financial Aid (-) Lack of Perception of Long-Term Benefits of Higher Ed

14. Which environmental factors do you see impacting students most frequently?

15. The MCC 2004 Retention Study on Perceptions of African American Males

16. Methodology • Independent consultants conducted study • Focus groups & phone interviews used to collect data • All campuses represented • Daytime & evening students included • Subjects were men from the African Diaspora (to include Caribbean, African, etc.)

17. Facilitation guide Study questions were generated to guide data-gathering, analysis, and consistency in interpretation An African American male consultant facilitated each focus group

18. StudyQuestions What guided your decision about attending college? What guided your decision about attending Manatee Community College? What assistance did you receive prior to the first day of classes? What assistance did you receive since classes started? What services and/or support do you feel you need to complete your academic goals at Manatee Community College?

19. Study Results (Top results for each question) • Decision re: College – Family (50%), Need for decent job (43%) • Decision re: MCC – Cost (17%), Convenience (21%), Peers/Parents (16%) • Assistance Received Prior to 1st Day of Class – NONE (33%) • Assistance Received During Semester – Trusted Instructor (51%) • Support/Services Needed for Success – Empathetic Staff (57%) • Prior Knowledge Needed – From male role model (47%) • Reason for non-use of MCC services/resources – Lack of male models and Empathetic staff (61%)

20. Recommendations • More African-American male faculty and advisors $ • Diversity training $ • Implementation of formal support system and workshops/seminars facilitated by African American male professionals $

21. Low cost alternative: Brother’s keeper • African American Student Union project • Male members organized to identify and intervene with FTIC/”at risk” A-A males each semester • “At risk” defined by members (personal knowledge, grades, “at risk” habits)

22. Brother’s Keeper Development • Increase Black male participation in AASU • BK activity only extended to those who became members • Students identified from Orientation student activity surveys • BK training consisted of understanding people, place, publication, and personal resources. • Advisor-implemented activities based on development theories from Cross (1971), Akbar (1984, 1991, 1998), Bandura (1977)

23. BK Activities • “Retention through leadership training” • OJT, men took on actual leadership roles • “Professional days” • dress for success, decision-making, and problem-solving. • Social & networking skill development • Dinner with motion picture director Spike Lee • Private reception with Rev. Jesse Jackson • Lecture by Maya Angelou

24. BK Activities (cont’d) • Personal skill development • “Learning better forms of self expression” workshop with Kwabena Dinizulu • Lunch meeting with Elaine Brown focusing on the need for Black males to work at overcoming the injustices they will inevitably face

25. Results: Anecdotal but positive • Active leadership encouraged as leadership and personal skills developed. 2.5 GPA required. • MCC AASU produced 4 of the 12 member board of directors for the Florida African American Student Association. • 6 male members of AASU participated as Keepers. 8 male students recruited for project. 5 new, 3 returning considered “at risk”. • 8 students persisted to the spring term.

26. Results (con’t) • “at risk” Brothers • 3 graduated & transferred to Florida State University, Florida A&M, and USF. • 2 transferred (Florida HBCU/Florida CC). • 3 remain and are training as “keepers” (including current AASU president) • Current BK leadership is has previous criminal background • Two parents gave positive feed-back regarding the difference observed in those young men considered “at risk”.

27. Greatest Result!! • College is institutionalizing the project • Currently designing and looking for creative funding resources • BK fully functioning by Fall 2009

28. This “low cost” alternative was initiated through a student activities organization. In what areas might you find similar opportunities?

29. Theoretical Frameworks and Models for Planning, Implementing, and Evaluating RETENTION INNOVATIONS

30. Retention Model(s)

31. TINTO, et. al. RETENTION MODEL

32. Conditions for Student Retention Settingsthat expect students to succeed Settings that provide clear and consistent information about institutional requirements and effective advising Settings that provide academic, social, and personal support Settings that involve them as valued members of the institution Settings that foster learning Tinto, 2007

33. Alan Seidman’s Retention Formula1 RET = E ID + (E + IN + C) IV 1 College Student Retention: Formula for Student Success AlanSeidman (Ed.) Westport, CT: American Council on Education / Praeger, 2005

34. Alan Seidman’s Retention Formula Retention = Early Identification Early Identification: Before enrollment, identify the academically and/or Socially “At Risk” Student

35. Alan Seidman’s Retention Formula Retention = Early Identification + (Early + Intensive + Continuous) Intervention • 1. Create an intervention either prior to or soon after enrollment • Create an intervention that is intensive to affect change. • Continue the intervention until change occurs.

36. Diffusion of Innovation Theory and Model

37. Diffusion is the “process by which an innovation is communicated through certain channels over a period of time among the members of a social system”. An innovation is “an idea, practice, or object that is perceived to be new by an individual or other unit of adoption”. Communication is a process in which participants create and share information with one another to reach a mutual understanding. Rogers, 1995

38. STAGES IN THE DIFFUSION ADOPTION PROCESS AWARENESS INTEREST EVALUATION/DECISION TRIAL ADOPTION

39. ADOPTER CATEGORIES Respectable Venturesome Traditional Deliberate Skeptical

40. Characteristics of Adopters of Innovations

41. Using the Diffusion Model to Categorize (and Plan) Retention Innovations for Minority Students

47. RECOMMENDATIONS for The Role of Academic and Non-Academic Factors in Improving College Retention

48. 1. Determine student characteristics and needs, set priorities among these areas of need, identify available resources, evaluate a variety of successful programs, and implement a formal comprehensive retention program that best meets institutional needs. 2. Take an integrated approach in retention efforts that incorporates both academic and non-academic factors into the design and development of programs to create a socially inclusive and supportive academic environment that addresses the social, emotional, and academic needs of students

49. Implement an early alert, assessment, and monitoring system • based on HSGPA, ACT Assessment scores, course placement tests, first semester college GPA, socioeconomic information, attendance records, and non-academic information derived from formal college surveys and college student inventories to identify and build comprehensive profiles of students at risk of dropping out. • Determine the economic impact of their college retention • programs and their time to degree completion rates through a cost-benefit analysis of student dropout, persistence, assessment procedures, and intervention strategies to enable informed decision-making with respect to types of interventions required—academic and non-academic, including remediation and financial support.

50. 5. Implement an early alert, assessment, and monitoring system based on HSGPA, ACT Assessment scores, course placement tests, first semester college GPA, socioeconomic information, attendance records, and non-academic information derived from formal college surveys and college student inventories to identify and build comprehensive profiles of students at risk of dropping out.