This post was originally published on this site.
What does student success mean? Some colleges associate student success with high graduation rates, others focus on alumni achievements, and then other colleges emphasize test scores and grades. Since institutions use different definitions regarding the term “student success,” it raises a critical question: Who are we leaving behind?
The declining enrollment of Black male students nationally tells us we are not looking at the term student success from a lens of understanding and care. The data shows that, from 2011 through 2020, there was a 39% drop in Black male enrollment in colleges across the United States. This decline should be alarming and open our eyes to a deeper issue within our educational system. How many institutions are aware or have acted on this information? The COVID-19 pandemic only exacerbated the issue. We know it is not just external factors like the pandemic that are to blame. There are significant internal barriers within colleges that contribute to this decline. These barriers often go unnoticed. So, these students are often unnoticed and left behind as well.
Rather than use funds from the college foundation to assist students who are on a financial hold. Foundations continue to focus on awarding scholarships to students who navigate and matriculate in college with ease. When this happens, we leave behind students who do not fit perfectly into the traditional definitions of student success. Meanwhile, those who are struggling to make ends meet or who are so often completely unfamiliar with the complexities of the college system are not showing up for the next fall term for enrollment. Have we failed to make these students feel like they “matter?” Is the effort to treat students as if they “matter” a part of student success?
Dual enrollment students provide colleges with another opportunity to become a bridge to higher education. This area is extremely underutilized by students of color. Traditionally, colleges offer classes to dual enrollment students without intent to convert them to on-campus, full-time students. Rather than prioritizing dual enrollment students, who already have a relationship with the college, foundations continue to focus on reviewing scholarship applications from students who are already students enrolled on campus, full-time. When this happens, the dual enrollment students usually take a few classes from the college and then enroll full-time at another higher education institution. This lack of attention to convert dual enrollment to on-campus, full-time students represent missed opportunities to expand the direction and narrative of student success.
Adult learners are frequently forgotten in discussions of student success. They are commonly known as our GED (General Educational Development) students. In many cases, the GED is viewed as a non-credit community education service rather than a legitimate pathway to college. Overlooking these potential students only adds to the perspective that is damaging because it questions the efforts of demonstrating who matters and who should be included in the narrative of student success. Rather than seeing GED graduates as potential college students, many institutions treat them as a separate population altogether, offering few resources or opportunities to help them transition into college. This is a significant oversight because it reinforces the false idea that the narrow view of student success continues only to involve the elite few.
It is crucial for colleges to recognize that student success is not a linear topic that only applies to the traditional students who are already winning. There are a variety of other indicators that prevent non-traditional students with successful retention. Colleges need to review academic schedules for barriers with retention. Are schedules designed with student retention in mind? All to often, if a student misses the enrollment deadline for a program, they must wait until the next academic year to re-enroll at the college. Why can’t a student step out and step back in to enroll without waiting a year?
As higher education practitioners, we are in the business of helping others and uplifting their life opportunities through degree attainment. Colleges should consider their practices and ask themselves who we are leaving behind? Are colleges only serving the students who fit their traditional definitions of student success, or are they expanding the intent of student success to see more marginalized populations enrolled in college from fall to fall?
This shift in focus requires a commitment to first generation college students, equity, and inclusion. Colleges must recognize that every person has the potential to succeed, but not every student starts from the same place. According to Paul LeBlanc’s, Broken: How Our Social Systems are Failing Us and How We Can Fix Them, “…As we think about improving and rehumanizing systems, getting it right means that the people we serve believe that they matter, we know them, invest in them, and value them. When we do it well, our own people will also be uplifted…”
The person that didn’t return this fall semester to college has a name. Do we know it?
“Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me, and I learn.” – Benjamin Franklin
Dr. Merrill L Irving Jr is senior executive of advisory services at Ferrilli.
Dr. Tammy Robinson is president of Metropolitan Community College’s Penn Valley Campus and president of the National Council on Black American Affairs: NCBAA.