Fostering equitable engagement: A mixed-methods exploration of the engagement of racially diverse students in a comprehensive college transition program.

Abstract

While student engagement has long been associated with students' learning, development, and success, the climate and culture of historically white institutions often create barriers to engagement among racially minoritized students. Given the institutional responsibility to facilitate equitable engagement, there is a need for new policies and practices that meet students' needs. One increasingly popular intervention is comprehensive college transition programs (CCTPs) that provide multipronged approaches to promote the success of underrepresented students. While there is growing evidence that these programs benefit students' outcomes, very little research has explored how they might shape students' engagement-a prerequisite for student success. Therefore, this sequential explanatory mixed methods study used longitudinal data from a multicampus CCTP to understand various aspects of engagement among students with different racialized identities. We found that racially diverse students participating in a CCTP engaged similarly across groups with their peers, faculty, staff, and CCTP academic courses. Key explanations for the similar levels of engagement among racially diverse students that emerged from our analysis included the compositional diversity among students and educators, structured opportunities for meaningful interactions across racial groups, and the identity-conscious approaches used by educators in this CCTP. Our qualitative findings aligned with previous research on college environments, providing empirical evidence that such environments foster similar levels of engagement among racially diverse students. Thus, this study offers important implications for researchers, educators, and administrators to promote equitable engagement among increasingly racially diverse college students.

Engendering Immersion for International Low-Income Muslim Students in United States of America: Morgan State University as Case Study

“…This intervention project is benchmarked against Howard, Florida A&M, and Obafemi Awolowo Universities. Racial minority students may become disengaged from the classroom as a result of encounters with prejudice and racial stereotyping, which decreases their opportunities to participate in learning activities like communicating with classmates and professors (Culver et al, 2022). Replication of the successes at HU and OAU is thus encouraged.…”

Transformative leadership: BIPOC faculty and staff as catalysts for recruiting and sustaining a multicultural student body

“…Additionally, BIPOC faculty, staff, and current students can host programming that fosters a diverse and inclusive community by centering the lived experiences of students of color on a predominantly white campus. The identity-conscious approach values the voices of intercultural students and seeks to highlight their unique experiences rather than expecting them to be reflective of the majority culture on campus (Culver et al, 2022). Finally, Perspectives College can reject the neoliberal multiculturalism framework that Lawless (2021) describes as the way in which an institution publicly supports racial and ethnic diversity while maintaining systems and structures that uphold the status quo, or white supremacy, in this context.…”

“…This second finding asserts that multicultural programming focused on community-building is beneficial to improving the sense of belonging and connectedness students of color feel to their peers and entire campus community. Culver et al (2022) posit that for racially minoritized students, racism on predominantly white campuses is related to the disengagement from learning activities that includes interactions with peers and faculty. However, when institutions create intentional programming aimed at supporting students who have previously been excluded from institutional agendas, the impact is widespread, and persistence and enrollment numbers increase.…”

“…Programming such as the multicultural student orientation also serves as a method of introducing BIPOC students to in-group peers, faculty, and staff and helps them build a sense of community and connection to campus before the remainder of their peers arrive on campus. Culver et al (2022) state that:…”

“…A second argument that is further evidenced by Culver et al (2022) in their study of CCTPs is that institutions that adopt identity-conscious approaches to policy and program implementation have improved rates of engagement among their students of color. They report that "an identity-conscious approach acknowledges how students' identities shape their collegiate experiences and can be tied to their likelihood of success without focusing narrowly on identity development" (Culver et al, 2022, p 3).…”