What Are Research Universities Doing for First-Year Students

Cutright, Marc

doi:10.1177/108648220200700404

Cited by 9 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 0 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The SLS program model was based on practice and theory on general institutional retention 3,4 a growing movement for first-year experiences 5 and retention theory specific to STEM majors 6 . The theoretical foundation and details of the model are reported elsewhere 2 , and are summarized below.…”

Section: Program Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The SLS program structured social and academic community building through common residence hall living assignments, common course scheduling, a specialized SLS seminar, time management and study skills training 12 , supplemental academic advising 10 , professional development and social events 5 . Research tells us that formalized mechanisms for structuring this integration are significant for many students of color and those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds whose prior social and academic experiences are less closely aligned with the structure and culture of university life 13 .…”

Section: Program Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Influences of S-STEM Funding: Final Outcomes of Four Year Scientific Leadership Scholars Program Including Improvements to Department Retention Practices

Eschenbach

Virnoche

Evans

2011 ASEE Annual Conference &Amp; Exposition Proceedings

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The NSF S-STEM sponsored Scientific Leadership Scholars (SLS) program at Humboldt State University (HSU) provides scholarships to a diverse cohort of students in Computing Science, Environmental Resources Engineering (ERE) or Mathematics. The program targeted financially eligible American Indian and first generation students from the HSU region. This paper reports the estimated final retention rates for the fourth and final year of the program and reports how the S-STEM funding has influenced educational practices in the ERE department. The lessons learned from SLS program have informed the ERE department Diversity and Retention Plan required by the new university accreditation process, whose purpose is to increase retention of diverse students in all majors. One part of the plan that was informed by the SLS project is the implementation of a peer mentoring program for first year engineering (ERE) students. The peer mentoring program was started due to the SLS project outcomes that indicated the importance of peer mentoring. Assessment of the new peer mentoring program is not yet complete. In addition, based on outcomes from the SLS project, the ERE department is encouraging the university to implement Triesman model workshops in introductory STEM courses and to implement targeted recruiting of underrepresented minorities to the engineering program. The SLS group persisting into year three remained more diverse than earlier corresponding major cohorts: 22 (59%) were either women and/or underrepresented minority (URM) students in STEM. In the 2007-08 academic year, 36 Cohort 1 students entered the program. Of the Cohort 1 freshmen, 23 (66%) persisted into their second year and 12 (33%) persisted into their third year as SLS majors. White and Asian Cohort 1 students were more likely to persist than STEM URM students (47%, n= 8 compared to 21%, n=4). In 2008-09, 15 additional SLS students were added. Of these students, 12 (80%) persisted into their third year as an SLS major. While all white students (6) in Cohort 2 persisted, 67% (6) of the underrepresented students persisted. All 4 women in Cohort 2 persisted. There was no significant difference in the persistence based on gender or first generation status. These earlier results have already been presented. The SLS program has supported 51 students over the past 4 years. Of these students, 54% where underrepresented minorities and 70% were underrepresented in STEM. In reporting our retention results, we spilt our scholarship recipients into two groups: Group 1-New Diversity and Group 2-Supporting Diversity. The Group 1 students were at a higher risk of leaving the university. By their fifth academic year 22% of Group 1 students will either have graduated or continued in their STEM pathway course Page 22.870.2 taking. Group 1 major persistence rates were similar to what have been reported by others (30-70%). The Group 2 students were recruited from students already successful in the SLS majors at HSU. Group 2 has a very high persistence rate in their majors. By the...

show abstract

Section: Program Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Program Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

Influences of S-STEM Funding: Final Outcomes of Four Year Scientific Leadership Scholars Program Including Improvements to Department Retention Practices

Eschenbach

Virnoche

Evans

2011 ASEE Annual Conference &Amp; Exposition Proceedings

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…For example, Cutright (2002), determined several themes, which influence research universities in developing student's success in the first-year: 1) diffusing the first-year programs on a university level; 2) housing first-year initiatives on the colleges' level or in departments; 3) adopting varied strategies or approaches for first-year programs; 4) adopting learning communities as a main strategy for first-year programs; 5) assessing and developing learning and teaching strategies of the first-year; 6) developing the relationship between academic and student affairs, especially in terms of the admission policy; and 7) using benchmark and assessment tools to evaluate the first-year experience.…”

Section: Student's Success In the First-year Collegementioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing the Alignment of Preparatory Year Program Vision, Mission, and Goals Statements with First-Year Student Success Principles

Alghamdi¹

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Using student development theories to develop and deliver first-year students programs is critical to ensure program quality and to understand students actual needs (Cubarrubia and Schoen, 2010; Upcraft & Gardner, 1989). The majority of Saudi universities established the Preparatory Year Programs for firstyear students in 2005 or beyond. This study answers the following four research questions: 1) For each university, to what extent do the Preparatory Year Programs' vision, mission, and goals statements align with the Seven Principles of Students' Success in the first-year of university?; 2) What common key elements cited in the Seven Central Principles of Students Success are most often included in the Preparatory Year Programs' vision, mission, and goals statements?; 3) For all Saudi public universities, what is the format and frequency of the Preparatory Year Programs' vision, mission, and goals statements?; and 4) How do the Preparatory Year Programs' vision, mission, and goals statements compare or contrast in content between universities, according to geographical location, size, the Preparatory Year Programs' date of establishment, and gender? This study used the nine steps of Content Analysis (CA) developed by Neuendorf (2002) to assess the alignment of the Preparatory Year Program's vision, mission, and goals statements with the Seven Central Principles of Student Success advanced by Cuseo (2014), and to also explore universities trends in developing the Preparatory Year Programs' students. The nonrandom sampling process, purposive sampling, was utilized for all 28 Saudi public universities. The Unit of Thoughts (UT) extracted from the vision, mission, and goals statements was counted, coded, and used to assess the alignment extent. A pilot study was conducted on seven Preparatory Year Program's (25%) to test the codebook and coding for reliability, validity, and consistency, which resulted in 100% agreement between the researcher and two coders. The descriptive statistics were then reported. The Self-Efficacy (S.E.) Principle was cited the most in the vision, mission, and goals statements; also, the Social Integration (S.I.) Principle in the second level of alignment. Preparing students for university study was the common format and frequency of vision, mission, and goals statements associated with the seven principles. Furthermore, this study found that different universities, founded in different regions and under different conditions, have similar mission and vision statements; with this, each university or Preparatory Year Program should have a unique need and identity, and its students should have different needs. The study's finding suggests that the Preparatory Year Programs may articulate and develop its vision, mission, and goals statements based on the Students Success Principles, Students' Development Theory, and First-Year Theory to create a shared vision toward better understating of the programs components.

show abstract

“…In other words, the PYP program may need to embrace a talent development philosophy that takes into account students' diversity, background, characteristics, and actual needs. (Kuh, Kinzie, Buckley, Bridges, & Hayek, 2006) Furthermore, Cutright (2002), determined several themes which influence research universities in developing the first-year program's design and structure: 1) diffusion of first-year programs on the university level; 2) housing first-year initiatives on the colleges' level or in departments; 3) adoption of varied strategies or approaches for first-year programs; 4) adoption of learning communities as a main strategy for first-year programs; 5) assess and develop learning and teaching strategies of first-year programs; 6) develop the relationship between academic and student affairs, especially in terms of the admission policy; and 7) use benchmark and assessment tools to evaluate the first-year experience. The majority of higher education institutions develop their first-year program design and structure to gain positive common characteristics of new first-year students, including skills and knowledge to use technology, which is a trend toward social work and team activity, the ability to access and acquire information, focus less on school work and emphasize a future career plan, improve familial/parental involvement, and create a passion to learn more with higher expectations (Keeling, 2003;Newton, 2000).…”

Section: A Comprehensive Set To Develop a Conceptual Framework Of Thementioning

confidence: 99%

Using Concept MappingPattern Matching to Develop a Conceptual Framework for Successful Transition of First Year Saudi Students into Postsecondary Education

Alghamdi¹

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The Preparatory Year Program (PYP) considers a new phenomenon in Saudi higher education. This study identified the future ideal functions of PYP and developed a conceptual framework for the program at King Saud University. Four research questions were answered in this study including: 1) Using the Concept Mapping/Pattern Matching methodology, how do Saudi male and female postsecondary stakeholders conceptualize the future ideal functions of Preparatory Year Deanship to help students successfully transition into their first year of college/university?; 2) Does this Concept Mapping/Pattern Matching conceptualization compare and contrast with the current working model of the Preparatory Year Program at King Saud University?; 3) Does this Concept Mapping/Pattern Matching conceptualization compare and contrast with King Saud University's explicit strategic plan?; and 4) When conducting a Concept Mapping/Pattern Matching conceptualization, how do the results for males compare and contrast with the results for females?The Concept Mapping/Pattern Matching methodology advanced by (Trochim 1989a(Trochim , 1989bKane & Trochim, 2007) utilized for data collection and analyzing. Fourteen male including 2-PYP students, 1-Medicine College Faculty, 1-Business Administration College Faculty, 1-Engineering College Faculty, 4-PYP Faculty, 1-Academic Advising Faculty at PYP, 1-Students Affairs Faculty at KSU, 1-Students Affairs at PYP, and 2-Educational Company and nine female including 3-PYP' students, 1-Pharmacy College Faculty, 2-PYP Faculty, 2-Parents, and 1-Educational Company participated in two separate brainstorming sessions. The male participants generated 48 statements and the female group generated 36 statements. The participants in each group sorted the generating statements individually into groups and rated them based on a five-point scale for relative importance and institutional efficacy.For each group male/female the Multidimensional Scaling and Hierarchical Cluster Analysis were conducted to create various concept maps, the final one being a seven-cluster and six-cluster concept map for male and female, respectively, representing the stakeholders' conceptualization of the field being studied. Following the creation of the concept maps for each group, the resulting priorities and their conceptualization schema were both compared and contrasted to the current working model of PYP and the explicit strategic plan of KSU (KSU2030) for similarities and differences in a qualitative document analysis. The male and female perceptions were also compared and contrasted.The study revealed three main dimensions for developing PYP at KSU including Organizational design and structure, Pedagogical functionality, and Student services. Further, seven foundational principles may be embraced to develop the three dimensions previously mentioned including: 1) adopting a talent philosophy to first meet student's needs and then the institution's mission; 2) a flexible PYP model to meet individual student's needs; (3) applying a pedagogical...

show abstract

What Are Research Universities Doing for First-Year Students

Abstract: Do research universities really care about their undergraduate population? What steps are being taken to create supportive environments? A new study looks at what these universities are doing for first-year students.

Cited by 9 publications

References 0 publications

Influences of S-STEM Funding: Final Outcomes of Four Year Scientific Leadership Scholars Program Including Improvements to Department Retention Practices

Influences of S-STEM Funding: Final Outcomes of Four Year Scientific Leadership Scholars Program Including Improvements to Department Retention Practices

Assessing the Alignment of Preparatory Year Program Vision, Mission, and Goals Statements with First-Year Student Success Principles

Using Concept MappingPattern Matching to Develop a Conceptual Framework for Successful Transition of First Year Saudi Students into Postsecondary Education

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About