Supporting Veterans’ Success

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Supporting Veterans’ Success Developing a program to serve Veterans' reading/writing/math needs Karen Lemke, Ed.S Director of College Readiness Programs Adams State University

Transcript of Supporting Veterans’ Success

Page 1: Supporting Veterans’ Success

Supporting Veterans’ Success

Developing a program to serve Veterans'

reading/writing/math needs

Karen Lemke, Ed.SDirector of College Readiness ProgramsAdams State University

Page 2: Supporting Veterans’ Success

We want higher education institutions to serve our whole population.

– 10% of San Luis Valley Colorado residents are Veterans (according to former Alamosa mayor Kathy Rogers at Veteran Coalition meeting 7/15/14)

– Approx 53% of Alamosa residents are Hispanic (according to http://www.city-data.com/city/Alamosa-Colorado.html)

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Being intentional about targeting supports to student populations

• “Weak institutions are those that expect students to engage themselves” (Harper & Quaye, 2009, p 6).

• We must put intentional effort into programs to support student success, especially for underrepresented populations.

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Veterans are an important and growing population attending our colleges, especially in Southern Colorado. I am a Veteran, and I am honored to be helping returning service members in their transition to higher education.

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ASC’s Graduating Class May 2011

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ASC’s Graduating Class May 2011, circles indicating student who wouldn’t have graduated without

Developmental Coursework: 30.66%88 of the 287 would not have had the opportunity to graduate.

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Profile of ASU students who require remediation

Student Characteristic Percent

Hispanic 54%

Ethnic Minority 70.2%

First Generation 63.4%

Low Income (Pell Eligible) 74%

2011 ASU STAY Program Enrollees

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Profile of ASU Graduates

Spring Graduation % non-White, Ethnic minority

2011 28%

2012 38%

2013 39%

2014 44%

Source: ASU Institutional Reporting, July 22, 2014

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The profile of the students entering our institution should look like the

profile of the students graduating from our institutions. Adams State does

better than many institutions, but we could do better.

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Two Paradigm shifts in Developmental Education

• Centralized Dev Ed programmingProgramscustomized to specific populations

• ExclusivityInclusivity

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Delivery of Developmental Education

• One-size-fits-all model

• “Silver Bullet”

– Traditional 16 week, tuition-funded, face-to-face, classroom-based course

– May take as many as 5 semesters

– 12, 15 or more FTE in non-credit course

• Programs customized to unique populations

• “Silver Buckshot”

– On-line

– Cohort-based learning

– Supplemental Academic Instruction

– Boot camp

– College @ HS

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Exclusivity Inclusivity

• Historically, Higher Ed has prided itself on its claims to its “exclusivity”

– Students with high test scores

– Faculty from Ivy League Schools

– # of Valedictorians matriculated

– High stakes courses which “weed out” the unworthy

• Today, we should instead focus on INCLUSIVITY

– How can we support the most students achieving their academic and professional goals?

– How do we create supportive environments which keep students IN and ENGAGED?

(Hirt, 2006) (Harper & Quaye, 2009)

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Discussion: Constructivist Listening Dyad

• Take a few minutes to discuss these paradigm shifts and their implications for your work with students.

• Dyad rules:– 2 minutes per speaker– Listener honors the speaker by not speaking or

interjecting—just creating space for speech, silence and reflection.

– Confidentiality is maintained.– The talker does not complain about mutual colleagues

during their time.

Source: NSRF Harmony http://www.nsrfharmony.org/system/files/protocols/dyad_1.pdf

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Report out

• What were some ideas which came to you about these paradigm shifts?

• Comment on your own comments/insights—your partners are free to keep their thoughts to themselves or to share them if they wish.

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The New Model

• Use Qualitative Research to discover traits of target populations we wish to serve.

• Identify best practices to serve those populations.

• Conduct focus groups with the target population to confirm best interventions for their success.

• Pilot/implement supports catered to their unique traits/needs.

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Proposed Veteran Program

• Work with Veteran Support Organizations and research existing literature about traits of Veteran students. Veteran traits include: – ASSETS: Highly motivated, Goal-oriented,

organized, mission-focused, Leadership skills, Work well in diverse teams, buddy oriented, see ‘the big picture’, have ethic of “No man left behind”, may have already completed college credits

– RISKS: Reluctant to self-identify or ask for help

Source from Colorado Veteran Higher Education Summit, August 1, 2014

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Proposed Veteran program (continued)

• Best practices for these traits:– Peer-learning teams– Entering class is a ‘unit’ with a ‘mission’; some students may

need additional supports with math or English, but are enrolled together as a team in the same college-level coursework and assigned a peer-buddy for academic support. Everyone finishes the college-level course together.

– Offer accelerated online programming for motivated students to work through before the beginning of the semester, while they are still in their duty station.

– Peer tutoring is the expectation, not something one opts into partway through the semester.

– Partner with Veterans Upward Bound at regional campuses (Pueblo, Colorado Springs, Denver)

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References

• Abbas, I. (2014, August 1). Personal Communication at Colorado Veteran Higher Education Summit.

• Alamosa, Colorado, 81101. (2014, August 8). Retrieved from http://www.city-data.com/city/Alamosa-Colorado.html

• Bryson, P. (2014, July 22). Personal Communication of ASU Institutional Reporting Data.

• Harper, S. & Quaye, S. (2009). Student engagement in higher education: Theoretical perspectives and practical approaches for diverse populations. New York, NY: Routledge.

• Hirt, J. B. (2006). Where you work matters: Student affairs administration at different types of institutions. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

• NSRF Harmony http://www.nsrfharmony.org/system/files/protocols/dyad_1.pdf

• Rogers, K. (July 15, 2014). Personal Communication at Veteran Coalition meeting in Alamosa, CO.