Underrepresented Students

Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) are experiencing low retention rates with first generation college students. The students are not graduating within a four to six year enrollment period, and or are not returning after their freshmen year. As the American workforce looks to colleges and universities to fulfill the workforce pipeline with educated diverse workers, HBCUs are in the spotlight to produce qualified minority graduates. Moreover, HBCU’s are looking to refine their methods of inclusion and buy-in, this will in-turn manifest a higher level of retention amongst first generation college students.

Students attend school starting at pre-school then kindergarten, kindergarten to first grade and leading up to middle school then high school, the classes and teachers are supposed to prepare them for the next level. With the correct preparation and tools, after graduating high school, many students have their mind set on attending college as the next level. However many African-American male students who do have the ability to graduate high school, are not prepared for their next level which is college. Due to the quality of these schools “the school districts in urban neighborhoods have fewer academic offerings, less qualified teachers, out of date materials and lower quality curriculum” (WOOD, J. (2011), results in the poor education of the minority students attending them. Also due to the different academic and environment backgrounds that white and black students come from, many teachers are unaware of how to teach black students and how to gain their attention in the classroom. Other than

Minorities are a growing segment of the population. However, this group continues to be underrepresented in the area of post secondary education. Obtaining an advanced degree remains a likely predictor of future career success. The problem facing the minority student is that barriers persist which continue to hinder enrollment, retention, and graduation rates in institutions of higher education. These barriers must be identified and examined and solutions offered if college completion rates are to be increased for this population.

Today's education is often viewed as failing in its goal of educating students, especially those students characterized as minorities, including African American, Hispanic, and Appalachian students (Quiroz, 1999). Among the minority groups mentioned, African American males are affected most adversely. Research has shown that when Black male students are compared to other students by gender and race they consistently rank lowest in academic achievement (Ogbu, 2003), have the worst attendance record (Voelkle, 1999), are suspended and expelled the most often (Raffaele Mendez, 2003; Staples, 1982), are most likely to drop out of school, and most often fail to graduate from high school or to earn a GED (Pinkney, 2000; Roderick, 2003).

African-American women have not received much consideration in the literature although they are a rising presence on college campuses (Strayhorn & Johnson, 2014). In fact, nationally 4 million women are enrolled in community colleges, 36% are African-American raising children alone, in which adds additional challenges in improving persistence and graduation (Goldrick-Rab & Sorensen, 2011, Institute for Women’s Policy Research, 2013, American Association of Community Colleges, 2016, Shapiro, Dundar, & Huie, 2017). More specifically, female, single heads of households, lack consistent and affordable daycare, have problems balancing their family and work responsibilities, and are more likely to drop out due to financial issues (Kuh, Kinzie, Buckley, Bridges, & Hayek, 2006, Goldrick-Rab & Sorensen, 2011, Rose & Hill, 2013). Furthermore, in an examination of six-year completion results from the fall 2010 cohort states, over 58% of black women have attended college, however, only 29% graduated with a degree or certificate

After school programs have always been a staple in the lives of students living in Urban Communities providing different opportunities inside and outside of the school. Many programs have used mentoring and afterschool programs to help bridge the gap between secondary education and higher education. But, the effects of socioeconomic status has continued to contribute to the prevention of African Americans entering postsecondary institutions (NCES 2007). It seems that the issues preventing African American students are deeper than statistics and need a different approach to tackle this issue.

The racial achievement gap is a highly talked about issue within education in the United States. It refers to the differences in standardized test scores between black students and white students. Even though this issue is still prevalent today, it has improved greatly from the past. Ever since Brown v. Board of Education, where the supreme court ruled that it was unconstitutional for schools to be racially segregated, the racial achievement gap has become smaller. However, it still exists which has led many people to wonder why and design experiments to figure out what could be causing it. The racial achievement gap is a big issue because it shows that black students are falling behind in school which can lead to them not going to college or dropping out. It is also an issue because all students deserve to have an equal education and they should all have a chance to succeed in life. In order to fulfill equal education for everyone, the reasons for the achievement gap need to be found and fixed. Some people have already investigated independent variables that could impact the achievement gap such as personal faith, self-affirmation, and students schoolmates. However, not many experiments have been done to test the impact of unequal spending per pupil on the racial achievement gap. In this paper, an experiment will be designed to investigate the possible effects it has on the gap with a hypothesis that the unequal spending increases the achievement gap.

We've been told that college is a game changer. Go to college and it will open doors for you. There will finally be opportunities available that were once reserved for the privileged few. What they didn't tell you is that there were hidden costs associated with this education.

Historically, certain groups have been underrepresented and unsuccessful in higher education. These groups include Hispanics, Latinos, African Americans, etc. Efforts have been made at the federal and institutional level to reverse this phenomenon, namely Brown vs. The Board of Education and Affirmative Action. Despite these efforts, African Americans, or Blacks, still lag behind in graduation rates relative to other races and Black males even more so. There has been a myriad of research done and solutions offered to combat this problem. I argue that access to positive Black male role models, increased financial aid, and increased out of class engagement will increase graduation rates for Black males. I also offer my own perfect program,

While an effort has been made to allow for a more seamless transition from high school to college or from AEL to college, there still is not a strong effort to increase persistence among African American students. According to Bush and Bush, (2010), African American males, in particular, are “under-achieving and lag behind their counterparts in the community college system. . .” (p. 52). With AEL aligning with the community college model, one could conclude that African American males are lagging behind their counterparts in AEL as well. According to Bush and Bush (2010), “There is a pronounced scarcity of educational literature and research about the community college system in general and African American

Many racial minority applicants to higher education and jobs have to contend with stereotypes of their group as incompetent. Studies have highlighted a racial gap in which Black applicants receive worse evaluations than White applicants with identical resumes (e.g., Betrand & Mullainathan, 2002). One way that applicants can bolster their applications is through featuring awards and honors, which might be diversity relevant or not. In this work, we examine two types of awards, identity-signaling and identity neutral awards. Identity-signaling awards are granted by identity-based organizations and are meant to signal competence in contexts where group members are underrepresented. Importantly, they offer information about the social

Underrepresented College Students: A Social Capital Perspective. Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, 3(2), 111-125. doi: 10.1037/a0019249

At the MTSU library we have made an effort to reach out to underrepresented students, particularly first-generation and international students. As a regional comprehensive University that is centrally located within the state, we are often the first choice for high-achieving first-generation college students. The students are often underprepared for college; library services and support can help them to find a place on campus and succeed in their studies.

Students today are still inferior to White’s when measuring academic success by variables such as high school GPA, standardized testing, college acceptance, and college graduation. Other variables such as peer influence, parent expectations, and socioeconomic status has been seen as significant contributions to Latino and African American academic success (Davis ad Otto This is a real problem within the United States of America as there is still an academic gap. The educational pipeline has shown that 44% of Mexican students entering the educational pipeline did not complete their high school diploma. Twenty-seven percent of the high school graduates went on to college and only 10% completed their bachelor’s degree (Covarrubias,

During their tedious college search, high school students often have a list of characteristics in their head that they would like their future school to have. Traits such as distance from home, price, availability of majors, clubs, and sports play an important role in every student’s decision. Some students prefer big schools, and some prefer small ones. The magnificent thing about colleges is that they are everywhere, and they come in all different shapes and sizes. However, that is what makes the college search so difficult for some students. They have to choose what factors are most important to them. Amongst the colleges of the Midwest, one stands out in particular. Webster University. This University is the “only Tier 1, private, non-profit U.S-based university with a network of international residential campuses,” as it is stated on the school’s Twitter. Webster is highly accredited and loved by many. Webster University is a wonderful choice because it gives students sufficient preparation for the real world.