What Are Summer Bridge Programs?

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.

With today’s changing world and the economy the way it is, it is not uncommon for people of all ages to enter the college setting. In fact, two-thirds of students entering the college setting are classified non-traditional (Brown, 2007). Bill (2003) found that there was an 11% increase of non-traditional student enrollment from 1991-1998 displaying 35% in 91 and 46% in 1998. These numbers have since increased according to Jacobson & Harris (2008) showing that half to 75% of undergraduates consist of the non-traditional student sitting the reasons for reentering the college setting to be economic. What exactly defines a non-traditional student and what services may they need in comparison to the traditional student.

For example seeing that Southeast Asians have the highest high school dropout rate (Le, 2011), we find it is due to the lack of resources available. This Summer Bridge program will address the issue of how the model minority myth that exists is actually not true and provide opportunities for Southeast Asian Americans in their college decision process. Furthermore, the Summer Bridge program will specifically help high school students who are in junior or senior year standing to get into four year universities. The program will start in the summer going into their junior year. They will direct target high schools that come from low socioeconomic backgrounds and have the lowest graduation rates and have the most Southeast Asian American backgrounds. The Summer Bridge program will be made up of three pathways, which will be counseling, outreach, and internship

The purpose of this action is to strive for equivalent open doors for everyone paying little heed to race or skin color. Race has always been a controversial factor in the college admission process. Critics who are supportive of the action say that colleges reach out toward minorities since they are the least diverse in the college environment. With the demographic they display they are urged most of the time to apply for college admission. Often these institutions offer some help to those minorities such

“Students who successfully adapt, establish social relationships with Whites, adjust to Black-White cultural differences, and cope with college

At one point, summer school was viewed as something negative, that only “bad” students who had failed a class or fell behind take in order to reach their peers’ levels. However, today summer school is seen as a big advantage that allows students to take courses before they are required to so they can take more rigorous classes sooner and make themselves for appealing for colleges. In the New York Times article, “Taking Summer School to Get Ahead, Not to Catch Up,” published on August 16, 2016, Kyle Spencer effectively incorporates ethos and logos to establish that taking summer classes to get ahead benefits a student’s chances of getting into college.

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.

In the United States alone, minorities have struggled for centuries to earn the basic rights and opportunities as others. African Americans have always worked harder and been treated maliciously just because of the color of their skin. There have been numerous movements, peaceful protests, and brutal battles by black leaders against whites for equality, justice, and a fair chance at a better life. It is safe to say that in the past, blacks were not allowed to progress or have a mind of their own. In comparison to the past, the educational sector for minorities still remains as an extreme societal challenge. For many years, African Americans have been denied educational advancement opportunities. The higher education area suffers greatly for the black population but very few people will address why this matter occurs. Do black families’ socioeconomic status affect the children’s education? The socioeconomic status is easily defined as an individuals or families’ economic and social rank based on income, education level, and occupation. The socioeconomic status of black families does affect their children’s academic success, however; it does not determine their children’s success. This educational disadvantage for black students needs to be addressed because of the lack of financial and emotional support that minority students receive due to their parents lack of experience and knowledge with higher education. Many black students become a product of their environment because

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).

To efficiently address the needs of nontraditional African American female students ages 25 to 50 it is important for colleges to understand and know this subgroup population (Strayhorn & Johnson, 2014; Walpole, et al., 2014). The research questions for this study are designed to gain an understanding of the perceptions and experiences of African American female students age 25 to 50 enrolled in developmental courses.

Zarate shows us the reality that minorities face when wanting AP courses; “It appears that schools with high minority student concentrations did not increase their AP course offerings to mirror similar-sized schools’ AP offerings” (Zarate,15). Even within these students who are under the college pathway, the limited college exam preparations, AP and honors classes that they receive are not enough to make them competitive when wanting admissions to higher education. These students who are under the college pathway are usually identified as “gifted” or talented students which is only around ten percent of the total student population. For the rest of the students who have the same ability to be taking these classes if their parents, teachers, counselors or themselves do not make an effort for the students to experience these classes they will always be behind and not be in the college pathway as the other students. “Their history, which involves educational tracking and sub-standard schools, has affected Latinos’ entry into higher education. Rather than accept the prevailing myths that Latinos and other students of color come from families that do not value higher education, this insists that we recognize how they have traditionally been tracked by ineffective schools into non-college-bound majors, which has resulted in their disproportionate attendance”

Racial/ethnic minority college students are often faced with unique stressors, such as minority status stress (Cokley, McClain, Enciso, & Martinez (2013).

In this article, Beth Bir and Mondrail Myrick are attempting to determine how the summer bridge program such as the program Creating Higher Expectations for Educational Readiness affects student success in college. The participants in this study were 1,891 African-American male and female students in developmental education at a four-year Historically Black University from 2008 to 2012, with an overall GPA of 2.52, a combined SAT score of 853, a first year rentention rate of 70%, and a second year rentention rate of 53%. The researchers found that those enrolled in the summer bridge program had lower high school gpas and SAT scores that non-participants. However, the researchers also found that overall those enrolled in a summer bridge program actually had higher GPAs and first and second year retention rates than students

Although many peoples’ most significant memories of college are those outside of the classroom, a degree is not conferred based upon such things. Rather, students’ academic performance is what determines whether students earn a degree or certificate. Academic issues were a point of concern at many institutions as incoming students often struggled with basic skills. Furthermore, international students who needed remedial English were less likely to persist (Mamiseishvili, 2012). There have been numerous issues, obstacles, and challenges that may inhibit a student’s ability to navigate the rigors of college. Much has been discussed concerning improved educational opportunities for minority and underrepresented students in