Retention Through Curriculum Development

Designing university curriculum is an important component to improve student retention and engagement. At the University of East London, the institution took to the curriculum as an opportunity to improve student progression and retention. In a time where UEL needed to make significant changes to the student experience, satisfaction, progression, retention, and graduation rates, bold steps were taken to ensure that their academic offering would support their strategic vision. The chapter provides the context of UEL's curriculum design journey and the results from those changes. A brief literature review is on the correlation between curriculum and retention. Next, the document analysis will show the experience of administrators during this process. The chapter closes by providing replicable and scalable opportunities that can be learned from their experience.

A Partnership Model to Improve Retention, Increase Degree Completion, and Reduce Achievement Gaps

Funded by Lumina Foundation, the HBCU Student Success Project is a collaboration among three HBCUs – Dillard University, Howard University, and Morgan State University to implement empirically based retention strategies to increase first- and second-year retention and degree completion rates and to reduce degree attainment gaps between targeted groups on their campuses. This chapter chronicles the processes used by Lumina and the participating institutions to develop and implement a project that would result in the identification of evidence-based strategies and a model for creating and sustaining effective student success partnerships among postsecondary institutions, particularly HBCUs.

Sense of Belonging and Student Success at Historically Black Colleges and Universities

The purpose of this chapter is to posit sense of belonging as a key to educational success for all students, as well as a tool for strategic enrollment management and student success at HBCUs. Drawing connections between a recent survey of KIPP alumni and literature about HBCUs, this chapter reviews extant literature on the history and significance of Black colleges, the faculty and staff employed by HBCUs, and students educated at HBCUs. Then, the chapter posits sense of belonging as a critical factors in their academic success, using Strayhorn's theory of college students belonging. Strong implications for policy, practice, and programs are included.

Black College Student Success

This chapter is focused on helping the reader gain a deeper understanding of academic environments at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) that lead to student success, considering academic, social, political, and financial issues within this context. The authors reviewed the salient literature on academic and student success, pertaining to the HBCU environment, while also providing recommendations for practitioners and scholars who want to make change at their institutions and beyond.

Developing Servant Leaders in Education

There is scant evidence of minority male recruitment programs that have persisted over a span of 18 years other than the Call Me MISTER program. While the Call Me MISTER program recruits, retains, and prepares minority male teachers at both Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and Historically White Colleges and Universities (HWCUs), the chapter will focus specifically on the cohorts at the four HBCUs in South Carolina. Some retention approaches that will be explored in this chapter include (1) the Call Me MISTER program, (2) academic/co-curricula model, and (3) social/cohort and living and learning communities. These approaches have produced favorable outcomes for the Call Me MISTER program in the persistence of their graduates who are now teachers.

The African-American Male First-Year Experience

The retention of African-American male students in U.S. institutions of higher education is a complex and multifaceted problem that is comprised of both individual and institutional factors. Researchers have highlighted several individual factors that inhibit the academic persistence of African-American men in higher education institutions including poor academic preparation, financial constraints, low self-esteem, a lack of student involvement, and a lack of “connectedness” to the institution. This chapter will shed light on the state of the African-American male students engaged in higher education. It will also reveal the impact of this population's participation in various versions of first-year experience (FYE) programs.

Where Do We Go From Here?

For over 150 years, Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) have played a significant role in providing a quality education to millions of families. The nation's HBCUs add a rich texture to the fabric of higher education in the United States. Their legacy is one of access and opportunity. In order for HBCUs to continue their legacy, they will need to continually examine their retention and engagement strategies, particularly when there are major factors that contribute to an institution's credibility and financial stability at a time when greater emphasis is being placed on these indicators in higher education in the United States. It is critically important HBCUs to address the challenges surrounding student retention and engagement, especially for traditionally underrepresented groups, and start a dialogue to embrace change and improvement in their efforts to increase retention and student engagement.

Engaging Millennial Students Through Social Media Usage and Its Impact on HBCU Persistence

This chapter will explore the perception millennial college students hold regarding the engagement of social media use and its impact on their college persistence at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). The topic of student persistence in postsecondary education continues to be a matter of significant importance. A third or more students leave four-year public colleges and universities at the end of their first year, and about 40% of students who begin college will never earn a degree. Despite all the attention to improving student retention, most institutional persistence rates have remained stagnant.

Advancing Retention and Engagement Strategies Through Effective Online Mediums

Historically Black Colleges and Universities in the USA continue to play a pivotal role in educating students within the African diaspora as they provide a practical and resourceful platform for students to develop a sense of belonging through community and organizational outreach activities on campus. However, the student population in higher education as we used to know has changed, and adult learners now make up a large majority of the enrolled population. This chapter aims to review the history of online education and will provide a conceptual framework for incorporating online learning in an institution's student success plan for both their traditional and non-traditional students. The author will also review the needs of the adult learners and provide an overview of how the development and integration of online learning programs and collaborative efforts with other institutions through dual enrollment and degree MOU programs can foster growth at Historically Black Colleges and Universities.