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Academic Support

“Respondents noted that the current educational system does not do as good a job preparing African American students for higher education as it does their white peers. Midwives stated that a commitment to meeting the needs of underrepresented students is required in order to increase retention rates. They identified three strategies to meet this need: promote mentorship, foster peer support and provide academic support.” - Yamasaki McLaughlin, 2012, p. 42-43

"Retention strategies included using mentors to counsel students on the challenges of midwifery school, fostering peer support among students and academic support (Gardner, 2005; Peter, 2005).”

- Yamasaki McLaghlin p. 49

Why Needed?
Examples
Why Needed?

  • Unequal opportunities in early and secondary education impact future academic preparedness. 

    • "Students of color with the same tests scores as white and Asian students are less likely to be placed in advanced classes."
       

    • “Because of race and class segregation and its relationship to local school revenues, students in high-poverty racially segregated schools are not exposed to high-quality curricula, highly qualified teachers, or important social networks as often as students in wealthier, predominantly White schools.”
      (Race Matters: Unequal Opportunities in Education)
       

  • "Participants emphasized not knowing expectations of nursing courses prior to admission, needing advisement of studying and test-taking techniques, and experiencing fear, stress, and anxiety." (Payton, Howe, Timmons & Richardson, 2013, p. 176).
     

  • For more on the impact of Childhood Experiences and Family Resources, see p.17-18 (USDE 2016)

Resources
Resources

  • “In general, student support services are associated with improved academic outcomes throughout the student’s college experience.” (USDE, 2016, p.39)
     

  • "To offset the attrition rate, the author describes a shifting paradigm between the traditional faculty advisor role and the innovative faculty coach role. The new faculty coach role includes teaching at-risk students to use learning and motivational strategies and self-management skills to improve academic success. The author provides readers with successful strategies to improve student retention by developing active learners who take responsibility for their own learning." (Peter, C. (2005). Learning—Whose responsibility is it? Nurse Educator, 30(4))
     

  • "Start small: Some of the strategies that can be used are getting to know your student profile characteristics in order to recognize any actual or perceived barriers to retention (Escallier & Fullerton, 2009). 'Student profile characteristics may strongly identify the need to further explore individual strengths and weaknesses' (Jeffreys, 2004, p. 30). This is important because the professor–student relationship can influence how well a student may adapt to your program." (Donahue & Glodstein, 2013, p.3)
     

  • "Assessing student learning styles provides information for the best way to approach our teaching. This can help us make decisions about how we structure our class and the types of assignments we use in order to maximize the potential of the student. 'It is always useful to have students take one of the many free learning style inventories available online; such inventories yields a personalized assessment of the preferred way to process information (e.g., visual, auditory, kinesthetic)' (Bednarz et al., 2010, p. 258). According to Riding (2005), learning performance increased when individual student differences and characteristics were taken into account, compared to an approach that did not take account of the students' individual differences (p.55).”  (Donahue & Glodstein, 2013, p.3)
     

  • Effland, K. J., & Hays, K. (2018). A web-based resource for promoting equity in midwifery education and training: Towards meaningful diversity and inclusion. Midwifery, 61, 70-73.

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Examples

​For more on Support Services for Students, see p. 39-41 (USDE 2016)
 

  • "The retention coordinator...had a special interest and background in working with minority nursing students and worked to maximize the students' potential for success by teaching classes on study and test-taking skills. Information was shared about additional educational support services on campus, such as the writing center, library tours, and financial services. Whenever students received a grade lower than a C+ on an examination, the coordinator reviewed the tests with the students and helped them develop strategies to improve their performance."
    (Gardner, J. D. (2005). A successful minority retention project. The Journal of Nursing Education, 44(12), 566-568.)
     

  • Bagnardi, M., & Perkel, L. K. (2005). The learning achievement program: Fostering student cultural diversity. Nurse Educator, 30(1), 17-20.

“One significant challenge is helping students transition academically when they have attended schools with

fewer resources,

less-qualified teachers, and limited college prep coursework,

as well as “college knowledge” regarding the rigor of coursework in higher education.”

​

(USDE, 2016, p.39)

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