An equity-minded approach to improving Black male student persistence at Four Corners Community College: Reframing the issues
- WCU Author/Contributor (non-WCU co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
- Rebecca G. Childs (Creator)
- Institution
- Western Carolina University (WCU )
- Web Site: http://library.wcu.edu/
- Advisor
- Kofi Lomotey
Abstract: Most Black males envision community colleges as a gateway to higher education and upward mobility. Unfortunately, success metrics from across the United States reveal that community colleges fail to facilitate equitable outcomes for these students. A combination of factors creates campus climates that are not conducive to Black male student sense of belonging and persistence. Efforts to address this problem of practice often include mentoring initiatives and other student-focused programming. Less attention is given to mitigating the systemic root causes that create the conditions that perpetuate low Black male student persistence rates. In this disquisition, I examine the implementation of an Equity Scorecard initiative at a regional community college. The initiative was designed to improve educator equity-mindedness and service delivery, which impact Black male student sense of belonging and persistence. Using the Improvement Science framework, I incorporated two Plan-Study-Do-Act (PDSA) cycles and utilized practical measures to evaluate how structured practitioner reflection impacted staff member equity-mindedness and service delivery. By reframing the issue of Black male student persistence as a matter of institutional responsibility, the findings of this study have important practice and policy implications that can support equity work in institutions of higher education.
An equity-minded approach to improving Black male student persistence at Four Corners Community College: Reframing the issues
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Created on 2/1/2024
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Additional Information
- Publication
- Other
- Language: English
- Date: 2024
- Keywords
- Black male student, Equity Scorecard, equity-mindedness, Improvement Science, persistence, sense of belonging
- Subjects
- Men, Black
- Community colleges
- Belonging (Social psychology)
- Dropouts—Prevention
- Students, Black