Starting School

Strategies for College Success: A Program for Increasing Postsecondary Success Rates among Urban Students

Dr. Bruce W. Tuckman, The Ohio State University

http://all.successcenter.ohio-state.edu

Strategies for College Success, an innovative course I developed to help students increase their motivation and learning skills, has been used with great success at The Ohio State University over the past four years, and is being piloted at three high schools in Columbus, OH. The features of this program that distinguish it from others are that it

Ø      teaches four major strategies (with two substrategies each; see below) that are grounded in psychological theory and research, and can be applied to the motivational and learning challenges that students face in college

Ø      employs a classroom-based, computer-mediated instructional model that includes over 200 learning performance activities enabling students to master and transfer the strategies they learn

Ø      results in far greater increases in grade point averages and retention rates than those obtained by matched non-trained students

Specifically, the program trains students to Take Reasonable Risk, which is exemplified in their willingness to set goals and break down tasks into bite-size pieces; Take Responsibility for Your Outcomes, which encourages students to believe in them-selves and their own efforts and plan; Search the Environment for Information, which stresses the need for students to ask questions and use visualization; and Use Feedback, which encourages students to monitor themselves and give themselves instructions.

The strategies and substrategies used as the basis for the course are aimed at successfully teaching students to meet the motivational goals of:

Ø      overcoming procrastination

Ø      building self-confidence

Ø      becoming more responsible

Ø      managing their lives

and the cognitive goals of

Ø      learning from listening

Ø      learning from reading

Ø      preparing for tests

Ø      writing papers

The instructional design of the Strategies for College Success course is unique and innovative. Instead of instruction in a traditional class setting, the program is taught in a school computer classroom using a hybrid, web-based instructional model I developed called Active Discovery And Participation thru Technology (ADAPT) that combines the critical features of traditional classroom instruction: (1) required attendance, (2) presence of an instructor, (3) a printed textbook (Learning and Motivation Strategies: Your Guide to Success by Tuckman et al.– Prentice Hall, 2002,) with those of computer-based instruction: (1) class time largely spent doing computer-mediated activities rather than teacher-centered instruction, (2) a large number of performance activities rather than just a few exams, (3) self-pacing with milestones rather than a lockstep pattern. The program software includes over 200 learning performance activities such as exercises - with teacher feedback, end of module tests on the objectives, on-line, threaded discussions, portfolio transfer/application tasks, and papers based on an integrated supplementary text, A Hope in the Unseen. The instructional purpose for the multiple learning performance activities is threefold: (1) to provide an optimal sequence for mastery learning, (2) to provide the practice necessary for changing behavior, and (3) to provide opportunities for transfer or the utilization of the strategies in other settings.

My Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE) grant project aims at demonstrating that the barrier to academic success in college, faced by large numbers of urban at-risk high school students, can be overcome by teaching the Strategies for College Success course.  The program goals are (1) Course Implementation: to have the course operating in a minimum of 11 high schools and 10 community colleges; (2) Course Translation: to improve the appropriateness of the course’s content and instructional design for the target groups based on results and feedback; (3) Student Academic Improvement: to increase in students who experience the course: (a) the extent to which the strategies it teaches are mastered and utilized; (b) their grade point averages, and (c) their retentions rates, relative to comparable students not experiencing the course; (4) National Transformation:  to spread national awareness of the Strategies course as a way of helping students succeed.

I, as Project Director, and my staff are committed to the success of this program and will meet with central and local administrators providing the necessary support to assist in the implementation process.

Each participating school must provide the following:

Ø      working contact person(s) within the school to aid in implementation activities (e.g., principal, assistant principal, guidance counselor)

Ø      an agreement to provide students taking the course with ½ h.s. credit

Ø      an instructor who is willing and able to teach the course

Ø      a minimum of 15-20 students ( 11^th & 12^th graders) per class offering

Ø      a dedicated computer lab with a minimum of 15 terminals (for 4-5 hrs/week, one semester) with a 1:1 ratio of students to terminals

Ø      access to Blackboard or a comparable courseware platform

Ø      purchase of the two required texts for the course (at an approximate retail cost of $50 per student; these are reusable)

Ø      feedback and data for purposes of course evaluation

The project staff will provide the following:

Ø      a course designed to help students learn strategies for academic success

Ø      on-site training, and continuous mentorship and technological support via phone and email for the course instructor

Ø      the course software (under an R&D site license) and assistance with its use

Ø      assistance with data collection to assess the success of the project