In 1987, the Office for Student Life and Recruitment was established in the College and Graduate School of Education of Kent State University. The primary mission of the Office of Student Life and Recruitment (OSL) was to recruit, retain (by providing a variety of support services), graduate, and place students from underrepresented populations into the teaching profession. Prior to 1987 there was basically a revolving door in terms of students from underrepresented groups entering the College of Education but dropping out or changing majors prior to degree completion.

In 1989, the Ford Foundation came forth with an initiative that would increase the number of students from underrepresented groups in the teaching profession. Kent State University, along with four other schools in Ohio, was chosen to participate in the national effort. Each school in the consortium chose a different approach to its recruitment efforts. Since the College and Graduate School of Education at Kent State University was already working collaboratively with Cuyahoga Community College it seemed appropriate to focus on the community college as the primary source for teacher education candidates. This approach also made sense in that we know that a significant number of students from the underrepresented populations are enrolled in the community colleges.

To date the project at Kent State has maintained a retention rate in excess of 90%. This accomplishment is due, in no small measure, to the quality of the staff and their commitment to students. The retention rate is also due to the fact that staff and graduate assistants have created a safe and comfortable place for students from underrepresented populations to meet and share issues and concerns.

Critical Lessons

The challenges of developing a program to bring underrepresented students from a community college to a four-year institution with the prospect of entering the teaching field are complex. Problems and important lessons critical for success in such an endeavor include the following:

1. A formal agreement between the institutions signed by their respective presidents is critical. Such an agreement establishes the program as an institutional priority, empowers participation and commitment from both faculty and staff, and raises the level of awareness within the larger community.
2. A carefully articulated transfer path is essential for efficient student transfer into baccalaureate programs. This requires joint planning between counselors of each institution who are thoroughly familiar with course equivalencies specific to each program area.
3. Early identification of the potential recruiting pool is essential for early advising and intervention. Targeted students can then assess their interests, strengths, and deficiencies and make more effective career choices without wasting their time or resources.
4. Student tracking is much easier if items 1 and 2 are in place and students are progressing through a coordinated sequence of courses and activities, rather than proceeding piecemeal.
5. Traditional institutional academic supports are essential, but no more essential than non-academic (social and emotional) supports. This is especially true for non-traditional students transferring to a large and often impersonal senior institution.
6. Making large-scale institutional change is difficult, and institutionalization of projects initially funded with soft money is extremely difficult in an environment of constrained budgetary resources.
7. As in any major funded effort, be prepared for the unexpected. Unpredictable disappointments, delays, and obstacles are all part of the program?s natural evolution.
8. Programs can survive without direct funding of scholarship dollars by the funding agency.
9. By admitting students as a cohort, the program creates a family of peers who develop their own group survival techniques and strategies.

Partners

There were a number of partners involved in this particular enterprise. Cuyahoga Community College was the primary/initial partner and was the sole partner during the first two to three years of the project. During the fourth year of the project Lakeland Community College and Loraine Community College came on board as project participants. We also had a collaborative relationship with the Cleveland Foundation in as much as they were the fiscal agents for the Ford Foundation project. Each of the aforementioned community colleges played a critical role in the project by not only providing program participants, but also by assuring that students transferring from the community college had the required coursework to insure a smooth transition to the four-year institution.

Dr. Ferguson B. Meadows, Jr.
Associate Professor of Counseling and Human Development Services
Kent State University.

Dr. Jacquelyn L. Jefferson
Counselor/Professor
Cuyahoga Community College

[Return to Exemplary Practices]