Learning from African American Learning Communities

One promising initiative for African American students in California is the development of a retention program in community colleges that blends skill improvement, ethnic cultural development, and an array of student support services. Research has identified practices that structure the first year of college activities to improve retention, academic performance and student satisfaction (Engstrom and Tinto, 2007). We explore in this study three learning communities designed to meet the needs of African American developmental students in the California community college system.

In addressing the needs of California's most at-risk African American community college students, some institutions have developed individual programs designed to support the success of this group (Academic Senate for California Community Colleges, 2010). These programs are as many and as diverse as the 112 community colleges in the California community college system. Interestingly, while these individual institutional programs yield successful outcomes with the populations for which they were designed, there are few state-funded programs in the community college system that ensure effectiveness, efficiency and accountability.

A search of successful state-funded programs in the California Community College system database resulted in only three specific models designed for at-risk students: The Puente Project for Latino students, the Extended Opportunity Programs and Services Program (EOPS) for low income students, and the Math, Engineering and Science Achievement (MESA) program for minority students in the science fields (http://www.cccco.edu/ChancellorsOffice/Divisions).  

Rationale

Given the pervasive problem in the American and California educational systems, specifically higher education, in educating and helping African American students achieve their goals, this study highlights three community colleges with learning community programs that target African American students for success in college. Specifically, the study examines the instructional and support service practices in these programs so that scholars and practitioners might become more aware of effective educational strategies that focus on the needs of African American students. Furthermore, the study considers the impact of these instructional and support service practices on students, using the students' voices as the primary data.

Methodology

In this exploratory qualitative research study, a case study design was used to gain an "in-depth understanding of purposively selected participants from their perspectives" (Patten, 2007). The exploratory case study allowed an in-depth exploration of African American student, faculty, and counselor perceptions and experiences in a set of three learning communities. Nineteen students, three counselors and three faculty members were interviewed. Two classroom observations were conducted. These activities were followed up with a focus group at each institution in order to validate initial themes that emerged from the interviews. According to Bogdan and Biklen (2003) the use of the case study serves to "give voice" to the students and significant staff members in the African American learning communities whose voices are not readily found in the literature. As Bogdan and Biklen further argue, "the case study is a detailed examination of one setting, or a single subject, a single depository of documents, or one particular event" (p. 59).  

Findings

         When observing a teacher in the classroom, it's important to distinguish between the teaching strategies the teacher employs and the behavior the teacher adopts. Thus, the study uncovered particular pedagogical strategies employed by the teachers observed: active, collaborative, and authentic teaching. In other words, the classroom activities actively engaged the students in the problem at hand; in one case, a mathematics teacher purposefully made addition or subtraction errors to gauge the students' participation in the class. The teachers use curriculum that reflects the students' experiences to help the students make connections between their lives and the classroom material.

In addition, the teachers positioned themselves as other mothers and warm demanders in the classroom. Teachers take on a surrogate mother role to encourage and expect the best from them (Guiffrida, 2005). As warm demanders, the teachers insist that students perform consistently and exceptionally (Ware, 2006). As one student reported, "Ms. Mabel and Ms. Davis work really hard to make you do good and sometimes it feels like they your grandparents because they just get on you over everything, but you can't help but respect them because they're looking out for you."

As a result of the culturally responsive curriculum, the active, collaborative and authentic teaching techniques, and the tough love attitude of the teachers, the students gained an understanding of their history as African Americans, a deepened racial awareness of themselves as African Americans, and a voice in which to express themselves.

Another finding of the study uncovered an integration of instruction and student services that served to ensure the students' academic success. The teachers and counselors engaged in "intrusive" student services; that is, the students were introduced to services in the academic classroom, the teachers and counselors both saw the students' use of services as a joint responsibility, and the students were required to use support services available to them.

       As a result of the findings, we developed the following recommendations for change in policies and practices of learning communities for African American students. We are fully aware of the economic challenges colleges are facing, and we think these recommendations can be fully implemented despite scarce resources.

Recommendation #1:

         Colleges should engage in a re-imagining of the traditional roles of teacher and counselor. Instead of continuing to separate instruction and support services, curricular and support service decisions should be made with the participation of both instructional and student service faculty. In our study, the students succeeded in part because they used the support services available to them, specifically financial aid and tutorial services. They were made aware of these services because both teachers and counselors were willing to take on each other's roles. Teachers used class time to discuss support services, and counselors visited the classroom to meet individually with students. Such a reimagining of traditional roles could be replicated by the institution as a whole to encourage collaboration among instructional programs and student services across campus.

      Another structural change would be to reevaluate curriculum development and design. Traditionally, instructional faculty are solely responsible for curriculum development. Including student service professionals in curriculum design would ensure the education of the whole student instead of merely focusing on the student's academic development.

Recommendation #2:

Support services should be accessible and intrusive so that the students who most need the services are required to use them. Like the recommendation above, this recommendation calls for a re-thinking of the traditional role of student services. The "one size fits all" approach to services simply does not help those students most in need of services. Therefore, colleges must consider how to restructure counseling services, for example, so that the neediest students get one-on-one help while those with less pressing needs see counselors in a group session. Half-hour counseling appointments for all students may be outdated; counseling workshops and in-class counseling sessions may be a cost-efficient solution for all students.

Recommendation #3:

Race-conscious learning communities, culturally responsive curriculum, and culturally relevant classroom management techniques should pervade all colleges. Students should have early and consistent experiences with teachers, counselors, and support staff who understand and respond to the students' cultural background. Discovering their racial identity through African American, culturally relevant pedagogy, the students in this study were able to begin an essential first step in the educational process. Citing the critical role of school in structuring identity, Noguera (2008) explains, "the structure and culture of school plays a major role in reinforcing and maintaining racial categories and the stereotypes associated with them." While Noguera speaks here of the negative stereotypes schools can often reinforce in students, it is also true that schools and colleges in this case can be responsible for reinforcing positive messages about a student's racial heritage. Citing the criticality of the college years as crucial to development of student identity, Harper (2009) suggests a link between identity and engagement, both keys to student success.  

          Final Thoughts

The success for African American students is too important to take lightly. The student voices in this study convince us as educators to pay particular attention to the ways our structures can change to help our students succeed. We argue that it's not enough for us to simply care about the students we serve; we need to be willing to change some fundamental assumptions about the ways we create curriculum, structure class time, and offer support services to students who need them. Without such changes, we are simply conducting business as usual and achieving the same disheartening results.