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• Public, state-operated university • Located in Worcester, MA• Second-largest city in New England• Total headcount 6,221

(graduate and undergraduate) • 30 percent resident students,

70 percent commuters

Worcester State University

Acknowledging the Institution’s Role in Student Success:

It’s Not You, It’s Us. How Does Institutional Culture Influence Perceptions and Decisions about Diversity and

Student Success?

Angela E. Quitadamo, Director of RetentionPatricia A. Marshall, Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs

Participant Outcomes:

1.Deepen understanding of socioeconomic factors that impact institutional culture and behavior.

2.Consider institutional practices and organizational narratives that may be in conflict with the needs of our increasingly diverse student bodies.

3.Acquire practical examples of how Worcester State University has engaged in campus-wide, self-reflective practices that are transforming how we interact with students.

I.Socioeconomic factors that impact institutional culture and behavior.

Basic Premises about Institutional Culture

A. “Schools and businesses operate from middle-class norms and use the hidden rules of the middle class. These norms and hidden rules are not directly taught in schools or in businesses.” (Payne, 7)

B. “Colleges and universities are distinctive organizations. They are loosely coupled systems with diffused decision making, as well as goal ambiguity.” (Kotter, 120)

Two contradictory assumptions about the causes of poverty that inform how students come to us and how we serve them.

1. Cultural poverty theory: Certain behaviors are incompatible with success (blame the student model argues that people find themselves in poverty due to their own actions).

2. Situational theory: Genesis of poverty is located in social structures (Shared realization that certain organizational structures perpetuate poverty and are not conducive to student success).

No. Poverty is a complex sociological phenomenon and either/or assertions “have not served us well; it must be recognized that causes of poverty are a both/and reality. Poverty is caused by both the behavior of the individual and political/economic structures—and everything in between.” (Payne, 258)

Cultural vs. Situational poverty theories and the Deficit Model: The “fix it” mentality and the “righting reflex”

Payne, Deval, and Smith highlight the questions that we need to ask when we approach problem solving from the framework of a “fix it” mentality:

1.Who is it that names the problem?2.Who is it a problem for?

“The deficit model names the problem and blames the individual; the individual must change, whereas society can be left unaltered.”(Payne, 262)

The Deficit Model in Action

Labeling that is hard to shake

Defines the design of programs (many times focused on staff needs and not student needs):

--each department is expected to fix the piece of the pie that falls under its purview (silos)

--random approach to problem solving that results in remedial programs focused on behaviors of the individual while losing sight of the whole system made up of families, neighborhoods, communities, and sociopolitical/economic structures

Alternatives to the “Deficit Model”: The additive model when it comes to our low-income students.

--Many names: positive model, developmental assets, competency, value-based, strength-based.

What would the additive model look like when applied to our low-income students? How can we validate the skills and experiences that our low-income students bring to campus?

-- “To survive in poverty, individuals must have reactive, sensory, and non verbal skills. This means they have the ability to read situations, establish relationships, andsolve immediate and concrete problems quickly.” (Payne, 265)

How might we unintentionally be undervaluing the importance of relationships and other strengths that our low-income students bring to campus?

“DO NOT RESPOND TO THIS EMAIL.”

“I CAN’T HELP YOU. . . GO TALK TO …”

“THIS WAS COVERED AT ORIENTATION.”

“WHO TOLD YOU THAT?”

II. Consider institutional practices and organizational narratives that may be in conflict with the needs of our increasingly diverse student bodies.

Poverty Middle Class

Time Present most important. Decisions made for moment based on feelings of survival.

Future most important. Decisions made against future ramifications .

Education Valued and revered as abstract but not as reality

Crucial for climbing success ladder and making money

Destiny Believes in fate. Cannot do much to mitigate chance (“fixed mindset” and it might even be perceived as negative to change one’s destiny.)

Believes in choice. Can change future with good choices now.

Adapted from Bridges out of Poverty, changes in italics.

Some Hidden Rules Among Classes: Time, Education, and Destiny

Poverty Example

Time Present most important. Decisions made for moment based on feelings of survival.

If you are having trouble finding money to pay for food or medical care, it is difficult to focus on the future. The basic needs in the present are the student’s priority. Just-in-time delivery.

Education Valued and revered as abstract but not as reality

Student has every intention of returning to school, but never does.

Destiny Believes in fate. Cannot do much to mitigate chance

Student gives up and justifies his/her actions by saying that it wasn’t meant to be or it wasn’t his/her fault.

Adapted from Bridges out of Poverty

Hidden Rules Among Classes on Campus

S.A.P. Judicial PNG Bursar

Provost Blackboard Registrar FAFSA

Priority Deadline Add/drop AppealProbation

Eligibility A.D.A Accommodation CPT

FERPA Degree Audit GPA

Syllabus CLEP Semester

Catalog Advisor

And Demystify the Jargon!

III. Acquire practical examples of how Worcester State University has engaged in campus-wide, self-reflective practices that are transforming how we interact with students.

Transforming institutional narratives

Addressing hidden rules through improved communication and relationship building

Raising awareness of the power of language and how we communicate

Kotter’s Eight-Stage Process of Creating Major Change

Kotter, Leading Change, Page 23

SUCCEED IN 4

“Every member of the campus community adopts an attitude toward all students of, ‘Yes, you can succeed. And I will help you do so.’”—Dr. Charles Cullum, Provost (WSU)

“. . . organizations with metaphors that recognize inter-dependence, connectedness, flexibility, process, and relationships will be positioned to work more effectively with people from poverty.” (Payne, 77)

How are we programmatically validating relationships?

Moving from a deficit model to an additive model: Noel Levitz CSI

RMS+: Predictive Retention Model

How have we addressed our “fix-the student approach to doing business?

“DO NOT RESPOND TO THIS EMAIL.”

“I CAN’T HELP YOU. . . GO TALK TO …”

“THIS WAS COVERED AT ORIENTATION.”

“WHO TOLD YOU THAT?”

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Cutting the Red Tape: •Increased direct student support and outreach

•Tracking questions to assess and close the loop

•Communication audits: Are we communicating effectively with all of our students?

•Process audits

•Internal cross-divisional operations calendars

Mapping communication and adapting the messages that we are sending to our students.

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Early Results: Is it working?

•WSU had an unexpected revenue increase comparable to 80 new students in the 2012-13 Academic Year

•In the fall preceding our electronic early alert system implementation, 5.6% of WSU students were not in good academic standing. By the spring of 2013, that number decreased to 4.6%

•Fall 2013 semester saw a 33% increase in the number of tutor requests in our Academic Success Office

•Our semester to semester retention rates after implementing our early alert system and Noel Levitz surveys indicate a positive trend:

Semester Persistence Rate

Spring 2012 to Fall 2012 78.1%

Spring 2013 to Fall 2013 80.3%

Fall to Spring 2012 & 2013 80%

• WSU has seen an increase in our six-year graduation rate from 45.1% (2004) to 51% (2006)

• WSU has seen undergraduate enrollment of Hispanic students rise from 6.5% in 2010 to 7.2% in 2012

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Expanding the definition of “at-risk” students via CSI data

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facebook.com/WSUStudentSuccess

@WSUSuccess

starfish@worcester.edu

Angela E. Quitadamo Director of Retention

Worcester State Universityaquitadamo1@worcester.edu

Patricia A. MarshallAssociate Vice President for Academic Affairs

pmarshall@worcester.edu