Higher Education

Matthew Lynch published in Higher Education

How men benefit from family-friendly tenure policies

Kelly Bedard, University of California, Santa Barbara; Heather Antecol, Claremont McKenna College, and Jenna Stearns, University of California, Santa Barbara

On Friday, August 26, as we celebrate Women’s Equality Day – a day marking the 96th anniversary of the 19th Amendment that guaranteed women the right to vote – it is a time to reflect both on the progress that has been made on gender equality and on how much work still remains.

As academics, we are well aware that gender gaps continue to exist on American campuses. It is true that female students now outnumber male students, and also that more women earn professional degrees compared to men. But it is also true that only 28 percent of tenured faculty are women.

Tenure represents a permanent job contract. It usually takes about six or seven years of being on tenure track – a probationary period during which a junior professor’s publication record, teaching ability and departmental service are monitored and assessed – to get tenure.

In recent years, many research universities have adopted more “family-friendly” tenure rules aimed at helping women balance family and career. Our research shows that despite such policies, gender equality remains elusive in academia when it comes to tenure consideration. Rather, some of these policies are helping men, not women.

Gender-neutral tenure policies

For most people, the tenure process occurs during their late 20’s and early 30’s. These years typically align with women’s prime child-bearing years. This can hinder women’s research productivity and thus reduce their chances of earning tenure.

More generally, having children could reduce the probability of being promoted in a variety of professions. Women’s early career productivity could fall due to the time time spent in child bearing and child care.

However, the problem might be particularly acute at research universities where research productivity during the few years before the tenure decision is especially important.

Women’s productivity in early years of their careers could fall when they have children. John S. and James L. Knight Foundation Follow, CC BY-SA

In response, during the 1990s and 2000s many research institutions adopted “gender-neutral tenure clock-stopping policies.” These policies were intended to make it easier for women who have children to earn tenure.

The policies are gender-neutral: That is, they allow parents of either gender to avail their benefits. They allow new parents to extend their terms as assistant professors. They stop the tenure clock for one year for each new child, up to a maximum of two.

In other words, new parents get more time before they have to go up for tenure. These policies are independent of leave-taking, meaning that assistant professors can continue to work while gaining the extra time on their tenure clocks.

The idea is to allow new parents to make up for lost research time. And also, so women and men should not need to sacrifice family for career, and vice versa.

Are these policies equitable?

We recently conducted a study, “Equal but Inequitable: Who Benefits from Gender-Neutral Tenure Clock Stopping Policies,” on these tenure clock-stopping policies.

Our study focuses on economics professors – a very male-dominated field. A 2014 survey by the American Economic Association’s Committee on the Status of Women in the Economics Profession (CSWEP) shows that in economics, women constitute 30 percent of assistant professors, 23 percent of tenured associate professors and only 12 percent of full professors.

Gender-neutral policies are believed to reduce stigma about use by encouraging male participation, at least with regard to economics faculty. We believe one of the primary reasons universities have adopted gender-neutral policies is that there was low take-up under policies that only applied to women.

However, we found no evidence that they have helped women earn tenure.

In fact, we found the policy – designed to help women get tenure – instead raised male tenure rates, at least in top economics departments.

The probability of a man getting tenure in his first job increased by 19 percentage points after such a policy was adopted. By contrast, the probability of a female academic getting tenure fell by 22 percentage points.

We believe male publication rates rise with the extra time, but female publication rates do not.

So, these gender-neutral policies are equal in the sense that they give the same benefit to women and men who have children. But they are inequitable in that the time cost (or productivity loss) experienced by men and women is quite different.

For example, it is women who become pregnant, experience morning sickness, give birth and breastfeed. As such, we believe, giving an equal extension without an equal productivity loss might better be described as unequal. And it is certainly less than clear that it will level the playing field in terms of tenure rates.

Why there is a need to rethink

Although our results represent a single discipline, they certainly raise concerns that this could be a problem across a broad range of fields. Female tenure rates are lower across almost all academic disciplines. In science disciplines, men who have children before tenure are 24 percentage points more likely to earn tenure compared to women with children. And in the humanities and social sciences, men with children are 20 percentage points more likely to earn tenure.

Our results suggest we might want to rethink these policies. One of the arguments in favor of “gender-neutral clock-stopping” policies stems from women having been discouraged – by their male colleagues – from taking advantage of policies that apply to mothers only.

Why extending the same benefits to men and women is not equitable. Penn State, CC BY-NC

Our research findings, based in the discipline of economics, do raise the question whether extending equal benefits to men and women is equitable in practice. We also don’t know if these policies had a similar effect in other disciplines with different publication requirements.

While it is easy to instruct the people making tenure decisions to ignore the additional time on the tenure clock, it is not as easy to know how it actually affects their thinking about the tenure case and hence their evaluation.

Need family-friendly policies

In theory, gender-neutral policies that attempt to level the playing field by adjusting measures of productivity to account for early child-rearing sound promising. However, as our research shows, such policies could have unintended consequences that actually hurt women.

We believe university administrators need to reopen the discussion on tenure policies, and the extent to which these benefits are extended to men and women.

But universities are not the only places where family-friendly policies may have unintended consequences. Lawyers, financial professionals and doctors are also likely to be promoted based on early measures of success. Evidence shows family gaps in each of these professions, especially among top earners.

As we celebrate Women’s Equality Day, let us emphasize the need for more family-friendly policies to create a more level playing field for high-skill professionals who face rigid and important promotion decisions early in their careers.

The Conversation

Kelly Bedard, Professor of Economics, University of California, Santa Barbara; Heather Antecol, Boswell Professor of Economics, Claremont McKenna College, and Jenna Stearns, Ph.D. Student, University of California, Santa Barbara

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

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Matthew Lynch published in Higher Education

Successfully attaining a degree online is all about flexibility

**The Edvocate is pleased to publish guest posts as way to fuel important conversations surrounding P-20 education in America. The opinions contained within guest posts are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official opinion of The Edvocate or Dr. Matthew Lynch.**

A guest column by Jason Henry

Higher education is supposed to serve as a way out of poverty. From the school house to the White House, education is used as nomenclature for economic prosperity.

It’s how President Barack Obama ascended to leader of the free world and how so many Americans are able to attain the American dream.

It’s also why many low-income individuals enroll in schools that advertise the ability to graduate from college by way of the internet. A promise from many for-profit institutions, as well as non-profit ones, that a work around to an individual’s already hectic life was possible.

But with higher education often comes higher debt because so many low-income individuals need financial aid to attend. For-profit colleges and universities are often classified as private and have astronomical tuition prices.

Even with high numbers and scrutiny from the United States Department of Education, gaining a college degree is still likely the best way to climb out of poverty.

By way Medium.com, the author of an op-ed shows just how well online education is doing and how many students are at least participating in acquiring an education digitally.

It’s all due to flexibility and what students actually need versus what higher education facilities believe they need.

“When students taking the ACT college readiness exam were allowed to send four free copies of their results to colleges instead of three, poorer students used the extra test to apply to schools where admittance wasn’t a sure thing, and often got in to these ‘stretch’ schools.”

Students of the past who were considered successful likely had the ability to be flexible, e.g. going to class without having to work or worry about paying the next bill. While some students were able to pull through college by working and paying bills, many weren’t so lucky.

Affording flexibility to today’s students by working with them and around varying work schedules is not just a win for the student because that person is more likely to graduate, but it shows growth in how we view online education and what it’s doing for our students.

_____________

Jason Henry is a burgeoning writer and locally recognized political analyst in Orlando and Birmingham. You can read his blog The Jason Henry Project on the hypeorlando network.

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Matthew Lynch published in EdTech & Innovation, Higher Education

Education Should Begin with Problem-Solving

When schools compete, who wins?

That depends partly on how they compete. In the world of higher education, universities compete for enrollment: more students, and more funding. They compete for prestige: better students, and more acclaimed faculty. They compete for funding: more research, more graduate students. Do they ever compete to solve real world problems.

It is easy, amid all the competition for these benchmarks, to forget that the mission of any school–university or otherwise–should be to solve problems, and to teach students to do the same.

Solving Problems, or Hogging the Spotlight?

You can see the difference when it comes to the hype cycle that is so prevalent in today’s technology-obsessed reporting. Catching wind of the Next Big Thing in education–from the augmented reality classroom to the gamified lesson plan, the personalized learning system to the responsive test–may make headlines, but it may also drive us to lose sight of what all these new tools and old practices are really all about.

Online learning has been guilty of both in the past. MOOCs were heralded as the end of formal college education as we knew it, only to then be decried as non-starters that students were more likely to drop out of than use as a ladder to success. For-profit colleges, in the interest of maximizing enrollment (and profits), became synonymous with “online degrees,” even as major universities tried to bring their own curriculum and faculty into the internet age. Both are still struggling to win the credibility game.

All this, despite the fact that more and more students say they prefer online learning to traditional classrooms. It all can start to look like higher education is just a pie, and schools are just looking to get their slice, rather than ensure everyone is fed.

But between the breaking stories, there is some innovation quietly targeting not general acclaim or government-backed student loans, but the real world problems and challenges an educated populace is supposed to solve. When a program begins its life as a solution, rather than as a novelty or an obligatory offering, it makes an important difference–and not just to the students.

The UNProject

Several years ago, the state’s Department of Children and Family Services cut funding to travel training for agents working in the rural areas of Nevada. No longer could these welfare agents be compensated for pursuing professional training and continuing education by traveling.

Considering the geography of Nevada, as well as the socioeconomics of such a large, dispersed, and often underserved population, this put both the social workers and the families they served at a meaningful disadvantage.

Today it is easy to suggest that the circumstances clearly called for a distance education system to bridge the gap and keep rural social workers equipped with the best knowledge and practices available. That is the model used to deploy telehealth services like primary care to the nation’s rural and remote communities, after all.

But when the University of Nevada in Reno (UNR)’s social work department took on the challenge, they recognized that they had to do more than just digitize a curriculum–they had to make it practical, and accessible to people who would put their education directly into action.

This is what led to their UnProject: UNR’s attempt to broadcast training and learning opportunities using a new, online, education system that ran on the same Blackboard-based platform the university already used.

Blending Innovation with Accountability

Students, parents, professors, employers, and politicians all recognize the historical void of accountability in higher education. Graduates with exceptional records are still routinely seen as unprepared to do real work, and the growing burden of student debt is often cited as an example of waste and reckless spending when it doesn’t produce a growing economy or cutting-edge workforce.

Simply giving students material and holding them accountable for digesting it wasn’t a viable model. UNR was a stakeholder in the success of everyone who used their online classroom to serve real clients and their families around the state; outcomes were practical, not just grades and test scores. The faculty behind the curriculum of these programs were collaborating with the Nevada DCFS to determine areas of need, both on behalf of the clients, and of the social workers serving these families. They couldn’t drop the ball when it came to delivery.

The UnProject at UNR took questions of accountability head-on, because the very nature of the program was to solve a problem. Solving that problem required innovation, which meant the instructors were creatively designing course materials and accommodating their delivery platform in the interest of finding what worked best–not just adding bells and whistles for the sake of modernity or bragging rights.

Feedback was instant and continuous. The instructors learned what worked, what didn’t, and what had the biggest impact on the social workers in the field. They also helped these workers bridge the mental gap to see the new platform as a tool for them–not a novelty, and not a half-measure, but an evolving response to a felt need.

The best part was, their most effective tools weren’t something they had to purchase, or build from scratch: they were the basics already built-in to their Blackboard platform. They were free to focus on disseminating best practices and responding to their students, rather than troubleshooting with an unwieldy, untested new system.

Where You Start Informs Where You Go

This foundation in practice, in problem-solving, and in going from state bureaucrats to rural families and workers, underscores what is now the online social work degree at UNR.

Yes, it is still just another online degree–but the faculty and resources that power the program are as much a tool of the state government as they are a product delivered to paying students. The program grew from something solving a problem, to a pathway to certification. This is the broad sort of model that makes education meaningful and resilient–not just incorporating the latest gimmicks.

A focus on problem-solving answers more questions than simply format and packaging: rural child welfare workers are not looking to put feathers in their caps by taking online classes; these are professionals on the fringes of society (literally: Nevada is a huge state with many rural, impoverished, and marginalized communities and families). That means the curriculum, the materials, and the medium are all, by necessity, whittled down to what works.

It wasn’t a PR stunt. The people who benefited from the new system were in no position to publicize the success story. It was a case of educators doing what they do best, and the domino effect that results from effective instruction.

What is Valued

Online education can solve similar problems even for those who aren’t out in the field or limited by the realities of rural life. Non-traditional students–adults, working professionals, drop-outs, parents–have long lived and worked on the margins of higher education, unable to gain the credentials to validate and certify their skills, knowledge, and experience, to fully participate or reintegrate into the professional workforce.

When schools look at these potential students not just as enrollment figures and dollar signs, but real people with real needs and a capacity to solve problems themselves, the value of a degree and a school are maximized.

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Matthew Lynch published in HBCU's, Higher Education, Matthew Lynch

4 Ways Colleges Can Close the Achievement Gap

There’s a lot of talk in P-12 learning about how exactly to best close the achievement gap, or the space that separates traditionally advantaged students with those who have historically been at-risk where academics are concerned. By the time students get to college, the emphasis shifts slightly to focus more on the diversity of who is on a university campus and less on outcomes. Without the stringent assessments that are now synonymous with the P-12 process, colleges have an easier time simply making appearances when it comes to the true success of all students on their campuses.

This isn’t to say that there is no accountability – several independent associations and often the colleges themselves release data on graduation rates, post-grad employment rates, and even the amount of debt incurred by students. Yet when it comes to truly closing the achievement gap between students from all life backgrounds, ethnicities and races, P-12 institutions seem to be held to a higher standard than their 13 – 20 counterparts. This is not only a disservice to the students, but to the American population as a whole that then misses out on enjoying the innovation, advancement and prosperity that comes with a more highly educated public.

So how can colleges step up their game when it comes to closing the achievement gap?

  1. It’s only been in the last decade or so that colleges have begun to recognize that different students need different guidance to reach that graduation podium. It’s why a crop of programs designed for first-generation and minority college students are flourishing across the country. These initiatives run the gamut – from recruiting these students, to providing intense mentorship programs, to partnering with community businesses for job placement. Targeting the guidance of students based on their backgrounds is vital to getting them their degrees and all of this conscientious hard work by universities is certainly making a dent when it comes to higher achievement from traditionally at-risk college students.
  2. Overall colleges are doing a better job in recent years of providing a full career arc before students set foot on campus. This gives them an idea of what to expect when it comes to the courses they will take, the mentorship programs available, the potential for internships, and the job placement initiatives. For students who are putting their working lives on hold to obtain a college degree, a greater understanding of what that means in long-term financial terms is necessary to convince them the leap to college life is a good one.
  3. For all of the strides college recruiting programs have made, there is still an overarching theme that recruiting new students is an isolated process. Get the kids on campus, then move on to the next batch. In reality, recruiting should be a very small part of a larger strategy that not only brings students of varied backgrounds to campus, but sustains them until graduation. Some schools are improving in this regard, but there’s still a lot of work needed to flip this mentality from one of solitude to solidarity with other student help groups.
  4. The need for an affordable college education is mentioned so often that it seems that we are all becoming desensitized to it. The reality is that having affordable college, not just providing loans to students, will go a long way towards helping close the achievement gap. Initiatives like providing the first two years of community college for free to qualifying students, and even student loan forgiveness programs for high-demand jobs, are a few ways that the dream of a college degree can become more accessible to minority, first-generation and other at-risk students.

There’s a reason to pay so much attention to closing the achievement gap in P-12 classrooms: a better educated public means a stronger economy, greater industry competition on a global scale, and an overall better quality of life for all citizens. It is high time colleges stepped back from their diversity plans long enough to question whether those efforts are truly doing enough to close the country’s achievement gap for life. Continued targeted guidance throughout the college process, improved recruiting, and a bigger push for affordable college are a few ways that the U.S. college and university landscape can step up its efforts for equality in higher education achievement.

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Matthew Lynch published in Higher Education

College on Your Own: Tips for Safely Navigating Your New City

**The Edvocate is pleased to publish guest posts as way to fuel important conversations surrounding P-20 education in America. The opinions contained within guest posts are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official opinion of The Edvocate or Dr. Matthew Lynch.**

Attending a new college in an unfamiliar place can be daunting. When it’s in a new city, it can be simply terrifying. The best way to get acquainted with your new city is to get out and explore. With a little common sense and some preparation, you can get out and see the city safely and get to know your new surroundings.

Bring a Cell Phone Charger
Your cell phone has a host of life-saving features that can keep you out of trouble. When you’re out and about, the last thing you want is for your battery to die on you. Bring along a mobile charger and you can ensure that if you do get lost and your phone dies, you can recharge it to find your way home using the built-in GPS and Map apps on your phone.

Go to the Highest Point in the City
There are few ways to help you get your bearings better than going to the highest point in the city. From here, you should be able to see your college and get a good view of the surrounding areas. This will make it easier for you to start to visualize the streets and neighborhoods, and it can also help you get some good ideas for where to go.

Learn the Transit System
Get to know the transit system even if you have a vehicle. Pick up a tourist map for your city, and visit the main sites during your first month at your school. This not only helps you get a good feel for the city, it can help you to appreciate the community you’ll be living in for the next few years. An understanding of the local culture can even help improve your relationships with your professors and make local friends.

Store Your Belongings Safely
Until you really get to know your roommates, it’s not a bad idea to keep your valuables in storage unit near you. A unit can also be useful for when you go out of town or back home for the holidays and don’t want to renew the lease on your apartment. You’ll be able to store all your stuff and not have to worry about it getting lost or damaged while you’re out enjoying the break. Dorm rooms are especially space-limited, so grab a storage unit to help you to bring more of the things that matter to you.

Don’t be afraid to get out and experience the new city your college is in. Your college experience is partially about learning how to take care of yourself while being out on your own. With the right attitude, you’ll develop your independence and excel in school.

_______________________________

Brooke Chaplan is a freelance writer and blogger. She lives and works out of her home in Los Lunas, New Mexico. She loves the outdoors and spends most her time hiking, biking and gardening. For more information contact Brooke via Twitter @BrookeChaplan.

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Matthew Lynch published in Diversity, HBCU's, Higher Education

Diverse Conversations: The role universities play in societal progress

Interview conducted by Matthew Lynch

Universities are usually credited with being centers for progress in society, with the perfect combination of youthful optimism and the encouragement of the quest of knowledge. With a total student population of more than 110,000 between eight campuses, Indiana University is instrumental in setting the tone for progress in the state and the surrounding region.

With all of the attention lately on Indiana Governor Mike Pence signing the Religious Freedom Act, essentially giving business owners the option of not serving people who do not align with their own religious beliefs, the voice of IU and other colleges in the state are more important than ever.

Dr. James C. Wimbush is the Vice President for Diversity, Equity and Multicultural Affairs and the Dean of the University Graduate School at Indiana University. The goal of the DEMA office is to “foster an inclusive environment that promotes and nurtures diversity, broadly defined on all campuses of Indiana University.” This is accomplished by strategically focusing on three critical areas:

  • recruitment and retention of faculty and staff, and recruitment, retention, and timely completion of undergraduate and graduate students;
  • promotion of a welcoming and positive campus climate;
  • engagement in outreach and advocacy locally and nationally.

I asked Dr. Wimbush about the vital role IU plays in diversity progress in the state, and where he sees initiatives heading in the next few years.

Question: Describe the cultural landscape/demographics at Indiana University.

Answer: In Fall 2014, IU Bloomington witnessed a landmark event for the first time enrolling 1,042 new students who identify as Black/African American, Hispanic/Latino, American Indian/Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander or as multiracial. The number of African-American students increased approximately 7 percent and Hispanic students by 10 percent. We are seeing some progress, but recognize that there is much more to do.

Q: In 2013, IU joined Freedom Indiana to take a stand supporting same-sex marriage. Since then, the school has come out against Governor Mike Pence’s signing of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. What important role do colleges and universities play in progressing society on issues like this?

A: Important societal concerns such as the one we faced last year create opportunities for the University to advocate for issues that might otherwise have a deleterious effect on our community and university. We feel it is appropriate and essential to take a stand on these types of issues.

Following Indiana Governor Mike Pence’s signing of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, IU’s President Michael A. McRobbie released a statement reaffirming the university’s commitment to hiring, promoting and educating without regard for age, race, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation or other often-discriminatory factors. That statement also urged state lawmakers to take another look at the RFRA and to reverse its discriminatory stance. My office firmly stands behind President McRobbie’s statement and plans to keep IU moving toward greater progress for the entire state on these and other issues of equality.

Q: Is being positioned in the Midwest helpful or hurtful to diversity? How do you make a predominantly white institution like IU more diverse, year by year?

A: We are always looking at recruitment opportunities within and outside the state of Indiana to try to attract a more diverse student, faculty and staff population. We do this in a number of ways including participation in recruitment fairs and building and nurturing relationships with our external partners. While recruitment is a responsibility of the Office of Enrollment Management within Indiana University, we work closely with them to help support their efforts. We have been working with schools and school systems to create a pipeline from K-12 classrooms to Indiana University.

Q: How does Indiana University recruit diverse faculty? 

A: Our Bloomington campus has a strategic recruitment fund designed to help with the recruitment of minority faculty and senior women underrepresented in their fields. Minority or women candidates for an opening can be flagged as qualifying for this funding, which covers 75 percent of base salary for underrepresented minorities and 50 percent of base salary for women in select fields where they are underrepresented. The funds for the salary are transferred to the department where the person is employed for as long as they work at the university. Last year, the program was revamped resulting in a hearty yield of underrepresented minority hires. Out of approximately 80 new faculty hires on the Bloomington campus for the 2014/2015 academic year, we were able to use the strategic recruitment fund to hire 11 underrepresented minority faculty members.

Q: What diversity/multi-cultural initiatives are in the works at IU?

A: We have a number of initiatives underway that we are excited to share that include increased funding to our Group Program that assists low-income, first-generation students. The program has been in place since 1968 and used to be funded one year at a time; that has switched to four years at a time. We are also developing a program in conjunction with Indianapolis Public Schools to streamline K-12 students to the campus of Indiana University. We are also continuing to cultivate our relationship with the nationally renowned Stax Music Academy of Memphis that trains middle-school and high-school musicians through after-school and summer camp programs. We have already seen applications to IU for fall 2015 admission from this initiative.

We are also currently expanding our network of historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and Minority-serving institutions (MSIs) to enhance recruitment. We have recently added the GLBT Support and Services Center as one of our culture centers within my office. This past academic year we held highly successful diversity-oriented receptions at IUPUI and all the regional campuses. Attendance comprised of campus and community constituents.

We place tutors in all the culture centers, which include tutoring sessions on evenings and weekends. We will continue radio and digital campaigns targeting underrepresented populations in central Indiana and the communities where IU campuses are located. We are beginning a collaboration with the Maurer School of Law for qualified students in Office of the Vice President for Diversity, Equity, and Multicultural Affairs programs who are interested in a law degree to receive pre-law mentoring from the School, and if admitted to Maurer, to receive substantially reduced tuition.

I’d like to thank Dr. Wimbush for this insight and for taking the time to share his expertise on the role IU, and other colleges, play in promoting diversity in their home states.

 

Read all of our posts about HBCUs by clicking here.

 

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Matthew Lynch published in Equity, HBCU's, Higher Education, list, Matthew Lynch

3 Easy Ways to Get Enthusiastic Donations from HBCU Alumni

Anyone following Historically Black Colleges and Universities knows that the past few years have been tumultuous. Saint Paul’s College has closed its doors to new students and placed current students at other schools. Morris Brown College has filed for federal bankruptcy protection. Most recently, the nation’s oldest HBCU, 119-year-old South Carolina State University, declared financial exigency.

Between schools being shuttered or declaring bankruptcy, it’s a distressing time for HBCUs and anyone attending or working at them. Online colleges, robust diversity programs at predominantly white institutions and more affordable community college offerings are all competing for the students who once could really only find a quality education at a HBCU.

Finding ways to keep these institutions thriving is more important than ever. That includes one part of financial responsibility that I believe is being overlooked: alumni giving.

HBCU graduates are some of the proudest in the country, often with a stronger sense of social responsibility than their PWI-graduate peers. Yet HBCUs aren’t doing a strong enough job tying that pride back into alumni giving programs. Case in point: Harvard raised a record-breaking $752 million in alumni and other gifts in the fiscal year 2013. And HBCU “black Ivy League” Spelman College saw just $157.8 million ($20 million from alumni) during its Every Woman Every Campaign in 2013 that was a special, targeted campaign beyond normal annual endeavors.

Perhaps comparing Harvard’s financial gifts to any other school isn’t completely fair, but it does give an idea of what HBCUs are up against in the non-elite college market. If Spelman, considered the “best” HBCU, can only bring in one-fifth of the giving of Harvard in a year when Spelman aggressively went after donations, what does that say for every other HBCU?

An even better question is this: What can HBCU alumni giving campaigns improve upon to bring in more dollars to benefit their current crop of students?

Here are three ways for HBCUs to encourage their alumni to give back more.

  1. Make college affordable.

Even the best college education will come with resentment attached once a student has to start paying back those burdensome loans. HBCUs have a better shot at alumni giving back once a college education is paid off, so why not make that debt burden lighter? HBCUs have some of the best statistics when it comes to financial aid in the form of Pell grants and scholarships and these institutions should continue to push for the funding to make obtaining a degree affordable – particularly for minority and first-generation college students. More money in these graduates’ pockets will translate into more alumni giving in the early years following graduation.

  1. Personalize giving.

I don’t know about you, but getting a standard alumni giving form in the mail with a return envelope does not usually inspire me to pull out my checkbook. The same is true of emails without much personality. Instead of just asking for the money, HBCUs need to put faces and causes along with the requests. What are some of the upcoming projects that this money could go towards? Who will receive scholarships from this giving? Even non-glamorous giving campaigns that go towards basic infrastructure have a better shot of meeting goals if alumni are informed of what money is being solicited to do. HBCU alumni who can associate their own positive memories with money-making campaigns are more likely to want to be a part of making those things happen.

  1. Get alumni involved before they leave campus.

Don’t wait until students are off campus to solicit them for help facilitating the college experience of the classes who follow them. Cash in on the good feelings that accompany graduation time from both the students earning degrees and their families. Even those who don’t have much may be willing to give a little to keeping the college dream alive for other students who are still trying to accomplish their academic goals. Set up a table outside commencement with giving forms and other alumni information. Have literature that explains to students how alumni giving dollars have facilitated what they’ve enjoyed while on campus. Send out an email blast to soon-to-be graduates that invites them to visit the alumni website, like its Facebook page, and join its official club. Don’t wait to chase alumni down after they’ve left; rope them in before they leave and keep them active in the coming years.

Just as HBCUs have a responsibility to get their students workforce-ready, alumni have a responsibility to give back to their institutions. HBCUs need to do a better job of conveying that and encouraging former students to step up to the plate.

Read all of our posts about HBCUs by clicking here.

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Matthew Lynch published in Higher Education, OpEducation

What Makes a Great School Counselor

For many of us, there’s no better feeling than having a positive impact on a kid. Growing up can be tough, and school and what lies beyond can feel like a maze. You’ve been through it yourself, and if you were lucky, you had a school counselor who helped set you on the right path.

If you’ve been teaching and want to switch gears, or if working with elementary, middle school, or high school students feels right and you know you have a lot to offer, a career in school counseling may be a perfect fit for you. You can even keep your current job while you get a Masters of Education in School Counseling at one of the country’s best colleges for counseling.

With a bachelor’s degree (in any field) from an accredited university, and taking only two classes per semester, most online degree programs can be completed in eight semesters and will qualify you for Licensed Professional Counseling Certification. Go to this website to find out the exact requirements and curriculum involved. There’s usually even financial aid available.

Being a school counselor means becoming personally involved with young students of all ages and helping them along the way to becoming productive and successful adults. School counselors work as a team with administrators and families to meet challenges students might be facing at school or at home, and serve as mentors on the journey to high school graduation and beyond.

At every level, what makes a great counselor is compassion and the ability to understand a student’s needs, interests, talents, and desires, and relate them to real-world options. Maybe above all is skill at listening to both what the student says and doesn’t say, and knowing how to channel his or her strengths and overcome his or her weaknesses.

The specific scope of the work varies with the age of the children:

Elementary School

Working with young children in elementary school, counselors are often involved with students who have behavioral issues or learning disorders. Their work can involve assessing those problems and conferring with parents and teachers as to recommended ways to resolve them, sometimes bringing in other professionals like psychologists and therapists. The earlier these kinds of difficulties are dealt with, the smoother the road a child has to academic success.

Middle School

It’s in middle school that students who may have had childhood dreams about being ballerinas or cowboys begin thinking in earnest about what they want to be when they grow up. A school counselor at this point can be an invaluable aid in guiding middle-school students toward other opportunities they may not even have known existed.

Working with students at both ends of the academic spectrum — from those with learning disorders to those in advanced placement classes — a counselor is called upon to adapt thoughtfully to each child’s needs and be a sounding board for their concerns.

High School

High School

In high school, students begin wrestling with the very real choices that lie before them. College is a goal for many, but which college and why? Technical training instead of a traditional university is another option, and students who might be inclined in that direction need help in evaluating those choices and the careers they may lead to.

High school counselors are often involved in helping students select classes and electives that will bolster their chances of acceptance, and assist them in applying to schools and finding financial aid. At the same time, high school counselors are sometimes called upon to help kids through difficulties in the social realm that can derail even the best students. Often a student finds a counselor easier to take a problem to than a parent, and it’s a fortunate teenager who has a counselor he or she can really talk to.

College-Level

Counselors at the college level work with students to plan courses of study and maximize the benefits of their degrees. They may help direct them to graduate studies that fit their career goals, and counsel them on available internships and entry-level jobs. Some may even offer assistance with writing resumes and learning how to interview. It’s a great counselor who sends a new graduate off into the working world with the confidence and skills to succeed.

For more information, and lists of each state’s licensing requirements for school counselors, visit the American School Counselor Association.

 

 

 

 

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Matthew Lynch published in HBCU's, Higher Education, Matthew Lynch, OpEducation

Diverse Conversations: Training Tomorrow’s Educators

It’s an unavoidable reality that today’s students will be tomorrow’s educators. The professors involved in teacher training initiatives and teacher education programs today are the ones responsible for training tomorrow’s teachers. With that said, it’s increasingly important for those involved in education to be aware of innovations and trends that apply to the teaching profession and what strategies are most effective when it comes to making teacher education programs a success.

Recently I sat down with Dr. Maria del Carmen Salazar, associate professor of curriculum studies and teaching at the University of Denver’s Morgridge College of Education, to discuss this challenge of training tomorrow’s educators and what can be done to make these efforts a success.

Q: To get started, what are some of the most important trends in education currently and what impact do you think they are likely to have on the teaching profession in the future?

A: The most important trends in education are related to evaluation and accountability. These trends will have a significant impact on the teaching profession because new teachers will be held accountable for results. Teachers will need to demonstrate that students are making gains, including the students who face significant opportunity gaps. These trends will likely have positive and negative consequences for the teaching profession.

Q: Tell me about your experience with teacher education programs. What are some of the most important trends you have noticed?

A: I have collaborated on the design of 3 teacher preparation programs, including 2 Urban Teacher Residencies (UTRs) and a hybrid program that integrates traditional and residency-like elements. The trends I have noticed in teacher education include a tension between conformity and innovation, and a tension between accountability vs. connectivity (e.g., defining value added). On a more practical note, programs are trending toward increased field work hours, a focus on meeting the needs of diverse learners to meet district needs, and a focus on outputs versus inputs.

Q: What are some of the most significant challenges to teacher education programs?

A: Teacher education programs face significant challenges, including a lack of statewide data systems that link teachers to their preparation programs; misconceptions and myths about alternative teacher preparation vs. traditional teacher preparation; increased competition between preparation programs; and a lack of diverse teacher candidates and diverse teacher educators.

Q: How are the current teacher training programs measuring up given the current and predicted future trends in education? How well prepared are the teachers of tomorrow?

A: This is a difficult question because measures of teacher effectiveness vary from state to state and across districts. However, promising data is emerging from CAEP and EdTPA.

Q: What is your advice to educators and administrators involved in teacher training programs? What strategies have you found most useful for addressing the challenges and minimizing program issues?

A: Anchor your program to a framework for teaching. The best strategy we have used is to anchor our program to our Framework for Equitable and Effective Teaching (FEET). The FEET has provided a sense of cohesion and purpose that guides the dispositions, knowledge, and skills every apprentice teacher is expected to master. This tool is focused on meeting the needs of diverse learners, thus placing students from marginalized communities at the center of effective teaching.

Q: Approaching the issue from a different angle, what is the significance of innovation in teacher training programs given the current trends in education?

A: Innovation is essential in all elements of education. However, evaluation can promote compliance and conformity, thus stifling incubators for innovation, transformation, and reform.

Q: What strategies have you found particularly useful for promoting innovation in teacher education programs?

A: We teach our apprentice teachers to understand when to follow and when to lead. We use the analogy of knowing when to get in the box, knowing when to poke holes in the box, and knowing when to dismantle the box and create a new structure.

Q: How, specifically, can innovative teacher education programs best train tomorrow’s teachers?

A:
• Create a strong foundation using a framework for teaching
• Start with the needs of diverse learners
• Ensure theory and practice connections for real-world application
• Model good teaching
• Provide opportunities for apprentice teachers to teach, lead, and transform
• Be flexible, adaptive, and community-oriented
• Prepare change agents
• Think locally and globally

This concludes our interview. Thanks to Dr. Salazar for taking the time to answer my questions.

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Matthew Lynch published in Higher Education

What responsibility do colleges have in rape justice?

In the past few weeks, there have been a lot of headlines regarding sexual assault — including decades-old allegations surrounding comedian Bill Cosby. While these allegations are receiving the lion’s share of attention, there is some equally disturbing information from the campus of the University of Virginia about consistent cover-ups regarding allegations of rape from the young women on its campus.

You can read all about these cases in their corresponding news stories from a variety of outlets — but what I don’t see really being discussed in depth is the role of colleges in preventing and reporting these incidents. The safety of students is certainly of utmost importance to colleges but to what extent? Where does the responsibility for student safety end — or is it all encompassing?

And if the answer to that question is that colleges really should shoulder a lot of the responsibility of student safety, especially when it comes to issues of sexual assault, what else can be done to solve this problem? Should there be national standards that colleges and universities pledge to uphold — and then who will reinforce them? President Obama has already called on the young men of the nation to speak up when they see sexual crimes taking place on college campuses. Is that where we should shift our focus?

It’s clear that at least some of the crimes committed against our young adults on campuses where they feel a veil of safety are falling through the cracks. It will take a concerted effort to turn that tide but so far the solution does not seem obvious.

 

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