Different Paths to Student Success

A number of terrific tidbits have come in over the last week or so, most of which are directly relevant to student success. Rather than waiting for Friday, it seemed reasonable to share them now.

First, the idea of eight-week semesters (as opposed to 15 or 16 weeks) continues to prove itself. I’ve known about the successes at Odessa College, Amarillo College, the College of Southern Maryland and Grayson College, but now we can add Kilgore College (Tex.) to the list. When she saw the improvements in success rates, the president of the college, Brenda Kays, reported that “it took my breath away.” Among other measures, the graduation rate for Black students nearly tripled. There aren’t many low-cost interventions as effective as that.

Longtime readers know that I’m a fan of short semesters. Shorter courses make it easier for students with complicated lives to focus. They also make it less costly for a student who has to walk away in, say, November or April because life happened. The academic calendar is one of the few variables that’s entirely under a college’s direct control. Yes, there’s an adjustment period, but that happens once and it’s done. And colleges have long taught shorter courses in the summer and January terms, so the idea that the 15-week semester was handed down from the mountaintop simply doesn’t hold.

Kudos to the schools that see the big picture. I hope many more do soon.

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This one came to me late, and indirectly, but it’s still worth sharing. Morgan State University, an HBCU in Maryland, has built an entire school within itself dedicated to bringing back working adults with some college but no degree.

Other schools have done something similar, but I was struck by the mix of forward-looking practices—prior learning assessment, online courses, personal advising—with a classic liberal arts degree program.

Often the conversations around returning adult students assume that they’re only interested in degrees or credentials tightly coupled to specific occupations. That can certainly be true, but Morgan State has found that liberal arts degrees can hold real appeal, too.

Although we often prefer not to think in these terms, many employers and/or occupations require that a candidate can check the box indicating a degree, even if they don’t particularly care what field the degree represents. For students who may have credits from a decade or two ago, but who have tremendous amounts of work experience already, a program expansive enough to absorb a wide range of credits may be more appealing that starting fresh in a field in which they have no experience.

And there’s also the sense of personal accomplishment in going from “college dropout” to “college graduate.” That still means something.

Kudos to Morgan State for finding a way to serve students that nobody else was serving. The rest of us can learn from it.

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Finally, yesterday’s post about a potential required American government class brought some thoughtful responses.

One mentioned a “town hall” structure, in which the (short!) semester culminates in an open public meeting with local elected officials. The idea is that students focus on a given problem, learning the usual institutional stuff in the context of a problem they’re trying to solve. Then they present their solution to elected officials and community members and field questions on them.

It’s a great idea, and I could imagine students eating it up. I’m not sure about scalability, though; elected officials’ time is finite, and I could envision attendance starting to drop after the first couple of rounds. Still, it’s the kind of idea that can be built on and honed over time.

Liz Norell, from Chattanooga State, wrote in with her “choose your own adventure” style of American government class. (She specifically mentioned that it’s “open” for folks to see.) It’s a short (!) class in which students have to make choices about what to focus on. The line on the syllabus page that won me over is “chase your curiosity.” Yes, yes, yes.

The final semester project includes a requirement to “move closer,” meaning, to speak at length with someone whose perspective is markedly different from your own. It’s hard to dehumanize someone who’s right in front of you.

The class looks amazing. If I were a student, I’d want to take it. It gives me hope.

We can do better. People already are.