An assessment and evaluation program for black university students in academic jeopardy: A descriptive analysis
✍ Scribed by Sandra Anderson Garcia; Katurah Presley
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 1981
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 741 KB
- Volume
- 9
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0090-4392
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
Moving into the 19809, we can expect to witness continued demands for Black Americans for an equal opportunity to become upwardly mobile in America. Achieving higher education has been the primary tool for advancement for all racial and ethnic groups that have settled in America Black people are no exception. Today, however, many Black persons who enter institutions of higher learning fail to complete their programs.
The problem of student retention and attrition in higher education has been researched and reported for the past half century. Yet, the problem persists and has become particularly acute for Black students. Astin (1975) reported that the national dropout rate for Blacks was 49.58, and the completion rate was 15-20% in predominantly white institutions.
The student Data Course files maintained by the Florida State University System's (FSUS) Office of Management Information System showed that dropout rates for Black students was significantly greater than those of white students. The University of South Florida (USF) in Tampa, Florida, is one of the nine universities in the FSUS with an enrollment of over 23,000. Data generated from a sample of Black students for the academic years 1972-1976 showed that (a) the better qualified local Black students do not generally come to USF, (b) a high percentage of Black persons leaving the university are experiencing academic as well as personal difficulties at the time of their departure, (c) the average cumulative grade point average (GPA) that is earned by Black students at USF is declining, (d) most Black students are not actively seeking, nor are they being offered advising and/or counseling services sufficient to meet their needs, and (e) Black students surveyed reported that the campus atmosphere contributed little to their academic adjustment (Ad Hoc Committee on Black Student Retention, Note 1).
At the beginning of the 1977-1978 academic year, 25% (n = 247) of the 936 Black students enrolled at USF had cumulative GPAs under 2.0 (C) and were on academic probation. According to university policy at the time of this study, if the student's academic status did not improve during the next quarter (GPA 2 2.0), he/she was placed on final academic warning. Lacking improvement, the student was academically dismissed from the university during the third quarter.l
There is an acute need for a comprehensive retention program at USF, not only to reduce the loss of human potential, but also to meet governmental mandates. After the NAACP filed suit in 1970, Florida was one of several states cited by a federal judge for violations of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Subsequently, the Office for Civil Rights of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare required an annual report on the *The authors wish to thank Andrea Shelton for her help in collecting and analyzing thedata. Requests for reprints should be addressed to first author,