Black Deaf Students : A Model for Educational Success

6 Protective Factors in Postsecondary Programs

109 Protective Factors in Postsecondary Programs 6 Postsecondary programs across the nation are seeking ways to improve recruitment, retention, and graduation rates of minorities. Predominately White colleges and universities have initiated programs specifically to increase the graduation rates of African American students because they do not accept the premise that all students need the same services; therefore, they will provide services designated to meet the needs of minority students. A review of universities and colleges that have high numbers of African American graduates suggests that African American students who earned bachelor’s degrees possessed protective factors within themselves and protective factors within their homes, schools, and communities. Once they entered colleges or universities, there were protective factors in place that further enhanced their resilience, allowing them to persevere and earn their degree. In postsecondary colleges and universities without formalized programs, sometimes students have established their own peer groups for support and have relied on support from their immediate and extended families. Some African American students have found it too difficult to integrate into the social and academic environments and have transferred to predominately African American colleges and universities to complete the requirements of their degree. Data on African American student achievement in predominately White postsecondary programs are presented in this review of postsecondary programs with high retention and graduation rates for African American students because both of the major higher education institutions that serve a majority of African American deaf and hard of hearing students are predominantly White. Research demonstrated that some of the top predominately White universities in the nation have higher African American graduation rates than the leading African American postsecondary programs. There were two reasons suggested for this: (a) many of the Chapter Six 110 students enrolled in Historical Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) are first-generation college students and come from low-income homes where there are few books, (b) the colleges and universities lack funds to provide the financial aid students need to remain in school. Lack of financial aid is listed as a major reason for students not continuing in school (Slater, Clarke, & Gelb, 2003). There are over 50 predominately White colleges and universities that have an African American graduation rate of 60 percent and above and 19 colleges and universities that have an African American graduation rate of 85 percent to 95 percent. These postsecondary programs are considered as some of the top ranked, academically selective colleges in the United States. The list includes the following, to name a few: Amherst College (95 percent), Colgate University (92 percent), Harvard University (92 percent), Princeton University (92 percent), Wellesley College (88 percent), and Williams College (88 percent). The University of Virginia, considered one of the top state universities, has an African American graduation rate of 85 percent (Slater, Clarke, & Gelb, 2003, pp. 110–112). There are a few postsecondary programs that have reported a higher rate of graduation for African American students than White students, including Colgate University, Mount Holyoke College, and Macalester College (Slater, Clarke, & Gelb, 2003). Three points are illustrated and noteworthy in these statistics. First, African American students have the intellectual capability to acquire outstanding academic skills to enter postsecondary programs and not only succeed but succeed at some of the top ranked White postsecondary programs in the United States. For those who doubt that African Americans have the innate intelligence to succeed in school and postsecondary programs, here is the evidence. All of the students who entered these programs had the intellectual skills to earn a high grade point average, ranked high in their graduating high school classes, and earned high SAT test scores. Second, the students in these postsecondary programs are from various income levels , family situations, and various high school programs. Third, there are parents and guardians and elementary and high schools that prepare and expect African American students to complete postsecondary programs. We need to know how students at these top ranking postsecondary programs attained these excellent academic skills. What were the protective 111 Protective Factors in Postsecondary Programs factors in their homes and school environments? Future research needs to focus on what factors contribute to this type of academic outcome, how is it done, when it occurs, and which educational settings are best for facilitating this type of high performance in the classroom and on national examinations. It has been well documented that social and academic integration contribute to high retention and graduation rates of African American students...