Improving the First Year of College: Research and Practice (review)

Slowly, but surely, the literature base on the first year of college is growing. A recent addition is Improving the First Year of College: Research and Practice. The book's nine chapters cover topics that are either unique to, or inclusive of, the first year. The chapters are grouped into four sections: First-Year Student Decisions, Diversity and the First Year of College, Assessing First-Year Outcomes, and Cutting-Edge Approaches to Engendering First-Year College Success.

Following a brief preface, the book opens with a chapter by Jacqueline King in which she reviews data from two national studies that examine the effects of students' financial choices on persistence and six-year degree completion rates. King reviews the effects of family income level, patterns of borrowing, and working on or off campus. King's chapter provides evidence about the importance of financial decisions made by students and their families and argues for providing them better and more accurate information about how financial decisions affect collegiate success.

Joe Cuseo's chapter on student decisions about academic major is an excellent treatment of the complexities of major choice. Cuseo reviews research that debunks the widely held notion that "undecided" students are automatically at risk. He also summarizes research on the development of intellectual maturity that helps explain first-year students' difficulty in making life decisions. Cuseo's chapter concludes with a list of practical strategies for enhancing first-year students' decision-making abilities.

Two chapters on the topic of diversity are written by author teams. The first, by Raechele Pope, Teresa Miklitsch, and Matthew Weigand of SUNY Buffalo, is a general overview of current demographic realities and basic student development research. It also includes a call for institutions to develop "multicultural competence" in the policies, programs, and practices that relate to first-year students. The second chapter, authored by Biren Nagda and Shawnti Johnson of the University of Washington and Patricia Gurin of the University of Michigan reviews research conducted with University of Michigan students who were involved in the "Program on Intergroup Relations" (IGR). The research was designed to determine what characteristics and experiences predispose students to participate voluntarily in a diverse learning community during the first year. The authors conclude with programmatic implications of their provocative research findings.

"Cognitive Impacts of the First Year of College" is the title of the chapter authored by Ernest Pascarella. This chapter offers an outstanding, highly readable summary of research on the cognitive development of students, especially in the first year. Of particular interest are the summary findings of "within college effects" related to such variables as class size, teacher behaviors, innovative instruction, and social influences. Pascarella reminds the reader of the danger of reporting "average" or "general" effects, in that such reports often mask important differences for different types of students.

John Schuh's chapter on assessing first-year programs and "other student experiences" provides a valuable overview of assessment—how it is appropriately defined and structured. Included in this chapter are two case studies as examples of typical assessment projects.

The book concludes with three chapters on "cutting-edge approaches." Christopher Poirier and Robert Feldman's chapter about online instruction in the first year takes a broad look at the prevalence of distance learning, the advantages and disadvantages of both online and traditional courses, and concludes with the authors' experience in teaching a "freshman seminar" course online at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Although Poirier and Feldman recognize the value of online instruction, they are candid in acknowledging both strengths and weaknesses of this instructional method. The chapter authored by Joni Petschauer and Cindy Wallace of Appalachian State University details the various programs and activities focused on the first year at this award-winning institution, programs and activities that lead to enhanced student engagement. Finally Jodi Levine Laufgraben offers a brief but thorough summary of the learning community as an effective structure for first-year instruction. Laufgraben reviews current learning community models...