FACULTY & STUDENT RETENTION: KEEPING OUR HBCU-UDC ALIVE DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC

Abstract

There is a national crisis around recruiting and retaining students from HBCUs. The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education surveyed 64 of 100 HBCUs and found that only five of the schools surveyed graduated more than 50 percent of their students. The statistics are startling because HBCUs, some of which date to Reconstruction in the South after the Civil War (widely accepted as the period from 1865 to 1877), ostensibly was designed to improve an underserved community. Despite the large number of freshmen admitted each year to Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU), a low number graduate (Tinto, 1993). It is, therefore, imperative that HBCUs implement strategies most likely to increase retention and persistence rates. When it comes to taking a closer look at pedagogy and practice in teaching, the COVID-19 Pandemic has created innovative environments for faculty to assess the students. The new perspective has many faculties utilizing evidence-based practices regarding performance-based assessment and other innovative techniques to assess students learning. Online teaching & learning and online assessment are likely to occupy a higher percentage of the future curriculum, which can be seen as a positive development for online learning. A correlation assumed that university faculty satisfaction and fair promotion could have a positive effect on student retention and engagement with a comprehensive analysis of these studies. It is paramount to consider that not only was fundamental student engagement found of tremendous relevance, but the literature is evident that student engagement during the entire higher education experience also leads to higher student retention rates and increased institutional commitment (Burke, 2019). This paper defines retention and persistence at HBCUs and presents the results of a systematic literature review that (a) identifies the challenges that impact student retention and persistence at HBCUs during the COVID-19 Pandemic and (b) delineates research-based practices/strategies recommended to address the academic, socio-emotional, and financial and health/wellness challenges of students attending HBCUs.