Identity-Conscious Strategies to Engage At-Promise Students in a Learning Community: Shared Courses in a Comprehensive College Transition Program

Abstract

Background/Context: Low-income, racially minoritized, and first-generation college students (at-promise students) attending predominantly White, middle class institutions often face inequitable access to enriching educational opportunities, discrimination, and marginalization, creating barriers to their success. Institutions are increasingly designing comprehensive college transition programs (CCTPs) such as the Thompson Scholars Learning Community (TSLC) program to better support this population. Little research has examined how particular elements of CCTPs might foster students’ engagement and outcomes, and TSLC is one of a few existing CCTPs that includes a learning community component where students enroll in shared academic courses. Setting: TSLC operates on three campuses of the University of Nebraska system with different institutional contexts, including mission, size, student population, and geographic location. Study Participants: This study uses quantitative data from 791 first-year students in TSLC who began college in 2015 and 2016 and qualitative data from students and institutional agents who are directly involved with shared academic courses, including instructors and TSLC staff. Purpose: Using a framework of inclusive learning communities defined by Fink and Hummel (2015) , this study explores how and why shared courses may promote engagement and the development of several psychosocial and academic outcomes, including sense of belonging and grade point average (GPA), among at-promise students in their first year of college. Research Design: We use a multilevel mixed methods design, employing quantitative data to examine students’ engagement as well as the link between students’ engagement and several measures of psychosocial wellbeing and academic achievement and qualitative data from students and institutional agents to identify the structures and practices that likely contribute to students’ engagement and outcomes. Findings: We find no significant differences in students’ patterns of engagement in shared courses based on several characteristics related to their social identities, family backgrounds, and prior academic achievement. Engagement is positively linked to students’ sense of belonging and mattering to the institution, academic and social self-efficacy, and first-year GPA. Qualitative data provide insight into the mechanisms that foster these outcomes, including helping students develop connections in academic spaces, having a faculty coordinator who supports shared course instructors and students, and instructors’ use of active and relevant learning experiences. Conclusions: The loose-cohort shared courses model implemented in TSLC supports the success of at-promise students and provides evidence of scalability and adaptability across different institutional contexts, offering a model of inclusive learning community structures and practices that can inform efforts at other institutions.