Concerns with how students are taught, and whether and how they learn, has become particularly salient in higher education. This is evident in growing awareness of increases in time-to-degree and declines in attainment rates for many students, including those who are underrepresented, in our nation’s community and public and private colleges and universities. It is also demonstrated vis-à-vis recent findings that more than a third of college students evinced no noticeable improvement in critical thinking, writing, and complex reasoning skills after four years as an undergraduate. These findings suggest that while a focus on access to and participation in the nation’s colleges and universities remain a prominent goal, it is no longer sufficient given persistent disparities in post secondary student learning.
There are a few models however, from which we can distill a set of strategies for promoting not only high achievement, but also retention and completion rates. This book examines three such models in higher education — the Meyerhoff Scholars Program at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County; the Opportunity Programs at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, New York; and the Premedical Program at Xavier University in New Orleans – with a proven record of student achievement and completion.