Peter Collier & the Students First Staff

1. 2008 Portland State Umbrella Tour “Students First” Promoting Student Success and Retention Peter Collier & the Students First Staff

2. Two Students First Projects • Students First Mentoring Project • Students First Success System

3. The Students First Mentoring Program (SFMP)

4. Students First Mentoring Program (SFMP) is a four year pilot intervention designed to improvefirst generation student performance and persistence at PSU through expertise-development mentoring

5. Conceptual Model Collier & Morgan’s 2-Path Model of Academic Success

6. Traditional Model Student’s Abilities Student’s Performances Understanding of Course Material

7. Two Path Model Understanding of Professor’s Expectations Student’s Abilities Student’s Performances Cultural Capital Demonstrated Capacity Actual Capacity Academic Skills Understanding of Course Material Collier & Morgan, 2007

8. Expertise development mentoringinvolves mentors sharing useful information about • what to do in order to succeed at the university, • insights into the culture of higher education, and • tips on how to become “more expert” students.

9. Conceptual model of intervention Improved student expertise academic performance & retention Participation in SFMP

10. •SFMP positively impacts low-income, first generation freshmen retention •SFMP positively impacts low-income, first generation freshmen gpa. •SFMP positively impacts the average number of credits earnedby first generation freshmen •Participating in SFMP positively impacts students’ level of expertise

11. The Students First Success System (SFSS)

12. Partnership between University Studies, Sociology and Applied Linguistics SFSS takes the SFMP model for promoting 1st generation student success and extends it to ALL incoming students

13. First, SFSS explicitly identifies a range of potential college adjustment issues that new studentsare likely to encounter during their first year on campus.

14. Students First Points of Impact Understanding ofProfessor’s Expectations Student’s Abilities Student’s Performances A Cultural Capital Demonstrated Capacity Actual Capacity Academic Skills Understanding of Course Material

15. Second , SFSS provides participating students with tools designed to connect them with the wide range of available campus support services.

16. Students First Points of Impact Understanding ofProfessor’s Expectations Student’s Abilities Student’s Performances A B Cultural Capital Demonstrated Capacity Actual Capacity Academic Skills Understanding of Course Material

17. Third, SFSS provides students with a variety of scripts for how to use specific campus resources appropriately as well as strategies for key campus interactions

18. Students First Points of Impact Understanding ofProfessor’s Expectations Student’s Abilities Student’s Performances A B C Cultural Capital Demonstrated Capacity Actual Capacity Academic Skills Understanding of Course Material

19. SFSS Resource Website http://sfss.pdx.edu

20. Implications

21. Colleges and Universities need to be more explicit in conveying expectations and the “culture of higher education” to students

22. Expertise development mentoring promotes academic success and retention.

23. On-line delivery of student support resources promotes student success and retention

24. “Access without support is not opportunity”Dr. Vincent Tinto Syracuse University

25. Dr. Peter Collier Professor of Sociology Director,Students First Mentoring Program University Studies’ Faculty-in-Residence for Retention cfpc@pdx.edu 503-725-3961