Boost student success by reversing your perspective on college readiness The national conversation asking "Are students college-ready?" concentrates on numerous factors that are beyond higher education's control. Becoming a Student-Ready College flips the college readiness conversation to provide a new perspective on creating institutional value and facilitating student success. Instead of focusing on student preparedness for college (or lack thereof), this book asks the more pragmatic question of what are colleges and universities doing to prepare for the students who are entering their institutions? What must change in an institution's policies, practices, and culture in order to be student-ready? Clear and concise, this book is packed with insightful discussion and practical strategies for achieving your ambitious student success goals. These ideas for redesigning practices and policies provide more than food for thought—they offer a real-world framework for real institutional change. You'll learn: How educators can acknowledge their own biases and assumptions about underserved students in order to allow for change New ways to advance student learning and success How to develop and value student assets and social capital Strategies and approaches for creating a new student-focused culture of leadership at every level To truly become student-ready, educators must make difficult decisions, face the pressures of accountability, and address their preconceived notions about student success head-on. Becoming a Student-Ready College provides a reality check based on today's higher education environment.

Explores the current context, role, and challenges of post-secondary education and presents options for promising pathways forward. The post-secondary educational system has undergone dramatic changes and experienced immense stress in the past two decades. Once regarded as the logical next step toward career opportunities and financial security, higher education is a subject of growing uncertainty for millions of people across the United States. It is more common than ever to question the return on investment, skyrocketing cost, and student debt burden of going to college. Prospective students, and many employers, increasingly view attending institutions of higher learning as inadequate preparation for entering the 21st century workforce. High-profile scandals—financial impropriety, sexual abuse, restrictions of free speech, among others—have further eroded public trust. In response to these and other challenges, leading voices are demanding strengthened accountability and measurable change. Higher Education's Road to Relevance illustrates why change is needed in post-secondary education and offers practical solutions to pressing concerns. The authors, internationally recognized experts in college-level teaching and learning innovation, draw heavily from contemporary research to provide an integrative approach for post-secondary faculty, staff, and administrators of all levels. This timely book helps readers identify the need for leadership in developing new networks and ecosystems of learning and workforce development. This valuable book will help readers: Understand the forces driving change in higher education Develop multiple pathways to create and credential self-directed learners Promote access to flexible, cost-effective, and relevant learning Adapt structures and pedagogies to address issues and overcome challenges Use an inclusive approach that extends to employers, K-12 educators, post-secondary educators, and policy-makers, among others Higher Education's Road to Relevance is a much-needed resource for college and university administrators, academic researchers, instructors and other faculty, and staff who support and interact with students.

This unique collection of testimonials, critical essays, and first-hand accounts demonstrates the significant contribution of campus service workers in supporting the retention and success of first-generation college students. Using a Freirean framework to ground individual stories, the text identifies ways in which campus workers connect with students, provide informal mentorship, and offer culturally relevant support during students’ transition to college and beyond. Drawing on a range of interviews, case studies, and research studies, emphasis is placed on the unique challenges faced by first-generation and minority students such as cultural alienation, imposter syndrome, language barriers, and financial insecurity. Ultimately, the text dismantles notions of social hierarchies that separate workers and college students and encourages institutions to invest in these workers and their contribution to student well-being and success. This book will benefit researchers, academics, and educators with an interest in the higher education and student affair practice and higher education administration more broadly. Those specifically interested in multicultural education and the study of race and ethnicity within US higher educational contexts will also benefit from this book.

The second edition of Academic Advising Administration: Essential Knowledge and Skills for the 21st Century examines the evolving boundary-crossing role of the advising administrator in an increasingly complex and diversified higher education environment. Written by scholar-practitioners in the field, chapters situate advising administration as a central and critical function that connects the curriculum and scholarship work of faculty members with the aspirations and goals of students. Through scholarly and practical content, combined with reflective questions, chapters challenge readers to examine the work of advising administration through the lenses of social justice, globalization, and the nature of the academy itself. The portrait of the advising administrator being developed in this second edition is that of a skilled practitioner; visionary and transformative leader; intellectual partner and collaborator; and academic advising "scholar-in-chief." Intended equally for aspiring, new, and seasoned advising administrators, this book presents theories, scholarship, and practical applications that offer opportunities for personal and professional growth, self-reflection, and inspiration.

Research shows that enriching learning experiences such as learning communities, service-learning, undergraduate research, internships, and senior culminating experiences – collectively known as High-Impact Practices (HIPs) – are positively associated with student engagement; deep, and integrated learning; and personal and educational gains for all students – particularly for historically underserved students, including first-generation students and racially minoritized populations. While HIPs’ potential benefits for student learning, retention, and graduation are recognized and are being increasingly integrated across higher education programs, much of that potential remains unrealized; and their implementation frequently uneven. Colleges are eager to use the HIP nomenclature for recruitment, promoting equity for traditionally underserved student populations, and preparing lifelong learners and successful professionals. However, HIPs defy easy categorization or standardized implementation. They rely on fidelity, quality, and consistency – being “done well” – to achieve their learning outcomes; and, above all, require attention to access and equity if they are to fulfill their promise of benefitting all student populations equally.The goal of Delivering on the Promise of High-Impact Practices is to provide examples from around the country of the ways educators are advancing equity, promoting fidelity, achieving scale, and strengthening assessment of their own local high-impact practices. Its chapters bring together the best current scholarship, methodologies, and evidence-based practices within the HIPs field, illustrating new approaches to faculty professional development, culture and coalition building, research and assessment, and continuous improvement that help institutions understand and extend practices with a demonstrated high impact. For proponents and practitioners this book offers perspectives, data and critiques to interrogate and improve practice. For administrators it provides an understanding of what’s needed to deliver the necessary support.

In the field of student affairs, many are rethinking the value of a wide variety of traditional aspects associated with the student experience. Recent commentary has questioned whether students should attend college that has an all-inclusive tuition, focused primarily upon academic and support services. Given the need for changes the COVID-19 pandemic has created, it is imperative to question whether this kind of academic package is ideal for the future of higher education. As issues surrounding the traditional aspects of the student experience continue to develop, research has begun to focus on how student learning and awareness can be improved, specifically within the principles of design thinking. Applying Design Thinking to the Measurement of Experiential Learning is a forward-thinking and innovative look at assessment and design conditions that promote student learning. It proposes new models for education, conditions for student learning, and student learning assessment using design thinking and experiential learning. These topics include adjustments to curriculum, integrated learning environments, student success and student affairs, campus-wide design thinking, and testing assessments. This book is valuable for senior leaders in the field of student affairs, student affairs assessment professionals and faculty teaching in higher education programs, practitioners, researchers, academicians, and students interested in how the principles of design thinking can be applied to higher education.

Since the earliest civilizations, a connection has existed between music and the literary arts. From the Old Testament and ancient Greek poets to the great operatic masterpieces of the nineteenth century, music and words have forged an inseparable bond. This relationship is not only seen in musical genres but in a prolific output of novels for adults and children that contain musical themes, characters, and/or settings. This book is the result of many years of research into fiction that has this musical connection. Focusing on novels mainly from the twentieth century, this volume contains an extensive annotated list featuring works for adult, young adult and juvenile audiences and also represents a wide range of musical genre from classical to jazz to rap. Following the annotations, this book provides a comprehensive listing of all titles sorted by reading level and by musical genres to assist librarians, educators, and readers in finding the precise book for a given need or interest.