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Sawchuk, Mariette T.Access and Persistence: An Educational Program Model.Celebrating Cultural Diversity in HigherEducation.Mount St. Mary's Coll., Los Angeles, CA. DohenyCampus.91

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Prism Publishing of Mount St. Mary's College, 12001Chalon Road, Los Angeles, CA 90049 ($16; 11-50 copies$14 each; over 50 copies $12 each).Reports Descriptive (141)

MF01/PCO2 Plus Postage.*Academic Achievement; *Academic Persistence; *Accessto Education; Career Counseling; Church RelatedColleges; Cultural Differences; Cultural Pluralism;Curriculum Development; Educational Environment;Ethnic Groups; Higher Education; Limited EnglishSpeaking; Program Descriptions; *Program Development;Questionnaires; School Holding Power; SchoolOrientation; Student Financial Aid; Student PersonnelServices; Student Placement; Student Recruitment;Student School Relationship; Tutorial Programs*Diversity (Student); *Mount Saint Marys CollegeCA

This report describes the key elements of analternative access program at Mount St. Mary's College (California),from the recruitment and orientation of culturally diverse studentsto those ongoing academic and support services necessary to studentpersistence to graduation. The model is outlined in chapter II.Chapters III and IV describe how elements of the model operate atMount St. Mary's. Described are the tutorial services that areavailable, the campus climate that helps foster study and learning,student orientation and tracking, individual testing and placement,curriculum development, and student advisement. Also examined are thegeneral support services of financial aid, career counseling, andcommunity outreach. The program offers guidelines and starting pointsfor institutions interested in serving the needs of underpreparedstudents, who are often from ethnic minorities. Appendices includedescriptions of the English for Speakers of Other Languages andDialects and the Strides Toward Educational Proficiency programs, aswell as the school's Institutional Readiness Assessment questionnaireand a list of faculty development programs from 1986 through April1991. (GLR)

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Celebrating Cultural Diversityin Higher Education Series

Access &

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Mount St. Mary's CollegeLos Angeles, California

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Celebrating Cultural Diversity in HigherEducation

Access and Persistence:An Educational Program Model

Mariette T. Sawchuk

PrismPublishingTm of

Mount St. Mary's College, Los Angeles, California

Table of Contents

Foreword 4

I. Introduction 7

II. Alternative Access: An Educational Model 10

III. ,ELEMENT 1: A Supportive Campus Climate 12

Objective: To Develop a Supportive Campus Climate 12

IV. ELEMENT 2: Adequate Academic Support Services 15

Objective: An Effective Learning Resource Center 15

Objective: A Required Freshman Orientation Seminar 16

Objective: Academic Tracking System 17

V. ELEMENT 3: Good Academic Program 19

Objective: Individual Testing and Placement Program 19

Objective: Courses that Meet Students' Diagnosed Needs 21

Objective: A Faculty of Master Teachers 23

Objective: Reliable Academic Advisement 24

Objective: A Library with Adequate Holdings 25

2

VI. ELEMENT 4: General Support Services

Objective: Adequate Financial Aid Services

Objective: Career Counseling

Objective: A Social Action Program for Students

VII. BEYOND THE MODEL

A Two-Plus-Two College

Serving the Community

APPENDIX A The ESOLD Program

26

26

27

28

30

30

31

34

The STEP Program 35

Institutional Readiness Assessment 37

Faculty Development Programs 42

APPENDIX B

APPENDIX C

APPENDIX D

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Foreword

Celebrating Cultural Diversity inHigher Education

Educating a multi-ethnic student population forlife in a multicultural world is one of the greatestchallenges facing institutions of higher learning inthe 1990s. The task is complex and, in somerespects, controversial. All facets of college lifeadmissions, curricula, faculty development,financial aid, fund raising, library holdings andstudent developmentare involved. Mount St.Mary's College in Los Angeles (MSMC) has beenengaged in the process of implementingmulticultural education on its two campuses forover 10 years. Grappling with the issues raised bymulticultural education has been by turnsexciting, difficult, frustrating, and surprising.Through the experience, faculty, administrators,and students have been immeasurably enriched.Cultural diversity on campus, acknowledged andutilized as a catalyst for learning, can be atremendous source of strength for highereducation in the United States. Mount St. Mary'sCollege is publishing this series of monographs,Celebrating Cultural Diversity in Higher Education,to help other institutions exploring the potential ofmulticultural education.

Our series begins with a monograph describingMSMC's alternative access program on the Dohenycampus. The alternative access program admitsstudents who have low grade point averages(GPA's) and poor test scores, but show potentialfor success in college as demonstrated throughinterviews. Many of these students are ethnicminorities who have received poor academicpreparation in elementary and high schools. Thismonograph is the first in MSMC's series onmulticultural education because alternative accessprograms are one way to help a generation ofstudents too old to benefit from educationalreforms at the elementary and secondary level.Although much attention has been paid in recentyears to improving the quality of education in theUnited States, such improvement takes time and

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may come too late for students already in middleschool and high school. Alternative accessprograms accept students as they are and helpthem develop the skills they need to succeed incollege.

Mount St. Mary's College, LosAngeles

Founded by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondeletin 1925, Mount St. Mary's is an independent,Catholic college with a special concern for theeducation of women. The college offers acurriculum in which career preparation at everylevel is firmly based on the liberal arts andsciences. The college also emphasizes the study ofethics and encourages multicultural awarenessthrough academic and co-curricular activities.

For undergraduates, the college offers both two-year associate in arts degrees on the downtownDoheny campus and four-year baccalaureatedegrees on the Chalon campus in west LosAngeles. The evening/weekend division enablesworking students to earn associate orbaccalaureate degrees in selected majors orcertification in paraprofessional programs.Graduate programs are available in education,psychology, physical therapy, and religiousstudies.

Although small, Mount St. Mary's student body isremarkably diverse: 1,100 students self-reportingtheir places of birth listed more than 42 states and43 foreign countries. The ethnic diversity of theundergraduate student body closely parallels thatof Southern California: 12 percent African-, 37percent Anglo-, 15 percent Asian-, and 36 percentHispanic-American. Approximately 60 percent areCatholic. About half of our students reside oncampus and half commute.

Every aspect of a MSMC education ischaracterized by concern for the individualstudenther goals, her talents, her development.This concern for the individual student led to theevolution of the college's dual campuses andprograms, features which are among MSMC'sgreatest strengths. Unified by one administrationand one faculty, the college specializes on eachcampus. The Doheny campus offers bothassociate in arts degrees leading to immediateemployment and an alternative access programadmitting students who show a potential forsuccess in college despite a weak academic trackrecord. Alternative access students have averageGPA's of 2.50 on a 4.00 scale and averagecomposite SAT scores of 660. They are often thefirst in their families to attend college and muststruggle with poverty, inadequate high schoolbackgrounds, and pressing family obligations. Formany students, English is a second language. Thealternative access program, a direct response totheir needs, has been dramatically successful inenabling these students to succeed. Approximately68 percent of those who come as freshmen earntheir associate in arts degree in two years ortransfer to a baccalaureate program. Seventy-fiveto 80 percent of those who persist go on tobaccalaureate study in Mount St. Mary's four-yearprogram (50 percent) or at other institutions (25-30 percent). Research has been done on thealternative access program at MSMC's Dohenycampus and a model program developed, which isdescribed in this first monograph of the series.

The baccalaureate program on the Chalon campusfocuses on students who have demonstrated theirability to succeed academically. Baccalaureatefreshmen have average SAT or ACT scores placingthem in the top quartile of college-bound studentsnationwide. Minorities make up a largepercentage of these talented students. About halfof the candidates for MSMC's prestigious, merit-based President's Scholarships are African-,Asian- or Hispanic-American. The baccalaureateprogram has been recognized for its excellence by

independent organizations such as U.S. News andWorld Report and Changing Times magazines.Special opportunities such as the honors program,the Model United Nations delegation, and theMinority Biomedical Research program arecentered here. Significantly, students transferringfrom MSMC's alternative access program do wellin the four-year program, meeting the challenge ofdemanding academic standards.

Multicultural Education

As the population of Los Angeles changed duringthe '70s and '80s, the student body at Mount St.Mary's College gradually became more ethnicallydiverse, with the change most apparent on theDoheny campus. Faculty working with studentsfrom diverse cultures became aware that studentsexperienced academic difficulty when theircultural assumptions were different from those ofthe college. Respect for authority, for example, isa strong value for Asian-American students.Consequently, they often avoid asking questionsin class even when they are confused about thesubject matter. These students interpret the actof questioning as a challenge to the teacher,implying incompetence. Most faculty members, onthe other hand, interpret student questions as asign of interest and involvement in the class.Some faculty may even lower a student's grade forfailure to participate. In order to avoid thesemisunderstandings and others like them,interested faculty and administrators began toexplore ways to teach students and their parentsabout college assumptions and to learn about theworld views of various ethnic cultures. Englishteachers began to look for novels, poetry and playsby authors from a variety of ethnic groups in orderto stimulate student interest. Faculty came to"brown-bag" lunch meetings to exchange ideasand teaching methodologies that helped students

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succeed. Mount St. Mary's College began toexplore the implications of multicultural educationnot only on a theoretical level, but also on apedagogical one.

In 1986, Mount St. Mary's received a grant fromthe Consortium for the Advancement of PrivateHigher Education (CAPHE) to increase faculty andstaff awareness of the link between culture andlearning. Additional funds for this project weresupplied by the Times-Mirror Foundation. Thefirst objective of the grant, as stated in theproposal, was "to make every member of thefaculty and staff more effective in dealing withcultural differences among the college's students"through all-college programs and workshops. Thesecond was to provide funds for individual facultyand staff to research particular, practical topicsrelated to culture and learning.

The grant was a resounding success. It fundedspeakers for fifteen all-college events andnumerous departmental workshops. In the courseof the grant, 32 research projects wereundertaken. Twenty departments andadministrative offices were involved in theseprojects, and over 40 members of the faculty andstaff contributed to them. Many of themonographs in this series are a result of theseCAPHE-funded research projects. Anotherimportant result of this faculty and staffdevelopment grant was a gathering momentum forfurther institutional change. The educationdepartment received a second grant from CAPHE

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to infuse multicultural content into the subjectmatter courses (such as English and history)required for an elementary tinching credential.Funding from the AT&T. Ford, and Teaglefoundations has made it possible for the college toresearch the alternative access program and sharethe results with other colleges and universitiesthrough publications, workshops, andpresentations at conferences. Grants from theKnight, Ford. and Clowes foundations and the PewCharitable Trusts have enabled the college toundertake a revision of the core curricula with thegoal of making multicultural awareness a centralcomponent of a Mount St. Mary's education.MSMC is still very much in the process ofincorporating multicultural dimensions into everyaspect of college life. The experience is achallenging and invigorating one.

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IIntroductionCollege can seem like an impossible dream to agirl like Carmen from East Los Angeles, whosefather has been arrested for drug dealing andwhose mother supports the family by sellingtortillas to the bar next door. It seems equally outof reach to Sandra, an African-American teenagerwith low test scores and poor grades from aninner-city high school. Is there a place for youngwomen like these in higher education? For Rose,who sleeps in a hammock slung in the living roomof her overcrowded family home? For Maria wholongs to be a teacher despite poor English skillscompounded by a speech impediment?'

These young women and their male counterpartsare a challenge to American higher education, achallenge colleges and universities are onlybeginning to confront. Minority participation inhigher education, particularly among African- andHispanic-Americans, remains far behind that ofAnglo-Americans despite some gains in the late1980s. In the American Council on Education'sNinth Annual Status Report: Minorities in HigherEducation, Deborah J. Carter and Reginald Wilsonreport figures showing that 31.8 percent of Anglo-Americans, aged 18-24, have had some collegeexperience compared with 23.5 percent of African-Americans and 16.1 percent of Hispanic-Americans, (20-21). Not only are minority studentsunderrepresented on college campuses, they arealso more likely to be concentrated in communitycolleges rather than in four-year colleges anduniversities. Of those enrolled in college in the fallof 1988, 42 percent of African-American collegestudents, 40 percent of Asian-American students,52 percent of Native- American students and 56percent of Hispanic-American students wereenrolled in two-year institutions as compared with36 percent of Anglo-American Students (Carterand Wilson, 26).

The problem of low participation rates iscompounded for African- and Hispanic-Americanstudents by high college dropout rates. Hispanic-and African-American students earnbaccalaureate degrees at much lower rates thanAnglo-American students. In 1989, 84.5 percentof all baccalaureate degrees conferred wereawarded to Anglo-Americans, 5.7 percent toAfrican-Americans and 2.9 percent to Hispanic-Americans (Carter and Wilson, 31). Carter andWilson conclude: "Graduating larger percentagesof African American and Hispanic college studentsis not an easy task for most institutions, but itmust be addressed by more colleges anduniversities" (6).

Both research and common sense point tocomplex causes for the underrepresentation ofminorities in higher education. Poor instructionat the elementary and high school levels, poverty,racism, insufficient role modelsthe societalcauses are numerous. Some of the barriers toparticipation in higher education exist within thecolleges and universities themselves. Among themare highly selective admissions standards, lack offinancial assistance, and failure to understandand accept diverse cultures on campus.

One path to educational equity for minoritystudents is an alternative access program thatadmits promising but academically underpreparedstudents into a college environment that enablesthem to succeed. Mount St. Mary's College, LosAngeles, has developed such a program. Althoughstudents arc asked to submit their high schooltranscripts and SAT or ACT scores, admission isbased on an interview during which the student'sgoals, maturity, and potential for college work areassessed. Approximately 68 percent of thestudents entering the college's alternative accessprogram earn their associate in arts degree in twoyears or transfer to a baccalaureate program. Of

'These young women have been students in Mount St. Maty's alternativeaccess program. Their names have been changed to protect their privacy.

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those who persist, 75-80 percent go on tobaccalaureate study: 50 percent in Mount St.Mary's four-year program and 25-30 percent atother institutions. Carmen, Sandra, Rose andMaria, (along with hundreds of other youngwomen like them) have been admitted to MSMCthrough the alternative access program. Briefdescriptions of what these young women haveaccomplished appear throughout the followingpages to show in concrete, human terms how sucha program transforms lives.

The success of MSMC's alternative access programhas been recognized nationwide. The AmericanCouncil on Education (ACE), the WesternInterstate Commission for Higher Education(WICHE), the State of Michigan's Office of MinorityEquity, AT&T Corporation, and the Consortium forthe Advancement of Private Higher Education(CAPHE) have identified MSMC as one of the veryfew colleges in the United States having acomprehensive, successful program for ethnicminority students. At the same time the collegehas maintained its academic excellence, itsbaccalaureate program having achieved highratings in U.S. News and World Report (October1989 and 1990) and in Kiplinger's Changing Timesmagazine (December 1989).

In order to document the success of its programsand to analyze which components of its educationcontributed most to the success of alternativeaccess students, the college has collected datathrough its Office of Institutional Research. Inaddition, two separate research projects, the firstfunded by the AT&T Foundation and the secondby the Ford, AT&T, and Teagle foundations, havebeen conducted. The model program derived fromall available research is outlined in Chapter II.Chapters describe how elements of themodel operate at Mount St. Mary's. A grant fromthe CBS Foundation helped to defray theprepublication costs of this monograph.

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Mount St. Mary's educational philosophy isessential to the operation and success of thismodel program. Fundamentally, the faculty andadministration believe that the college needs toaccept each underprepared student, with herindividual strengths and weaknesses, and providethe help she needs to succeed. While thisphilosophy is simple, it has some controversialcorollaries. First, the college, as an institution,must adapt to the student as well as the studentto the college. Changing long-established ways ofdoing things -- teaching methodologies and the roleof academic advisors, for examplehas causedsome discomfort to faculty and staff, but has beenessential to the success of underpreparedstudents.

Second, MSMC places its focus on studentsuccess. Rather than "weeding out" a student inacademic difficulty, faculty and staff strive toidentify the causes of her underachievement andwork toward overcoming them. Students aretested, academic weaknesses are analyzed, andlearning prescriptions are devised by the LearningResource Center. Students who miss too manyclasses, for example, are referred to their academicadvisors, who help them clarify their goals and seethe relation between class attendance andsuccess. Faculty and administration believe it istheir role to intervene when a student is indifficulty, indeed to use that difficulty as a step tosuccess. Student success does not mean loweringstandards or giving passing grades to studentswith marginal performance. It means teachingstudents the self-management and cognitive skillsthat enable them to do well in regular collegeclasses.

Educational philosophies will differ in this regard.Not all colleges and universities will perceive theirmissions as insuring student success: not allfaculty members will accept as their roleintervening to change behavior. Much of thesuccess of Mount St. Mary's alternative accessprogram, however, comes from the college

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community's commitment to the success ofalternative access studentswhatever that entailsfor the institution. The support for thiseducational mission, moreover, is trulycollegewide. Trustees, regents, and alumnae aswell as faculty and administration regard theeducation of academically underprepared studentsas an important part of the college's mission.

Alternative Access: An Educational Model

DescriptionThe model program described in the followingpages has been developed and refined over thepast 10 years on the Doheny campus of Mount St.Mary's College. In addition to ongoing analysis byMSMC's Office of Institutional Research, tworecent studies document the success of thealternative access program and identify its keyelements. Beginning in 1987, Guadalupe Anayafrom the Higher Education Research Institute atUCLA conducted an assessment funded by theAT&T Foundation. In 1989-90, a second projectwas undertaken by Mary S. Fasenmyer andsupported by the Ford, AT&T, and Teaglefoundations. Both studiesemploying structuredinterviews with students, faculty, andadministrators and questionnaires completed bythe same groupsarrived at similar conclusionsand validated the model program described in thefollowing pages.

We recognize that each college has uniquecharacteristics. History, geographical location,existing programs, and resources are among thefactors that will have an important impact on theway the model, or portions of it, are adapted to aparticular institution. While not the only, nor thecomplete answer to the question of educationalequity, this model program offers guidelines andstarting points for institutions interested inserving the needs of underprepared students, whoare often ethnic minorities. This monographincludes an "Institutional Readiness Assessment"derived from the research (Appendix C). Foreducators who want to recruit and retain moreethnic minorities, the assessment provides auseful tool for measuring campus strengths andweaknesses.

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An Educational Model

The elements of our program organized inhierarchical order with the most importantvariables listed first. Following each element is alist of its component parts. Chapters offer adetailed description of the ways in which thismodel program operates at Mount St. Mary'sCollege.

ELEMENT 1: A SupportiveCampus Climate

1. Campus climate of warmth, trust, andgeneral caring

2. Active concern for student needs3. Sense of community4. Counseling services5. Campus housing6. Social life of the student body

ELEMENT 2: Adequate AcademicSupport Services

1. A Learning Resource Center with a varietyof tutorial services

2. Campus climate conducive to study andlearning

3. Required freshman orientation class4. Student progress tracking t

ELEMENT 3: Good AcademicProgram

1. Individual testing and placement

2. Curricula consistent with students'diagnosed needs

3. Skilled faculty with multiculturalawareness

4. Reliable academic advisement

5. Library with adequate holdings,particularly multicultural authors andworks

Element 4: General SupportServices

1. Financial aid

2. Career counseling3. Community outreach

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ELEMENT 1: A Supportive Campus Climate

The educational model outlined in the last chapterprovides guidelines for institutions of higherlearning seeking to help academicallyunderprepared students. Like all models.however, this one takes on life only when appliedto practical situations. This chapter and the threewhich follow show how the model program worksin the particular, concrete circumstances found atMount St. Mary's Doheny campus. Each elementin the model is broken down into objectives andMSMC's methodologies for achieving them.Practical suggestions, anecdotes, and quotationsfrom students are included in order to give thereader a more complete sense of how the programworks on a daily basis. Rather than beingprescriptive, this section is meant to share ideasand spark reflection and discussion.

This variable was rated by both students andfaculty/staff as the most important element in thepersistence and achievement of alternative accessstudents. It includes such components as "aclimate of warmth, trust and general caring," "anactive concern for student needs," and "a sense ofcommunity" (Fasenmyer, 23). What this means inpractice is that MSMC faculty, administration, andstaff are available to students. For example,freshmen and sophomores often stop by theadmissions office to chat with the director or withtheir former admissions counselor. Faculty,administrators and staff extend themselves inorder to help students. They stay beyond theiroffice hours to assist those in academic difficulty.They listen to student problems or ask questions ifsomething seems amiss. In one instance, twoadministrators conducting a freshman orientationseminar noticed that a student was losing weight.When they asked her how she was feeling, theydiscovered that she missed the kind of rice shewas used to eating in her homeland. After asupermarket search, one administrator's husbandfound the precious commodity, and the student'shealth improved.

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Objective: To Develop aSupportive Campus Climate

"The Doheny campus of Mount St. Mary's College isunique. It's so beautiful and the concern everyonefeels for youall these things encourage you tosucceed. The opportunities and the attentionprovided couldn't be better for helping students likeme to gain confidence."Maria

"There is a caring and home-like feeling at Doheny.The girls here are much nicer and more down-to-earth than at any other college I visited. I've madefriends easily with everyone."Jackie

"The thing that has impressed me most about theDoheny Campus is its warmth. Everyone cures,everyone is friendly and helpful?Linda

Developing a supportive campus climate is themost important element in the model and,unfortunately, the most elusive. The atmosphereof a campus has more to do with the attitudes andvalues of the people who populate it than with anyspecific programs. The following are suggestionsfor making every member of the collegecommunity feel worthwhile and valued.

Methodology

1. A supportive campus climate grows out of theinstitutional mission or ethos of a college.Trustees and high level administrators such as thepresident, deans, and department chairs supportthe idea that the empowerment of each individualstudent is one of their primary educational goals.They reward faculty and staff for giving personal

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attention to students. At Mount St. Mary's, forexample, good teaching has always been a criticalfactor in promotion and tenure decisions.

2. In hiring and providing orientation to facultyand staff, the college communicates to newemployees both the importance of giving individualattention and support to each student and clearguidelines as to the kind of support these studentsneed. Faculty know they may be required to takea very active role in guiding students toappropriate behavior. At Doheny, many MSMCfaculty members require attendance, take roll, andfollow-up in person or by telephone with studentswho are absent or miss assignments.Academically underprepared students need to seeboth the good and bad consequences of theiractions immediately, not at the end of thesemester. MSMC faculty are willing to provide thestructure these students require in order to learnthe habits of success. A fuller discussion of thefaculty role can be found on pages 23-24.

3. Education is seen as a process of bringingstudents into academic life rather than weedingout those lacking the background or skills tosucceed academically. Faculty and administratorsbelieve that a college exists to promote success forall students, not just for those perceived astalented. When a student experiences academicdifficulty at MSMC's Doheny campus, her teacher,advisor, or sometimes the dean of the campus,meets with the student to ascertain the causes ofher difficulty and to identify appropriate remedies.Failure is seen not as a sign of inherent inabilityto learn, but as a sign that a problem must beidentified and overcomeperhaps by referral tothe Learning Resource Center, to the financial aidoffice, or to another area of the college. There iscampuswide agreement that many incomingfreshmen need to be taught how to be successfulstudents. Acquiring good study habits, learningtime management and goal setting skills, andimproving reading and writing may take studentsa semester or more, but such learning pays off inlong-term success.

4. Faculty development is one way of achieving asupportive campus environment. The 1986CAPHE grant, mentioned in the Foreword,provided a way for all faculty and staff at thecollege to become more aware of the needs ofmulticultural students. Ongoing workshops at thecollege deal with such subjects as successfulteaching techniques with a multicultural studentbody and methods for handling racial tensions inthe classroom. (See p. 23 and Appendix D.)

5. The way students interact with each othergreatly affects the campus climate. One goal ofthe student development office at MSMC is topromote friendly and positive relationships amongstudents from different ethnic groups. Among themany organizations at MSMC are the Asian club,MELU (Movimiento Estudiantil de Latinas Unidas),and the Multicultural Advisory Council (composedof students, faculty, and administrators), all ofwhich promote multicultural understanding.

6. Participation in student government, serviceorganizations on campus, and the Women'sLeadership Program helps students feel a sense ofbelonging. Alternative access students, however,may be hesitant to become involved in studentgovernment and student events. They may needsome support or encouragement from an advisoror faculty member. Involvement in studentgovernment may be particularly productive ofgrowth in the student's second year, when someacademic success has been experienced and thestudent is ready to take on other challenges.

7. Another important factor is class size. Averageclass size at Mount St. Mary's College is 19students, so it is relatively easy for faculty to get toknow each student individually. Largerinstitutions may give some thought to providingsmall group experiences where alternative accessstudents can experience personal support.

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8. On-campus work is another way to givestudents a stake in the institution, to make themfeel part of a community. About 58 percent of full-time, associate in arts students participate inwork/study programs at MSMC. Through theircampus jobs, they become better acquainted withfaculty and administrators and more involved inthe workings of the college.

9. Living on campus, while not possible for allstudents, plays an important role in developing asense of community. Residence may be aparticularly important factor in studentpersistence and success because it provides quietareas and times for study. which may not beavailable at home. Students living in multi-ethnicdormitories also have opportunities to grow intheir understanding of other cultures .° Theybecome adept at cross-cultural communication,an important skill in an ethnically diverse society.Because many alternative access students cannotafford to live on campus without additionalfinancial aid, colleges and universities may wantto consider grants enabling students to reside inthe dormitories. In 1984, Mount St. Mary'scompleted a new residence hall on the Dohenycampus. About half of Doheny students now liveon campus. Quiet hours are strictly enforced inthe residence halls as a way of emphasizing thevalue of studying. To help commuter students,many on-campus study areas are provided, mostof which remain open in the evenings.Commuters are also invited to live in thedormitories during examination week.

10. All-college and all-campus events also provideways for students to develop a sense ofcommunity. The Doheny campus has manytraditional events uniquely its own including a"safe Halloween" night, which students provide forneighborhood children; the annual Cinco de Mayocelebration; Black History week; a multiculturalfair; Christmas open house for students and theirfamilies in the historic Doheny mansion; amother-daughter luncheon; and Laurel Day when

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honors are awarded. Doheny students alsoparticipate in events at the Chalon campus, wherethey see many of their former classmates whohave transferred to the baccalaureate program.

11. Communication is a significant factor in thedevelopment of a supportive campus environment.The "Doheny Happenings," a campus newsletterdistributed to students, faculty. and staff by theoffice of the dean, includes information on a widevariety of subjects including academic deadlines,financial aid, student activities, and campusevents. The newsletter is highlighted in weeklyfreshman orientation seminars, so that studentsbecome very aware of the information it contains.

12. Peer counseling is another way to encouragea sense of community. In the MSMC advisementcenter, for example, peer counselors help fellowstudents with simple questions about academicrequirements. In the Learning Resource Center,peer tutors, usually second year students, helpand encourage newer learners. Students alsoserve as residence assistants.

Carmen, whose story opened this monograph,succeeded academically, was elected student bodypresident in her second year and won the Mayor'sYouth Contest with her paper describing theproblems in her neighborhood and her ideas forsolutions. She graduated with, an associate in artsdegree and went on to California State University,Los Angeles, for a bachelor's degree in social work.

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ELEMENT 2: Adequate Academic Support Services

Alternative access students are admitted to MountSt. Mary's College because they have the potentialto succeed in college. Although they are asked tosubmit high school transcripts and SAT or ACTscores, these students are evaluated for admissionon the basis of a personal interview with the deanof the Doheny campus. Among the qualities thedean assesses are the student's maturity, abilityto set goals, knowledge of her own strengths andweaknesses, and commitment to furthereducation.

When a student is admitted, the college acceptsthe responsibility of helping her change any habitsor attitudes that lead to failure. Indeed, all of thesupport services on the Doheny campus arecarefully designed to change habits of thinkingand behaving. Sister Kathleen Kelly, dean of theDoheny campus, describes the educationalphilosophy this way: if you believe in yourselfand believe you can succeed, you are apt toengage in positive behaviors. Students candiscover that by paying attention, by studying, bygoing to classes and meeting assignments, theyare learning and achieving." Through theacademic support services, students learn newbehaviors, and even more importantly, they workwith people who believe in them. The formalacademic support services at Mount St. Mary's fallinto three distinct categories: Learning ResourceCenter (LRC), required freshman orientation class,and academic :racking program.

Objective: An Effective LearningResource Center

"There is always someone to help me when I'mconfused. The Learning Resource Center hasbecome my 'second home' because it helps meunderstand my work in class."Susan

"I really appreciate the Learning Resource Center. Igo there for help and review test-taking material,and do much better and feel much more confident."Laura

The basic task of any Learning Resource Center isto assist students in their college classes. Such acenter will be most effective if it is flexible,functioning in a variety of ways to meet the verydifferent needs and learning styles of individualstudents. Ideally, the approach to each studentrequesting help will be an individualized programdesigned so that the student can work at his orher own pace. A Learning Resource Center hasmost impact on a campus when it serves a varietyof constituents: faculty members, advisors,students in remedial classes, students onacademic probation, and drop-ins needing helpwith an individual assignment. Much of thesuccess of any Learning Resource Center comesfrom the attentiveness of the individual staffmembers, who must see beyond a student'simmediate problem to general areas of weaknessthat need strengthening.

Methodology: The Functions of aLearning Resource Center1. The first function members of the LRC staffperform is an assessment of the individualstudent's needs. A staff member talks with thestudent about her particular problem and mayalso consult with her advisor or the referringfaculty member. To meet the student's needs, amember of the staff may work one-on-one with astudent, initiate a study group, assign self-pacedlearning modules on audio-visual equipment,provide a tutor, or organize a skill-building class.

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2. It is most helpful if students enrolled inremedial or skill-building classes are assignedadditional time in programmed learning activitiesat the Learning Resource Center. Suchassignments help overcome any reluctancestudents may have to stopping by with a problem.The MSMC staff monitor these students to makesure they are putting in the requisite hours andhelp with any problems they may encounter.

3. The majority of students who come to theLearning Resource Center are requesting help on aparticular assignment. Generally, a member ofthe staff works one-on-one with the student. Ifthe student is writing a paper, for example, thestaff member will help to clarify what has beenlearned from doing research, to formulate a thesis,and to outline the content. When the student hasa draft, the staff member will make suggestionsabout organization, style, and compliance with thecollege style sheet.

4. Staff members working with students onassignments are alert to diagnose general areas ofweakness (for example, limited vocabulary or non-standard grammar) and point out material in theLRC that can be used to build the correspondingskill.

5. The Learning Resource Center staff can beeffective monitors for students on academicprobation. At Mount St. Mary's, this processusually begins with an informal interviewdiscussing the problems the student encounteredin the previous semester. Student and staffmember agree on strategies and precautions toavoid those pitfalls. Students on academicprobation may be provided with a tutor, requiredto take part in study groups, required to report toa staff person each week, assigned a certainnumber of hours in the LRC, or given other taskswhich will increase their confidence and skills.

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6. LRC staffers apprise faculty members of audio-visual materials and individualized learningpackages that could supplement course materials.The staff obtains necessary materials requested byfaculty members and monitors students who havebeen assigned to view or practice with materials inthe center. Supplementary materials are heavilyused in the physical and social sciences,mathematics, art, music, English and otherlanguages.

7. Working one-on-one with students givesmembers of the staff an opportunity to listen to astudent's family or personal problems. The LRCstaff regard supportive listening as part of theirjob and make referrals to appropriate counselorswhen necessary. This personal concern andpresence is vital to the students' well-being and isan important part of the community-building sonecessary in an alternative access program.

8. The center is conveniently located on campusand open at times when students can use it. Lateafternoon and evening hours are particularlyimportant for commuters and students who holdpart-time jobs as well as go to classes.

9. The center has sufficient audio-visualequipment to meet students' needs without unduedelay. It has the necessary programmed learningpackages, tapes, and other materials helpful tostudents and faculty.

Objective: A Required FreshmanOrientation Seminar"I loved the freshman orientation seminar. We gotto discuss how things were going with a smallgroup of other students experiencing the samethings. It really helped me understand thedifference between high school and college."Gracie

All freshmen need an introduction to college, butan introduction to the college "culture" isparticularly important for alternative accessstudents. Often these students have no personalor anecdotal experience of college, and conceptssuch as registration, schedule changing, andexamination schedules may be foreign to them.The orientation seminar also deals with problemsolving skills such as breaking down assignmentsinto achievable steps. Students are encouraged tosee each other and faculty members as resources.Successful student behaviors are taught andmodeled in the orientation class. In addition, afreshman orientation seminar is a good way toprovide students with small group support, animportant factor in community building.

Methodology: Components of aFreshman Orientation Seminar1. Experience has shown that the freshmanorientation seminar seems to work best if it isrequired and carries some academic credit. AtMount St. Mary's, the class meets one hour perweek for one semester and carries one unit ofacademic credit. In the Fasenmyer study, facultyand administrators rated this seminar as moreimportant to student persistence and successthan students did. Both groups, however, ratedthe seminar as "good" in quality (Fasenmyer, 15).These data suggest that students benefit from theexperience although they would not necessarilychoose it for themselves.

2. Because the freshman orientation seminars areideal for providing small group experiences evenon heavily populated campuses, we recommendkeeping them small. At Mount St. Mary's thegroup size ranges from seven to 17 students. Thisis particularly important because students areencouraged to discuss problems they areencountering in their first semester. The small

group atmosphere makes this possible, increasesgroup cohesiveness, and builds a sense ofcommunity.

3. All sections of the orientation seminar use acommon syllabus, so that students cover the samematerial.

4. Before the semester begins, faculty meet withthe freshman seminar coordinator to discuss goalsand course content. Students and faculty reviewthe course at the end of the semester to evaluatethe experience and make suggestions forimprovement. Student evaluations of the courseare weighed heavily in the revision process.

5. Topics covered will, of course, vary from collegeto college. Planners may consider the following:the semester cycle including topics likeregistration procedures, add and drop deadlines,deficiency notices and what to do about them,examination schedules and college resources;personal skills such as time management,problem solving strategies, health concerns andmoney management; and study skills such asmemory techniques. note-taking skills, test-takingstrategies, brainstorming ideas forpapers/speeches, and library research. Personalgoal setting and an investigation of careers are twovery important components of MSMC's orientationseminar.

Objective: Academic TrackingSystem"I got an early warning notice (of academicdifficulty]. and my advisor figured out that myproblem was a lack of organization. She helped memanage my time better. This semester I'm doingwell because I've learned how to organize myself."Tanya

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Alternative access students often have a history ofacademic failure and a collection of self-defeatinghabits that help account for that history. If theyare to succeed in college, intervention must takeplace at the first sign of trouble. Sister KathleenKelly, dean of the Doheny campus, believes thatacademic tracking is crucial for alternative accessstudents: "Early and frequent feedback fromfaculty to student is essential so that students canassess their progress and seek academicassistance when needed." Faculty andadministration must hold students strictlyaccountable for following through on thenecessary remedies.

Methodology: Components of anAcademic Tracking System1. A successful academic tracking system beginsin the classroom. Although the practice may becontroversial on some campuses, we recommendthat faculty members take roll and impress uponstudents their obligation to attend class. Asfreshmen, alternative access students need to betaught behaviors that lead to academic success,and class attendance is one of them. MSMCfaculty members frequently telephone studentswho have missed class to remind them to attend.

2. Students need early warning of academicdifficulty. Mount St. Mary's has instituted a two-tiered warning system. The feasibility of such asystem and its timing, of course, depend upon thecollege calendar. Mount St. Mary's, whichoperates on a semester system that ends beforeChristmas, provides "Early Warning" notices ofacademic deficiencies as early as October in thefall semester and February in the spring semester.Faculty members time tests, papers andassignments early enough to make an accurateassessment of student progress. A secondwarning, the mid-semester deficiency notice, istimed for November and March.

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3. Students in danger of receiving grades of D orF at the time of mid-semester deficiency noticesare required to develop a plan of action to improvetheir grades in collaboration with their teacherand advisor. Frequently, students at MSMCinclude the Learning Resource Center in theirplan. Whatever the plan, everyone involved in it isinformed in writing so that faculty, advisor, LRCstaff member, and student can all follow through.

4. It is helpful for students with two or moredeficiencies to meet with an administrator(assistant dean or dean) as well as with facultymembers and advisor. MSMC's dean for theDoheny campus meets individually with thesestudents and suggests ways that the student canbe more successful. This is time consuming forthe administrator, but tells students in anunmistakable way that each student at MSMC isimportant and expected to succeed. Mount St.Mary's tries to communicate to students duringthe first year in college that freshmen who act likesuccessful students become successful students.Close supervision helps many students learn thislesson.

Maria overcame her speech impediment andimproved her writing and speaking skills with thehelp and support of a staff member from theLearning Resource Center. After she earned herA.A. degree, she transferred to MSMC'sbaccalaureate program where she graduated witha degree in Spanish.

VELEMENT 3: Good Academic Program

The academic program is the heart of any collegethat defines itself as a teaching, rather than aresearch, institution. Why, then, is it not themost important element in the alternative accessprogram? Although students rated the academicprogram at Mount St. Mary's College very highly,they judged that the supportive campus climateand the academic support services were moreimportant to their success and persistence.Without self-esteem and basic skills, the bestcurricula and teaching are useless to them.

MSMC's faculty and administration believestrongly that college-level courses demand college-level performance. Alternative access students areultimately expected to master the same materialas those who enter the college in the traditionalway. Faculty are encouraged to experiment withteaching techniques such as cooperativeeducation, collaborative learning, and activeinvolvement that may include group projects,group discussion, and panel presentations. Suchtechniques have been demonstrated to workeffectively in multicultural classrooms for studentsfrom all ethnic groups. This pedagogical flexibilityis much appreciated by the students, who ratedthe faculty higher on teaching techniques,responsiveness to student questions, and qualityof assignments than the faculty rated themselves(Fasenmyer, 15, 27).

An academic program that is both high in qualityand good for alternative access students includesindividual testing and placement, curricularesponsive to students' diagnosed needs,competent faculty, reliable academic advisement,and adequate library holdings.

Objective: Individual Testing andPlacement Program

"Testing is a great ideal Now know exactlywhat my weaknesses are and I'll be taking just thecourses I need."Nicole (incoming student)

Students are not all alike. Alternative accessstudents, in particular, need careful diagnosing ofstrengths and weaknesses and individuallydesigned course schedules. Many of Mount St.Mary's Asian-American students, for example areprepared to enter college-level mathematicscourses, although they may need remedial Engii.,I1classes or even English as a second language. Atesting program makes accurate, individualplacement possible.

Methodology: Components of anIndividual Testing and PlacementProgram

1. Assembling a "package" of tests to assess allskills deemed necessary for academic success isthe first step in the testing program. Consultationwith faculty from departments such as Englishand mathematics is essential in selecting tests.Mount St. Mary's uses the following:

A. Reading Placement Test, EducationalTesting Service. This is a 25-minute testof reading comprehension. A ranking of43 percent indicates satisfactory skills.

B. Note Taking Test. This test was developedat MSMC. Students listen to a five-minutetaped lecture on a subject unfamiliar to mostof them (the one currently in use is onConfucian principles). They are asked totake notes during the tape and given anadditional two minutes to complete the notes

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when the tape has ended. Notes are scoredfor accuracy and clarity on a 1 (low) to 4(high) point scale.

C. Written English Expression PlacementTest. Educational Testing Service. Twenty-five minutes. A score of 70 percent isrequired.

D. Writing Sample. Students are given 30minutes to write a paragraph of about 150words using their notes from the tapedlecture. (If their notes are inadequate, theyare given a list of topics from which tochoose.) Paragraphs are judged on theirstructure (introduction, development, andconclusion) and grammar on a scale of1 to 4.

E. Arithmetic. This test was developed byMSMC's mathematics department andconsists of problems dealing with realnumbers, elementary operations, commonand decimal fractions, ratios, andpercentages.

F. Mathematics: Also developed by MSMC'smathematics department, this test isadministered with the preceding one.Students are given an hour to complete thetwo. The mathematics test covers basicconcepts in algebra and geometry. Aminimum score of 18 out of 45 is requiredfor placement into most baccalaureatemathematics courses.

G. Chemistry (Optional): Students who intendto transfer into baccalaureate programsrequiring chemistry may take this testduring placement testing or at a later date asthey prefer. Mount St. Mary's department ofphysical sciences has developed it to assessaptitude for the study of chemistry ratherthan knowledge of the subject matter.

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2. MSMC has found that alternative accessstudents respond best if testing is offered onseveral dates and times before the studentmatriculates. Academically underpreparedstudents are often apprehensive because theyhave had many unpleasant experiences withexaminations. To encourage them to come fortesting, it is important to accommodate them asmuch as possible in scheduling.

3. During each testing sesion, all tests are givenunder similar conditions. Communication withthe student is handled from one office. Thetesting coordinator mails an informal letterexplaining the testing policy to incoming students.MSMC includes a mathematics/chemistry studysheet along with a pre-paid, addressed postcardindicating times and dates of testing from whichthe student may choose. The testing coordinatorand volunteer helpers call each student the daybefore her chosen test date to remind her of herappointment. This personal contact tends tolessen test anxiety and decrease the number of"no-shows." The testing coordinator also mails thestudent her test results and lists courses requiredto make up any deficiencies.

4. Placement into skills classes is determined bythe testing coordinator after analyzing test resultsand ACT/SAT scores. Each student is assessedon an individual basis.

5. Students who need to improve their skills havea variety of options. Among the programsavailable are college skills classes (p.21), thesummer skills program (p. 22), and English as asecond language (ESOLD program, Appendix A).In addition, the college offers three tracks ofEnglish: Basic Writing (the most fundamental),Written and Oral Communication, and CollegeWriting (baccalaureate level).

6. Testing is of relatively little value withoutmeticulous follow-up. MSMC's testing coordinatoris responsible for verifying that students have

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enrolled in the correct courses. The coordinatoralso supervises the administration of post-tests atthe conclusion of summer skills and college skillsclasses to make sure that students achievesatisfactory scores. (These tests are differentversions of the original placement tests:) Ifstudents do not score satisfactorily, they receiveno credit and must retake the course. Thecoordinator also verifies that they have receivedacceptable grades in the skills classes. Thestrictness with which MSMC enforces this policy isone of the major reasons for the success ofalternative access students. Each student hasnumerous chances to develop her skills, but shemust reach a certain level of proficiency before shecan move forward.

7. Results of tests are readily available toadvisors. but are not part of the student's officialtranscript. Testing is a tool the institution uses tohelp students build on their strengths and correcttheir weaknesses as efficiently as possible.Results are the business of the student andcollege only. MSMC's transcript does not reflectwhether the student entered the college as analternative access student or in the traditionalmanner.

Objective: Courses that MeetStudents' Diagnosed Needs

"The skills program was really important to me. Iacquired the ability to write more clearly andcorrectly, and I have learned that education cannotbe taken away from me. Therefore, I amdetermined to get my bachelor's degree."Rosie

"The summer skills program was important andvery helpful for me as I began here. I got to knowthe campus and some of the faculty and studentsand felt much more confident as I began."Maria

Readers interested in a full description of MSMC'scurricula should consult the college catalog. Thefollowing section deals specifically with courseofferings designed to improve student skills.

Methodology: A Variety of SkillsClasses

1. Skills classes develop the academiccompetencies needed for the student to movesuccessfully through general studies classes andinto academic majors. They cover the full range ofstudent needs, are offered each semester, andrequire a certain level of proficiency. MSMCstudents enrolled in skills courses are required tospend additional time in the Learning ResourceCenter. The college offers the following skillsclasses each semester.

C.

A. College Skills: Note TakingA coursedesigned to address the reading, listening,and note-taking skills required to meet thedemands of college classes. (1-3 units)

B. College Skills: ReadingA course designedto address the vocabulary, speech, andcommunication skills required to meet thedemands of college classes. (1-3 units)

C. College Skills: WritingA supplementarycourse taught concurrently with BasicWriting. It provides additional and/orindividualized instruction in grammar,usage, and writing skills. (1-3 units)

D. Reading DevelopmentVocabularydevelopment through study of prefixes,roots, suffixes; through spelling drill; reviewof basic sentence structure; reading anddiscussion of selected imaginative andexpository pieces. (3 units)

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E. Basic WritingA study of basic elements ofwriting including sentence structure.paragraph development, and mechanics. (3units)

F. Basic MathematicsA skills course infundamental processes of arithmeticdesigned to develop both accuracy and speedin addition, subtraction, multiplication, anddivision of whole numbers, fractions, anddecimals. (3 units)

2. The atmosphere of the classes is positive. Theyprovide opportunities for students to develop theacademic skills they need to reach their fullpotential.

3. Cclleges may choose to designate these coursesas credit or non-credit or may determine someother designation. At Mount St. Mary's. studentsreceive credit for classes passed successfully, butthat credit is elective for the associate degree andnot applicable to the baccalaureate degree, shouldthe student decide to pursue one.

4. Classes in English as a second language areavailable. Mount St. Mary's ESOLD (English forSpeakers of Other Languages and Dialects)program can be taken concurrently with regularcollege courses and offers courses for three levelsof proficiency. (See Appendix A for furtherinformation on the ESOLD program.)

5. A summer program in basic skills is highlydesirable. Such a program enables manystudents to remedy academic deficiencies beforetheir first semester begins. With this preparation,they can take a heavier course load in the firstsemester and progress more quickly in theireducation. An even greattr benefit is that summerclasses enable students to become familiar withthe campus, to get acclimated to college life, andto make friends with other students in a relaxed,informal atmosphere. Such an introduction to

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college is of particular benefit to alternative accessstudents. Summer courses can provide a morecomfortable transition from high school, especiallyif students are able to live on campus. MSMC alsouses the summer skills program as a part of STEP(Strides Toward Educational Proficiency), itsoutreach program to inner-city high schools. (Fora complete description of STEP see Appendix B.)In planning a summer skills program the followingconsiderations may be helpful.

A. The course is timed for maximum studentbenefit. MSMC schedules three weeks inAugust just prior to the beginning of the fallsemester for the program. Students will beable to use their skills immediately in collegeclasses and can work most of the summer.

B. Students take study skills and choose fromamong other classes. Most academicallyunderprepared students do not know how tostudy. Teaching them effective techniquesdramatically improves their persistence.Other classes offered in MSMC's summerprogram are algebra, mathematics, readingdevelopment, scientific concepts, andwriting.

C. Classes are small (20 students maximum inMSMC's summer program) and taught byregular faculty members. Good teaching isof utmost importance to these students.

D. Colleges will have to decide whether such asession is mandatory or voluntary. AtMount St. Mary's, the summer skillsprogram is voluntary, but students arestrongly encouraged to attend. Studentsscheduled for skills classes in the fall cansatisfy those requirements if theysuccessfully complete the course duringsummer skills and pass the post-test (whichis another version of the placement test).

E. The summer skills program may carryacademic cred!t. MSMC offers one unit ofcredit to students who successfully completethe program. This credit is not applicable tothe baccalaureate degree.

F. MSMC provides students with enrichmentopportunities, such as concerts, plays andtrips to galleries and museums. Manyalternative access students have neverattended such events.

Objective: A Faculty of MasterTeachers"The professors are really interested in helping you.They give you individual attention, and there is asense of caring from them."Lisa

One of the strengths of the American system ofhigher education is the variety of institutionsserving different kinds of students and havingdifferent goals. Whatever the institutionalmission, those faculty members who teachacademically underprepared students in theirfreshman year should have mastered the art ofteaching as well as knowledge of their educationalfield. Alternative access students, whose studyskills, confidence, and understanding of thecollege culture may be limited, demand much oftheir teachers.

Methodology: Teaching theTeacher1. Alternative access students are often ethnicallydifferent from their instructors, who are likely tobe Anglo-American. In many minority cultures,cooperation is more highly valued thancompetition. Learning activities that build on

these cultural values can facilitate studentsuccess. Faculty members who will be teachingalternative access students during their firstsemesters need an understanding of the ways inwhich differing backgrounds and learning stylesmay interact with pedagogical techniques.College-sponsored lectures or workshops on suchcultural issues are ways of alerting faculty topotential cultural misunderstandings which canhinder learning. In 1986, with funding from theConsortium for the Advancement of Private HigherEducation (CAPHE) and the Times-MirrorFoundation, Mount St. Mary's College initiated aseries of faculty in-service events to increaseunderstanding of the relationship between cultureand learning. A list of the speakers andfacilitators for these events is Appendix D.

2. The experience of MSMC faculty memberssuggests that academically underpreparedstudents do better in classrooms where severalinstructional methods are used. Because manyfaculty members from research-oriented doctoralprograms have received little instruction inteaching methodologies, in-service education isone way to broaden their teaching skills.Although sensitivity is needed in designing andpublicizing these events, in-service workshops canbuild community spirit and provide teachers withnew tools to use in the classroom. While somepresentations have been lectures, Mount St.Mary's College also provides workshops that allowparticipants to try out new techniques and receivefeedback. To encourage participation, theworkshops may be stipended. MSMC has hadgreat success with workshops on writing acrossthe curriculum, using instructional media, andcollaborative learning.

3. Faculty can profit from re-thinking a course inthe light of new information about ethnic culturesand teaching techniques they receive throughlectures and workshops. Such a revision,however, takes time. Using funds provided byCAPHE and the Times-Mirror Foundation, Mount

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St. Mary's stimulated this process by awardingmini-grants to faculty and staff members whoproposed projects dealing with multiculturaleducation. These projects led to a more pervasivebelief in the value of multicultural education thanmight have resulted from beginning with a debateover terms. Other colleges may profit greatly froma similar program.

4. As noted in the introduction, an institutionalcommitment to the education of academicallyunderprepared students is important inmotivating this kind of faculty development.Enthusiastic support of in-service events on thepart of department chairs and deans encouragesattendance. Faculty members who take steps toincorporate multicultural perspectives in theirclasses or who use innovative teaching techniquescan be given credit for their efforts when salariesand promotions are being determined. (Theimportant role of faculty development inmulticultural education is elaborated on in thesecond monograph of this Celebrating CulturalDiversity in Higher Education series.)

Objective: Reliable AcademicAdvisement

`The thing that has impressed me most about theDoheny campus is its warmth. Everyone cares;everyone is friendly and helpfuL Advisors areespecially important and go out of their way to helpus students achieve our goals. They care verymuch and push us to the best of our abilities."Linda

The academic advisor plays a key role inexplaining the college culture, expectations, andopportunities to students. Alternative accessstudents, who have less familiarity with the collegeexperience than students who enter in traditionalways, need particularly skilled advisors.

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MAthodolov: Providing GoodAcademic Advisement

1. Academic advisors are carefully selected.Traditionally, academic advisors have beenmembers of the faculty, but this need not be thecase. One of the most important characteristics ofa good advisor is that he or she be knowledgeableabout college procedures and requirements.Alternative access students also need advisorswho are patient, who understand their culturalbackgrounds, and who have time for them. Well-trained staff members may be as good advisors asfar. ulty members.

2. Academic advisors need close and ongoingcommunication with the coordinator of placementtesting so that students register for the classesthey need. They also need to be in touch withfaculty members in order to intervene whenstudents encounter academic difficulty.

3. Academic advisors are trained to do their jobs.This is particularly important because advisorschange fairly often. College administrators shouldalso see that advisors get clear pdates on policychanges.

4. It is helpful to require alternative accessstudents to see their advisors at specified intervalsespecially during their first two terms. Sometimesstudents are hesitant about dropping in to askquestions, and specific appointments make surethey get the help they need.

5. Academic advisors are periodically evaluated atMSMC. It makes sense to check the competencyof advisors periodically, in the same way thatteaching is evaluated.

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Objective: A Library withAdequate Holdings

"From courses with multicultural content, I havelearned that all people have suffered: Blacks,Hispanics, Asians. All immigrants have hadsqfering in their history, not just the Black people,so that when I look at a person I don't see 'Black,'Asian,' or 'Hispanic,' I see a human being."Karen

While many college and university libraries arewell-equipped, collections are often weak in thearea of minority authors. Often minority authorsare published by small presses with limitedresources and short spans of time for keepingbooks in print, making their books difficult forcolleges to obtain. Sometimes, the inadequacies ofthe holdings indicate a lack of knowledge about orcommitment to multicultural education on thepart of the college community. A strong collectionof works by minority authors and aboutmulticultural issues sends a powerful message toethnically diverse students about the worth oftheir own cultures, about the commitment of theinstitution to multicultural education, and abouttheir own place in the academic world.

Methodology: IncreasingMulticultural Holdings

1. Librarians may want to survey the presentcollection as an initial step in securing adequatemulticultural holdings. It may be necessary forthe administration to allocate funds to improve thecollection in areas of weakness. In some cases,faculty and librarians may need to increase theirown knowledge about contemporary authors froma variety of ethnic groups and not rely solely on afew established authors. Among the kinds of

books to acquire are works of imaginativeliterature, biographies and autobiographies, othernon-fiction, periodicals, and publications in thenative language of minority students.

2. Librarians can aid the faculty by apprisingthem of multicultural resources as the college oruniversity acquires them. Such information helpstremendously with assignment planning andcourse revision. (A future publication in thisseries is an annotated bibliography of selectedworks by African-, Asian-, Hispanic- and Native-American authors.)

3. Colleges and universities will probably need toincrease both print and non-print multiculturalmedia holdings.

Sandra, the African-American student mentioned inthe introduction, earned both associate andbaccolm ireate degrees from Mount St. Mary'sCollege and went on to complete master's degreesin religious studies and marriage and familycounseling.

e ",

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WELEMENT 4: General Support Services

Although this element sounds like anafterthought, it contains one of the mostimportant factors in the persistence and successof alternative access students: financial aid. Theother services described here, career counselingand social action, can be critical as well.

Objective: Adequate FinancialAid Services

"The great counseling and financial aid were veryimportant to me. The financial aid allowed me toconcentrate on my studies and not have to worryabout my payments."Maria

In the interviews and questionnaires identifyingthe key components of the model, studentsindicated that the amount of financial aid theyreceived was a very important factor in theirdecision to attend Mount St. Mary's and in theirpersistence and success. To provide adequatefinancial aid services, a college must do more thanhand out generous grants. Students and theirparents must be helped to understand thecomplexities of the financial aid process.

Methodology: Making FinancialAid Work for Alternative AccessStudents1. Funds are allocated for alternative accessstudents. By usual definitions, these students willnot qualify for grants based on academicqualifications. Some, however, may be eligible forfederal and state grants. Students applying toprivate institutions, like Mount St. Mary's, willneed additional funds to meet their educationalcosts. High-level administrators and trusteesmust be aware that a commitment to theeducation of first-generation students from low

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socio-economic backgrounds will requiresignificant financial aid.

2. Fund raising efforts to increase the amount offinancial aid for alternative access students areaggressive and ongoing. Mount St. Mary's hassecured funding in the form of grants and low- orno-interest loans targeted for minority andalternative access students from a variety offoundations and corporate sponsors. Fortunately,a number of California foundations are keenlyaware of how important an educated citizenry is tothe future of this state and this country.

3. Financial aid counselors are prepared toexplain the financial aid process clearly and inconsiderable detail. Unfamiliar with collegeprocedures, both students and parents may beconfused and apprehensive about the process.They often require comprehensive information tounderstand the various kinds of aid available, theforms and documents needed in the applicationprocess, the potential financial contribution of thestudent and family, and repayment policies forany loans. Bilingual counselors and publicationsare available.

4. Presentations on financial aid in both Englishand Spanish are a regular part of recruitmentevents such as open houses and orientationevents for parents.

5. Financial support for alternative accessstudents may have to go beyond the cost of tuitionand fees. The college ascertains that support isavailable to fulfill basic maintenance needs forfood, clothing, housing, transportation, and books.College personnel also respect the financialsacrifice the family may be making in foregoingthe child's income when he or she enrolls incollege.

2S

Objective: Career Counseling"I have gotten information and skills that I will needfor a career and learned about several careers thatI would like."Maria

As evidenced by student interviews, alternativeaccess students come to Mount St. Mary'sbecause they want to earn a college education andqualify for a good position when they seekemployment. They need and want a career centerwhere they can be helped to correlate theirinterests and aptitudes with satisfying careerpossibilities. Some students, of course, arrive oncampus with very definite career goals and needlittle help from the career center. Some studentsfind that their initial career choice was unrealisticand need help to widen their options. Most needhelp with the process of finding a job, resumewriting, and interviewing techniques. Advisorsand faculty members are also aware of the need tobroaden students' knowledge of possible careers.They often talk about student goals andemployment opportunities in advisementconferences and class discussion. Faculty andadministrators refer students to the career centerwhen the timing seems appropriate.

Methodology: Characteristics of aCareer Center for AlternativeAccess Students1. Interest and aptitude testing are provided.Mount St. Mary's uses a career-explorationcomputer program because of its flexibility and itsimmediate feedback. Students interested insurveying job possibilities or getting informationon further education can use it informally.Students working with a counselor or taking thecareer planning class may be assigned to use themodules on interests, aptitudes, and values. Afterstudents have completed these parts of the

program, they receive a printout of compatible joboptions, which they can discuss with thecounselor. Other tools such as the StrongCampbell Interest Inventory are useful as well,although there is generally a waiting period whilethe test is scored.

2. Students are able to schedule appointmentswith a career counselor. Students referred to thecareer center at MSMC generally have an initialmeeting with the counselor to discuss theirconcerns and interests. She then assigns them atask related to their specific needs. A student whois changing majors, for example, may be assignedsome modules in the career-exploration computerprogram. Another student nearing graduationmay be asked to survey the job board or interviewvarious faculty, staff, and alumnae to help herbegin her job search. In follow-up appointments,the student and counselor discuss findings andplan the next step in the career selection process.

3. The center offers a career planning class thatcovers all kinds of issues: interest and aptitudeidentification, surveys of job information, jobsearch strategies, resume writing, andinterviewing techniques. At MSMC, the course isoffered in the fall semester for credit/no-credit.

4. Career planning and goal setting are topics inthe extended orientation program, during whichstudents are introduced to the career center.

S. Academic departments often decide toincorporate career planning into their curricula. Alarge number of alternative access students atMSMC are interested in careers in health fields.For many, the most familiar jobsnurse, doctor,physical therapistmay be unrealistic goals basedon present skills levels. Faculty in the pre-healthscience major have made a one-unit class "Careersin Health" a requirement to help students explore

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the many other options available to them. Oneimportant concept communicated in the class isthe idea of a career ladder, in which less well-known jobs can be steps on the way to long-termgoals.

6. The career center provides internships toenable students to experience a career field orbusiness in which they have an interest.Internships are extremely valuable for students.They help students make connections betweenwhat they are learning in school and what theywill be expected to do on the job. They provideimportant job experience and personal contactsuseful when a student graduates. MSMCstudents doing internships work with a facultysponsor and develop a paper or project as a resultof the internship experience. The career counselorcoordinates placement and works with thestudent's supervisor on the job. The studentreceives an evaluation from her work supervisorwhich the career counselor and faculty sponsoralso see.

7. The career center provides some help with jobplacement. Students consult the job board atMSMC's career center both for temporaryemployment and full-time positions. In addition,the career counselor helps individual studentsseeking positions, and the college holds an annualjob fair on campus.

8. There should be many roads to the careercenter. Unlike academic advisement, careercounseling is a service which different studentsneed at different times. If they hear about thecareer center in a variety of ways at a variety oftimes, they are more likely to use its services whenthey need it. Faculty members and advisors needto be alert to provide referrals, especially when astudent is in academic difficulty. The careercenter may sponsor all-campus events such asspeakers on career possibilities (MSMC usesalumnae whenever possible) to encourage studentuse of the center.

28

Objective: A Social ActionProgram for Students"One of the things I like about Mount St. Mary'sCollege is that it encourages you to do communityservice and to reach out to the community outsidethe college. It encourages women to 'go for it.'"Crystal

As a Catholic college, Mount St. Mary's is stronglycommitted to the Christian ideal of service toothers. Education confers a benefit on theindividual student, but also a responsibility to usethe acquired knowledge and skills for the good ofthe community. As Sister Kathleen Kelly, dean ofthe Doheny campus, puts it: "An important partof education is learning how to make acontribution to the lives of other people and tosociety. Being of service, seeing other people whoare in need, doing something to change the life ofanother personall of these increase the student'ssense of her own worth."

The college attempts to communicate theimportance of service in a variety of ways:through professional programs leading to careersin health care, education, and business; throughservice sororities on campus; through the socialjustice committee of campus ministry; andthrough the outreach program. To earn anassociate degree, each student must give 25 hoursof community service in this structured programwhich provides opportunities for analysis andreflection. These experiences are particularlyimportant for academically underpreparedstudents because many of them come fromcommunities which traditionally have realizedlittle political and economic power. Whenstudents experience their own ability to helpothers through the skills they have learned incollege, they, themselves, arc empowered andmotivated to continue their education.

Methodology: Going Beyond theCampus

The outreach program at Mount St. Mary's hasthree basic goals. The first is to give students anexperience of their power for good in the "real"world. The second is to help them makeconnections between academic learning andpractical application. The third is to increaseawareness of social issues and commitment toservice.

1. The outreach requirement can be satisfiedeither through supervised field work required byan academic major or through the social actioncourse. Students in early childhOod education, forexample, get outreach credit for their practiceteaching as do nursing and physical therapyassistant majors for the clinical aspects of theirprograms.

2. A student's outreach experience is supervisedby a faculty member who can help makeconnections between academic learning and thestudent's experience. The faculty member canalso point out the larger social issues involved inthe particular situation the student isencountering.

3. In the social action class, students are helpedto find appropriate volunteer activities by theinstructor and by previous class members. Theyset up formal contracts with the volunteer agencyand are evaluated in writing. Students are alsorequired to keep a journal lbout their volunteerexperiences and read assigned articles. Guestspeakers from a variety of community agenciescome to class, including homeless women,chaplains from Juvenile Hall, and people workingwith refugees from many countries. A finalconference between individual students and theirteachers helps them to sum up and evaluate theirvolunteer experience. They receive a letter gradeand one unit of academic credit.

Helped by financial aid and her on-campus job as aresidence assistant, Rose was honored for herservice to the college when she graduated with herassociate in arts degree and transferred to thebaccalaureate program. There she graduated witha bachelor's degree and teaching credential,earning the prestigious President's Award.

31 29

Beyond The Model

While the model program described in thepreceding pages is complete, it operates in thecontext of MSMC's unique, two-plus-two academicstructure; the program, itself, provides a contextfor educational outreach to the surroundingcommunity. A complete description of the modelprogram, therefore, must include a look at therelationship of the baccalaureate and associatedegree programs and also an explanation ofcommunity service programs which utilizeelements of the model.

A Two-Plus-Two College

"The Doheny campus made me realize howimportant it is to continue my education. Everyonewas so encouraging to let me know that I couldsucceed."Diana

Because Mount St. Mary's offers bothbaccalaureate and associate degrees, the collegehas an advantage in recruiting and admittingacademically underprepared students. MSMC'sassociate program is attractive to high schoolgraduates who would like further education, butare intimidated by the academic requirements andinvestment of time and money required for thebaccalaureate degree. The college admission'soffice has the flexibility to accept students withpoor high school records without lowering thestandards of the baccalaureate program.

Once admitted, academically underpreparedstudents in Mount St. Mary's associate in artsprogram benefit greatly from opportunitiesprovided by close ties with the baccalaureateprogram on the west Los Angeles Chalon campus.To many of these students, earning abaccalaureate degree seems like an impossibledream when they arrive on the Doheny campus.The length of time, the cost, and the academicdifficulty make a bachelor's degree appear beyond

30

their reach. Gradually, however, they areintroduced to the four-year program. Studentsfrom the baccalaureate and associate programsget to know each other at all-college events whichtake place alternately on the Chalon and Dohenycampuses. They also share activities throughathletics, student government, and campusministry. Many faculty members are assigned toboth campuses and encourage associate studentsto consider continuing their education. Theyshare stories of earlier alternative access studentswho have succeeded. Many Doheny transfers tothe baccalaureate program come back for visits,and some continue to live on the Doheny campusthroughout their baccalaureate studies, givingnew alternative access students successful modelsto emulate. Some classes required for thebaccalaureate degree are offered on the Dohenycampus, the college providing regular shuttleservice between the two campuses.

As they gain confidence and academic skills,alternative access students are encouraged to takeclasses on the Chalon campus. In her thirdsemester, a student may take seven units on theChalon campus and in her fourth semester, nineunits. Step by step, then, alternative accessstudents are introduced to the baccalaureateprogram. They begin to see that they can fit inand succeed in a four-year program. Streamlinedintercampus transfer policies facilitate the processof moving into the baccalaureate program. Manystudents transfer into the four-year program afterthey have earned their associate degrees; some,who have earned the necessary grade pointaverage, change programs after their firstacademic year.

Undoubtedly, many alternative access students goon to baccalaureate study on the Chalon campusbecause it is a logical next step. While mostcolleges and universities are not organized in thisfashion, many institutions could benefit fromdeveloping closer relationships with nearbycommunity colleges. Hosting students on campus

32

for guest lectures, sponsoring faculty exchanges,allowing community college students to take asmall number of units in the baccalaureateprogram as "special students"all these policiescan help bridge the gap between two- and four-year colleges, a gap which can seem very dauntingto alternative access students.

Serving the CommunityColleges and universities do not exist in avacuum. Each institution is part of a largercommunity, which the college can influence forthe better. Two of Mount St. Mary's communityservice programs are described in appendices tothis monograph because they dovetail with thealternative access program and provideeducational opportunities to minorities notenrolled in the college. The ESOLD program(English for Speakers of Other Languages andDialects), described in Appendix A, works withrecent immigrants to the United States and foreignstudents, some attending Mount St. Mary's for ayear, others enrolled in one of the college's degreeprograms. Another aspect of this program is theteaching of English to adult immigrants living inthe nearby community.

The STEP program (Strides Toward EducationalProficiency), described in Appendix B, is thecollege's partnership with specific inner-city highschools. Through STEP, the college shares itsexperience helping underachieving students withhigh school faculty, and offers high schoolstudents the chance to improve their basic skillsby attending MSMC's summer skills program.

Both of these programs do impact the lives ofMSMC students in various ways. Many highschool students who participate in the STEPprogram eventually enroll at Mount St. Mary's.ESOLD helps MSMC's foreign students and newAmericans become sufficiently proficient in

English to enter regular college writing andliterature classes. As part of their communityservice, Doheny students also tutor in the TIES(Teaching Immigrants English Skills) program.Student participants are highly enthusiastic. Ayoung Cambodian student tutoring a middle-agedimmigrant from Mexico observed, "It's wonderfulto be able to help someone learn English. I'mworking harder than ever to perfect my Englishskills so I can be a better teacher." Collegestudents and faculty who have taken part inESOLD, TIES and STEP have had their livesbroadened and enriched. While there are costs tothe institution associated with such communityservice, there are also significant benefits.

A Final Word

The young women whose stories have beensketched in the preceding pages have used theireducation to serve their families and communities.Carmen is now studying for a Ph.D. in sociologyfrom the University of California at Berkeley.Maria has gone on to write for a Spanish languagenewspaper and is currently working in the socialservices department of a local hospital. Rose isteaching kindergarten and has helped her familybuy their own home. Sandra is in private practiceafter earning a Ph.D. in clinical psychology; shestill continues the volunteer service begun inMSMC's outreach program, acting as a counselorat a local home for pregnant teenagers.

The Mount St. Mary's College community is proudof the alternative access program described inthese pages and of the successful students whobear witness to its effectiveness. Still, thealternative access program remains a work inprogress. Every day faculty, administrators, andstaff look for ways to be more responsive to theneeds of educationally underprepared studentsand more effective in helping them succeed. Ifreaders are stimulated to ask questions and look

33 31

for ways to better serve the academicallyunderprepared on their own campuses, thisdocument has served its purpose. All engaged inthis endeavor can be encouraged by the Mount St.Mary's College experience. Although it is atremendously challenging task, the personal andprofessional rewards of working with suchstudents are profound.

Works Cited

Carter, Deborah J. and Reginald Wilson. NinthAnnual Status Report: Minorities in HigherEducation. Washington: American Council onEducation Office of Minorities in HigherEducation, 1991.

Fasenmyer, Mary S. Minority AdvancementProgram: A Research Report on an OperativeEducational ModeL Los Angeles: Mount St.Mary's College, 1990.

34

32

APPENDICES

APPENDIX A The ESOLD ProgramEnglish For Speakers Of Other LanguagesAnd Dialects

ESOLD: English as a SecondLanguage Classes

Many colleges and universities have foreignstudents and provide ESL classes for them. Thehigh rate of immigration into Los Angeles hasmade MSMC aware that recently arrivedAmericans may also need these services. Thecollege provides two programs: one for students orprospective students and the other for adultimmigrants seeking a better command of English.

Methodology: Meeting Collegeand Community Needs forEnglish Proficiency

In a small, urban college such as Mount St.Mary's, the combination of ESL for students andthe service to the immigrant communitysurrounding the Doheny campus makes sense. Atother institutions, it may be more effective toseparate these efforts or leave English classes foradults to community colleges, high schools, orextension programs.

34

1. ESOLD at Mount St. Mary's consists of coursesat three levels of proficiency developing skills inwritten and oral communication, reading andlistening comprehension. vocabulary, and socio-cultural understanding. Students enrolled atMSMC can take these classes concurrently withBasic Writing and any of the college skills classes.(See pages 21, 22 for an explanation of thesecourses.) Both regular semester courses andintensive short courses are offered.

2. The second program, TIES (TeachingImmigrants English Skills), involves studentvolunteers in teaching basic English to adultimmigrants living in the nearby community. Theintercultural exchange between students andimmigrants has been a valuable experience forboth. Students, often from the Hispaniccommunity, share their knowledge of English andtheir insight into American culture. Working withadults has helped students become moredisciplined learners themselves and, in somecases, has sparked an interest in a teachingcareer.

APPENDIX B The STEP ProgramStrides Toward Educational Proficiency

STEP: Outreach to Inner-CityHigh Schools

For academically underprepared students, theearlier effective intervention occurs the better.Colleges and universities have much to gain fromforming partnerships with local schools to helpstudents become better learners during their highschool years and high school faculty membersbecome more effective teachers.

Methodology: Components of theSTEP Program

Initiating a partnership with local high schools is,if anything, more complicated than makingchanges on a college campus because twoinstitutions are involved. The nature of thepartnership will depend on the nature of the twoschools, their needs and resources, the distancesinvolved, the financial support available, andmany other factors. Consequently, a descriptionof MSMC's high school outreach program isprovided here, rather than a specific formula forsuch a partnership. We are particularly gratefulto the Ralph M. Parsons and ARCO foundationsfor their support of our STEP program.

1. Mount St. Mary's has established a mentorrelationship with seven inner-city high schools,serving African-American, Hispanic-American, andimmigrant Asian populations.

2. Selected high school juniors and seniors fromthese STEP high schools are invited to participatein the summer skills workshop on MSMC'sDoheny campus together with students acceptedinto the alternative access program. Five to sevenstudents are nominated from each high school bytheir counselors and interviewed by the director ofthe STEP program, who makes the final selection.

3. Students receive a tuition grant but areresponsible for a materials fee. MSMC awards a$200 tuition grant because these students couldnot afford to attend the workshop without it.Students pay something toward the cost of theprogram, a $25 materials fee, because thiscontribution indicates a commitment to seriousstudy on their part. These figures, of course, aresubject to change.

4. STEP students take a study skills class andselect two additional classes from programs inreading, writing, and mathematics. The completesummer skills program is described on page 23.Students receive career counseling and use thecareer exploration computer program more fullydescribed on page 27.

5. Students are taken to off -campus culturalevents related to the interdisciplinary readingcourse offered during summer skills.

6. High school faculty are invited to observesummer skills classes and interact with collegefaculty. College faculty also give workshops inSTEP high schools on relevant topics such asreading development and writing across thecurriculum.

7. Mount St. Mary's students visit STEP highschool campuses to serve as role models, answerquestions about college, and encourageaspirations to higher education. MSMC studentsalso provide tutoring services to STEP schools.

8. The STEP director follows the progress ofstudents who have been in the summer skillsprogram, making two follow-up visits to eachstudent, one in fall and the other in spring. Keytopics in their meetings are academic progress

35

and future college plans. The STEP director alsosends follow-up surveys to participants who havebeen out of high school at least one year.

9. Students may benefit from a part-timeresidential experience. Mount St. Mary's providesgrants for some STEP students in the summerskills program to live on campus for three weeks.This brief experience has helped incomingfreshmen feel more at home on the campus andbecome more involved in college life.

36

APPENDIX CInstitutional Readiness AssessmentMinorities Assessment ProjectCopyright 1990, Mount St. Mary's College

Institutional ReadinessProviding the elements that academicallyunderprepared students need to persist andsucceed is a big job, requiring a real commitmentfrom all sectors of the college community.Trustees, executive officers, and chief financialofficers have to face the fact that such programsare expensive, especially in an era of decliningresources. Administrators, faculty, and staff mayhave to change the ways things have "always beendone." Even more difficult, they may have tochange attitudes and long-standing patterns ofthought. Everyone has to learn to question what"feels" right in the classroom, conference, oradvising session because all of us are products ofour culture, and our culture may not be a reliableguide in a multicultural environment.

As a help to institutions considering theintroduction of an alternative access program, thisInstitutional Readiness Assessment Questionnairehas been developed. For institutions that alreadyhave an ethnically diverse student body with somealternative access students, the questionnaire willbe of help evaluating the strengths andweaknesses of the services offered these students.

QuestionnaireDIRECTIONS: Please answer each one of theitems, if possible indicating the degree to whicheach statement is true for your institution. Usethe "no knowledge" category sparingly. Someitems may seem to pertain to the education of allthe students, but they are especially significant inthe education of academically underpreparedstudents. Rate the item AS A WHOLE when youmake your assessment.

SCALE: 0no knowledge;

1 and 2not descriptive;

3 and 4somewhat descriptive;

5 and 6very descriptive

A. Institutional Commitment

1. The mission statement of the collegeexpresses the commitment of the college to theeducation of all accepted students, including thoseadmitted through the alternative access program.

O 1 2 3 4 5 6

2. The Board of Trustees of the college has madean informed commitment to the education of theacademically underprepared at the college.

1 2 3 4 5 6

3. The chief administrators of the college havemade an informed commitment to the education ofthe academically underprepared at the college.

O 1 2 3 4 5 6

4. The faculty of the college are aware of theimpact of accepting alternative access studentsand are generally in support of doing so.

O 1 2 3 4 5 6

5. The college will spend/has spent additionalfunds, principally for scholarships, in support ofthe alternative access program.

O 1

J

2 3 4 5 6

37

6. Students and alumnae, as well as the collegestaff, are supportive of efforts of the college toeducate alternative access students.

O 1 2 3 4 5 6

B. Culture And Climate

7. The campus climate is friendly and caring:one in which students feel welcomed and valuedfor themselves.

O 1 2 3 4 5 6

8. Individuals on the campus take a personalinterest in students. They affirm students aspersons in terms of potential, talents, anduniqueness.

O 1 2 3 4 5 6

9. Faculty members and staff are ethnicallydiverse.

O 1 2 3 4 5 6

10. Cultural awareness sessions are held foradministrators, faculty members, and supportstaff.

O 1 2 3 4 5 6

11. The orientation program for studentsemphasizes cultural sensitivity as part of itscontent.

O 1 2 3 4 5

12. Required courses include multiculturalcontent.

13. There is a close working relationship betweenthe academic affairs administration and studentaffairs staff in planning and monitoring all studentservices.

O 1 2 3 4 5 6

14. Campus social, cultural, and educationalorganizations produce a program that includes thecelebrating of the international and multiculturalheritages of the students.

O 1 2 3 4 5 6

C. Access/Admissions

15. The institution recruits at inner-city highschools where talented, but economicallydisadvantaged and academically underpreparedstudents are enrolled.

O 1 2 3 4 5 6

16. The staff in the admissions office has beentrained, through workshops, consultants, etc. asto the strategies to be employed in the recruitmentof alternative access students.

O 1 2 3 4 5 6

17. The college conducts bilingual financial aidworkshops for prospective students and their

6 parents as an essential component of therecruitment process.

O 1 2 3 4 5 6

O 1 2 3 4 5 6 18. The college has provided a direct phoneaccess to the admissions office without thestudent incurring long-distance charges.

38

O 1 2 3 4 5 6

19. College staff assist students and parents incompleting financial aid and other formsnecessary to admission and /or enrollment.

O 1 2 3 4 5 6

20. Need-based financial aid is made available toalternative access students.

O 1 2 3 4 5 6

21. The college has flexible admissionsstandards, and the admission of academicallyunderprepared students is handled case by case,with the potential for success as the chief criterionfor their admission.

O 1 2 3 4 5 6

22. The college will/does admit a sufficientnumber of students from all ethnic groups so thatthey have a supportive peer group on the campus.

O 1 2 3 4 5 6

23. A summer skills program, which academicallyunderprepared students may be required tocomplete, Is available.

O 1 2 3 4 5 6

24. The college has established realistic dates forsubmission of forms for admission and enrollmentand does not expect advance payments forenrollment from economically disadvantagedstudents.

O 1 2 3 4 5 6

D. Academic Programs

25. All entering students are pre-tested andplaced in an appropriate course sequence basedon test results.

O 1 2 3 4 5 6

26. Students who are inadequately prepared inliteracy and/or mathematical skills are testedafter each skills course and given schedulesappropriate to the progress they have made.

O 1 2 3 4 5 6

27. Every freshman or transfer student in thealternative access program is required to enroll ina special orientation course or freshman seminar.

O 1 2 3 4 5 6

28. There is an early warning system by whichstudents are alerted to possible academicdifficulties and receive timely counsel andassistance.

O 1 2 3 4 5 6

29. Intensive academic advising and/ormentoring is provided to all alternative accessstudents during their first year in the program.

O 1 2 3 4 5 6

30. Opportunities have been provided to preparefaculty in teaching methodologies other than thelecture method.

O 1 2 3 4 5 6

31. Academic standards are maintained in allclasses, even though teaching methodologies mayvary.

0

41

2 3 4 5 6

39

32. A Learning Resource Center, open during theday and at least some evenings, provides studentswith the opportunity for individualized instructionand peer tutoring.

O 1 2 3

39. Students have access to adequate health andphysical fitness services and/or classes.

O 1 2 3 4 5 6

4 5 6 40. The college maintains a library with holdingsthat feature ethnic cultures and histories.

33. Some students are required to study and/orreceive assistance in the Learning ResourceCenter.

O 1 2 3 4 5

34. There is a provision on campus for allstudents to become computer literate beforegraduation.

1 2 3 4 5 6

41. All students have access to sources of6 information on the courses in which they are

enrolling: e.g., course abstracts, course syllabi,previous examinations, and paper requirements.

O 1 2 3 4 5 6

35. Some classes are held in late afternoon orevening to accommodate working students.

O 1 2 3 4 5 6

36. Programs leading to an associate degree areavailable to all students.

1 2 3 4 5 6

E. Student Services

37. The college has a career advisement servicewhere information files and the services of a careercounselor are available to students.

O 1 2 3 4 5 6

42. Student achievement is recognized throughpersonal letters, phone calls, publications, andhonor roll lists.

O 1 2 3 4 5 6

SCORING of the INSTITUTIONALREADINESS SURVEY

To determine your final score, add up the total ofscores

and enter this number as (a)a)

Indicate the number of items which you rated as

O (no knowledge) and enter this number as (b).0 1 2 3 4 5 6 (b)

38. Students have access to personal counselorsto handle problems other than academic.

0 1 2

40

Multiply (b) by 3.5 and enter as (c).(c)

3 4 5 6 Add (a) and (c) and enter as Final Score.Final Score

4 2

Key

FINAL SCORE:

210 - 250+ High to Excellent

170 - 209 Average to Above Average

Below 170 Poor to Below Average

These scores are indicative of your commitment toaccept and maintain a diversified student bodyincluding academically underprepared students.Your score may also tell you that some areas ofthe campus are very committed, but that thisinformation has not been shared or internalized byall significant persons on the campus.

Regardless of your score, study the items carefullyto determine those in which your institutionscores low. Pay careful attention to items whichwere rated 0 (no knowledge) by a large number ofpeople. These items should become primary areasof concern. Some corrective action may beindicated.

If this form is to be administered to a number ofgroups en campus, such as board of trustees,faculty, and administrators, it is helpful to studyseparately the responses of each group.

r:

41

APPENDIX DFACULTY DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMS

Listed below are the names and affiliations ofscholars, writers and educators who have spokenat Mount St. Mary's College on topics related tomulticultural education. They are provided hereas a resource for colleges and universitiesinterested in faculty development on multiculturaleducation.

September 1986

Ha lford FairchildPsychology, UCLA

October 1986

Maya AngelouWriter and lecturer

November 1986

Rose MonterioSociologist

April 1987

Lamonte WestmorelandArtist

Candice LeeArtist

Linda RussellSociologist

David SasakiArtist

Patssi ValdezArtist

42

January 1987

Thomas WeisnerSocial Anthropology, UCLA

James VigilEthnic Studies, USC

Douglass Price-WilliamsPsychology, UCLA

Claude GoldenbergLenox School District

Carol BrownerPsychiatry, UCLA

Ronald GallimoreEducation, UCLA

April 1989

Dorothy TaylorWhittier School District

Philip Uri TreismanMathematics,UC Berkeley

March 1990

Elliot BarkanHistory,CSU San Bernardino

May 1990

Elliot BarkanHistory,CSU San Bernardino

Carlos CortesHistory, CSU Riverside

September 1990

Iris IngramVice President, United Way

October 1990

Christelle EstradaTeacher Education, MSMC

January 1991

Carlos CortesHistory, CSU Riverside

April 1991

Erica HagenCoordinator of Multicultural Programs,Immaculate Heart College

4543

Notes:

44 46

Mount St. Mary'sCollege thanks all whohave collaborated withus in this process overthe past decade, and isdelighted to sharethese pre-publicationcomments

"Because of its location inone of the most ethnicallydiverse communities in thenation, Mount St. Mary'sCollege in Los Angeles hasproven the value of aneffective multiculturalcurriculum in practice, notjust as politically-correctphilosophy....Any educator or anyprivate funder concernedabout how such successwith 'poor kids' can beaccomplished must readthe series of monographspublished by Mount St.Mary's on their excitingexperiences. Theirapproach of seeing poor.underrepresented studentsas opportunities, ratherthan simply as ciphers,reveals a direction all ofhigher education shouldpursue."

Eugene R. WilsonPresidentARCO Foundation

"This college has beengrappling with thechallenge of educating aculturally diverse studentbody for over a decade, andhas arrived by trial anderror at a very effectiveeducational programmodel. This monographdescribes thosecharacteristics of campusclimate and those elementsof student services andcurricula consideredessential to a program thatsuccessfully recruits,educates, and graduatesminority students whohave for too long beenoutside the mainstream ofU.S. higher education."

Arturo MadridPresidentThe Tomas Rivera Center

"Mount St. Mary's successin retaining and graduatingstudents is thrilling andinspiring. I have been aparticipating friend ofMount St. Mary's and findit easy to wholeheartedlyapplaud the faculty andadministration for theirefforts."

Maya AngelouZ. Smith Reynolds Professor

of American StudiesWake Forest University

xo

"Mount St. Mary's Collegehas emerged as a nationalrole model for multiculturaleducation, havingsucceeded in attracting astudent body that is amongthe country's mostculturally and ethnicallydiverse. With a dedicatedfaculty and innovativecurriculum, the College isshaping women from awide variety ofbackgrounds intoleaders...."

Reginald WilsonSenior ScholarAmerican Council onEducation

"Mount St. Mary's hasbeen highly successful ineducating a culturallydiverse student body. TheCollege knows thechallenges andopportunities ofmulticultural education. Inthis monograph, MSMCdescribes its educationalprogram and offerspertinent and timely adviceto those who would like toadapt the model."

Edgar F. BeckhamProgram OfficerEducation and CultureProgramThe Ford Foundation

PrismPublishingTM ofMount St. Mary's College

12001 Chalon RoadLos Angeles. California 90049

4g