Teaching and Learning in Higher Education

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

Beatrice L. Bridglall currently teaches at Montclair State University in Montclair, New Jersey. Her research areas include higher, international and comparative education; student development, engagement and persistence in K-12 and higher education; school reform; and program research and evaluation. She has co-edited several books, including Supplementary Education: The Hidden Curriculum of High Academic Achievement (Rowman & Littlefield, 2005), and Affirmative Development: Cultivating Academic Ability (Rowman & Littlefield, 2008).

Part I: Persistent Underperformance & Underrepresentation
Chapter 1: Current Issues and Trends in Higher Education
Chapter 2: Creating Effective Social and Intellectual Communities/Environments in Higher Education: A Theoretical Perspective
Part II: Contemporary exemplars of excellence
Introducing Chapter 3: Student Underrepresentation in STEM
Chapter 3: Preparing Students for Research Careers: The Meyerhoff Scholars Program at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County
Beatrice L. Bridglall, Freeman A. Hrabowski III, and Kenneth Maton
Introducing Chapter 4: The Benefits of High Attainment/Completion Rates in Context
Chapter 4: Creating Opportunities to Learn: The Opportunity Programs at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, NY
Susan Layden, Beatrice L. Bridglall, and Sheldon Solomon
Introducing Chapter 5: A Brief Historical Overview of Medical Education
Chapter 5: A Model for Increasing Access to Medical School: The Premedical Program at Xavier University in New Orleans
Part III: Research and Policy Implications
Chapter 6: Recommendations & Policy Implications
Appendix A: Overview of the Study