Faith capital a persistence study of two student learning commun

Rowan University Rowan Digital Works Theses and Dissertations 4-20-2015 Faith capital: a persistence study of two student learning communities at a northeastern community college David Edwards Follow this and additional works at: https://rdw.edu/etd Part of the Community College Education Administration Commons Recommended Citation Edwards, David, "Faith capital: a persistence study of two student learning communities at a northeastern community college" (2015). Theses and Dissertations.edu/etd/554 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by Rowan Digital Works. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Rowan Digital Works. For more information, please contact graduateresearch@rowan.

FAITH CAPITAL: A PERSISTENCE STUDY OF TWO STUDENT LEARNING COMMUNITIES AT A NORTHEASTERN COMMUNITY COLLEGE by David J. Edwards A Dissertation Submitted to the Department of Educational Leadership College of Education In partial fulfillment of the requirement For the degree of Doctor of Education At Rowan University April 2, 2015 Dissertation Chair: Monica Reid Kerrigan, Ed. Edwards Dedication I dedicate this manuscript to Lorraine, Samuel, Quinn, Mom and Dad. Monica Kerrigan arrived at Rowan University midway through my doctoral study and immediately raised the pedagogical bar of the CCLI program to the level of excellence it has since enjoyed.

She has been thoughtful and empowering as my dissertation committee chairperson. Kerrigan challenged me to see myself as a research practitioner committed to equity and educational change, which has had an enormous impact on the writing of this dissertation and in my daily professional practice. I am truly grateful for her mentorship and support. Kathleen Sernak, who genuinely understands the magic and promise of student learning communities and who stuck with me while I all but disappeared on a research and writing pilgrimage for a couple of years.

I also thank and acknowledge Dr. Steven Rose who, in addition to being quite expert on higher education governance, generously gave support to me and to our entire Rowan University doctoral cohort over time. I am likewise indebted to the committed educators who participated in this research study. They are the worker bees and eternal keepers of the social justice flame.

My appreciation goes to Alice Picardo, who I watched almost singlehandedly champion transformative organizational learning for an entire college by demonstrating how to celebrate and advocate for underrepresented students. Mark Hanson coined the term faith capital and allowed me to breathe life into it as applies to this dissertation study. I am grateful for his insights and attention to my research intent. For seven years, three people looked on with patience, humor, and bemusement while I wrestled with this dissertation.

My wife Lorraine McRae is a mensch and god’s iv gift of grit and selflessness to an occasionally untethered life partner. Her love, wisdom and support transcend description, so I won’t even try. My extraordinary boys Samuel Jordan and Nathaniel Quinn have essentially grown up viewing me studying and writing on evenings, weekends and at times even while on vacation. What began with them landing their action figures on my nascent bald spot now culminates with both soon to embark on their own higher education journeys.

To my family, I will always treasure how fortunate I am to have had you nearby at all times. You are my faith capital. Edwards FAITH CAPITAL: A PERISTENCE STUDY OF TWO STUDENT LEARNING COMMUNITIES AT A NORTHEASTERN COMMUNITY COLLEGE 2015 Monica Kerrigan, Ed. Doctor of Education The purpose of this embedded single-case study is to explore and better understand what social and institutional factors account for the success or lack of success in developing, delivering, and sustaining learning communities in support of at-risk, underprepared1 students enrolled at the community college where the research was conducted.

Towards that end, theories of social capital, social justice education, and emergent organizational strategies are aligned with practitioner perspectives in an examination of two student learning community initiatives at the college. Faith capital (Hanson, 2001) is a secular notion aligned with the principles of social capital as an integrative locus for institutional effectiveness and as a means to socially-just educational practice. It is collectively engendered by members of social networks whose principles, espoused values, and associability interact without strict dependence on a prevailing organizational hierarchy at the college. In practicing faith capital, members of social networks lend their knowledge, expertise, and determination to the production of social capital and the provision of public good.

The public good produced by these social networks are student learning communities providing enhanced pathways to postsecondary degrees for at-risk, underprepared students at the college. 1 The terms at-risk and under prepared appear frequently in this work. They refer to college students identified as needing one or more remedial English or English as a second language courses in order to persist in college-level studies (Hughey & Manco, 2012). vi Table of Contents Abstract vi List of Figures xi List of Tables xii Chapter 1: Introduction: Access, Success and the College Completion Agenda 1 The Research Problem and Study Purpose 2 Who Is At Risk in Higher Education? 3 Enter Community Colleges 4 Student Learning Communities 5 Community College Faculty and Student Learning Communities 8 How I Got Here 10 Dissertation Research Questions 12 Scope of the Study 12 Significance of the Study 13 Key Definitions 14 Chapter 2: Conceptual Framework 17 Institutional Effectiveness 18 Social Capital Theory 19 Adhocracy in Higher Education Organization 22 Social Justice Education Theory 25 Faith Capital 29 Stakeholder Incentive and Faith Capital 30 Chapter 3: Research Study Methodology 33 Research Study Design 34 Research Questions 34 Research Study Setting 35 Research Setting Rationale 39 vii Table of Contents (Continued) Research Study Participants 40 Face-to-face Interviews 43 Focus Group Dialogues 44 Analytic Memoranda 46 Data Analysis 46 Validity and Rigor 48 Trustworthiness 49 Bias and Reactivity 51 Triangulation 52 Chapter 4: Research Study Findings 54 Participant Profiles 56 Cyndi 57 Claire 59 Nancy 60 Nora 61 Daniel 63 Gigi 64 Lucy 66 Troy 67 Rachael 68 Hallie 70 Research Study Findings 71 Finding One: A Coalition of Stakeholders 72 Activism 74 Collegiality 75 Associability 77 Finding Two: Autonomy, Agency, and Synergy 81 A Vertical Adhocracy 82 viii Table of Contents (Continued) The Learning Community Scaffold 87 A Go-to Woman 92 Finding Three: Self-Affirmation and Recompense 93 Intrinsic Motivation 94 Extrinsic Motivation 95 Tweak and Reflect 96 A Deepening Practice 98 Finding Four: Addressing the Institutional Divide 101 Peer Pressure 101 The Labor Legacy 104 The Pool and the Process 106 Enrollment Management 108 Workarounds 111 Chapter 5: Conclusions and Implications 114 Summary of Research Study Findings 114 Research Study Limitations 117 Research Question Two: What Are Defining Characteristics of Social Networks Engaged in Developing and Sustaining Student Learning Communities at the College? 120 Research Question Three: How Do Current and Formerly Engaged Stakeholders Perceive Student Learning Communities as an Instructional Practice at the College? 125 Research Question Four: How Do Current and Formerly Engaged Stakeholders Account for Persistence or Decline in Student Learning Communities at the College? 130 Research Question One: What Evidence If Any Exists for Faith Capital as an Integrative Locus in the Development and Persistence of Student Learning Communities at the College? 133 Implications for Research Methodology 136 Implications for Practice 140 Implications for Community College Leadership 143 Implications for Theory 147 Faith Capital and the College Completion Agenda 151 ix Table of Contents (Continued) Faith Capital, Persistence, and Organizational Learning 152 List of References 155 Appendix A: Participant Interview Protocols 166 Appendix B: SCRUBS Focus Group Dialogue Protocols 170 Appendix C: P2E Focus Group Dialogue Protocols 173 x List of Figures Figure Page Figure 1 Social Capital as a Theoretical Principle for Social Networks Engaged in Education Reform 21 Figure 2 Adhocracy as Emerging Organizational Structure for Social Networks Engaged in Education Reform 25 Figure 3 Social Justice as an Espoused Belief System for Social Networks Engaged in Higher Education Reform 28 Figure 4 Faith Capital as an Integrative Locus for Principles, Espoused Values and Strategies Employed by Social Networks Engaged in Education Reform 29 xi List of Tables Table Page Table 1 Research Study Participants 42 xii Chapter 1 Introduction: Access, Success and the College Completion Agenda In the new millennium, American institutions of higher education will enroll nearly twenty million students (Carnavale, 2000.) In his 2012 State of the Union address, President Barack Obama challenged colleges and universities to cultivate degree and certificate programs that will expand opportunities for work force employment.

The President’s college completion agenda calls for raising the percentage of 25-34 year-old students earning associate or higher degrees to 55% by 2025 (College Board, 2012). If successful, this ambitious higher education initiative could produce as many as eight million additional college graduates, five million of whom might be expected to begin their postsecondary study at a two-year community college (Mullin, 2010). Today’s entry-level American worker is expected to possess sophisticated communication and technology skills, as well as an ability to reason and perform at increasingly complex levels in order to secure desirable employment (McCabe, 2003). By 2020, one half of all American jobs will at a minimum require an associate’s degree from an accredited institution of higher education (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2009).

As qualifications for gainful employment evolve nationally, the number of entry-level students seeking academic degrees at American colleges and universities has likewise expanded. Not all first-time or returning college enrollees arrive fully prepared for the academic requirements of college-level courses and degree programs. Lacking the basic skills (reading, writing, mathematics) proficiency necessary to fully matriculate and persist towards earning a college degree, a motivated but needy academic constituency has emerged and increasingly finds its way to the doors of American two-year or 1 community colleges. In 2010, 26% of full-time and 64% of part-time American college students were enrolled in community colleges (Lundberg, 2014).

The Research Problem and Study Purpose Entry-level developmental education and English-as-a-second-Language (ESL) learners comprise an academically under prepared, at-risk student population at the community college where the research study was conducted. Roughly two out of every three entering freshman students lack the fundamental academic skills needed for full matriculation towards earning a degree at the college. Moreover, less than one half of developmental and ESL program “completers” are certified as college ready following one or more semesters of pre-college study. In response to this student success challenge, an alternative curricular and retention strategy -student learning communities- was envisioned, developed, and implemented by a guiding coalition of faculty and staff members at the college, beginning in 2007.

Student learning communities demonstrated early instructional and enrollment retention promise, but have since persisted on only a small scale at the research site. This dissertation explores and analyzes what social and institutional factors affect success or lack of success in sustaining learning communities in support of at-risk, underprepared students at the research study site. Towards that end, I align theories of social capital, social justice education, emergent organizational strategies, and stakeholder motivation with practitioner perspectives in an in-depth examination of two student learning community initiatives at the college. My foremost intent in undertaking 2 this research study is to better understand how these theoretical premises inform and enable social network stakeholders innovating on behalf of a traditionally underserved student body.

I propose faith capital (Hanson, 2001) as the integrative locus that not only binds together extant theory with higher education practice, but also provides practitioners resiliency and a transformative purpose in providing learning community instruction to at-risk, underprepared students. Who Is At Risk in Higher Education? Based on placement examination results, a significant number of entry-level American college students require some form of basic skills or second-language instruction prior to full degree matriculation. Conservative estimates place the ratio of incoming urban college students in need of basic academic skills instruction at more than 50% (Engstrom, 2008).