Michelle Asha Cooper

Reimagining the Culture of Leadership for Student Success A revision to the practical and popular guide, this book asks the crucial question within today's environment, "What's a student-ready college?" Higher education leaders are responsible for preparing their institutions to serve the students they admit in the best way possible. By asking ourselves how we can transform our institutions into student-ready colleges to create a new culture of leadership that is responsive to current challenges and focuses on understanding and utilizing student assets and social capital to achieve shared goals for student success. Becoming a Student-Ready College shows you how. Conversations in higher education tend to focus on defining college readiness for students. Too often, we forget to ask the question from the other side, and we miss important opportunities to develop institutions in ways that can help students thrive. Higher education leaders and educators can better serve today's college students through responsive and redesigned practices and policies. This updated edition features revisions and new material that speak to the social realities of today's incoming students and cover the latest strategies and techniques for connecting with learners to foster equity and success. Leverage existing resources to the benefit of students and deliver the right support at the right time to achieve equity in student outcomes and build on students' assetsDesign eco-systemic partnerships and support programs that nurture the relationship between the student and the institutionStrengthen institutional capacity-building for achieving defined student-ready goalsBuild shared governance to promote agency and to foster change and collaboration Becoming a Student-Ready College explores leaders' shared responsibilities in advancing student success and provides practical recommendations for educators at all levels.

Breakthrough Strategies identifies effective strategies that faculty have used to help New Majority students - those from minority, immigrant, or disadvantaged backgrounds - build the necessary skills to succeed in college. As the proportion of New Majority students rises, there is increased attention to helping them gain access to college. Once enrolled, however, these students often face significant challenges of adjustment, with few resources for support. Specifically, there is little attention to students' experiences within their college classrooms and their relationships with professors. At the same time, faculty who work with these students have little guidance in how to help them adjust to new expectations and identities as they engage with college-level work.Sister Kathleen A. Ross, a MacArthur fellow and president emerita of Heritage University, has devoted three decades to helping New Majority students get college degrees. Based on an action-research project undertaken at Heritage University and Yakima Valley Community College in Washington State, the book highlights eleven strategies to encourage student success, including: asking questions in class; navigating the syllabus; and developing an academic identity. Written in a warm, down-to-earth voice, Breakthrough Strategies is infused with the belief that faculty can become a powerful resource for students, and that classroom instruction can be an important vehicle for supporting these students' development and success.

Breakthrough Strategies identifies effective strategies that faculty have used to help New Majority students - those from minority, immigrant, or disadvantaged backgrounds - build the necessary skills to succeed in college. As the proportion of New Majority students rises, there is increased attention to helping them gain access to college. Once enrolled, however, these students often face significant challenges of adjustment, with few resources for support. Specifically, there is little attention to students' experiences within their college classrooms and their relationships with professors. At the same time, faculty who work with these students have little guidance in how to help them adjust to new expectations and identities as they engage with college-level work.Sister Kathleen A. Ross, a MacArthur fellow and president emerita of Heritage University, has devoted three decades to helping New Majority students get college degrees. Based on an action-research project undertaken at Heritage University and Yakima Valley Community College in Washington State, the book highlights eleven strategies to encourage student success, including: asking questions in class; navigating the syllabus; and developing an academic identity. Written in a warm, down-to-earth voice, Breakthrough Strategies is infused with the belief that faculty can become a powerful resource for students, and that classroom instruction can be an important vehicle for supporting these students' development and success.

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