The promises of the open door community college system have helped people from all walks of life access and achieve higher education credentials. Numerous community college graduates transferred to other universities to continue their academic pursuits or entered the emerging career areas with skills that afford those wages and lifestyles that allow them to support their families, contribute as tax payers and full participants in the American Dream. For many African American and Latino men, the hope of achieving a college degree was realized through their involvement in a special student success program that offered mentoring, academic support, life skills necessary for managing personal and professional relationships, financial literacy and friendships with peers built on honesty, integrity, and accountability agreements. Many of these programs, though life changing for participants, were small in scale, are not supported across institutions, lacked broad involvement from faculty members, and were limited in their scope. Long term sustainable program plans must include issues related to scalability, replication; financial and strategic plans; common measures of effectiveness that eliminate current achievement and attainment gaps President Obama along with other policy groups has challenged 2-year colleges to help America lead all other nations in producing the largest percentage of adults with a college credential. This research used a qualitative case study approach to collect, review, and analyze 82 community college minority male student success programs. To broaden the research study pertinent to what measures of evidence are used to determine effectiveness, program directors and participants were interviewed with a semi-structured approach. Data were analyzed and greater clarity of the problems many men of color face and the programs designed to increase their academic, career and workforce success. To close the gender and racial gaps identified demands holistic solutions between and among private, public, governmental, social, cultural, academic, and financial organizations. Our global knowledge economy demands college presidents, governing board members, faculty, staff, community, faith-based institutions, and men of color to collaborate and create, and improve and strengthen the chances for more minority men to attain college credentials. / text

abstract: Disparities exist among minorities in educational a ttainment. The gap widens when examining access to higher education and persi stence rates among minority males as compared to their white counterparts and minorit y females. The purpose of this action research study was to explore the impact of a recip rocal mentoring model between faculty and minority male students in an effort to examine the effects on student persistence and the students' academic experience. The researcher attempted to examine mentoring relationships, the process of reciprocal mentoring, and the effects on persistence and the students' academic experience f or the purpose of learning about one another's perspectives. This study investigated min ority male persistence within Chandler-Gilbert Community College (CGCC). Persiste nce was defined as a student who enrolled during the fall 2013 academic semester and continued at the same institution or transferred to another two-year or four-year instit ution working on degree completion. The author used a mixed methods design and used Cri tical Race Theory (CRT) as the theoretical framework by which to examine issues pe rtaining to minority male student perspectives and experiences. The results yielded e ight assertions related to minority male retention and persistence. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ed.D. Educational Leadership and Policy Studies 2014

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Many U.S. colleges and universities have created programs to improve retention and graduation rates of Black male students. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to examine the lived experiences of Black male learning community participants and discover what faculty and staff perceive to be major influences on the retention of this population. The conceptual framework was rooted in Tinto's student integration model and Swail's geometric model of student persistence and achievement. The research questions within this study examined what faculty/staff perceive to be a major influence on the retention of minority male learning community participants. The questions also examined the perceptions of black male learning community participants regarding the major influence on their decision to remain at the selected institution after their first year. Data collection included semistructured interviews with 2 faculty, 2 staff, and 6 student learning community participants, and examination of national and local records. Data coding and analysis revealed 5 themes: college selection, college perception, learning community experience, Black male retention, and Black male mentorship. Findings indicated that most learning community participants returned to the institution based on faculty/staff support and a brotherhood bond with their peers. Faculty and staff reported that the institution could retain more minority male students if faculty/staff engagement with students and male mentorship beyond the learning community were increased. The project included a professional development program on effective minority male mentoring strategies for faculty/staff at the selected institution. This project may bring a new perspective on the idea of minority male retention while providing university officials with qualitative data to increase retention.

The purpose of this study was to provide a descriptive case study of the academic achievement of minority male students over a 2-year period. It was conducted at an urban community college district, which is a Hispanic Serving Institution. Utilizing institutional data, the research examined 3,825 male and female students divided into a total of ten cohorts by gender and ethnicity. All students were 18 to 24 years of age, new-to-higher education and enrolled full time. Key findings show significant results for enrollment, departure rates and academic performance for all groups. Male students demonstrated lower rates of enrollment, higher rates of attrition, and lower academic achievement that females students. Significant results were demonstrated among male and female student performance within their own gender group and by comparison to the opposite gender of the same ethnicity. The high departure rate and achievement gaps by students who were enrolled full time, strongly suggests that student engagement, is a profound concern. This study was conducted to identify potential disparities in achievement by gender and ethnicity to provide detailed information to inform the public and promote institutional change. / text