Abstract
African-American and Latinx enrollment in higher education has increased dramatically in recent years at many predominantly White institutions. However, the graduation rates of these students are substantially lower than the general student population at many of these institutions. This study introduces “Success Central,” an innovative peer coaching initiative offered at a mid-size, comprehensive regional institution. Instead of post-graduate professionals employed as success coaches, which is the typical practice, upper-class undergraduate students were selected and trained in an innovative life coaching intervention designed to address the root causes of student attrition as established in the literature examining the academic and non-academic factors that contribute to early departure. Students met regularly with assigned peer coaches who supported them to address their challenges and accomplishment of their desired goals. The results of this program exceeded the objective of equal persistence rates between the underrepresented students of color who had received peer-coaching and their majority counterparts. Additionally, students who experienced this intervention reported an improvement in their perception of their college experiences and academic skills.
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Acknowledgements
The authors acknowledge the contribution and support of the following current and former staff members at Central Connecticut State University: Carl Lovitt, former Provost and Vice-President of Academic Affairs; Susan Pease, former Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences; Joseph Paige, Associate Vice President of Academic Affairs; Carlos Soler, Assistant Director of Undergraduate Admissions; Luis Recoder, Department of Mathematics and former Director of the Latin-American, Latino, and Caribbean Center; Evelyn Phillips, Department of Anthropology and the Center for Africana Studies; Sheri Fafunwa Ndibe, Department of Art and the Center for Africana Studies; Awilida Reasco, Educational Opportunity Program; and Yacihuilca Moni, Graduate Student in the Department of Psychological Science.
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Simmons, R., Smith, K.S. Success Central: Addressing the Persistence of African-American and Latinx College Students Using a Peer Success Coaching Intervention. Innov High Educ 45, 419–434 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10755-020-09516-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10755-020-09516-8