COLLEGE OF EDUCATION & HUMAN DEVELOPMENT

Texas A&M University

$1 Million NSF Grant Unravels Secrets Of African-American Students' Success

9/18/07

Courtesy Texas A&M Marketing and Communications

A $1 million research grant from the National Science Foundation is funding a Texas A&M University study of what makes the successful succeed, particularly gifted African-Americans studying science, technology, engineering and mathematics at historically black colleges.

Fred Bonner, a Texas A&M higher education administration professor who has been studying this topic for 10 years, says he hopes to see the findings developed into a model that will assist educators at all levels to help black students reach their full potential. "Identifying and evaluating critical factors that lead to student success can benefit all institutions," he says.

"We are looking at those factors that contribute to the success of high-achieving students in an effort to help them continue on this trajectory; however, this research will also provide key information on ways to help low-achieving students improve," he says. "This research could lead to some really great outcomes."

Working with Bonner on the study are Mary Alfred and Chance Lewis, fellow education faculty members at Texas A&M, and two engineering faculty members at Prairie View A&M University: Felecia Nave and Sherri Frizell. Bonner says the Prairie View faculty members will add valuable perspectives because the school "is a noted leader in producing outstanding African-American engineers and scientists."

Team members plan to each study a different region of the country as they tour the 10 focus group four-year institutions. Each institution has been accredited by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology, including Prairie View.

The faculty members also plan to utilize the project to teach graduate students about effective research methods, Bonner says.

Bonner laid the groundwork for the current study with a 2001 research project at the University of Arkansas in which he tracked the success of two African-American college students - one at a historically black institution, Grambling State University, and one at mostly white Texas A&M University-Commerce. Both students graduated and have started successful careers. Bonner stated that the most significant finding from this study was that both students said they felt supported in their academic settings, but only the student from Grambling said he felt supported outside the classroom.

Bonner has defined what he considers the six factors that influence student success: faculty relationships, peer relationships, family influence and support, college selection factors, self-perception and institutional environment.

"If the students don't feel supported at school, they're going to have to work awfully hard to maintain a high level of academic achievement," Bonner says. "We as educators need to be helping them and supporting their efforts as much as possible. We're trying to better define just what they need."

Bonner submitted an application for an NSF grant to continue his work on the project two years ago, and he says the key to success this year was the addition of the current team members.

The current phase of the study involves creating focus groups at the 10 colleges among students enrolled in engineering disciplines, then following up with a survey during those students' sophomore through senior years.

The final phase, Bonner says, is to survey the targeted students - African-Americans with a 3.0 GPA who are studying across the various science, technology, engineering and mathematics disciplines - in all 103 historically black colleges and universities.
 
"This is an interesting project because I don't think any previous studies looked at high-achieving African-Americans," Bonner says. "There's not much literature that looks at African-Americans at all, but the scant literature that is out there typically looks at these students from a deficit model perspective, or those students who are struggling. We are taking an asset model approach because we don't know very much about the high achievers.

"We all make this assumption that if those students are doing well they must not need any help, but many are struggling and are leaving college for the same reasons as the low-achieving students. It's just that no one is really talking about it."

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