““If I Had Had My Posse With Me, If I Had Had My Posse With Me, I Would Never Have Dropped Out I Would Never Have Dropped Out of College”: Changing the Social of College”: Changing the Social Context of Liberal Arts LearningContext of Liberal Arts Learning

““If I Had Had My Posse With Me, If I Had Had My Posse With Me, I Would Never Have Dropped Out I Would Never Have Dropped Out of College”: Changing the Social of College”: Changing the Social Context of Liberal Arts LearningContext of Liberal Arts Learning

School Transitions: School Transitions: Perceptions of School Sorting and Pathways to CollegePerceptions of School Sorting and Pathways to College

AERA Annual Meeting, Chicago • April 2003 AERA Annual Meeting, Chicago • April 2003

Deborah Appleman, Nataly Barrera, Mokerah BradleyDeborah Appleman, Nataly Barrera, Mokerah BradleyCarleton CollegeCarleton College

Andrew Williams, Posse ChicagoAndrew Williams, Posse ChicagoShirley Collado, Posse Foundation, National Program DirectorShirley Collado, Posse Foundation, National Program Director

What Is Posse?What Is Posse?What Is Posse?What Is Posse?

Posses are groups, each made up of ten students from diverse cultural and economic backgrounds. Posses act as traveling support teams and help to ensure that Posse Scholars succeed and graduate from college. In addition, Posses work with their partner universities to change the cultural climates on campus, and to increase interaction between culturally diverse groups.

The focus of the program is two-fold:

1) To recruit students who have extraordinary leadership ability and academic potential that might be overlooked by the traditional university selection process, and

2) To devote the resources and support necessary to allow those students to achieve personal and academic excellence, reach graduation and effect positive changes on their college campus and in their community.

Why Posse Is NeededWhy Posse Is NeededWhy Posse Is NeededWhy Posse Is NeededBy the year 2025 the American population will be 54.6% non-Hispanic White, 18.7% Hispanic, 16.3% African American,11.1% Asian American and others. As a group, minorities are increasing faster than the non-minority population and currently account for 60% of the total population growth.

Unfortunately, people of color are still drastically underrepresented in the country's top institutions of higher education—often because the standard measures used by admissions offices are culturally limited. However, with the new legal limitations related to affirmative action programs, admissions offices nationwide are faced with a conundrum.

How can they continue to increase the pools of applicants from diverse backgrounds while maintaining their standards? Further, how can the campus experience be improved to prepare students for a culturally diverse workplace?

Posse helps to answer these needs.

Posse GoalsPosse GoalsPosse GoalsPosse Goals

1) Enhance the recruitment and selection strategies universities and colleges use to identify students for admission;

2) Improve the retention and completion rates of college students drawn from culturally and socially diverse backgrounds; and

3) Help build more integrated communities on college campuses.

Posse has three goals designed to address some critical issues of importance to institutions of higher education in the United States today.

Partner InstitutionsPartner InstitutionsPartner InstitutionsPartner Institutions

BowdoinBrandeisBryn MawrCarletonColbyDenisonDePauwDickinsonGrinnell

HamiltonIllinoisLafayetteMiddleburyTrinityU of WisconsinVanderbiltWheaton

Challenges of The First Challenges of The First Year at Carleton CollegeYear at Carleton CollegeChallenges of The First Challenges of The First Year at Carleton CollegeYear at Carleton College

Attrition Rates for All Students, 2001

AfAm 23Hispanic 14Asian 51NatAm 3All SOC 91White 421

Entering Enrollments

Freshman-Year Attrition Rates

African-American 8.7%

Hispanic/Latino 7.1%

Asian 5.9%

Native American 0.0%

All Students of Color 6.6%

White 3.1%

Making it ThroughMaking it Through Carleton College Carleton College

Making it ThroughMaking it Through Carleton College Carleton College

Graduation Rates for All Students Class of 2001

AfAm 23Hispanic 14Asian 51NatAm 3All SOC 91White 421

Entering Enrollments

Four-Year Graduation Rates, Class of 2001

African-American 56.5%

Hispanic/Latino 85.7%

Asian 80.5%

Native American 66.7%

All students of color 74.7%

White 88.8%

The Role of the MentorThe Role of the MentorThe Role of the MentorThe Role of the Mentor• Provide support to individual scholars

• Facilitate the growth of the Posse as a group

• Serve as a liaison between Posse and the institution

• Mediate within the institution

• Believe unconditionally in the ability of the scholars to achieve academic and personal success

Nataly’s StoryNataly’s StoryNataly’s StoryNataly’s Story

Nataly with Posse Scholars at Carleton

Mokerah’s StoryMokerah’s StoryMokerah’s StoryMokerah’s Story

Mokerah and Her Family

A Slice of PosseA Slice of PosseThe Scholars’ PerspectiveThe Scholars’ Perspective

A Slice of PosseA Slice of PosseThe Scholars’ PerspectiveThe Scholars’ Perspective

A Video PortraitA Video PortraitA Video PortraitA Video Portrait

ConclusionConclusionConclusionConclusion

Posse 2: Monee Sconyers, Sam Holmes, David Pintor, Marcey Abramovitz, Leslie Cofie, Sead Puskar, Nataly Barrera, Micah Bezold, Latrice Montgomery, Cara Weatherspoon