Academic advising in the wonderland of college for developmental students.(Report)

Over the past 15 years, the Department of Education has continuously reported the increasing need for developmental and remedial education at post secondary institutions. Furthermore, only 16% of all college students are traditional aged 18-22 year old residential students, while 12 million college students are over the age of 25 (Nunley, 2007, p. B18). With changing demographics and the students' need for remediation, academic advisors need to be cognizant of the nuances in working with this population. This article considers the methods in providing academic advising to nontraditional students who often need remediation and developmental support. Also, this discussion provides a model for professional academic advisors in delivering sound advising services to the developmental student population.

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Our society has often viewed education as the great equalizer in helping people transcend class strata in search of a more stable socioeconomic life. Access to education has been at the crux of several law suits since Brown v. Board of Education in 1954, which theoretically mandated access to fair and equal opportunity in education to the underrepresented. Busing in major cities in the 1970s and No Child Left Behind Legislation of late have been attempts at educational engineering to cultivate progress for those from disadvantaged backgrounds. The U.S. Department of Education reports that 96% of high school students surveyed did not have advanced math proficiency (Bozick, 2008, p. iii). Developmental students often delay entrance to post secondary education; of this population, many students do not have academic role models to help them shape their dreams or the academic aspirations to achieve such. Fifty two percent of these students are from homes where their parents have not gone to college (Horn, 2005, p.v). While developmental students might know the beaten path to success includes an education, navigation from admission to graduation is full of unexpected predicaments. For many, entering a two year or four year college is like falling down the rabbit hole; except adult students do not want to appear wide eyed and vulnerable in this daunting situation. "Post secondary students who take remedial reading are about half as likely as those who take no remedial courses to earn a degree or certificate" (Student Effort, 2004, p. 1). To alleviate students' stress and bewilderment, academic advisors can guide students through the maze of general education requirements, academic policies and deadlines.

Developmental students often emerge from a high school background which simply did not prepare them for college level math and writing. Lacking skills are due in part to the vicious cycle of district resources, which is stitched to the community tax base. The low tax base is inextricably tied to low family income. Simply put, poorer families are in weaker school districts creating the causal link between socioeconomic status and the impending eventual need for remediation or developmental courses for those emerging from these school districts. Consequently, graduates often need remediation to achieve college level skills, and often test into courses which include basic arithmetic, reading comprehension and general writing skills. By default, students needing such intense academic intervention often have spent time distracted as they secured the basic needs in life. Maslow's Hierarchy of needs which starts with the quest for physiological needs of food and water, and safety needs in shelter and protection from danger can present challenges for students coming from disenfranchised backgrounds (Rouse, 2004, p. 1). The quest for shelter, child care, food, elder care will eclipse the desire to practice algebra homework. Students from disenfranchised backgrounds are more likely to delay entrance to school; of this population 54% of these delayed entrants are working more than 30 hours; and 53% assume some part time status while matriculating through their academic programs (Horn, 2005, p. vi-vii). In turn, they may be older than their entering class cohort; and definitely face more outside commitments which can interfere with academic achievement.

Given their struggle with physiological and safety needs, developmental students might not have advanced through Maslow's Hierarchy to grapple with self esteem and self actualization needs. Developmental students who enter as adult students 25 and older might have extra trauma in their backgrounds which interfere with learning. As we all become adults, we experience the range of trauma endured in adult hood. Pearce (1999) and Rosenwasser (2000) as stated in Kerka (2002) claimed, "The catalog of sources of trauma is sadly long: Physical abuse, rape, war, forced relocation, diagnosis of terminal illness, death or suicide of a loved one, divorce, robbery, natural disasters, poverty, and homelessness" (Kerka, 2002, p. 1).

Developmental students also come to two and four year colleges with different perspectives based on an amalgam of experiences which resulted in their developmental needs. "Developmental students do not have a sense of themselves as powerful people ... the academic world appears to be outside of theirs, and the demands made by it frequently discount personal experiences" (Ott, 2007, p. 1). Developmental students often lack metacognition, "thinking about thinking," reflecting on their presence and their own intellectual process in this new world. In turn, faculty have reported developmental student behavior, even from adults, to include loud and disrespectful behavior inappropriate for the classroom setting, disengagement, and a nonchalant approach to the academic tasks at hand. Nonetheless, faculty and advisors are tasked with reaching those who choose this academic walk though such developmental leaders do not always fully understanding the path before them.

Advisement model