#Exercise in a first-year writing course increases retention at broad-access universities

Research published today (July 15) in the journal Science Advances shows thatembedding a reading-and-writing exercise about social belonging into the first-year college curriculumincreased the persistence and performance of Black, Latinx, Native American, and first-generationstudents at a large, urban, broad-access university.

Now, with COVID-19, colleges and universities are struggling economically and yet they must find waysto support students’ sense of belonging in college if they want their students to thrive and persist. Thesocial belonging intervention appears to be one cost-effective way to do that.

The three-year study was conducted by a team led by Mary Murphy, the Herman B Wells Professor ofPsychological and Brain Sciences at Indiana University. It was the first research of its kind to examinehow broad-access colleges and universities—typically more affordable institutions with less stringentacademic requirements, often with a majority of the student population from marginalized backgrounds- can help reduce the social and relational barriers that might prevent many low-income, raciallyminoritized and first-generation students from attaining a degree.
“Especially in these uncertain times when students have more obstacles than ever in their path to andthrough college, it is clear that universities and colleges must do everything they can to cultivate andsupport students’ sense of belonging,” Murphy said. “Broad-access institutions have the potential toserve a democratizing function and can help to spur social mobility. But, these institutions struggle withlow persistence and graduation rates. Unlike in more elite university environments, students in broadaccessenvironments often struggle with long commutes to school, balancing work with school, andfulfilling family care-giving responsibilities. Understanding that these challenges are common amongstudents in these contexts and providing effective strategies for navigating them, helps students feelthat they can come to belong and persist in college.”
In a double-blind, randomized study, the team tested an intervention strategy involving a reading-andwritingexercise among 1,063 students enrolled in first-year writing classes at a large, diverse, broadaccesspost-secondary institution in the Midwest. Members of the team worked with faculty,administrators and upper-level students at the institution to develop customized materials addressingcommon academic and social barriers to belonging that students might encounter and coping strategiesthat had proven successful to overcome those barriers. Strategies included finding spaces on- and offcampusto study, making friends and studying with peers who also commute and/or work, and makingtime to form relationships with faculty. Importantly, these strategies were reinforced by institutionalpractices that made resources available to students such as a commuter resource center, social activitiesand clubs with meeting schedules that accommodated working students, and extended faculty officehours that provided opportunities for students to connect with faculty.
The first-year students then wrote a letter to an incoming first-year student and shared the belongingmessage with them. “This placed students into the role of benefactor and mentor to students whowould follow,” said Murphy.
The researchers found that the intervention resulted in a significant increase in both retention and theacademic performance of Black, Latinx, Native American, and first-generation students. The socialbelongingintervention boosted retention among these students by 10 percent—from 76 to 86 percent -over one year, and by 9 percent—from 64 percent to 73 percent—over two years. Grade-point averagesamong these students rose as well.
“Learning about the social and academic challenges to belonging that their peers experienced andlearning about the coping strategies their peers used to navigate those challenges helped secure thestudents’ sense of social and academic fit in college one year later, which predicted their collegepersistence two years later,” Murphy said. “We were able to observe the long-term psychologicalprocess that help explain how these social-belonging programs have their effects.”