By Andrea Jarquin, Alexandria Miskus, Anna C. Priore, & Carly Traynor

Students who have aged out of the foster care system (foster care alumni) are entering higher education at higher rates than before, but they remain underrepresented in graduation statistics (Geiger & Beltran, 2017). Higher education professionals tend to offer support for these students from a deficit perspective with the assumption that foster care alumni’s backgrounds and past experiences contribute to them being underprepared for succeeding in college. To counter the deficit narrative and explore asset-based approaches that support this population, we examined the THRIVE (formerly Fostering Success) program at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI), which is known for itsempowerment- and resilience-based approaches to support foster care alumni and other independent students on campus. Our findings indicate that this program exemplifies three kinds of culturally relevant and responsive environments through Museus’ (2014) Culturally Engaging Campus Environments (CECE) Model of student success: culturally validating environments, proactive philosophies, and availability of holistic support.

The THRIVE Program at IUPUI 

According to Kuh (2008), high-impact practices, such as first-year seminars, learning communities, and student research, are essential to student development and success because their designs encourage higher-level of student engagement both inside and outside of the classroom. The THRIVE program at IUPUI is designed as a high-impact practice in response to the university’s recognition of a high number of foster students in Indianapolis and specific needs of this population to attend and succeed in college. The program is implemented specifically for students who have “experiences with foster care, housing insecurity, homelessness, emancipation, legal guardianship determined by a court, or lack of family support” (IUPUI, 2018). The program creators, Michael Kendall and Dr. Charlie Johnson, shared that the driving question that inspired the program is: “how do students from low-income backgrounds become the drivers of their lives to transcend challenges?” (C. Johnson, personal communication, April 5, 2018). Kendall and Johnson sought to understand and support these students through utilizing the transformative education approach. Transformative education centers around personal resilience, and is “not just about transforming the individual, but transforming the system” (C. Johnson, personal communication, April 5, 2018). This approach also allows students to develop their own terms for success by creating a culture that is anti-deficit and debunking myths about independent student populations (C. Johnson & Kendall, M., personal communication, April 5, 2018).

The THRIVE program was first launched in the 2017-2018 academic year, and at the time of our interviews with program staff in the spring of 2018, there were 26 first-year student participants and two student mentors. The program is implemented throughout participants’ first year on campus, and the program design consists of a Summer Bridge component and a year-long seminar course. Students start their engagement in the program as a cohort through attending a Summer Bridge program, which occurs two weeks before their first semester of college. During Summer Bridge, students participate in various academic, social, and service activities on- and off-campus, and they are able to establish a sense of belonging and build community with their cohort. The same cohort then attends a specially designed year-long seminar throughout their first academic year at IUPUI. The program leaders (Kendall, Johnson, and two peer mentors) and other collaborators from across campus facilitate and lead the seminars to help students adjust to their first year of college through workshops on financial aid, course registration, mapping their college experience, and more. The Summer Bridge and first-year seminar courses are effective and crucial components for students to build a sustainable support system because they are engaged in multiple types of experiences and able to make meaningful connections with different university administrators (IUPUI, 2018). The program also provides other means of support to students, including guaranteed on-campus employment and additional educational experiences in the greater Indianapolis area to enhance students’ social and cultural capital, increase their “networks of trust,” and offer “learning values related to success in a particular environment” (Johnson, 2017a).

Examining The THRIVE Program Using the CECE Model

Museus’ (2014) CECE Model of student success highlights the role of campus environments in affecting student outcomes. The CECE Model delineates nine indicators of inclusive and equitable campus environments that allow underrepresented students and students of diverse backgrounds to thrive. Considering foster care alumni and/or independent students are an underrepresented population, we used the CECE model with the attempt to better understand the kinds of spaces and support that the THRIVE program offers to their students. The intentional consideration Kendall and Johnson give to incorporate different components of the program shows that multiple CECE indicators are already accounted for. In particular, three indicators were the most prevalent in the program: culturally validating environments, proactive philosophies, and availability of holistic support.

Culturally Validating Environments

Culturally validating environments refers to the kind of campus environment where “educators convey that they value the cultural backgrounds and identities of their diverse college student populations” (Museus, 2014, p. 212). Kendall, Johnson, and the peer mentors validate each independent student through their commitment to supporting these students and the use of the transformative education model. For example, intentional reflection in the first-year seminar and the mentoring meetings with Kendall both play critical roles. In the courses, students are able to reflect and share their stories with classmates, which fosters a validating environment to their identities, such as being an independent student. In addition, through the individual mentoring meetings, Kendall is able to help students dig even deeper and build their beliefs in their own ability to succeed in college. Students are able to validate one anothers’ experiences and let their backgrounds guide them instead of defining them. They also develop their own definitions of success to embrace their strengths based on their backgrounds and previous experiences. Overall, the program environment allows students to explore what being a college student means for them; it also affirms for them that their interpretation is valid.

Proactive Philosophies

Proactive philosophies indicates that students are likely to have more positive college experiences when faculty and staff make specific efforts to directly bring information and support to them (Museus, 2014). The program exemplifies the proactive philosophies indicator by ensuring that thorough and proactive outreach is done to admitted and prospective IUPUI students whose FAFSA reveals an Estimated Family Contribution (EFC) of $0 (often used as an indication to identify students who have foster care backgrounds or are independent). The program staff then directly provides the program application information and other resources to these students.

In the program’s second year, Kendall and Johnson added a new resource – guaranteed paid on-campus employment – for all program participants. Campus employment is an opportunity for students to develop transferable skills, create a sense of belonging on campus, and expand social and cultural capital (Johnson, 2017a). Students are able to broaden their social and cultural capital by increasing their “networks of trust” and “learning values related to success in a particular environment” (Johnson, 2017a). The strategy of providing this guaranteed employment opportunity is a manifestation of proactive philosophy because it helps ensure that program students learn about and utilize the benefits of on-campus employment. Campus employment opportunity is also an example of how the program allows students to create their own version of success.

Availability of Holistic Support

Availability of holistic support means that students are provided access to multiple professionals on campus who can meet their needs and provide different types of support (Museus, 2014). The aforementioned program design and approaches provide avenues through which professionals and other students can support program participants in various ways. The THRIVE program demonstrates the availability of holistic support to help program students succeed by providing financial resource information, academic support, and personal guidance from professional staff and undergraduate mentors. Students are encouraged to understand their foster care experiences as formative experiences in their lives, challenge mainstream myths of value in society (e.g. middle class status and values), and develop personal resilience in congruence with their own definitions of values, skills, successes, and strengths. When students are provided with helpful information through the program’s proactive outreach instead of having to hunt it down on their own, they are more likely to succeed in college.

Our interest in programs that uplift underrepresented students through empowering curriculum initially attracted us towards the THRIVE program. The transformative means in which the program diverts the narrative away from a deficit-based perspective is the essence of a promising practice that is inclusive, culturally relevant, and culturally responsive. The integration of the CECE indicators in this program shows the educators’ commitment to serving diverse students, as well as an intentional mission dedicated to emphasizing personal resilience and fortifying students’ inner strengths for success. This influential program creates environments with meaningful and positive impacts in realizing the college dreams of marginalized students.

References

Geiger, J. M., & Beltran, S. J. (2017). Experiences and outcomes of foster care alumni in postsecondary education: A review of the literature. Children and Youth Services Review, 79, 186-197.

IUPUI. (2018). Fostering success program. Retrieved from https://fostering.iupui.edu/

Johnson, C. (2017a). Fostering success program. Unpublished manuscript, Scholar Support Programs, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, Indianapolis, Indiana.

Kuh, G. D. (2008). High-impact educational practices: What they are, who has access to them, and why they matter. Washington, DC: Association of American Colleges and Universities.

Museus, S. D. (2014). The culturally engaging campus environments (CECE) model: A new theory of success among racially diverse college student populations. Higher Education Handbook of Theory and Research, 29, 189-227.