Georgia Southern University Digital Commons@Georgia Southern Electronic Theses and Dissertations Graduate Studies, Jack N. Averitt College of Fall 2016 Remedial Education Programs and Student Success: Perceptions of Faculty and Administrators at HBCUs Tenora J. Simonez Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/etd Part of the Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education Commons, Curriculum and Instruction Commons, Educational Administration and Supervision Commons, Educational Psychology Commons, and the Online and Distance Education Commons Recommended Citation Simonez, Tenora J., "Remedial Education Programs and Student Success: Perceptions of Faculty and Administrators at HBCUs" (2016). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 1485. https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/etd/1485 This dissertation (open access) is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate Studies, Jack N. Averitt College of at Digital Commons@Georgia Southern. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons@Georgia Southern. For more information, please contact [email protected]. REMEDIAL EDUCATION PROGRAMS AND STUDENT SUCCESS: PERCEPTIONS OF FACULTY AND ADMINISTRATORS AT HBCUs by TENORA J. SIMOÑEZ (Under the Direction of Daniel Calhoun) ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to examine factors that contributed to student success in remedial education as perceived by faculty members and administrators at one public HBCU in the University System of Georgia. The five specific areas that contributed to student success and were identified for review were administrative factors, curricula and instructional models, academic support services, importance of placement tests, and the impact of financial issues. Each of these areas was represented in literature regarding the histories of remedial education programs and HBCUs, recent federal and state admissions and fiscal changes, and instructional best practices of remedial education programs. Literature from these areas and interviews were conducted to examine the impressions of faculty members and program administrators who worked to teach, lead, advise, and test remedial education students at one public HBCU in Georgia. Using a case study approach the researcher interviewed four faculty members and three program administrators who worked to teach, lead, advise, and test remedial education students at one-public HBCU in Georgia. The researcher believed that it was imperative that the voices and lived experiences of the faculty members and program administrators who worked closely within this program be examined. After interviewing faculty members and program administrators connected with the remedial education program at the designated institution, it helped the researcher link responses and commentary to better understand the problems that faculty members and program administrators who remediate students at HBCUs face. During this process, the researcher engaged the participants in conversations about their lived experiences; thereby obtaining the impressions of the participants and answering the research questions in this study. The results indicated that the faculty members and program administrators who worked to teach, lead, advise, and test students at one-public HBCU in Georgia had positive feelings regarding the program, students, and everyone who worked to teach, lead, advise, or test remedial education students; however, the overall impressions were negative in nature regarding the impressions of senior or top-level administrators and faculty members campus wide. The participants’ campus wide impressions did not positively contribute to the successes of remedial education students. INDEX WORDS: Remedial Education Programs, HBCUs, student success, financial issues, academics, administrators and leaders, faculty members REMEDIAL EDUCATION PROGRAMS AND STUDENT SUCCESS: PERCEPTIONS OF TEACHERS AND ADMINISTRATORS AT HBCUs by TENORA J. SIMOÑEZ A.A., Columbia Junior College, 1981 B.A., University of South Carolina, 1996 M.A., University of New Mexico, 1999 Ed.S., Georgia Southern University, 2011 A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Georgia Southern University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree DOCTOR OF EDUCATION STATESBORO, GEORGIA ©2016 TENORA J. SIMOÑEZ All Rights Reserved 1 REMEDIAL EDUCATION PROGRAMS AND STUDENT SUCCESS: PERCEPTIONS OF TEACHERS AND ADMINISTRATORS AT HBCUs by TENORA J. SIMOÑEZ Major Professor: Daniel Calhoun Committee: Komanduri S. Murty Teri D. Melton Electronic Version Approved: December 2016 2 DEDICATION To the most wonderful woman in the world: my daughter, best friend, and sister in spirit - Dr. Amber Lauren Jenkins. You have been my biggest supporter throughout this endeavor. Now, I can finally support you by helping to plan your wedding. 3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS There are many people I want to thank for all of their love, assistance, and support throughout this project. I want to thank my mother and father for giving me life and instilling a quest for knowledge and levels of determination and persistence within me. You taught me early in life the importance of an education to a female, minority, and servant of others. I would also like to thank my committee members for their assistance and patience with me throughout this process. I have learned so much from each one of you. I appreciate the late night calls from Dr. Komanduri Murty when my eyes were so glazed over I could barely see to continue typing, the important and specifically marked faxed documents from Dr. Teri Melton, and, last but not least, the early morning email messages from Dr. Daniel Calhoun reminding me to stay on task and of specific deadlines and upcoming appointments that I had to remember. I know, it is not enough to just say thank you, but my heart is full with love and appreciation for the amount of time, energy, and endless contributions that each of you have given in order for this dream to become a reality for me. I will always remember this lifetime learning journey and each one of you. I have several friends and past professors I would like to thank for their assistance, friendship, and guidance throughout this venture. I would like to thank Mr. Kendale Fredrick in the IT department and the library staff at Fort Valley State University especially, Ms. Agnes Muriuki and Mr. James Scott. I do not know if I would have made it this far if you guys were not in my life and willing to lend a helping hand anytime I needed it. I would like to thank my colleague and sister / friend Dr. Andrew Lee for her progressive energy, encouraging words, and great conversations when time permitted. I would like to thank my past and retired professors - 4 Dr. Russell Mays and Dr. James Green for possessing excellent teaching skills and photographic memories which opened the world of Higher Education Administration / Educational Leadership for me. I want both of you to know that I heard you and I appreciate you so much. You do not know how your cheerful, encouraging, and commonsensical words have echoed in my mind throughout these years. Thank you for caring so much that I had no choice but to be successful. I will never forget you. Finally, I would like to thank the participants at PCSU for allowing me to visit and gain insight and knowledge about the conditions at the institution. Without your participation and favor, I could not have accomplished any of this. I understand your plight and your struggle, sisters and brothers in the march towards equality for all students. I thank you and will always remember the time I spent with you. To my first love and beautiful daughter, Amber, I want to thank you for understanding that for me some things could wait, while other things had to happen immediately. Through it all, the one constant for me was you, and I appreciate you for being supportive, loving, encouraging, and independent as we went through this process together. I know that I almost drove you crazy, but know that I love you and that I was always thinking about you, even when I was working on this project. This has been an amazing journey and I could not have selected a better partner to embark on this venture with me. 5 TABLE OF CONTENTS DEDICATION…………………………………………………………………………………….2 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS………………………………………………………………………...3 TABLE OF CONTENTS………………………………………………………………………....5 CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION……….…….…………………………………………......12 A. Background.……...……………..………………………………………………………..14 B. Problem Statement…………………………………………………………….………....19 C. Purpose of the Study………...………………………………………………….….…….22 D. Research Question……………………………………………………………………….22 E. Significance of the study ………………………………………………………………...23 F. Procedures……………………………………………………………………………......24 G. Limitations, Delimitations, and Assumptions……………………..……….........….…....25 H. Definition of Terms ….. …………..…………………………………………………..…26 I. Chapter One Summary ……………………………….…………………………………31 CHAPTER TWO: REVIEW OF LITERATURE………………………………………………..32 A. Introduction……………………………………………………………………………...32 B. Conceptual Framework and Organization of Literature Review…………….……….….33 C. Historical Background of Remedial Education……………………………..…………...34 1. Introduction of the Morrill Acts of 1862 & 1890……………………………………35 D. Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs)………………….……………...44 1. History of HBCUs………………..………………………….……………………....46 E. Chapter Two Summary………..…………………………..……………………………..61 6 CHAPTER