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The under-representation of Native Americans in masters of social work programs

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The under-representation of Native Americans in masters of social work programs

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Content Running head: NATIVE AMERICANS IN SOCIAL WORK

The Under-Representation of Native Americans in Masters of Social Work Programs
by
Ruth Supranovich

A Dissertation Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE USC ROSSIER SCHOOL OF EDUCATION
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
DOCTOR OF EDUCATION

December 2019

Copyright 2020 Ruth Supranovich

NATIVE AMERICANS IN SOCIAL WORK
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................................................ v
LIST OF TABLES ......................................................................................................................... vi
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .......................................................................................................... vii
ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................. viii
CHAPTER ONE: OVERVIEW OF STUDY ................................................................................. 1
Introduction to the Problem of Practice .............................................................................................. 1
Related Literature ................................................................................................................................... 1
Fear and Mistrust ..................................................................................................................... 2
The Limitations of Cross-Cultural Social Work...................................................................... 3
High Dropout ........................................................................................................................... 3
Importance of the Study ........................................................................................................................ 4
Organizational Context and Mission ................................................................................................... 5
Organizational Performance Status ...................................................................................................... 6
Description of Stakeholder Groups ...................................................................................................... 6
Stakeholder Performance Goals ........................................................................................................... 7
Stakeholder Group of Focus ................................................................................................................. 7
Purpose of the Project and Research Questions ................................................................................. 7
Conceptual and Methodological Framework...................................................................................... 8
Definitions ............................................................................................................................................... 8
Organization of the Project ................................................................................................................... 9
CHAPTER TWO: REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE ................................................................ 11
Introduction ........................................................................................................................................... 11
Influences on the Recruitment of Native Americans into MSW Education ................................. 11
Understanding Low Enrollment of Native Americans in MSW Programs .................................. 13
Historical Factors ................................................................................................................... 13
Current Factors ...................................................................................................................... 17
Increasing Enrollment of Native Americans in MSW Programs ................................................... 21
Programmatic Strategies ........................................................................................................ 21
Recruitment Strategies ........................................................................................................... 23
The Clark and Estes Gap Analytic Framework ................................................................................ 25
Stakeholder Knowledge and Motivation Influences ........................................................................ 26
Knowledge and Skills ............................................................................................................ 26
Motivation ............................................................................................................................. 31
Organizational Influences ...................................................................................................... 36
Conceptual Framework: The Interaction of Stakeholders’ Knowledge and Motivation and
the Organizational Context ................................................................................................................. 39
Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................. 40
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CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY ..................................................................................... 42
Methodological Approach and Rationale.......................................................................................... 42
Participating Stakeholders ................................................................................................................... 43
Interview Sampling Criteria and Rationale ........................................................................... 44
Observation Sampling Criteria and Rationale ....................................................................... 46
Data Collection and Instrumentation ................................................................................................. 47
Interviews .............................................................................................................................. 47
Observation ............................................................................................................................ 49
Documents and Artifacts ....................................................................................................... 50
Data Analysis ........................................................................................................................................ 50
Credibility and Trustworthiness ......................................................................................................... 51
Ethics ...................................................................................................................................................... 52
Limitations and Delimitations ............................................................................................................ 56
Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................. 57
CHAPTER FOUR: RESULTS AND FINDINGS ........................................................................ 59
Participating Stakeholders ................................................................................................................... 60
Results .................................................................................................................................................... 60
Knowledge Results ................................................................................................................ 60
Motivation Results ................................................................................................................. 67
Organizational Results ........................................................................................................... 70
Macro Results ........................................................................................................................ 74
Synthesis ................................................................................................................................................ 77
CHAPTER FIVE: RECOMMENDATIONS ................................................................................ 79
Recommendations for Practice to Address Knowledge, Motivation, and Organizational
Influences .............................................................................................................................................. 80
Knowledge Recommendations .............................................................................................. 80
Motivation Recommendations ............................................................................................... 84
Organization Recommendations............................................................................................ 87
Integrated Implementation and Evaluation Plan .............................................................................. 90
Implementation and Evaluation Framework ......................................................................... 90
Organizational Purpose, Need and Expectations ................................................................... 91
Level 4: Results and Leading Indicators ............................................................................... 91
Level 3: Behavior .................................................................................................................. 92
Level 2: Learning ................................................................................................................... 95
Level 1: Reaction ................................................................................................................... 99
Evaluation Tools .................................................................................................................. 100
Data Analysis and Reporting ............................................................................................... 101
Summary .............................................................................................................................. 102
Strengths and Weaknesses of the Approach ................................................................................... 103
Future Research .................................................................................................................................. 105
Conclusion ........................................................................................................................................... 107
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REFERENCES ........................................................................................................................... 109
APPENDIX A: Interview Protocol ............................................................................................. 120
APPENDIX B: Immediate Evaluation Instrument ..................................................................... 123
APPENDIX C: Immediate Evaluation Instrument (In-Person Training) ................................... 124
APPENDIX D: Focus Group Questions for Delayed Evaluation ............................................... 125
APPENDIX E: Sample Data Visualization Comparing Student Inquiries to Applications
During the First Quarter by Race/Ethnicity ................................................................................ 126

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LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1 Interactive conceptual model for recruitment of Native American students. ................. 39

NATIVE AMERICANS IN SOCIAL WORK
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LIST OF TABLES
Table 1 Knowledge Influence, Knowledge Types, and Knowledge Assessment ......................... 31
Table 2 Motivational Influences and Motivational Influence Assessments ................................. 36
Table 3 Organizational Influences and Organizational Influence Assessments ........................... 38
Table 4 Summary of Knowledge Influences and Recommendations ........................................... 81
Table 5 Summary of Motivation Influences and Recommendations............................................ 85
Table 6 Summary of Organization Influences and Recommendations ........................................ 88
Table 7 Outcomes, Metrics, and Methods for External and Internal Outcomes ........................... 92
Table 8 Critical Behaviors, Metrics, Methods, and Timing for Evaluation ................................. 93
Table 9 Required Drivers to Support Critical Behaviors .............................................................. 94
Table 10 Components to Measure Reactions to the Program ..................................................... 100
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

To Toni Handboy for inspiring me to explore this topic. Toni showed me how she
blended Western social work education with her traditional practices and worldview to make a
better future for the people on the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe Reservation. Also, to Dr.
Claradina Soto, who has played a significant role in so many ways as a Native American scholar
and educator, teaching partner, mentor, and dissertation committee member. You have both been
my guides, my touchstones, my cheerleaders, and friends throughout this journey.
Completing this dissertation took the support and patience of many, especially my sons,
Samuel and Benjamin Supranovich, and my partner, Sayandro Versteylen. You have all been so
extraordinarily interested in this dissertation topic and never tired from hearing my thoughts,
reading over drafts of my writing, and listening to me practice presentations for the proposal and
the defense. I also could not have produced this work without the support and candid feedback of
my two good friends and colleagues, Laura Gale and Rick Newmyer.
Lastly, I dedicate this work to my father, Henry William Swaffer. He passed away last
year before this was completed, but when I told my mother of my success she noted with sadness
that her first thought was to tell dad because, “he would be so proud…he was always proud of
your educational accomplishments.”

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ABSTRACT
This qualitative study examined the underrepresentation of Native American students at
the Hearts & Science School of Social Work (HSSSW) to help develop recommendations for the
school to increase Native American student enrollment. The researcher explored the knowledge,
motivation, and organizational factors that influence student recruitment by the admissions team.
The research methods included in-depth interviews with five members of the HSSSW
admissions team as well as document review and an observation. The researcher obtained
approval from school leadership and from the university’s Institutional Review Board. Data
analysis revealed that the study participants lacked knowledge about Native Americans in
general as well as specific knowledge related to location (where to recruit students), financial
resources, and program features. This lack of factual knowledge hampered their ability to engage
with Native American students and assess their suitability for the program. The lack of
knowledge also impacted motivation, as respondents had not considered recruiting from this
population (initiation) and believed factors beyond their control presented barriers to success
(persistence). These barriers were organizational factors, such as a lack of direction and support
from leadership, as well as societal factors, such as the small population size and limited student
pipeline. The researcher proposes training for admissions team members to fill knowledge gaps
and practice applying this new knowledge in a simulated environment with a Native American
student recruitment expert. Additional recommendations include establishment of a goal to
increase enrollment of Native American students coupled with development of supportive
resources such as student scholarships.
Keywords: Native American, social work, student recruitment, student admissions

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CHAPTER ONE: OVERVIEW OF STUDY
Introduction to the Problem of Practice
This study addressed the problem of the under-representation of Native American
students in schools of social work (Cross et al., 2009; Mathias & Benton, 2011). Native
Americans have significantly higher rates of many social problems typically addressed by social
work professionals. Native American children are overrepresented in the child welfare system
(U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2015); Native American adults suffer
disproportionately from chronic health and mental health illnesses (Roh et al., 2015); and Native
American families experience higher levels of poverty than the general population (U.S. Census
Bureau, 2010). Brave Heart (2004) directly tied these social problems back to historical trauma,
oppression, and genocide. The devastating impact of colonialism on Indigenous people in the
United States has resulted in their understandable distrust of government agents and their
representatives, such as social workers (Tamburro & Tamburro, 2014). Cross, Day, Gogliotti,
and Pung (2013) noted that it is important Native American social workers who understand the
cultural, historical, and societal complexities of the community provide social services for Native
American communities. Yet, according to the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE), less
than 1% of masters level social work students are Native American (CSWE, 2016). Therefore, it
is incumbent on the profession to extend efforts to increase the number of professionally trained
Native American social workers (Cross et al., 2009).
Related Literature
Hilary Weaver, a social worker who has written and conducted research extensively on
social work and social welfare issues for Native Americans, stated, “it is critical to train
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Indigenous social workers to provide care in their home communities” (Weaver & Brave Heart,
1999, p. 219). Empirical research has supported this claim in several ways.
Fear and Mistrust
Despite best intentions, a White social worker can trigger fear rather than provide safety
for Native Americans (Evans-Campbell, 2008). For example, Whitbeck, Adams, Hoyt, and Chen
(2004) studied historical trauma and loss to develop an historical loss scale that included
symptom measurement. They surveyed residents of two reservations in the Midwest about how
they felt when they thought about losses related to historical traumas. Discomfort around White
people, and fear and distrust of the intentions of White people rated among the top five
symptoms. Similarly, in a study of factors that influence the cultural identity of Native people,
Weaver and Brave Heart (1999) found that Native American clients do not feel safe discussing
traditional cultural practices with non-Native social workers and that they perceive non-Native
social workers to be hostile, aggressive, and controlling. These perceptions and emotional
responses can obviously interfere with client engagement that is a necessary foundation for any
subsequent social work intervention.
Whitbeck et al.’s (2004) measurement of historical trauma and loss found that historical
trauma is widespread and is associated with several symptoms of emotional distress including
depression and anxiety. However, citing data from the U.S. Congress, Belcourt-Dittloff and
Stewart (2000) showed that there is a lack of treatment options for Native American clients and a
dearth of Native American mental health providers. They described how this is especially
concerning in view of the history of exploitation, broken treaties and attempted genocide that has
led to a general suspicion of Whites. They explained that Native Americans will perceive all
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non-Natives, including counselors, as threats, and will be highly guarded until the provider
proves otherwise.
The Limitations of Cross-Cultural Social Work
With a lack of Native American social workers and mental health providers and the
understandable distrust of non-Natives, some schools of social work have included course work
to educate White helpers to become more culturally competent when serving Native American
clients. Research has yet to establish how best to train social workers to be culturally competent
(Olcón, Pulliam, & Gilbert, 2018), but scholars have theorized that efforts to date have severe
limitations. Baltra-Ulloa (2013) noted that cross-cultural education and training has been created
for the most part by Western social workers inculcated in social work theory and practice that
tacitly aims to bring the client in line with the dominant culture. She thus questioned if a White
social worker can ever really cross cultures, overcome implicit bias, and avoid the inevitable role
of the “benevolent colonizer.”
High Dropout
The combination of ingrained fear and distrust of White social workers, reinforced
through ongoing interactions, ultimately means that Native American clients who do seek
treatment (or are coerced into treatment) with non-Native providers are at high risk of dropout.
Duran and Duran (1995) cited Stanley Sue’s observation that in the field of mental health
treatment, all minority groups have higher dropout rates than Whites. The authors went on to
suggest that the non-Native reification of science and empirical thought processes and general
distain and skepticism for traditional ways interferes with the clinician’s capacity to provide
relevant treatment to Native American clients (Duran & Duran, 1995). Research has pointed to
the preference for traditional/spiritual healers among Native Americans with studies showing
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34% to 49% of Native Americans with diagnosed behavioral health disorders seeking treatment
from traditional healers (American Psychiatric Association [APA], 2010). The APA’s (2010)
review of the research on mental health disparities for American Indian/Alaska Natives (AI/AN)
also noted the wide range of beliefs on health, wellness, and healing among Native Americans.
This report cited studies that show Native Americans seeking services at a higher rate than the
general population when traditional healing was included. It seems fair to speculate that social
workers who understand the nature of the community’s interpretation of physical and mental
health symptoms and can work in tandem with local spiritual healers and traditional approaches
to medicine and therapy will better engage clients in treatment and recovery.
Despite the clear need for more Native American social workers, the number of Native
Americans pursuing a MSW has stagnated at less than 1% of the total number of enrolled MSW
students in accredited schools of social work across the United States for the past 2-3 years
(CSWE, 2014, 2015, 2016).
Importance of the Study
While some scholars report that pre-colonialism the population of Native Americans in
the United States stood at about 40 million (Dunbar-Ortiz, 2014), according to the 2010 census,
less than three million respondents identified themselves as one race of AI/AN (U.S. Census
Bureau, 2010). Although there has been a slight increase in the Native American population in
the past 10 years, they remain less than 1% of the total population (U.S. Census Bureau, 2010).
As a group, Native Americans experience significantly higher morbidity and mortality rates than
the general population (Dankovchik, Hoopes, Warren-Mears, & Knaster, 2015), due in large part
to both chronic physical and behavioral health issues that are the legacy of centuries of racial,
ethnic, and cultural oppression. This is clearly a population in urgent need of social services
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provided by professionally trained masters level practitioners who fully understand the complex
life experiences and historical and cultural nuances of this community. Social work education is
guided by two professional entities: the CSWE and the National Association of Social Workers
(NASW). Both are explicit on the profession’s commitment to diversity, inclusion and equity,
and the focus on issues of social injustice such as poverty and discrimination and the pursuit of
social and economic justice (CSWE, 2015; NASW, 2017). Clearly, there is a professional
mandate to serve marginalized and oppressed communities, such as Native Americans, and our
educational institutions need to do a better job of welcoming and collaborating with Native
American students and communities toward this endeavor.
Organizational Context and Mission
Hearts & Science School of Social Work (HSSSW; a pseudonym created to protect the
identity of the school) is located in the Western United States at a large university. HSSSW’s
mission is to promote social justice through education. HSSSW began an online MSW program
several years ago that resulted in a significant increase in enrollment, especially in rural and
remote communities where students previously would have had to relocate if they were to attend
a university. Cross et al. (2013) studied the challenges in recruiting and retaining Native
American social work students and suggested that online education helps address the students’
needs to be close to family and community. However, in the fall of 2017, less than 2% of
enrolled students identified as having any Native American heritage and this was the only ethnic
group whose enrollment numbers had decreased since 2015.
In 2016, HSSSW developed an initiative to increase diversity, equity, and inclusion. That
same year, the larger university campus created a Native American Student Union to advocate
for Native American students on campus and HSSSW offered for the first time an elective course
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to teach about social work practice with Native American children and families. While these
efforts are important, none address directly the recruitment of Native American students, and the
number of Native Americans enrolled in the MSW program has actually decreased.
Organizational Performance Status
HSSSW has identified four program goals to implement their mission, including
providing specialized and culturally responsive graduate level education as well as fostering
equity and eradicating disparities for vulnerable populations. These global program goals support
the development of a performance goal to increase enrollment of Native American students, but
a specific goal has not been set at this point. Since fall 2015, the percentage of students enrolled
in both the ground and online MSW programs reporting any Native American heritage has
dropped each year (1.9% in 2015, 1.6% in 2016, 1.3% in 2017, and 1% in 2019). Of note is that
these statistics are based on student self-reported data entered into the school database at
program admission. Furthermore, this data point is self-reported irrespective of any Native
American heritage and does not denote the student’s level of connection to their Native
community, traditions, and culture.
Description of Stakeholder Groups
Three stakeholder groups at HSSSW that directly contribute to and benefit from
increased recruitment of Native American students are students, faculty, and administration.
Native American students will have additional opportunities to attend a prestigious school of
social work and take the best of what they can learn to help their community (Weaver, 2000a).
Hiring Native American faculty is a key recommendation to increase Native American student
enrollment (Cross et al., 2009), providing new opportunities for Native American scholars and
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instructors at HSSSW. Under administration, the admissions team is responsible to recruit a
diverse student body to reflect the communities that social workers serve.
Stakeholder Performance Goals
At this time, HSSSW has not identified any organizational or stakeholder goals related to
the recruitment of Native American students.
Stakeholder Group of Focus
Although a complete analysis would involve all stakeholder groups, for practical
purposes the stakeholder group of focus for this study is the HSSSW admissions team. As the
first face of the institution, how, what, where, and when this team communicates to potential
Native American students is critical.
Purpose of the Project and Research Questions
The purpose of this project is to conduct a gap analysis to examine the root causes of the
organizational problem described above. The analysis focused on causes for this problem due to
gaps in the areas of knowledge and skill, motivation, and organizational issues. The analysis
began by generating a list of possible or assumed causes and then by examining these
systematically to focus on actual or validated causes. While a complete gap analysis would focus
on all stakeholders, for practical purposes the stakeholders of focus in this analysis are the
HSSSW admissions team.
As such, the questions that guided this study are as follows:
1. What is the status of the HSSSW admissions team’s knowledge, skills, and motivation as
it relates to improving the recruitment of Native American students?
2. What is the interaction between organizational culture and context on the HSSSW
admissions team’s knowledge, skills, and motivation?
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3. What are the recommended solutions to fill the identified gaps in knowledge and skills,
motivation, and organizational resources to achieve performance improvement?
Conceptual and Methodological Framework
This study applied the Clark and Estes (2008) gap analysis as a conceptual framework as
it offers a systematic, analytical method to identify the gap between the actual performance level
and the preferred performance level within an organization. Assumed interfering elements were
generated based on personal knowledge and related literature. These elements were validated
using interviews, observation, documentation, and a literature review. Research-based solutions
were then recommended and evaluated in a comprehensive manner.
Definitions
Council on Social Work Education (CSWE): The national association representing
social work education in the United States. Provides leadership for the advancement of social
work education and is the sole accrediting agency for social work education in the United States.
Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU): Institutions of higher education
primarily serving the African American community.
Indigenous: Descendants of pre-colonial societies with a strong relationship to the
ecosystem of their native country and a distinct culture from the dominant post-colonial culture.
The term is often used to describe ‘First Nations’ (populations Indigenous to Canada),
‘Australian Aboriginal’ (the Australian Indigenous), ‘Tangata Whenua’ or ‘People of the land’
(Maori people of New Zealand), and ‘Native American’ or ‘American Indian/Alaskan Natives’
(AI/AN) for the U.S. Indigenous populations.
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National Association of Social Workers (NASW): The professional organization of
social workers in the United States providing guidance, advocacy, and resources for social
workers.
Native American: The Indigenous people of the United States (except for Hawaii and
the territories of the United States), also known as American Indians or Indigenous Americans.
There are over 570 federally recognized tribes living within the United States, many on Indian
reservations.
Predominantly White Institution (PWI): An institution of higher learning that usually
has a student body of mostly white students, with much smaller numbers of African American,
Asian-American, Latinx, and Native American students.
Recruitment: The overall process of attracting new members to an organization, in this
case to become MSW students at a university.
Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCU): Educational institutions of higher learning
controlled and operated by Native American tribes.
Underrepresentation: A subset of a population (e.g., Native Americans), that makes up
a smaller percentage of a subgroup (e.g., MSW students) than the subset holds in the general
population.
Organization of the Project
This study is organized into five chapters. This first chapter provided the reader with the
key concepts and terminology related to the discussion of social issues facing Native American
communities, the need for increased numbers of Native American social workers, and the
challenges in recruiting more Native Americans into Masters level education to prepare them to
practice effectively in their communities. HSSSW’s mission and commitment to diversity and
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inclusion despite a lack of specific goals related to improving the recruitment of Native
American students were introduced as well as a description of the stakeholders and the gap
analysis approach to addressing organizational change. Chapter Two provides a review of the
current literature surrounding the challenges in recruiting Native American students into schools
of social work, and other similar graduate education programs. Topics covered include both
historical and current factors influencing Native American enrollment in graduate social work
education as well as review of some of the current efforts either underway or recommended to
attract more Native Americans into the profession. Literature related to the recruitment of Native
American and other diverse student populations is included to inform the knowledge, motivation
and organizational factors influencing performance improvement at HSSSW. Chapter Three
details the assumed interfering knowledge, motivation, and organizational elements as well as
the methodology when it comes to selection of participants, data collection and analysis. In
Chapter Four, the data and results are assessed and analyzed. Chapter Five provides
recommendations, based on the data and literature, for closing the perceived gaps and
implementing a performance improvement plan.
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CHAPTER TWO: REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE
Introduction
This literature review will examine the root causes for the low enrollment of Native
American students at HSSSW. This chapter begins with an overview of the literature on the
barriers to increasing enrollment of Indigenous students into social work education. It will then
delve into both historical and current factors that contribute to low levels of graduate student
recruitment into social work. It will include literature from countries with a similar history of
colonialism and oppression as the United States, i.e., Canada and Australia, that face comparable
challenges in recruiting and graduating Indigenous social work students. It will also include
research from other helping professions that have addressed a similar underrepresentation of
Native American graduate students in their programs. The review will then present examples of
novel programs that have attempted to address the problem in their region that may help inform
HSSSW when developing strategies to improve their recruitment of Native American students.
Following the general research literature, the review turns to the Clark and Estes (2008)
Gap Analytic Conceptual Framework—specifically, knowledge, motivation, and organizational
influences on the HSSSW admissions team’s ability to recruit Native Americans into the MSW
program. Due to the limited research available that addresses these influences specific to Native
American students, the review will include relevant literature related to recruiting students from
under-represented groups into institutions of higher education in general.
Influences on the Recruitment of Native Americans into MSW Education
A number of historical, social, and demographic factors have led many Native Americans
to develop an understandably negative impression of both social work and education. During the
late 19th and early 20th centuries, many Native American children were forcibly placed in
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boarding schools whose mandate was to assimilate them to European culture via education
(Weaver, 2000b). Subsequently, social workers facilitated the removal of large numbers of
Indigenous children from their homes and communities to place them in non-Native homes (and
more recently have received criticism for their poor implementation of the Indian Child Welfare
Act; Ives & Thaweiakenrat Loft, 2013; Tamburro & Tamburro, 2014). The social work
profession faces the double challenge of overcoming historically justified prejudice toward both
social work and education if they are to recruit more Native Americans into schools of social
work.
The NASW and CSWE provide a set of values, ethics and educational standards for
social workers that focus on social justice and serving oppressed and marginalized communities
(CSWE, 2015; NASW, 2017). To this end, several schools of social work have attempted to
educate non-Native social workers to become more culturally competent when working with
Indigenous people. However, there are limitations to cross-cultural social work, such as the
potential trauma response experienced by Native Americans when they meet White social
workers (Evans-Campbell, 2008; Whitbeck et al., 2004) and the underlying implicit bias of
Whites that is not eradicated by education alone (Baltra-Ulloa, 2013; Duran & Duran, 1995).
Recognizing this, some authors have suggested that social services are best provided by Native
American social workers (Cross et al., 2013; Prue, 2014; Weaver & Brave Heart, 1999) and a
CSWE task force has generated recommendations to schools of social work aimed to increase the
numbers of Native Americans pursuing social work education (Cross et al., 2009).
Despite this, the numbers of Native Americans in MSW programs has not increased
(CSWE, 2018) and at HSSSW it has actually decreased. In the United States, the Native
American population is expected to continue to increase based on census data from 2010 that
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showed a population increase of 26.7% since 2000 compared with the overall population growth
of 9.7% (U.S. Census Bureau, 2010). Yet, there is little indication that significant social ills such
as poverty, chronic health issues, substance abuse, depression and suicide, and family and
community violence are on the decline. Schools of social work are professionally obligated to
tackle this issue. HSSSW is a large school of social work and thus can play a significant role in
increasing the number of Native American MSW students who can take the best of what social
work education can offer to help their communities thrive (Weaver, 2000a).
Understanding Low Enrollment of Native Americans in MSW Programs
Historical Factors
The history of colonialism for the Native people of the United States has created a unique
set of circumstances that present understandable barriers to engaging this population in social
work education. European settlers used education to dismantle and destroy Indigenous cultures
across the world and especially so in the United States. The history of boarding schools, broken
treaties, and a continuing lack of respect for Indigenous ways of knowing engender distrust and
suspicion of public education, including higher education, for many Native Americans.
Distrust of education. Tippeconnic Fox, Lowe, and McClelland (2005) described the
history of higher education for Native Americans in the United States across three eras. The
Colonial Era spans the first contact between Native Americans and Europeans through to the
Revolutionary War. The mission of the European schools established in the original nine
colonies was to educate both settlers and Natives, but few Native Americans attended and even
fewer graduated. While some of this is attributed to a minimal commitment to reach out to
Native students, European education was likely very unattractive to Native people who saw no
reason to abandon their traditional practices and knowledge (Tippeconnic Fox et al., 2005). The
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Federal Era encompasses the post-Revolutionary War period of treaties between the U.S.
government and Native American Tribes. Ninety-seven treaties pertained to the U.S.
government’s obligation to provide education as it was seen as a vehicle to Christianize and
force the acculturation and assimilation of Native Americans (Tippeconnic Fox et al., 2005).
Higher education was largely disregarded in favor of vocational studies until the Self-
Determination Era beginning in the 1930s when educational scholarships and funding through
the G.I. Bill led to a modest increase in Native American students in postsecondary and higher
education. More significant growth in higher education for Native Americans came about in the
1960s with the Tribal college movement, which has produced largely positive outcomes in terms
of student engagement, satisfaction, and post-graduate employment (Tippeconnic Fox et al.,
2005). However, ongoing challenges for Tribal colleges include preservation of tradition, the
hiring of largely non-Native faculty, insufficient funding, and poor facilities. The history of
schools being used as weapons of cultural destruction coupled with the general neglect of higher
education for Native Americans has had a tangible impact on the educational pipelines of Native
American students into higher education today.
Champagne (2015) explained Native American reluctance to engage in higher education
through his review of the status of Indigenous higher education. He described how many Tribal
elders and parents view higher education as taking their young people away from traditional
ways and removing them from the reservations and their contributions to the Tribe. The
education provided is seen as being in service of the economic, political, and cultural goals of the
nation state, which often run contrary to those of the Tribe. Furthermore, Western universities
emphasize the scientific worldview and assume that students enter the educational arena with
shared values of competitiveness and self-sufficiency and with the same readiness to learn. Many
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Native Americans do not share this perspective or embody these values and have often had an
unsatisfactory secondary education experience. Lastly, educational institutions designed for the
settler nation aim to bring diverse lands and cultures together around common values and goals,
but this approach does not serve Indigenous students who desire an education that reflects their
culture and serves to support and improve their community (Champagne, 2015).
Weaver’s (2000b) qualitative study of Native American social work students explored the
experience of conflict many students face when their social work education runs counter to their
culture. When the institution assumes that the Anglo way is superior, the Native American
student is forced to conform or fail. Many Native Americans already hold negative attitudes
toward European-based schooling that was historically designed to destroy their culture, and the
continued lack of respect for Indigenous knowledge, perspectives, and values in higher education
reinforces this belief (Weaver, 2000b).
The distrust of higher education includes a general distrust of any government run
education born from the Boarding School era when Native American children were forcibly
removed from their homes and sent to boarding schools away from their families and Tribes.
Boarding schools punished children for any demonstration of their culture and forced their
adoption of European clothing, language, and religion. These children were often unable to
repatriate with their families and Tribes when they left these schools as they could not
communicate or relate to their culture. Non-Native education historically served to destroy
Native American culture and communities, and when the Boarding School era ended, social
workers (in their role as child welfare agents) took over as a vehicle for continued cultural
genocide.
NATIVE AMERICANS IN SOCIAL WORK

16
Distrust of social work. Tamburro and Tamburro (2014) documented the history of
social work in Indigenous communities in the United States and Canada, noting that prior to, and
for 300 years after the arrival of the first European settlers in the United States, Indigenous
communities provided for their own social welfare. Dance, song, art, herbs, and rituals were used
to heal physical and emotional distress. Tribal social systems protected against extremes in
wealth and poverty, misuse of violence against children and women, and provided for adoption
and community support following illness or loss. The impact of the European settlers as they
spread across Northern America included diseases on an epidemic scale, widespread starvation
due to wars and the destruction of lands and cattle, and the introduction of alcohol perniciously
used during treaty negotiations. Once forced to live on reservations, the traditional way of life
and associated self-sufficiency was disrupted. Alcohol became a form of self-medication to cope
with the social and emotional trauma of the physical and cultural genocide of colonialist
oppression, including the multigenerational trauma and disrupted family relationships caused by
the Boarding School era (Tamburro & Tamburro, 2014). By the 1960s, reservations were home
to extreme poverty. In the United States, forced attendance at boarding schools began to fall out
of favor, but in its place, child welfare workers began removing Native American children from
families and Tribes for alleged child abuse and neglect, most often placing them in homes of
White families who were presumed to provide a better upbringing and home life for the children.
This systematic large-scale removal of Indigenous children from their homes was termed the
“60’s Scoop” in Canada and a similar scenario played out in the United States (Tamburro &
Tamburro, 2014). These actions, taken by social workers who were a product of the same society
that perpetuated genocide (Prue, 2014), have had long standing consequences for Native
American communities and has shaped their perception of the profession of social work.
NATIVE AMERICANS IN SOCIAL WORK

17
Ives and Thaweiakenrat Loft (2013) described a trip to Inuit territory in 2008 to promote
social work education to secondary school students and when asked what they thought of social
workers the students stated, “Run for your life!” They explained that Indigenous people in
Canada despise social workers due to past destructive practices such as the forced removal of
children in the 1960s and continued poor implementation of the Indian Child Welfare Act
(ICWA). Native Americans in the United States share this oppressive history, and there is a
continued over-representation of Indigenous children in the public child welfare system in both
countries. While child welfare services are only one aspect of the profession, the damage caused
by social workers’ involvement in this systematic destruction of Indigenous families and culture
through forced family separation contributes to lingering Native American distrust.
While Native Americans may be understandably suspicious of both education and social
work based on the role these institutions played in cultural genocide, many Native American
social work scholars speak about the potential benefits of social work education for Indigenous
communities. Ives and Thaweiakenrat Loft (2013) noted that social work education can facilitate
relationship building with Indigenous communities. Weaver (2000a) pointed out the opportunity
for Native Americans to take the best of what Western education and practices have to offer for
the benefit of their communities. Prue (2014) emphasized the importance of developing social
work education to train Indigenous social workers to develop social work programs that can
address the long-term social and emotional impacts of colonialism through traditional values and
methods.
Current Factors
Several studies have looked at how current aspects of higher education, graduate
education, and social work education continue to contribute to low recruitment, enrollment, and
NATIVE AMERICANS IN SOCIAL WORK

18
graduation rates for Native American students. Common themes reoccur related to the lack of
Native American faculty, limited relevant Native American curriculum content, feelings of
isolation due to lack of Native American peers, and an unsupportive school structure lacking in
resources and cultural sensitivity.
Faculty. Cross et al. (2013) conducted research on challenges to recruiting Native
American students into social work, identifying a lack of Native American faculty as a key
barrier as well as a lack of Native American role models or mentors. In a report compiled for
CSWE regarding the status of Native Americans in social work higher education students also
identified the importance of Native American faculty serving as mentors and role models,
resulting in the CSWE recommendation that schools of social work need to recruit more Native
American faculty (Cross et al., 2009). In a literature review of research into the barriers to
recruiting Native American students into graduate psychology programs, Goforth, Brown,
Machek, and Swaney (2016) found that a lack of Native American faculty was a key issue for
potential students, concluding that in order to create a pipeline, schools must make a
commitment to “disrupt the barriers” for recruiting both students and faculty. As a word of
caution, Weaver (2000a) noted that while students often see having Native American faculty as
desirable, their presence does not guarantee support due to the many differences among Tribes
and the level of faculty assimilation.
Curriculum. Schools of social work that hire Native American faculty are more likely to
offer specific courses with a focus on Native American populations (Cross et al., 2009). The lack
of Native American content and focus in the curriculum is another barrier found repeatedly in the
literature related to recruiting Native American students to social work programs. The CSWE
report cited above recommended that in order to recruit and retain more Native American faculty
NATIVE AMERICANS IN SOCIAL WORK

19
and students, schools of social work need to promote the equal value of alternative research
methodologies, infuse Native American content in the curriculum, and provide field placements
that serve Native American populations. Weaver (2000a) found that while the amount of Native
American content has increased in recent years, Native American students and practitioners
surveyed suggested that there needed to be more. The social work students participating in this
study also indicated that even when cultural content was present it was often limited and
superficial and not always valued by the professor.
When there are Native American faculty and curricula content at schools of social work,
the attractiveness of a social work program increases for Native Americans. Both indicate that
the school values the Native American contribution to the field. However, Native American
students frequently mention the notion of cultural isolation (e.g., Cross et al., 2013) and a
preference for schools that also have Native Americans students already on their campus
(Mosholder, Waite, Larsen, & Goslin, 2016).
Student body. Mosholder et al.’s (2016) study is especially informative as it used an
asset-based approach to ask what factors contribute to Native American student success in a
Eurocentric higher education academic environment. They found that opportunities for
relationships with and support from fellow Native American students was a critical factor in
student success. Specifically, mentoring for new students initiated by current Native American
students, space to socialize with other Native American students, and effective communication.
The authors were able to define effective communication as preferably informal and acquired
through the student body. This study demonstrated the importance of informal pathways for
connection and communication that require attention to campus culture, facilities, and supports if
schools of social work want to recruit and retain more Native American students.
NATIVE AMERICANS IN SOCIAL WORK

20
School structure and supports. The most frequently cited factors influencing the
recruitment of Native American students in higher education are the availability of financial
support and the presence of institutional biases (e.g., Goforth et al., 2016). Mosholder et al.
(2016) found that potential students were concerned about inadequate academic supports and
financial resources, and the perceived disregard of their culture and traditions. The authors were
subsequently funded to develop programs to address these needs and were able to demonstrate
that providing more supports and addressing inclusion and respect for Native American culture
and customs led to increased recruitment and enrollment of Native American students as well as
altering student perceptions about biases in their graduate program.
For schools of social work, Cross et al. (2009) noted the importance of providing
adequate financial assistance and addressing institutional discrimination. Their report suggested
that both could be accomplished through collaboration with Tribal colleges and universities
(TCUs). Cross et al. (2013) found that a lack of understanding of cultural traditions and values as
well as experiences of racism and discrimination by peers, faculty, and administration were a
recurring theme among the Native American social work students they surveyed. Likewise,
Weaver’s (2000a) survey respondents reported negative experiences of racism and
discrimination during their social work education, although those who were more assimilated or
who lived in a context of support experienced this less.
Increasing the number of Native American students in social work education clearly
requires attention to both the intrinsic quality of the school and the program and strategies for
recruitment of students into those programs. The following section addresses some of the
promising practices found in the literature related to these two components.
NATIVE AMERICANS IN SOCIAL WORK

21
Increasing Enrollment of Native Americans in MSW Programs
Programmatic Strategies
Various approaches have been attempted or recommended at the programmatic level to
enhance educational outcomes for Native American social workers. These include those
developed to focus exclusively on Indigenous students and the communities in which they live as
well as adaptations to mainstream programs in order to attract and retain more Native American
students to their campus.
Indigenous social work education programs. Moeke-Pickering and Cote-Meek (2015)
described the development of a social work program in Ontario, Canada, that includes a Bachelor
degree in Indigenous Social Work and a Master’s degree in Indigenous Relations. This
Indigenous social work program grew out of a Native Human Services program housed at the
Laurentian University that began in collaboration with the local Aboriginal community in 1985.
The original curriculum focused on integrating Indigenous values and tribal traditions and
culture along with social work values. In 2009, the program became a stand-alone school and
received full accreditation from CSWE. The development and support of Indigenous faculty has
led to the creation of a significant body of Indigenous social work knowledge. The school
established the Native Social Work Journal to publish, share and build on this knowledge base.
In the United States, the Oglala College provides a BSW program devoted to teaching
Indigenous Social Work. Accredited by CSWE in 2010, the program’s vision is to “educate
students to be part of social change processes that more equitably distribute scarce economic and
social resources as part of making life better for members of the Oglala Lakota People on the
Pine Ridge Reservation” (Oglala Lakota College, 2013, para. 2). While these programs are
generalist practice (BSW) and focused on a particular community or Tribe, another approach to
NATIVE AMERICANS IN SOCIAL WORK

22
maximize participation at the MSW level has been to focus on making adaptations to existing
MSW programs.
Adaptations to mainstream social work education programs. CSWE published a
report prepared by seven Native scholars who made up the Task Force on Native Americans in
Social Work Education (Cross et al., 2009). The Task Force conducted surveys and analyzed
data resulting in a number of recommendations for the profession. They identified nine areas of
need that included recruiting and retaining Native American faculty and students, promoting
equal value to alternative research methodologies, financial assistance for students, addressing
discrimination, and collaborating with TCUs. The Task Force provided very specific
recommendations and identified that social work programs across the country are responsible for
their implementation. Weaver (2000b) also advised universities to attend to their educational
climate and culture on campus. She recommended that social work programs recognize the
importance of the students’ cultural identity, develop strategies to engage the Native American
family and community into the educational setting, and provide Native American student
organizations and other avenues for peer support. At an organizational level, she directed
universities to proactively hire and retain Native faculty, staff, and administrators, and provide
financial assistance in the form of scholarships. In the classroom, she suggested that educators
pay attention to learning styles and communication patterns of Native students and use teaching
methods compatible with Native cultures.
The University of Minnesota Duluth (2017) is a university that appears to have taken this
advice to heart. According to the school website, they have a number of projects aimed at
recruiting and retaining Native American students that include curriculum development aimed to
purposefully include Native American content, Native American student support, community
NATIVE AMERICANS IN SOCIAL WORK

23
outreach and a Native American student advisory council. While not exclusively focused on
Native American students, they also have a Center for Regional & Tribal Child Welfare Studies
consisting of several Native American faculty whose focus is to prepare students to become
effective social workers in the field of child welfare. They emphasize education, training, and
research in the area of collaborative partnerships between county and tribal service providers.
As schools of social work attempt to develop programs and make organizational changes
to accommodate a more inclusive environment for Native American students, it is critical that
they have some of the tools and strategies at hand to communicate this to potential Native
American students via outreach and recruitment efforts.
Recruitment Strategies
Due to limited research specific to recruitment of Native American social work students,
this section considers the literature related to recruitment of a diverse graduate student body in
general and in similar types of professional graduate programs. Even within this body of
research, the results are mixed as to the effectiveness of specific recruitment efforts. Poock
(2007) surveyed graduate admission professionals’ efforts to recruit and retain graduate students
from underrepresented groups and their perceived effectiveness and found that while graduate
schools identified the need for specific recruitment efforts and engage in several activities, the
effectiveness of these endeavors is unclear. This study concluded that strategy selection is not
data driven and strategies are not selected based on their proven effectiveness.
Some studies have attempted to identify successful recruitment strategies, although most
of the data is speculative as opposed to being quantifiably effective. For example, Quarterman’s
(2008) exploratory qualitative study of barriers to diverse recruitment in predominantly white
institutions (PWIs) identified a lack of planned programs, inadequate financial resources, and an
NATIVE AMERICANS IN SOCIAL WORK

24
insufficient pool of eligible candidates as recruitment barriers. The survey respondents
recommended strategies such as personal contact through visits, recruitment fairs and career days
at historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs), and availability of financial resources;
however, none were able to provide evidence that such strategies had been successfully applied.
Rogers and Molina (2006) reviewed 11 graduate psychology programs making
exemplary efforts at recruiting students of color. They found that the strategies most consistently
used included involvement of current minority faculty and students in recruitment activities,
financial aid, faculty personal contacts with prospective students, linkages with HBCUs,
reaching a “critical mass” of faculty and students of color, offering a diversity course, and
engaging students in diversity issues research. In the field of art therapy, Awais and Yali (2015)
found that more diverse graduate art therapy programs identified their successful strategies as the
involvement of students and faculty in recruitment, financial incentives, special attention,
mentorship, and connections to HBCUs. Goforth et al.’s (2016) extensive literature review of
barriers to recruiting Native American students into graduate school psychology programs
culminated in a series of recommendations for schools. These included establishing an
institutional commitment; creating a diverse faculty, staff, and student body; developing student-
faculty support systems; generating resources for financial aid; altering the core curriculum;
partnering with Native communities; intentionally creating a supportive environment; generating
interest in the profession (beginning in high school and undergraduate college); and targeting
Tribal colleges. Lastly, based on their finding that schools with the least diversity on their
websites had the least diverse student body, Smith et al. (2016) recommended that websites for
graduate programs contain a section on multicultural interests of the school with hyperlinks to
faculty interests and a contact person when possible.
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25
The Clark and Estes Gap Analytic Framework
In order to better understand the multiple factors influencing a school’s recruitment
efforts, Clark and Estes (2008) provided an analytic framework to examine the cause of the
performance gap. This step is deemed critical before determining a performance improvement
program. Knowledge gaps are one of the three primary causes of performance problems (Clark
& Estes, 2008; Rueda, 2011). Krathwohl (2002) specified four types of knowledge used to refine
the analysis: factual, conceptual, procedural, and metacognitive. A second common cause of
performance gaps is motivation, including three primary aspects: active choice, persistence, and
mental effort (Clark & Estes, 2008; Mayer, 2011; Rueda, 2011). Rueda (2011) provided an
overview of some of the variables that can influence motivation, which include self-efficacy,
attributions, values, goals, and goal orientation. The third influence on stakeholder performance
is organizational factors such as work processes, available resources, and the organizational
culture (Clark & Estes, 2008).
The influences of knowledge, motivation, and organization on performance were
examined as they related to the HSSSW Admissions Team’s efforts to increase the recruitment
of Native American social work students. First, the role of knowledge was examined to explore
the facts, procedures, and concepts the recruitment team members needed to know in order to
engage potential Native American students more effectively. Next, the motivational variables
that may apply to the HSSSW Admissions Team were explored as an issue that impacts
performance. Lastly, the organizational context was discussed in terms of the current recruitment
and admissions processes and resources as well as the overarching institutional culture. These
three assumed influences will then be examined through the methodology presented in Chapter
Three.
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26
Stakeholder Knowledge and Motivation Influences
Knowledge and Skills
HSSSW seeks to recruit a diverse student body that reflects the communities that social
workers serve. Due to declining numbers of Native American students admitted to HSSSW in
the past three years the HSSSW admissions team needs to develop strategies to increase
recruitment of Native American students. Research has indicated that there is specific knowledge
and skills the admissions team can acquire to increase the likelihood that a potential Native
American student will select a graduate social work program.
Knowledge gaps are one of the three primary causes of performance problems (Clark &
Estes, 2008; Rueda, 2011). When conducting a gap analysis of the status of Native American
student recruitment at HSSSW it is therefore necessary to determine whether the HSSSW
admissions team knows how to improve recruitment of Native American students. Krathwohl
(2002) specified four types of knowledge used to refine the analysis: (a) factual, (b) conceptual,
(c) procedural, and (d) metacognitive. First, factual knowledge refers to discrete factual
elements. Second, conceptual knowledge is complex knowledge consisting of multiple organized
elements. Third, procedural knowledge refers to information about how to do something; lastly,
and metacognitive knowledge is the process of reflection about what and how one knows
something. The following literature review will explore the declarative factual, conceptual, and
procedural knowledge influences related to the recruitment of a diverse graduate student body in
general, and more specifically Native American social work students
Factual knowledge. One of the discrete facts that the HSSSW admissions team needs to
know in order to achieve their goal is the best locations to meet Native American students
considering graduate school. Several studies have explored factors related to the recruitment of
NATIVE AMERICANS IN SOCIAL WORK

27
diverse graduate students and have recommended recruitment at institutions serving diverse
undergraduate students such as HBCUs (Awais & Yali, 2015; Quarterman, 2008). Focusing on
Native American graduate school psychology programs, Goforth et al. (2016) completed a
literature review of the barriers to recruitment and made a number of recommendations for
schools trying to recruit more Native American students. These recommendations included
outreach to Tribal colleges.
More specific factual knowledge about Tribal colleges can be found in the CSWE’s final
report by the Task Force on Native Americans in Social Work Education (Cross et al., 2009).
This document highlighted the importance of schools of social work creating partnerships with
Tribally run colleges and universities (TCUs). The report identified the 36 TCUs in the United
States that offer 2-year associate degrees. They also noted that many TCUs are offering 4-year
baccalaureate degrees and that the Salish Kootenai Tribal College and the Oglala Lakota Tribal
College both offer the Bachelors in Social Work (BSW) degree. Another six TCUs offer
Associate Social Work degrees and thirteen offer associate degrees or certificate programs in
human service related fields. Cross et al. (2009) described partnerships between graduate social
work programs and TCUs that have proved to be successful in increasing Native American
graduate social work student recruitment. The CSWE report provided factual knowledge about
TCUs that the HSSSW admissions team can use to identify places to connect with Native
American students who already have an interest and some prior education in social work or
related human services.
Conceptual knowledge. Once the HSSSW admissions team members meet Native
American students interested in graduate studies in the human services, they need to assess what
each student requires from a graduate program in order to highlight the aspects of HSSSW that
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28
may be most appealing to him or her. This entails the identification and synthesis of the student’s
experience, interests, and concerns along with an understanding of what the program can and
cannot offer in respect to these factors in order to support the student’s decision-making.
Cross et al.’s (2013) research examining the challenges in recruiting and retaining Native
American students in social work programs provided some guidance on areas of potential
concern for students. The barriers most frequently reported by Native American social work
students were a lack of Native American faculty, role models and mentors; competing family and
tribal obligations; cultural isolation; a lack of understanding of cultural traditions and values; and
institutional racism. Knowing this information, HSSSW recruiters can explore each element to
assess its relevance for each student and highlight factors about the HSSSW program that may
alleviate that concern.
This is conceptual knowledge, as it requires the organization of discrete knowledge
elements into the more complex task of individualizing the recruitment approach. For example,
when a recruiter hears a student talk about family and tribal commitments they can introduce the
student to the HSSSW online program as an option that will allow them to stay in their
community. Knowing that many Native American students are hesitant to engage in online
education preferring the interpersonal interactions and relational aspects of campus-based
education (Cross et al., 2013), the recruiters can demonstrate the interactive nature of HSSSW’s
virtual program and provide testimonies from online students about their relationships with peers
and faculty. If the student has attended a TCU, the recruiter can anticipate that they may value
learning in an environment that includes Native American faculty and peers. In this case, the
recruiter will need to combine information about specific faculty and students at HSSSW as well
as explore the realities of being in a mainstream college. The recruiters need to be prepared to
NATIVE AMERICANS IN SOCIAL WORK

29
share information about the school’s commitment to diversity and inclusion as well as
acknowledging student worries about discrimination and what student services are available to
address experiences of individual and institutional racism should they occur. Being prepared to
anticipate possible student concerns, the HSSSW admissions team can provide individualized
and culturally sensitive support to Native American students.
The HSSSW admissions team can also apply this conceptual knowledge to their online
recruitment strategies. Smith et al.(2016) conducted a study of school websites for 250 graduate
psychology programs and looked for the presence of diversity themes and content deemed
important by diverse students. The authors compared school psychology to other psychology
programs due to their historically lower rates of diversity. While school psychology programs
reported relying heavily on their website for recruitment, when compared to other psychology
programs their websites had less content related to funding, faculty research into diversity issues
and a diversity statement. The authors’ recommendations can help guide the HSSSW admissions
team when targeting Native American students such as ensuring the school website contains
sections on the multicultural interests of the school with hyperlinks to faculty research,
curriculum content, and a contact person. Combining these recommendations with those of Cross
et al. (2013), the HSSSW admissions team can collaborate with website designers to create
online information, tools, and pathways that can guide Native American students considering
HSSSW.
Noting that students who attend TCUs have higher persistence rates, Martin (2005)
attempted to identify what TCUs provide that accounts for this so that mainstream colleges can
adopt similar practices. The HSSSW admissions team can consider which of these practices are
currently available at HSSSW and highlight these during recruitment fairs, student interactions,
NATIVE AMERICANS IN SOCIAL WORK

30
and on their website. For example, Martin recommended that in order to reduce the feeling of
isolation often reported by Native American students, mainstream colleges can emphasize
cooperative learning and group work over competition, individual attention, family support
services, and family involvement on campus. HSSSW provides small class sizes, emphasizes
collaborative learning and group work, encourages student-faculty interaction, and embraces the
university inclusion of family and friends as part of the university “family.” However, there are
aspects of TCUs that HSSSW cannot replicate, and for these the admissions team will need to
assess the relative importance of these elements for the student. They can also become familiar
with school policies that accommodate family obligations, culturally relevant curriculum content,
and financial assistance in order to respond to Native American student needs.
Procedural knowledge. Financial concerns are the most often cited barrier in studies on
recruitment of a diverse student body (Poock, 2007; Quarterman, 2008), and Native American
students in particular (Awais & Yali, 2015; Cross et al., 2009; Goforth et al., 2016). Therefore, a
critical aspect of procedural knowledge that the HSSSW admissions team needs to know is how
to secure financial resources for Native American students.
Goforth et al. (2016) created a grid of financial resources for Native American students
interested in pursuing graduate studies in school psychology, and the HSSSW admissions team
could consider compiling a similar tool for MSW programs. Additionally, the admissions team
should know how to go about securing these resources. Cross et al. (2009) urged social work
programs to collaborate with Tribal Nations to develop financial packages for Native American
students. Providing guidance to students on the how to access adequate financial support will
likely need to be a critical strategy in increasing the recruitment of Native American students at
HSSSW.
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31
Table 1 shows the organizational mission and the three knowledge influences identified
in this literature review related to recruitment of Native American MSW students at HSSSW.
Table 1
Knowledge Influence, Knowledge Types, and Knowledge Assessment
Organizational Mission
To promote social justice through education

Knowledge Influence Knowledge Type Knowledge Influence
Assessment
Admissions team needs to
know the best locations for
recruitment of Native American
MSW students.
Factual

“If your team was asked to
increase enrollment of Native
American students where
might you go to meet with
potential applicants?”
Admissions team needs to
assess what each Native
American student requires from
a graduate program in order to
highlight the aspects of
HSSSW that may be most
appealing to him or her.
Conceptual “If you were to interact with a
potential applicant for the
MSW program who tells you
that they are Native American
what would you do?”
Admissions team needs to
know how to go about securing
financial resources and support
for Native American MSW
students.
Procedural “If a Native American
applicant was to ask about
financial support if they were
accepted to our school, what
would you tell them?”

Motivation
A second common cause of performance gaps is motivation (Clark & Estes, 2008).
Mayer (2011) described motivation as the required ingredient for the acquisition and application
of knowledge. There are three aspects of motivation: (a) active choice, (b) persistence, and (c)
mental effort (Clark & Estes, 2008; Mayer, 2011; Rueda, 2011). First, active choice refers to an
individual’s decision whether to start work toward a goal. Second, persistence refers to whether
an individual perseveres in working toward this goal despite distractions. Lastly, mental effort
NATIVE AMERICANS IN SOCIAL WORK

32
refers to the amount of energy an individual invests toward achieving the goal. Rueda (2011)
provided an overview of some of the variables that can influence motivation, which include self-
efficacy, attributions, values, goals, and goal orientation. Other scholars have factored in the role
of interests, emotions, and cultural context (e.g., Clark & Estes, 2008). These are not mutually
exclusive and often several of these influences come into play when assessing motivational
performance issues. To evaluate the performance of the HSSSW admissions team in developing
strategies to increase Native American student enrollment, the motivational influences that seem
most pertinent are values and attributions. The following literature review will provide an
overview of the theories related to these motivational variables and available research on
diversity recruitment that may apply to the HSSSW admissions team.
Attributional theory. Weiner (1985, 2000) developed the general attributional model
applied most often to studies of motivation. The basic premise is that when individuals succeed
or fail at a task, their individual beliefs about the cause of the outcome influences their future
behavior. While individual and environmental factors influence attributions, the individual’s
perception of the cause of an outcome is the ultimate deciding factor when it comes to his or her
motivation to choose, persist or apply mental effort toward the task in the future (Anderman &
Anderman, 2009a). Attributions have three causal dimensions: locus, stability, and controllability
(Anderman & Anderman, 2009a; Weiner, 1985, 2000). The locus of control dimension refers to
whether the individual assigns the cause to internal or external factors. For example, a recruiter
may attribute their failure to recruit Native American students to their personal inability to
connect with this group (internal) or they may attribute it to the lack of eligible candidates for
graduate study (external). The stability dimension refers to whether the individual believes that
the cause of the outcome is consistent over time or variable, depending on the situation. For
NATIVE AMERICANS IN SOCIAL WORK

33
example, a recruiter may attribute a failure to meet Native American students at a certain
location who are interested in social work to a belief that Native American students are not
interested in a graduate social work education (stable) versus attributing the outcome to being in
the wrong place at the wrong time (unstable). Controllability refers to the individual’s belief in
their ability to influence the outcome. For example, a recruiter may believe that they have no
control over the availability of financial resources for Native American students and thus they
will not be able to influence any Native American students to attend HSSSW (uncontrollable).
However, another recruiter may believe that if they do some research and seek support from the
scholarship team, they may be able to identify financial resources aimed at Native American
students and thus facilitate Native American students to attend HSSSW (controllable). Clearly,
attributions that recruiters make about Native American students in general and about their own
ability to overcome the barriers to recruiting this student group will impact the strategies
selected, the effort extended, and the eventual outcome.
Some studies have addressed the perceptions of recruiters and admissions teams that
provide some insight into the possible role of attributions for the recruitment of diverse student
groups. Griffin and Muniz (2015) conducted a qualitative study of 14 Graduate Diversity
Officers (GDOs) at 14 different research universities to explore how race and diversity issues
influence the recruitment process, specifically GDOs’ perception of their ability to influence the
process. While the study did not directly reference attributional theory, the application of the
attributional dimensions is apparent. GDOs spent a significant amount of their time (active
choice, persistence, and mental effort) on outreach as this was an area where they felt they had
the most influence on the outcomes and where they had the specific skill set needed to engage
diverse students (internal, stable, and controllable). However, they felt less able to influence the
NATIVE AMERICANS IN SOCIAL WORK

34
admissions process, especially when the school required the GRE for entrance (external, stable,
and uncontrollable) and felt unable to influence yield as this was believed to be directly tied to
available financial support over which they had felt they had no control (external and
uncontrollable). Those GDOs who were engaged in decision-making about admissions and
financial support felt more positive about their efforts in this area (controllable).
In another study, Quarterman (2008) conducted a survey of program coordinators and
directors in over 50 PWIs in the Midwest of the United States to explore their perceptions
regarding recruitment and retention of diverse graduate students. They perceived the primary
recruitment barriers as the need for planned recruitment and retention programs, a lack of
financial resources, and an insufficient pool of eligible candidates. Again, the author did not
apply attributional theory to these perceptions; however, the second two barriers appear to be
external, stable, and uncontrollable, which could significantly decrease motivation to initiate and
persist with diversity related recruitment strategies. The survey participants identified three
potential strategies to recruit diverse students; providing personal contact through visits;
attending recruitment fairs and career days at HBCUs; and providing available financial
supports. These strategies are applicable to HSSSW if TCUs take the place of HBCUs. A follow-
up survey to assess how surmountable the participants believe the barriers to be and the
perceived causes of the effectiveness of these strategies, if any were initiated, would be helpful
to explore the role of attributional influences and potential remediation.
Expectancy value theory. Another theory about motivation that applies to the HSSSW
admissions team recruitment goal is expectancy value theory (Eccles, 2005; Eccles & Wigfield,
2002; Wigfield & Eccles, 2000). This theory links choice, persistence, and effort to beliefs about
the value of the task and the individual’s expectation of success. Expectancy of success and task
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value are influenced by perceptions of competence, difficulty, and goals, as well as the
perceptions of others’ attitudes and expectations (Wigfield & Eccles, 2000).
Burns-Wallace (2009) surveyed 24 Senior Admissions Diversity Officers (SADOs) at
public and private colleges across the United States and found motivation was the primary theme
to emerge. SADOs of color were more highly motivated based on their personal experience.
They described being deeply committed to advancing diversity based on their own personal
journey in higher education, a strong identification with the student, and a profound emotional
investment in the job. Their personal experience led them to place a high value on the task of
recruitment as well as a high expectation of success. This study found that personal values
influenced motivation based on the individual’s experience and identity. The HSSSW admissions
team can consider hiring additional recruiters who come from underrepresented groups as well as
opening paid positions for Native American students to support recruitment efforts, as this is
likely to enhance the influence of expectancy value on their motivation to recruit Native
American students.
Based on research conducted in Norway, Frølich and Stensaker (2010) found that
recruitment strategies were more often grounded in institutional identities and that despite
national trends that emphasized diversity, institutions seemed to place little importance on
strategies to increase diversity. In this study, values related to the history and identity of the
institution were the primary drivers of recruitment strategies. When enrollment was low more
creative recruitment strategies emerged, but the value placed on excellence and diversity were
not coupled and institutional identity maintained the upper hand. The implications for the
HSSSW admissions team is they are recruiting for a prestigious university and they could believe
that Native American students are not likely to succeed in such a setting, especially with the
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additional factor of limited financial resources for lower income students. Such universities tend
to place a high institutional value on academic excellence, which could trump the admissions
team’s goal to target Native American students, as many are first generation students and may
not have such a stellar academic record as second and third generation graduate students.
Table 2 shows the organizational mission and motivational influences and motivational
influence assessments identified in this literature review related to the recruitment of Native
American students by the HSSSW admissions team.
Table 2

Motivational Influences and Motivational Influence Assessments
Organizational Mission

To promote social justice through education
Assumed Motivation Influences

Motivational Influence Assessment

Attributions: Admissions team believe they can
influence the recruitment of Native American MSW
students and that lack of progress to date is due to
controllable influences.
“If your team wanted to increase recruitment of
Native American students, based on your role
in the team, what strategies would you
suggest?”
Utility Value: Admissions team values a diverse
student body that includes an increased number of
Native American MSW students.
“What are your thoughts about targeting
recruitment at certain groups or populations?”

Organizational Influences
The organizational context of the HSSSW Admissions team will greatly influence
motivation and knowledge and ultimately performance. There are several organizational theories
that address the role of organizational culture (e.g., Kezar, 2001; Schein, 2017), but one that
seems most applicable to this study is the concept of cultural models and cultural settings
proposed by Gallimore and Goldenberg (2001). Cultural models refer to the core values,
assumptions, and goals of the organization which tend to be largely invisible, while cultural
settings refer to the more visible contexts where members of the organization carry out their
NATIVE AMERICANS IN SOCIAL WORK

37
tasks and day-to-day activities (Gallimore & Goldenberg, 2001). Cultural models can be thought
of as the mental schema or unspoken assumptions of the organization while cultural settings
describe the actual activities that organizational members do in service of these shared beliefs.
Usually cultural settings are manifestations of cultural models. While cultural settings can
potentially influence cultural models, e.g., organizational members who join a group outside of
the organization, may bring back new activities to the organization that could, over time, alter the
cultural model; alternatively, a new activity is interpreted or adapted to fit the existing schema
(Gallimore & Goldenberg, 2001). It is thus important to examine both the cultural models and
settings of the HSSSW admissions team to understand the role they play in either facilitating or
creating barriers to performance improvement.
Cultural models. At HSSSW, both the organizational culture and the occupational
culture (Schein, 2017) share common values regarding the representation of diverse groups
among the student body and workforce and the central role of social justice as a guiding principle
(CSWE, 2018; NASW, 2017). However, HSSSW’s cultural model also includes aspects of the
larger university within which it is housed, as well as the influence of the macro culture (Schein,
2017) of the region of the United States where the school is located. Several scholars have
pointed to the importance of clear goals and expectations as critical for optimal performance
(e.g., Berbarry & Malinchak, 2011; Buckingham & Coffman, 1999), and so it would be
important to know if HSSSW provides the admissions team with a clear mission and goals
related to the recruitment of Native American students. Even if not formally articulated, the
inquiry will want to explore if the admissions team understands this to be part of the
organization’s cultural model or whether other competing values take precedence. For example,
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38
Frølich and Stensaker (2010) found that institutional history and identity trumped concerns about
campus diversity.
Cultural settings. From a cultural settings perspective, there may be several things that
intersect to either support or undermine improved recruitment of Native American students.
From an organizational perspective, Buckingham and Coffman’s (1999) research showed that in
high performing organizations, in addition to having clear goals and expectations, employees and
workgroups need to have sufficient resources to do the job. Research on the recruitment of
underrepresented groups has repeatedly found that adequate financial and institutional resources
are key to successful outcomes (Cross et al., 2009; Goforth et al., 2016; Mosholder et al., 2016).
Assessment of the organizational influences on the admissions team’s success in increasing
recruitment of Native American students should thus include exploration of whether HSSSW
provides resources and materials to support outreach to Native American communities.
Table 3 shows the key organizational influences from a cultural models and settings
perspective as described above.
Table 3

Organizational Influences and Organizational Influence Assessments
Organizational Mission

To promote social justice through education
Organizational Influence Organizational
Influence Type
Organizational Influence Assessment
Organization needs to provide
admissions team with mission
and goals related to
recruitment of Native
American students.
Cultural Model

“HSSSW has a strategic plan for
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. How
does the work of the Admissions team
align with that plan?”
Organization needs to provide
resources and materials to
support outreach to Native
American communities.
Cultural Settings “If your team wanted to increase
recruitment of Native American students,
based on your role in the team, what
strategies would you suggest? What
barriers do you envision? What resources
or support might you need?”
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Conceptual Framework: The Interaction of Stakeholders’ Knowledge and Motivation and
the Organizational Context
The literature review above considered both theory and research to explain why schools
of social work have struggled to recruit Native American graduate students. It has also addressed
the knowledge, motivation, and organizational factors that may be at play when trying to
understand the current status of recruitment of Native American students by the admissions team
at the HSSSW. So far, these potential influences have been presented independently, but in order
to guide this inquiry, they are considered in relation to one another. A conceptual model pulls
together these theoretical concepts and research findings to create a framework for the study
(Maxwell, 2013). The following model and descriptive narrative will demonstrate how these
factors are believed to interact at HSSSW and how they potentially influence the performance of
the admissions team as it relates to the recruitment of Native American students.

Figure 1. Interactive conceptual model for recruitment of Native American students.

NATIVE AMERICANS IN SOCIAL WORK

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This study aimed to understand the current performance of the HSSSW admissions team
when recruiting Native American students in order to explore improvement strategies. Figure 1
above provides an illustration of how the various concepts presented so far can help guide this
inquiry. The knowledge and motivation influences are specific to the admissions team members.
Knowledge influences include factual knowledge about where to recruit Native American
students (Cross et al., 2009; Goforth et al., 2016), conceptual knowledge to assess and respond to
individual student needs (Cross et al., 2013), and procedural knowledge as to how to access and
secure financial resources (Awais & Yali, 2015; Cross et al., 2009; Goforth et al., 2016).
Motivation influences include attributional explanations for current performance (Weiner, 1985,
2000) and expectancy of success (Wigfield & Eccles, 2000). However, as the figure shows, the
admissions team is embedded within HSSSW (and within the larger university). HSSSW
provides a cultural model and cultural settings that significantly influence both motivation and
knowledge depending on the value placed on recruitment of Native American students and the
settings that support or hinder performance (Gallimore & Goldenberg, 2001). Additionally, both
the admissions team and HSSSW are embedded in a macro culture (Schein, 2017), a factor that
seems particularly significant to this area of inquiry. The legacy of colonialism and the impact of
the attempted genocide of Native Americans by European settlers is a part of the larger culture in
which HSSSW and members of the admissions team exist. This inquiry will need to consider
how this macro culture is understood and experienced by the admissions team and bear in mind
its influence on both the school and potential Native American students.
Conclusion
The purpose of this study was to understand the underrepresentation of Native Americans
in MSW programs, specifically at HSSSW, in order to make recommendations for improvement.
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This chapter has sought first to explore some of the key factors identified in the literature that
have been found to pose barriers to Native American MSW student recruitment. It then explored
the knowledge, motivation, and organizational influences on the HSSSW admissions team, who
have the primary responsibility for student recruitment. A conceptual framework lays out how
improved recruitment of Native American students at HSSSW depends on the knowledge and
motivation of the admissions team staff that is in turn influenced by the organizational culture
and settings at HSSSW. The overarching influence of the macro culture is included in this
framework as being influential on both the admissions team and the organization due to factors
related to institutionalized racism and the legacy of colonialism on both Native and non-Natives
in the United States. Chapter Three will present the study’s methodological approach to this
inquiry, which is a qualitative case study of the HSSSW admissions team.
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CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY
This study examined the current status of the knowledge, motivation, and organizational
support for the recruitment of Native American students at HSSSW and explored opportunities
and strategies for performance improvement. This chapter will describe the research approach
and rationale, the study design and methods of data collection and analysis, and review of issues
related to credibility, trustworthiness, and ethics.
Methodological Approach and Rationale
This study aimed to describe the current practices of the HSSSW admissions team,
identify performance gaps as they relate to knowledge, motivation, and organizational
influences, and make recommendations as to how the team can improve the recruitment of
Native American students. The HSSSW admissions team is too small to provide meaningful data
via quantitative methods. More importantly, this study’s purpose is to understand in depth the
factors that influence the recruitment of Native American students at HSSSW in order to
generate ideas or theories about how to improve performance. This inductive approach to
research demands a qualitative methodology (Creswell, 2014; McEwan & McEwan, 2013;
Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). Qualitative data is descriptive and detailed and focuses on explaining
and interpreting what is seen and heard in order to better understand what is and what can be
(McEwan & McEwan, 2013).
The core stakeholder group consisted of five individuals who together design and
implement recruitment strategies for HSSSW. These team members were purposefully selected
in order to discover their perspective of what they do and the factors that influence their activities
as it relates to the recruitment of Native American students. Only three of the five core team
members volunteered to participate in the study, and this additional adjunctive team members
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were identified via snowball sampling. This study was interested in the group member’s
perceptions of the organizational environment as either facilitating or hindering their success in
achieving this performance goal. This line of inquiry was explored via interviews consisting of
structured and open-ended questions (Maxwell, 2013). Additional data was gathered via review
of documents and online marketing materials (Creswell, 2014). Data analysis occurred
simultaneously with data collection using the constant comparative method in order to identify
and verify themes and generate meaningful findings (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016).
Qualitative research is not intended to be generalizable and thus was appropriate for this
study whose focus is to understand the actions, processes, and context of the HSSSW admissions
team specifically. However, it is important to address the validity of the data and thus various
validity strategies were employed to strengthen the accuracy of the findings such as member
checking, peer debriefing, and attention to the potential bias of the researcher (Creswell, 2014).
This study sought to understand the current process for recruiting Native American
students into the HSSSW MSW program from the perspective of the admissions team in order to
generate possible recommendations for performance improvement. It is important to explore in
depth the barriers to optimal performance prior to generating solutions (Clark & Estes, 2008) and
qualitative research methods are the most effective at exploring depth and detail (McEwan &
McEwan, 2013). The Clark and Estes (2008) framework of examining knowledge, motivation,
and organizational influencers on performance helped guide the research to identify the best
performance solutions.
Participating Stakeholders
The stakeholder population of focus for this study was the HSSSW admissions team. This
small team of five staff members all have defined roles and thus the study planned for a
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“comprehensive sampling” approach (Johnson & Christensen, 2015) to interview all the team
members. The admissions team is what Merriam and Tisdell (2016) referred to as “the case” to
be studied and the sampling that took place within this case was a purposeful sampling of
relevant documents, events, and people outside of the team who are intimately connected to the
activities of the team. This study took a two-tiered approach to sampling (Merriam & Tisdell,
2016), and while the first tier was predetermined, the second tier involved both snowball and
theoretical sampling. Snowball sampling occurred when interview participants suggested that
certain people or events be interviewed or observed. Data analysis occurred during the course of
data collection, allowing for theories to emerge from the findings, which in turn indicated
inclusion of certain people and events to test these theories (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016).
Due to the small size of the total population of the admissions team, individual interviews
were feasible and held the greatest potential for in-depth exploration of the individual team
members experience related to recruitment of Native American students. Surveys may have
limited the direction and content of the inquiry, especially considering that the goal is to
understand in depth the experiences of the admissions team members. A focus group would have
limited the time allotted for each team member to explore their individual experience and as
various members of the group have more power than others a focus group would also
compromise hearing from all team members freely (Krueger & Casey, 2009).
Interview Sampling Criteria and Rationale
Individual interviews were the primary data source for this inquiry as this was both
practical and allowed for rich data collection to help understand the knowledge, motivations, and
organizational support of the admissions team in recruiting Native American students. The
researcher anticipated that all team members would be willing to participate in interviews but
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only three of five core admissions team members elected to participate despite several email
requests for participation. Fortunately, snowball sampling led to an additional two interviews
with individuals who are key contributors to student recruitment efforts.
Case study. The case studied was the HSSSW admissions team and as such admissions
team members and key individuals supporting student recruitment were interviewed to best
understand each person’s knowledge and motivation as well as explore the influence of the
cultural settings and cultural models on each team member depending on their role and
responsibilities.
Snowball sampling. Snowball sampling led to the inclusion of one staff member and one
faculty member who, while not considered core members of the admissions team, played a
significant role in the recruitment process and were recommended to be included in the study by
interview participants. These individuals helped to elucidate and provided alternate explanations
and perspectives on performance and the relative influence of the organizational cultural models
and settings. They also provided insight into the role of the macro culture as it relates to the
influence of cultural conflicts between Native American and European based cultural structures
(Schein, 2017).
Theoretical sampling. Theoretical sampling occurred subsequent to interviews with two
of the key participants who suggested that the study should include interviews with employees of
a contract agency that recruits students for the online MSW program. Unfortunately, this
organization does not allow their employees to participate in research studies and so no
additional interviews were completed through this sampling methodology.
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46
Observation Sampling Criteria and Rationale
The HSSSW admissions team participates in various recruitment events locally and
across the nation. It was anticipated that observation of team members actively recruiting
students at these events would provide data to inform the research questions. Unfortunately,
despite the use of critical and opportunistic case sampling (Johnson & Christensen, 2015) as well
as convenience sampling (Fink, 2013; Merriam & Tisdell, 2016), only one such event was
identified during the data collection period for observation purposes. This opportunity arose mid-
way through interviewing of participants when the researcher was invited by an admissions team
member to attend an informational session for prospective students on the HSSSW campus.
Critical case sampling. Members of the HSSSW admissions team were asked to suggest
a recruitment event that the researcher could attend in order to observe them performing
recruitment activities. The request was for a critical event where the team members agreed that
there would be the best opportunity to observe the recruitment of Native American students.
Patton (1990) referred to this as a critical case sample as one where “if it happens here it will
happen anywhere” (p. 236). None of the interviewees were able to identify such an event and
thus they were asked to select a typical recruitment event that would provide an opportunity for
the researcher to observe team members performing key recruitment activities (Johnson &
Christensen, 2015). One such opportunity was identified and was observed during the course of
data collection.
Convenience case sampling. Although generally considered the least desirable of
sampling approaches, it can be useful if relevant to the target population (Fink, 2013). In this
case, it was convenient for the researcher to attend an event on the main campus. As the campus
is located in a large city with a significant urban Native American population, in this case a
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convenience sample had the potential to generate rich data. Observing a local recruitment event
also held out the possibility that it would inform the macro cultural influence of this area of the
United States on the organization and the admissions team.
Data Collection and Instrumentation
This qualitative study used interviews, observation, and document review as primary
methods of data collection. Interviews with members of the HSSSW admissions team allowed
for exploration of the knowledge and motivation of the team members as well as their perception
of the organizational resources and support for performance improvement. As each interview
participant serves a slightly different function in the recruitment and admissions process,
individual in depth interviews using a semi-structured interview protocol allowed for maximum
understanding and provided opportunities to explore the specifics of each person’s contribution
to the overall performance outcome (Maxwell, 2013). It was anticipated that observation of the
recruitment event would allow for triangulation of the data through behavioral verification of the
knowledge factors, as well as provide an opportunity to witness the influence of the larger macro
culture on recruitment efforts (Maxwell, 2013; Merriam & Tisdell, 2016; Patton, 1987). As
students often learn about graduate programs through social media and other online materials
(Smith et al., 2016), data collection included an examination of online marketing documents and
artifacts (e.g., course syllabi) in order to provide further insight into the organizational culture
and commitment to diversity recruitment (Bogdan & Biklen, 2007; Bowen, 2009).
Interviews
Interview protocol. The interviews followed a semi-structured protocol to allow
flexibility to explore details of each respondent’s experience while ensuring that all aspects of
the research questions and conceptual framework were covered (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). The
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interview guide included prompts to learn about the participant’s role and function as well as
their specific knowledge and motivation as it relates to recruiting Native American students. The
protocol also included questions related to organizational resources and larger macro influences
on participant’s performance. Open-ended questions were used to facilitate descriptive answers
and follow-up and clarifying probes ensured depth of understanding. As this study asked
participants to reflect on a particularly sensitive aspect of their work, it was important to create
an interview environment that provided warmth and safety (Weiss, 1994). The semi-structured
approach to interviewing assisted in creating a more relaxed interviewing relationship, while
providing necessary structure to gather relevant data.
Interview procedures. The interviews took place during the spring semester as this
coincided with the research study timeframe. The interviews took place in locations selected by
the participants. The researcher offered a to conduct them in a private office conveniently located
to the admissions team’s office suite in order to provide ease of access for participants, while
offering some separation from the workplace and increasing a sense of confidentiality. However,
two interviewees asked that the interviews take place in their personal offices, one asked to meet
via a virtual meeting platform, one requested a telephone interview, and one preferred to meet in
a private office they selected adjacent to their work space. Interview length ranged from 20 to 60
minutes, providing sufficient time for the participants to respond to the interview guide questions
without causing an excessive intrusion into their workday. Three of the five core admissions
team members participated in interviews as well as two additional key personnel who support
student recruitment efforts. The interviews generated a little under 5 hours of interview data
compiled from interviews with five different participants. All interviews were conducted in
English and were tape-recorded with the interviewee’s permission.
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Some document review took place prior to the interviews to provide context and
potentially generate additional interview questions or opportunities for observation (Bowen,
2009). Observations were prompted by respondents during the course of the interviews, leading
to simultaneous data collection.
Observation
Observation protocol. The HSSSW admissions team hosts or attends various events
where they promote the school and meet potential program applicants. Due to the timing and
location restraints of the study, observation of these events was limited. However, one
opportunity arose to observe the admissions team engaged in face to face recruitment activities
during an information session on the HSSSW campus. It was hoped that this would be an
opportunity to verify any knowledge the respondents had described and could potentially reveal
aspects of the recruitment process that have become so routine to the participants that they fail to
mention them during interviews but that clearly illustrate the influence of the organizational and
societal context on their performance (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). Unfortunately, there was little
direct interaction observed between the admissions team and students as the bulk of the event
consisted of a panel presentation by experts in the field of homelessness.
Observation procedures. The researcher asked the Director of Admissions to identify
recruitment events within a 150 mile radius of the school during the study period and requested
permission to observe. The Director invited the researcher to an event on the campus, and
although the Director was not going to be present, she introduced the researcher via email to an
employee outside of the team who was hosting the evening. The researcher introduced herself to
the recruitment staff being observed when she arrived and was friendly, adaptive, and helpful but
also relatively passive and unobtrusive (Bogdan & Biklen, 2007). The researcher attempted to
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take a largely observer-only role in order to minimize distractions during applicant interactions,
but she did assist with set up and break down at the event to establish common ground and build
rapport (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). A pen and paper observation protocol was used to document
a description of the physical space, the participants, the discussion sequence and content, as well
as observer comments and reflection.
Documents and Artifacts
Organizational and institutional documents and artifacts provided valuable data related to
the organizational culture and context in the recruitment of Native American students and
provided further triangulation of the data regarding the role of organizational resources and
support to achieve performance improvement (Bowen, 2009). The most relevant source of
documents and artifacts was found on the internet as recruitment efforts often rely heavily on
social media and online advertising to channel potential applicants to their website (Smith et al.,
2016). The researcher systematically explored the school and university websites to discover the
presence or prominence of materials related to diversity and Native American issues or concerns.
Research presented in the literature review suggested several aspects of social work programs
that Native American students may find attractive. Document review focused on finding
evidence as to whether these features exist at HSSSW and if so, how they are promoted online.
This data was predominantly collected prior to interviewing but was also completed after
interview completion due to time constraints.
Data Analysis
The researcher completed analytic memos after each interview and each observation,
documenting thoughts, concerns, and initial conclusions about the data in relation to the
conceptual framework and research questions. The interviews were transcribed immediately and
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coded within the next 2-3 days. In the first phase of analysis, open coding was used to find
empirical codes and a priori codes were derived from the conceptual framework. A second phase
of analysis was then conducted where empirical and a priori codes were aggregated into
analytic/axial codes. In the third phase of data analysis, pattern codes and themes were identified
as they emerged in relation to the conceptual framework and study questions. Documents and
artifacts were analyzed for evidence consistent with the concepts in the conceptual framework.
Credibility and Trustworthiness
To gage the value of this study for HSSSW and the research literature, it is important to
address the concepts of credibility and trustworthiness. Credibility refers to the believability of
the findings and the level of confidence in the results as being accurate and true. Maxwell (2013)
and Merriam and Tisdell (2016) use the term validity in place of credibility, but they essentially
refer to the same threats to achieving believable findings when conducting qualitative research:
researcher bias and reactivity. The person conducting the research is the primary instrument of
data collection and analysis and their closeness to the data source allows them to directly access
reality through observation and interviews (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). While this is a strength of
the qualitative approach, there is always the possibility that the researcher’s view of reality
shapes their perception, leading to biases in what data is collected (questions asked,
observational foci) as well as how it is interpreted. This study employed various strategies to
address these potential threats (Maxwell, 2013). Firstly, while acknowledging that bias cannot be
completely eliminated, the researcher engaged in rigorous self-reflection throughout the data
collection and analysis process including use of extensive field notes and a process journal.
Secondly, the research design included member checking by study participants and review of
data by a research committee with different areas of expertise related to the research topic and
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methodology. Lastly, the use of three data collection methods (interviews, observation, and
document review), along with interviews with members of the admissions team and other key
personnel, provided triangulation of the data and reduced the chance of bias due to method or
team member role.
Trustworthiness speaks to the dependability of the research and whether this same reality
would emerge if the study was duplicated. Merriam and Tisdell (2016) referred to this aspect of
research as reliability, and it requires attention to methodological rigor and systematic data
analysis. This study used protocols for interviews that are provided in an addendum for review
(transparency), all interviews were tape-recorded and transcribed in full, and a formalized
approach to coding and categorization was applied. While qualitative research results can never
be considered truly generalizable, with attention to both credibility and trustworthiness, the study
aims to achieve some “face generalizability” (Maxwell, 2013) that will provide HSSSW and
other similar organizations with insights into the barriers and the opportunities to increasing the
numbers of Native American students recruited into MSW programs.
Ethics
This study employed the qualitative research methods of interviews, observation, and
document review. The first two methods require that the researcher interact personally with the
participants in their work setting, and thus demands strict adherence to the code of ethics
(Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). In this case, while not all ethical concerns could be eliminated, they
were addressed, minimized, and monitored throughout data collection, analysis, and
dissemination.
Qualitative research does not aim to achieve researcher neutrality, but instead strives to
adequately address the nature of the relationship between the researcher and the research
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participants and context within which they interact (Glesne, 2011). This is particularly relevant
for this study as the author, i.e., the researcher, and the study participants work for the same
organization and some of the potential interviewees may have interacted previously with the
researcher as a faculty member or may be familiar with her role in the organization. In some
circumstances this was a benefit as some participants seemed to be predisposed to engage with
the researcher as they had a favorable impression of her and thus rapport-building was expedited.
On the other hand, some participants’ concerns about the author’s relationship with
administrators who may be in positions of power or influence over their work group may have
been a detracting factor and could possibly account for the non-response of two potential
participants. For those who did participate, the researcher clarified at the onset and throughout
the data collection process that her role was as an investigator not a professor or administrator
and she communicated the purpose, methods, and anticipated use of the research results in order
to demonstrate that the benefits outweigh the risks of their participation (Glesne, 2011).
One issue that may have been of particular concern for these study participants is
maintaining anonymity. As the HSSSW admissions team is small and team members have
specific functions, participants could be apprehensive about sharing experiences or opinions that
could reveal their identity. This was addressed through the use of pseudonyms for the
participants’ names and the term “stakeholder” in place of their specific job title. Using
pseudonyms does not always eliminate all concerns (Glesne, 2011), so the researcher gave
permission to participants to decline to answer any questions they felt would expose them,
allowed for voluntary withdrawal with no penalty, and offered member checking, i.e. participants
were invited to review any quotes or statements made to ensure accuracy of content and
protection of identity.
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The research participant’s right to privacy is often their biggest concern (Glesne, 2011)
and so the researcher made sure that this matter was managed carefully. Study participants were
asked to read and sign an informed consent document that detailed the purpose of the study, the
voluntary nature of their participation, and the fact that they could withdraw at any time without
penalty. This document informed them of the researcher’s intention to ensure confidentiality and
protect their anonymity. It also provided details as to how the data would be stored (in a locked
cabinet in the interviewer’s home office), that it would be used only for the purpose of this study,
and that it would be destroyed following publication of the dissertation.
The researcher was especially sensitive to the fact she was a “guest in the private spaces”
(Stake, as cited in Merriam & Tisdell, 2016, p. 262) of the participants’ lives and attempted to
be genuine and sincere in how she approached the researcher-participant relationship. This
included monitoring issues related to invasion of privacy, questions that could cause
embarrassment if they exposed a lack of knowledge or skill, and the possibility that a participant
revealed something unintended (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). Permission to tape-record the
interviews was asked verbally and the response taped, with the option to turn off the taping at
any point without penalty.
While the study was designed to address the above participant concerns, Merriam and
Tisdell (2016) pointed out that most research participants enjoy the experience of being
interviewed and welcome the opportunity to share their knowledge, experience, and opinions.
The author observed that this appeared to be the case for some members of the HSSSW
admissions team, who were open to feedback and welcomed faculty engagement in student
recruitment. It was hoped that a recent change in leadership at the school that had led to a more
transparent approach to accountability, a decrease in student recruitment targets overall, and an
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increased focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion would increase the likelihood that the
admissions team would welcome this study as an opportunity to improve and enhance their
practice. While this seemed to be the case for most participants, it is possible that this did not
outweigh concerns about privacy or exposure for those team members who chose not to
participate.
The study involved observation of some of the admissions team members at a student
recruitment event. This observation took place in the public arena with the participant’s
knowledge and consent, making this research activity less susceptible to ethical violations
(Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). Document review also presents less ethical concerns as the materials
to be reviewed were open to the public such as marketing materials, course syllabi, and
aggregate data reports.
There is the potential for reciprocity for the participants as the findings could lead to
useful recommendations for the HSSSW admissions team to help them develop or enhance their
recruitment strategies for diverse student populations in general and Native American student
recruitment more specifically. Additionally, the author sent each participant a nominal gift card
as a token of appreciation at the end of the data collection phase. This was not promised prior to
participation, but was used to recognize and compensate time spent supporting this research
effort after the fact. Throughout the study, the author followed the guidance of Rubin and Rubin
(2012) with respect to her relationship with the study participants: to show respect, honor
promises, do not pressure, and do no harm.
Researcher bias cannot be eliminated and in qualitative research this is not necessarily a
desirable condition (Maxwell, 2013; Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). The researcher is the instrument
of data collection and their subjectivity in terms of values, insights, and hypotheses will
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influence what they do from topic selection and research design to data collection and analysis
(Maxwell, 2013). In an effort to neither ignore nor uncritically sanction the role of researcher
bias, throughout this study, the researcher rigorously reflected on any values and assumptions
she holds as a member of the dominant group (in this case, the settler nation), as well as those
that have led to her interest and focus on this topic (including a desire to correct past wrongs).
Maxwell’s (2013) “researcher identity memo” was incorporated throughout the previously
described journaling process to systematically explore the presence and influence of the
researcher’s assumptions, knowledge, and experience throughout the data collection process.
This is especially important in a study of an historically oppressed and marginalized population
of which the researcher is not a member.
Limitations and Delimitations
Limitations of the study include the truthfulness of the respondents, the small number of
study participants, and the role of the researcher. The use of in-depth interviews using open-
ended and exploratory questions helped facilitate the veracity of responses. The flow of the
interview questions was designed to begin with less threatening questions and allow time to
develop some trust between the researcher and the respondent. The researcher was well-trained
in interviewing and listening skills, including reflection, summarization and clarification, and
empathic responses. These behaviors are known to increase trust and engagement and mitigate
deceit on behalf of the interviewee. Furthermore, the respondents were informed up front that
they would be offered the opportunity to review the study results for accuracy (member
checking) and that they can request any statements be removed without penalty. The number of
the participants was a function of the organization and cannot be circumvented; however, the
researcher added interview respondents from outside of the admissions team once they were
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identified as critical sources for data that were deemed necessary and informative. The researcher
held an administrative role in the organization that is not directly involved in the admissions
team activities. It is possible some participants responded in such a way as to appear more
favorable to the researcher if they believed she had some influence with their superiors. Some of
these concerns have been addressed in the previous discussion of ethics. The use of in-depth
interviews and observation are research methods that require lengthy in-person interaction with
the researcher, which may have helped to alleviate respondent anxiety and increase the
likelihood of authentic responses.
Delimitations include the fact that although all members of the stakeholder group did not
agree to be interviewed, the three team members who did, in addition to the two adjunctive team
members interviewed, allowed for a complete exploration of all aspects of the recruitment and
admissions process as it relates to the recruitment of Native American students. The use of three
data sources (interviews, observation, and document review) and in-person data collection
further increased the amount and quality of the data and provided the potential to mine
meaningful data and generate valuable recommendations.
Conclusion
In order to understand the current functioning of the HSSSW admissions team in terms of
recruitment of Native American students, qualitative methods of in-depth interviews,
observation, and document review generated rich data to explore the knowledge, motivation, and
organizational and societal factors influencing performance. The costs and benefits of this
methodology were rigorously examined. The author conducted data collection and analysis with
constant attention to the critical issues of credibility, trustworthiness, and ethics in order to
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generate the best possible outcome for the benefit of the stakeholder group, the organization, and
the goal of increasing the number of graduate level Native American social workers.
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CHAPTER FOUR: RESULTS AND FINDINGS
This chapter presents the results of the data generated from participant interviews and
document review to help understand the assumed knowledge, motivation, and organizational
influences on recruitment of Native American MSW students by the HSSSW admissions team.
The assumed knowledge influences are factual (declarative and procedural) and conceptual; the
assumed motivation influences are expectancy value and attributional; the assumed
organizational influences are clear expectations (cultural models) and providing resources and
support (cultural settings). Additionally, the conceptual framework considers these influences in
the larger context of the larger macro culture in society. Qualitative data derived from interviews
and document review were used to validate these assumed influences using Clark and Estes
(2008) gap analysis framework.
As a reminder, the research questions guiding this study were:
1. What is the status of the HSSSW admissions team’s knowledge, skills, and motivation as
it relates to improving the recruitment of Native American students?
2. What is the interaction between organizational culture and context on the HSSSW
admissions team’s knowledge, skills, and motivation?
3. What are the recommended solutions to fill the identified gaps in knowledge and skills,
motivation, and organizational resources to achieve performance improvement?
Chapter 4 focuses on questions one and two, while question three will be addressed in Chapter 5.
The data derived from interviews either validated or invalidated the assumed knowledge and
motivation influences. The organizational influences were validated via both the interviews and
document review. Although an observation was conducted, no relevant data emerged to inform
the research questions.
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Participating Stakeholders
Initially, five participants were sent an introductory email inviting them to participate in
the study. Three of the five responded and participated in face to face interviews. An additional
two participants were identified via snowball sampling. One participant elected to conduct the
interview via a virtual platform and the other requested a telephone interview. In total, the
interviews generated approximately 5 hours of interview data. In order to maintain the
anonymity of the participants, all five interviewees are identified by the term “stakeholder.” As
each participant has a unique role as a member of the admissions team, their exact job title or
function is not provided. While not all team members agreed to be interviewed, those that chose
to participate represent the different functional roles on the admissions team for the campus-
based program.
Results
Knowledge Results
The knowledge elements were primarily derived from responses to six questions on the
interview protocol. These questions asked about the respondent’s factual knowledge about
Native Americans in general, as well as specific knowledge identified as critical from the
literature related to location, financial resources, and other elements of MSW programs that may
be considered important to Native American students. Conceptual knowledge elements were
elicited via open ended questions that asked respondents to describe actual or hypothetical
interactions with Native American students. One introductory question also asked about any
training they had received about recruiting for diversity in general. All participants answered all
the questions designed to explore the knowledge elements.
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Admissions team members report a lack of knowledge about Native Americans and
feel uncomfortable about this deficit. In response to the question “How familiar would you say
you are with Native American populations across the United States?” the study participants
unanimously responded that they had little to no knowledge. Two respondents reported a
complete lack of familiarity, while the other three stated they had only a little knowledge in this
area that they had gathered from their own graduate studies, from reading the news, speaking
with faculty who were more familiar with the population, or from traveling in areas with larger
Native American populations. They described this knowledge as “more surface level,” “pretty
minimal,” and “not that much.” This lack of knowledge appeared to be uncomfortable for some
of the participants. One stakeholder described that the only knowledge they had was from a
childhood visit to a museum attached to a casino on a reservation:
This is going to sound terrible….I remember as a child going through a museum…where
they talked about the history of their tribe. That kind of shaped some of my knowledge.
To be honest, I don’t really have a lot of information.
This quote was not dissimilar to other statements that reflected embarrassment about the lack of
knowledge, uncertainty why they did not have this knowledge, and in some instances some self-
criticism for not being more proactive in seeking out more knowledge. Campisteguy,
Heilbronner, and Nakamura-Rybak’s (2018) study of non-Native’s views about Native
Americans found that from politicians to college students, a lack of awareness of Native
American knowledge was very common. Furthermore, when college students were exposed to
information about Native American history and current issues facing the community, they
reported feeling duped and angry for the omission. This is similar to this stakeholder who reflects
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on how little they know and referencing the source of little information they do have states that
they feel “terrible.”
Admissions team members lack factual knowledge about the best locations to meet
with Native American students. When asked about where they might go to meet with Native
American students, none of the respondents identified any specific locations, such as Tribal
colleges or universities they knew that had significant numbers of Native American students.
Most respondents talked about the strategies they would employ to find out where to meet with
Native American students, such as partnering with local universities, connecting with Native
American student associations and groups, seeking advice from peers, asking current Native
American students, and collaborating with agencies serving Native American populations. Only
one stakeholder identified that recruitment might need to involve visiting reservations, stating
“you would have to go and ask permission to go to different sovereign states and write to the
tribes and things like that to go there.” However, this stakeholder did not identify any exact
locations or identify specific sovereign nations such as those with Tribal colleges. While team
members had ideas about how to find out where Native American students might be located, they
currently lack factual knowledge as to the best locations to go to in order to meet with Native
American students who may be interested in pursuing an MSW education.
Admissions team members lack factual knowledge about financial resources to
support Native American students. As with location, most stakeholders spoke about how they
might go about making inquiries about possible financial support for Native American students,
but in general they did not possess any specific knowledge at this time. One stakeholder stated
they would reach out to the financial aid office and ask about possible scholarships and
“specialized funding;” two respondents suggested the advancement office could be asked to raise
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money to fund scholarships; and two stated they would direct Native American students to the
website or the Financial Aid office. One stakeholder summarized the current state of knowledge
and what knowledge gaps need to be filled: “I would want to know what are the resources? What
does the school have, do we have any identified scholarships? Those federal scholarships, are
those still available? I don’t know.” Most stakeholders volunteered how they would guide a
Native American student in more general terms, but this quote highlights the need for knowledge
about specific resources. Team members have the procedural knowledge regarding how to
conduct research into possible financial resources, but none currently possess factual knowledge
about available financial support for Native American students.
Admissions team members lack knowledge about additional non-financial resources
available at the school that would support Native American students. Some stakeholders
identified resources available at HSSSW that might be supportive of Native American students
or program features that might be appealing, but overall the knowledge was minimal and was
inconsistent across team members. For example, only one stakeholder was aware that the larger
university had a Director of Native American Students who might be a resource; two were aware
of a course that included content related to social work practice with Native American
populations; and one thought there may be field placements working with Native American
clients. However, as a whole, knowledge about the types of available resources was scant. As
one stakeholder summarized: “I’m not particularly familiar with resources available to them
(Native American students) at the university….I’m not even sure if we have a student caucus for
Native American students. I would have to do more research on my end.” This quote not only
describes the general lack of knowledge, but points to the need for further research. It is notable
again that where a lack of knowledge exists, most respondents immediately explained how they
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might gather this knowledge through research or outreach. However, as with financial resources,
admissions team members do not have up to date information at hand in the event that they were
to interact with a Native American student during their recruitment efforts.
The lack of factual knowledge hinders the ability of admissions team members to
match the individual needs of Native American students with specific resources. The
HSSSW admissions team has what they describe as a “high touch” approach to student
recruitment. One stakeholder described this as a “case model format…where we build
relationships directly with students and support them through the admissions process.” Another
stated that they “spend quality time on understanding the individual, by asking lots of questions.”
A third stakeholder talked about asking the student to “tell their story” in order to find out “if we
think they’re going to be a good fit.” While this approach is laudable and fits with the Native
American cultural value placed on relationships, the previously cited lack of knowledge about
Native American populations, program features of interest, and available resources would be a
barrier to effectively determining what questions to ask and matching responses with program
features and resources. One stakeholder described the recruitment process as follows:
We’re here to have conversations with students about whether or not this truly is the right
fit for them and for us…once I have all this information, and I understand where they are
coming from, well that makes the rest very easy. Because now, I can align the features
and benefits of my program to everything I just discovered about you… I need to design
my program to somewhat fit your needs and motivations.
This quote illustrates the attention the admissions team members give to each student. While this
may provide an opportunity for a Native American student to express their needs, if the team
member does not know available resources and program features that match these needs,
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opportunities to identify HSSSW as a good fit for their education could be missed. In this area,
the lack of factual knowledge leads to a lack of conceptual knowledge. If admissions team
members do not know areas to explore in terms of questions (e.g., presence of Native American
faculty and students, curriculum content pertinent to working with Native American populations,
experiences of discrimination and fears about cultural isolation) and do not know available
supportive resources, they cannot make the connections for students to aspects of the HSSSW
MSW program that may allay worries and meet the student’s needs (e.g. tell them about Native
American faculty and Native American student groups, describe curriculum content related to
working with Native Americans, and inform them of the process to file complaints about
discrimination).
One stakeholder reflected on how they might connect a Native American student with
relevant resources as follows:
I could imagine that there are specific resources that would be helpful for a Native
American student. I don’t have enough knowledge on the issues that Native American
students face…There can be opportunities to develop different resources and programs
for them, I just don’t know what the challenges that they’re facing are.
This stakeholder acknowledges that this lack of knowledge about Native American issues
hinders the ability to identify resources students may need. Earlier in the interview, this same
stakeholder had described that when a student presents something unfamiliar, “I’ll quickly
Google it on my computer” or that they will reach out to people on campus that can provide
“advice and information.” However, later in the interview, in the quote above, this stakeholder
realizes that without knowing more about Native Americans in general, they won’t know what to
ask for or what topics to research.
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Despite limited training on diversity recruitment, team members have factual and
conceptual knowledge about populations other than Native American. All study participants
stated that they had received little or no training related to recruiting diverse students.
Nonetheless, most shared knowledge and strategies used to target other diverse student groups.
For example, one stakeholder spoke about connecting African American students with the
African American Student Center and with scholarships specific to African American students.
Another stakeholder described how they connect certain students with team members that have
specialized knowledge about certain groups usually due to being a member of that group, e.g.,
military and veterans, people from the East Coast, and Latino first generation students. The
absence of similar knowledge about Native American students became apparent to the
interviewees during the course of the interview. One stakeholder reflected as follows: “Now that
we’re having this conversation, I’m really realizing that there’s a deficiency in our
recruitment…. I think that it’s something we should really be thinking about.…We need people
working on this.” This respondent was referring to both recruiting for diversity in general as well
as recruiting Native American students specifically. This stakeholder was one of the respondents
who reported no familiarity with Native American populations but did provide examples of
matching specific resources with students from other cultural backgrounds. Like all five
respondents, this individual initially stated that the profession of social work and the “high
touch” recruitment process naturally produces a diverse student body. However, toward the end
of the interview, this stakeholder acknowledged that this approach was not automatically
inclusive of all groups and that the team should learn more about how to recruit Native American
students specifically.
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Motivation Results
Motivational influences were explored through two general questions related to
stakeholder thoughts and feelings about targeting specific groups for recruitment. Additional
questions specific to recruitment of Native American students asked them to describe a past
interaction with a Native American student and reflect on whether they felt it was effective or not
and why. As most respondents could not recall interacting with a Native American student, this
question included the option to speculate on what they would do if they were presented with this
opportunity. The final question asked respondents to reflect on what strategies they would
recommend to increase recruitment of Native American students and what barriers they
envisioned. These two questions were designed to elicit responses that would shed light on
whether team members believed that there were actions they could take that would influence the
outcome (attributions) and whether they valued the outcome and expected to be successful
(value-expectancy).
Recruiting a diverse student body in general is important to admissions team
members, but they had not considered Native American students specifically. Although
HSSSW does not provide specific goals in terms of recruiting students from diverse
backgrounds, the admissions team clearly values a diverse student body as all respondents
described having a personal agenda to recruit students from diverse backgrounds. One
stakeholder stated clearly that recruiting for diversity is part of their personal mission as it
provides a better experience for all students:
So you want people from all different backgrounds when it comes to ethnicities…
Because when one topic comes up, you have people from all different types of
backgrounds. And the type of conversation is so rich and varied and different and
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perspectives will be different. So we owe that to our students to provide that….In any
topic that gets brought up, there should be a minimum of ten different perspectives. So
from admissions, that's what we're trying to do.
This stakeholder is passionate about diversity, valuing the richness that diverse students bring to
the intellectual environment. This conviction motivates outreach to a broad variety of students.
Another respondent spoke about the importance of recruiting students with diverse life
experiences as they will be better able to serve those like them:
I think it’s interesting to go after, or target, prospective students who may have gone
through experiences that they now want to help address…that’s a wonderful way for us to
make sure that we have people who are entering the profession, and who are completely
empathetic to the needs of the clients they are actually trying to serve.
While several respondents stated that Native Americans should be part of a diverse
student body, apart from one stakeholder, none had made any prior effort to outreach to this
group. It was only subsequent to participating in this study that these four participants reported
that they were now thinking about how they could go about recruiting Native American students.
By the end of the interview, all the participants stated that as a result of the conversation they
were considering how to do a better job of recruiting Native American students, but that prior to
the interview this was not a group that was on their radar. As one stakeholder stated: “We don’t
have, for example, a Native American student outreach program…That’s not really something
that we’re doing right now. It’s almost like an afterthought really.” The admissions team values
having a diverse MSW student body but until they were interviewed about Native Americans
specifically, it appears that there was not a high value placed on recruiting students from this
group.
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Admissions team members believe that their ability to influence recruitment is
hindered by external factors beyond their control. Four of the five stakeholders interviewed
for this study enthusiastically described a number of strategies they would employ to learn more
about where to locate Native American students and identify resources and supports for them.
However, they also mentioned various factors that inhibited them from implementing these
strategies. The barriers included a lack of direction from leadership, a lack of resources allocated
to the activity, a lack of financial support for students, small population size, and a limited
pipeline of Native American graduate students. Apart from a lack of knowledge, which was
something some interviewees reflected on as being under their control to change, uniformly the
barriers were due to external factors over which the team members had no control. One
stakeholder summarized the barriers as follows: “I would say the biggest barriers are…do we
have enough resources…money, time, staff … to appropriately promote the things we need to
promote, specifically targeting Native American students, to encourage them to come here for
their MSW.” Money, time, and staff are all resources distributed at the discretion of the
organization’s leaders, not the admissions team. Another barrier identified was that Native
Americans are “the smallest group” and that Native American students may be less prepared
educationally. The stakeholder who mentioned these barriers concluded: “It’s one of those
populations that it’s more difficult…. I don’t think it would be something that is very realistic.”
Whether due to societal forces (external, stable, and uncontrollable) or decisions by leadership
(external and uncontrollable), both influence the admissions team’s belief in their ability to affect
the outcome.
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Organizational Results
Organizational influences were evaluated via questions about strategic planning and goal
setting at the organizational and team level and how the work of the admissions team is aligned
with the school’s strategic plan for diversity, equity, and inclusion (cultural models). Questions
asking respondents to make recommendations for increasing enrollment of Native American
students and any barriers they imagined (and follow-up prompts to this question), provided an
opportunity for stakeholders to identify any organizational supports and resources that were
currently lacking and that they would need to improve performance (cultural settings).
The admissions team lacks clear direction regarding recruitment targets for Native
American students. Depending on their role and responsibilities, respondents had a different
understanding as to the organizational goals for student recruitment and enrollment. For
example, one stakeholder stated they did not know the enrollment goals and another said that
while they knew the overall target enrollment number they did not focus on this as a required
outcome. Two stakeholders described the many data points available to track and monitor
progress toward student enrollment goals and were clearly focused on reaching the targets. There
was, however, agreement among all the respondents that the organization does not have a clearly
articulated goal related to recruiting for diversity. Several respondents reported that recruiting
students from diverse backgrounds was not challenging as these students were naturally attracted
to social work. Most reported that recruiting a diverse student body was either a personal or an
informal goal of the admissions team. For example, one stakeholder stated, “that’s not something
we really put effort into, in terms of creating a diverse class,” but then added, “I think the nature
of social work already brings that diversity.” This stakeholder summed up their understanding of
organizational planning related to diversity by stating, “If we have a strategic long-term vision, I
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haven’t been made aware of that.” Another stakeholder described their notion of having an
informal goal as follows:
So we don’t have numbers where it’s we want it to be 50 percent Caucasian and 20
percent Asian Pacific islander, or this…We don’t have those kind of goals. But our goal
is to not have….If you have a little pie chart, I don’t want one or two colors taking up
most of it, right? So you want people from all different backgrounds when it comes to
ethnicities.
The fact that some respondents knew an exact target number for student enrollment that
was set by the school indicates that there is a performance goal for student recruitment, but as all
participants stated that there are no formal goals for recruiting a diverse student body it can be
assumed that there is not a specific goal for recruitment of Native American students. Most
respondents identified strategies currently used to promote diversity including outreach to
historically black colleges and military bases; ensuring the school’s website includes photos and
stories about students from diverse backgrounds; and just waiting for the diverse students to
apply as “diversity doesn’t seem to be a problem here.” However, it is clear that Native
Americans are not included in this informal goal and related strategies as no-one mentioned
outreach to Tribal schools and colleges, the document review of the website (one of the most
common ways that potential students gain exposure to HSSSW) found no website content
featuring stories showcasing Native American MSW students, and the current enrollment data
does not support the notion that Native American students are naturally attracted to attend
HSSSW.
This is a significant finding because, without organizational direction, some respondents
thought it unlikely that there would be any change in the effort made to recruit Native American
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students. When asked about what strategies study participants would recommend to improve
performance one stakeholder stated that they would need “directive from leadership…otherwise
other things take priority.” This same stakeholder tied the importance of having this clear goal
when they stated, “the team will not be motivated if it is not identified as a goal and we are given
the support and commitment from leadership.” Another stakeholder, in response to this same
question, referred to the role of organizational leadership in setting a clear vision and goals:
As an organization, can we literally develop a process for clearly identifying what it is
that makes us unique as a school, and really be intentional…and that requires people
coming to the table, and really map out, what is the vision of the school…and what are
our areas of focus?
Responses to the initial questions on the interview protocol provided evidence that there
is no formal or informal organizational goal to increase recruitment of Native American students,
i.e. there is no cultural model to encourage performance improvement in this area. Furthermore,
responses to the latter questions regarding stakeholder recommendations, discovered that having
such a goal would be an essential first step if the admissions team were to prioritize this activity.
Resources and materials that will support recruitment efforts targeted at Native
American students are needed. During the course of the interviews, study participants began to
refer increasingly to the need for organizational support in terms of financial support for both the
admissions team and for Native American students, as well as the development of programs and
services that could make the school more attractive to and supportive of Native Americans. As
mentioned previously, one stakeholder stated the need for “money, time, and staff.” Another
mentioned that outreach to Native American communities was hampered by a lack of available
travel dollars. However, one stakeholder stated that it was not a lack of budget as “we have a
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budget for travel and for what we need to do to recruit,” but that, as with other organizational
priorities (e.g., recruitment of advanced standing students), leadership needs to set the agenda so
the team knows how to allocate their available resources.
Some stakeholders talked about the need for the organization to develop resources and
programs to attract Native American students, i.e., create cultural settings. One stakeholder
stated that the school needs to “actually put the time and the energy into developing something
real, that would be appealing to Native American students.” Another stakeholder suggested that
the school create a Native American student interest group, while another recommended that the
school develop a “firmer, stronger, more defined curriculum” that targeted the learning needs of
Native American students. All respondents cited the need to establish scholarships in
combination with other support services such as the following:
Perhaps one of the most effective strategies would be to offer specific scholarships…if
we can’t secure funding, that could be really challenging. If we don’t have support
services to support them throughout their career at school name, I’d feel really bad about
misleading a student…saying we have resources we don’t have. So, if we’re going to
commit to doing recruitment of Native American students, we have to make sure we have
funding and we have services for while they’re here.
Although respondents were not necessarily familiar with the specific needs of Native American
students, most stakeholders had some idea about what might be important to provide for them in
terms of resources and support. As this stakeholder clearly stated, without access to these
organizational resources, recruiting Native American students would be very challenging and
performance improvement would be severely compromised.
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Macro Results
The conceptual framework suggests that the larger societal context could play a role in
the influence of knowledge, motivation, and organizational factors. While the interview protocol
did not ask any questions specific to this, the author anticipated that this might emerge during the
conversation with each study participant, or might be observed during observation or document
review. Unfortunately, during the data collection phase of the study only one observation
opportunity arose and this did not generate any data relevant to the study.
The influence of the macro societal values can be seen via document review. There does
not exist a documented formal goal to increase recruitment of Native American students and
study participants reported that there is not an informal goal either. As reported by Campisteguy
et al. (2018), Native Americans as a group “are largely invisible in the United States” (p. 8).
Therefore, it is assumed that if HSSSW is not influenced by the larger macro culture, there
would be more reference to Native American students, faculty, and social issues in their
publications, syllabi, and on their website.
During document review, the school’s diversity, equity, and inclusion plan acknowledged
the Indigenous people “who were the original owners of the land on which the school resides,”
but aside from data reports that included the category of American Indian, there was no specific
mention of this group. This is in contrast to description of goals related to faculty recruitment of
African American and Latino faculty. A review of the school website generated 49 hits for the
words “Native American” and 24 for the words “American Indian” (all 24 hits overlapped with
the 49). Eight were related to a course that includes content on Native American populations or
the faculty teaching the course; three were about two events that featured a Native American
speaker; one was a showcase of a non-Native student who moved out of state to pursue a job
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working with a Native American tribe; and one was a showcase of a Native American student
attending the online Doctor of Social Work (DSW) program who lives on a remote reservation.
The remaining links were to research or data that included Native American or American Indian
as a category, but this population was not the focus of the article. This is compared to 74 hits for
“Asian American” (and 27 for “Asian Pacific Islander” that overlapped), 136 hits for African
American,” and 169 hits for “Latino.”
One interviewee mentioned the importance of ensuring that images and photos used on
the website and in promotional materials were representative of all groups, and thus the
document review looked at this aspect of the school’s marketing materials. There is great
diversity in these images, most of which are materials created using actual students as models.
However, as Native Americans as a group, like other races and ethnicities, cannot necessarily be
identified by their physical appearance, the researcher rejected this as a valid form of data
collection.
The knowledge and motivation of the stakeholder, and the cultural models and
settings of the organization reflect that of the larger society (macro culture). Despite being a
school of social work with a mission to promote social justice, and with a lengthy and detailed
strategic plan focused on diversity, equity, and inclusion, Native Americans receive minimal
attention on the website, in marketing materials, and in the curriculum, relative to the population
need. This is likely not dissimilar to many other schools of social work, but without additional
focus on this group, the recruitment of Native American students is unlikely to improve (Cross et
al., 2009). The stakeholder interviews provide some insight into how larger societal factors
influence this lack of attention by the team and the organization. Three respondents reflected on
their lack of knowledge about Native Americans and appeared genuinely concerned, while two
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specifically stated that they should have been more proactive in researching about this group.
However, when respondents were asked how they had gathered whatever knowledge they did
have, only one cited they had received any education about Native Americans as part of their
general education, and even this was at the graduate level. When individuals are left to learn
about a group from a childhood museum visit, newspaper articles, or casual conversations with
faculty, they cannot be expected to be aware of the history of this group, the urgent need for
culturally matched social workers, or the challenges Native Americans may encounter in
pursuing higher education in social work.
Campisteguy et al.’s (2018) study about how non-Natives perceive Native Americans
showed that ignorance about Native Americans and the discrimination they experience was not
due to personal failing, but was a product of “the systemic erasure of Native peoples from the
dominant American narrative” (p. 34), including K-12 education, news media, and pop culture.
Lack of awareness, or “invisibility” as it is referred to in this study, is partly due to
demographics. As one stakeholder stated, “[Native Americans] are our smallest group, which is
not surprising just because of sheer numbers.” This stakeholder went on to explain how this
compounds recruitment efforts as students like to attend a school where there will be people like
them. This stakeholder explained: “It’s always our smallest group so it becomes difficult then to
…find someone similar…you have to have enough students in order to make that work…when
it’s not, it just holds less appeal.”
Considering the societal context in which the HSSSW admissions team operates it is not
surprising that they lack knowledge about Native Americans. This lack of knowledge contributes
to the lack of motivation; individuals are unlikely to be motivated to do something they do not
know about. The organization also functions in a culture that has largely marginalized Native
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Americans to the point of invisibility. The fact that the school acknowledges the Indigenous
people who owned the land where the school is located in their public facing documents and has
supported a course dedicated to teaching about social work with Native Americans is
commendable, however for the most part, at HSSSW, as in society, Native Americans as a group
are largely forgotten, ignored, or disregarded.
Synthesis
The data collected and analyzed confirmed the study’s assumptions that the admissions
team lacks knowledge about Native Americans in general and does not possess the needed
knowledge to locate and engage effectively with Native American students considering pursuing
graduate education in social work. The data demonstrated that the study participants had
significant procedural knowledge when they described how they would go about acquiring
knowledge, but they did not have factual knowledge at hand and thus lacked the conceptual
knowledge needed to effectively assess if a Native American student might be a good fit for the
MSW program at HSSSW. The lack of knowledge is tied to the lack of motivation as they could
not initiate an activity related to a group they do not know about. All study participants thought
that recruitment of Native American students was something they would now consider and it
appears that the study itself served as a catalyst for motivation. While this may lead to initiation
of activity related to this goal, persistence will likely be hampered by the respondents’
attributions related to their success as they all cited some form of external and uncontrollable
influences on their ability to improve performance. These influences were related to both
organizational and societal factors.
The primary organizational barrier to increased recruitment of Native American students
is a lack of clear direction. HSSSW does not have a stated goal to increase Native American
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student enrollment and admissions team members believe this would be an important first step to
allow them to focus on this outcome. Along with this goal, the organization needs to develop and
enhance resources and supports for the admissions team to meet the goal. The lack of
knowledge, motivation, and organizational resources reflects the larger society or the macro
context of the school. The small size of the population and the relative “invisibility” of Native
Americans in the United States after years of colonization, oppression, and marginalization
impacts the organization and the stakeholder group.
Chapter 2 provided descriptions of some schools of social work that had been successful
in recruiting and training Native American students as well as recommendations from other
graduate human services programs that were striving to improve their recruitment of this group.
Despite prevailing societal influences, it is possible to recruit Native American students into
MSW programs and the following chapter will make recommendations based on the data
presented above for HSSSW to make gains in this area.
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CHAPTER FIVE: RECOMMENDATIONS

Chapter 4 presented the results of the data analysis of the five participant interviews and
the document review that informed this study. It demonstrated gaps in knowledge, motivation,
and organizational resources that influence the success of the HSSSW admissions team in
improving performance in the area of recruitment of Native American students. Based on these
findings, Chapter 5 lays out the recommendations to close these gaps, describe training programs
that will make up the proposed implementation plan, and describe how the organization can
evaluate the success of the plan through the application of the Kirkpatrick New World four levels
of evaluation (Kirkpatrick & Kirkpatrick, 2016).
The factual knowledge gaps are general knowledge about Native Americans, where to
locate Native American students for recruitment, and what resources are available to support
these students. The conceptual knowledge gap is due to the lack of factual knowledge; absent
this critical information, admissions team members do not know the questions to ask Native
American students to assess their needs nor the sources of support that may be available to meet
these needs. Once these facts are known, the admissions team needs to know how to determine
best fit between the individual student and the MSW program. One motivation gap is the value
placed on recruiting Native American students, which prior to study participation had been
low. The other is related to attributions, as the study participants believed that several of the
barriers to recruiting Native American students were due to external and uncontrollable factors.
The organizational gaps are in the cultural models (lack of clear direction and expectations) and
cultural settings (lack of resources to support recruitment of this student group).
The recommendations presented in this chapter are designed to address these key
influences based on relevant theoretical principles. As part of a two-part training designed to
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address both knowledge and motivation, an LMS training will provide factual knowledge about
Native American history, cultural norms and values, current challenges for Native American
students, and educational supports found to be valued by Native American students derived from
the literature. The second part of the training, targeting team members engaged in direct
recruitment activities, will include distribution of fact sheets (financial and resources), and the
opportunity to observe and practice effective strategies for recruiting Native American students
with an expert. Additional recommendations based on the data are made for HSSSW leadership
to address the organizational gaps. Program evaluation is described using the Kirkpatrick New
World model, which will measure reaction, learning, behavior, and results. The various tools
used for measurement before, during, and after program implementation will be described and
sample documents provided in the addendum.
Recommendations for Practice to Address Knowledge, Motivation, and Organizational
Influences
Knowledge Recommendations
Introduction. The knowledge influences in Table 4 represent the knowledge influences
based on the categories and themes that emerged from the data. The most frequently mentioned
gaps in knowledge include where to locate Native American undergraduates interested in social
work education, available scholarships and other needed support services, and how to match
student needs to program features. The literature contains explicit recommendations and
information in regards to location of TCUs (e.g., Cross et al., 2009), and it is possible to identify
other high yield locations as well as the resources and supports, including financial aid, at
HSSSW that can meet student needs and preferences. Table 4 indicates these two knowledge
influences and shows the recommended interventions based on theoretical principles.
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Table 4

Summary of Knowledge Influences and Recommendations
Assumed Knowledge
Influence: Cause, Need,
or Asset*
Validated
Yes, High
Probability,
or No
Priority
Yes, No
(Y, N)
Principle and Citation Context-Specific Recommendation
Admissions team needs
to know the best
locations for recruitment
of Native American
MSW students and what
financial and other
resources are available
for them if they were to
attend HSSSW (D)
Y Y Team members need
to know or have
access to declarative
knowledge in order to
apply it to the task
(Clark & Estes, 2008)
Provide information that lists
Tribal Colleges and other
undergraduate locations where
Native American students can be
found and provide information on
financial support, student
resources, and program features
that may meet Native American
student needs and desires.
Admissions team needs
to know how to assess
what each Native
American student
requires from a graduate
program in order to
identify the aspects of
HSSSW that may be
most appealing to him or
her (C)
Y Y How team members
organize knowledge
influences how they
learn and apply what
they know; model
effective use of
strategies (Schraw &
McCrudden, 2009)

Concept maps can
help organize
knowledge to support
and enhance task
performance
(Ambrose, Bridges,
DiPietro, Lovett, &
Norman, 2010)
Provide training that teaches team
members how to organize
information and create concept
maps to match needs and
resources. Include case examples,
worked examples, demonstration
and practice.
Admissions team needs
to know how to go about
securing financial
resources and support
for Native American
MSW students.
N N

Increasing admission team member’s knowledge about financial and other
resources. In general, while study participants had some ideas about how to go about identifying
locations to find Native American students and financial and other resources, none were aware of
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the existence of TCUs and none had knowledge of any scholarships, student groups, course
content, or pedagogy specific to Native Americans. The Clark and Estes (2008) framework for
closing performance gaps makes recommendations for filling this type of declarative knowledge
gap. Individuals need to have access to declarative knowledge in order to apply it to the task at
hand and providing information directly is the most efficient means to fill this knowledge gap.
This would suggest that providing a list of TCUs and undergraduate programs with large Native
American student populations to the recruiters would allow them to reach out directly to these
institutions to share information and schedule recruitment events. Similarly, compiling a fact
sheet with information about scholarships, student organizations, and program content related to
Native American issues will ensure recruiters have information relevant to Native American
students.
Recruitment of diverse graduate students typically targets institutions that serve diverse
undergraduate student groups (Awais & Yali, 2015; Quarterman, 2008), and literature focusing
on recruitment of Native American graduate students specifically recommends outreach to TCUs
(Cross et al., 2009; Goforth et al., 2016). In the final report on the Status of Native Americans in
Social Work Higher Education, the CSWE included a list of 36 TCUs in the United States noting
those that offer undergraduate studies in social work and other related disciplines as an
informational resource for schools of social work (Cross et al., 2009). Similarly, Goforth et al.
(2016) created a grid of financial resources as an informational tool for recruiters aiming to
increase enrollment of Native American students in graduate studies in school psychology. These
studies have supported information giving as an approach to increasing recruitment of Native
American graduate students. This aligns with the recommendation to provide the HSSSW
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admissions team with updated factual information about locations, finances, and other resources
pertinent to Native American student recruitment.
Enhancing admission team member’s ability to identify and respond to student
specific needs. Study respondents not only lacked factual knowledge, but they also lacked the
conceptual knowledge needed to match various resources and supports to each student based on
their individual needs. Information processing theory provides some guidance on how to close
this knowledge gap. Schraw and McCrudden (2009) found that learning and application of
learning are influenced by how individuals organize knowledge and that to develop mastery,
individuals must acquire component skills, practice integrating them, and know when to apply
what they have learned. Additionally, Ambrose et al. (2010) found that concept maps are an
effective tool to support and enhance task performance. This would suggest that performance
would improve if team members learn how to gather and then organize information from Native
American students, create conceptual maps to match student needs with available resources, and
have the opportunity to practice applying this knowledge. The recommendation is to provide a
training that teaches team members how to collect and organize information and, using concept
maps, match student needs and resources. Learning can be further consolidated by providing
case examples, worked examples, demonstration, and opportunities to practice such as role plays
and enactment.
While there is much variation among Native Americans in the United States, the
literature has suggested that there are some common barriers for many Native American students
entering MSW programs (Cross et al., Day, 2013). The challenge for the HSSSW admissions
team members is to identify the specific obstacles for each individual Native American student
and know what supports and resources are available at HSSSW to address these concerns. Study
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participants indicated that they typically employ a highly individualized approach to working
with potential students, getting to know their story, and helping them determine if HSSSW is the
best fit. Thus, training that helps team members connect new knowledge specific to Native
American students interests to prior knowledge about how to individualize student recruitment
will help to construct meaning and facilitate learning (Schraw & McCrudden, 2009). Due to the
admissions team’s overall lack of knowledge about Native Americans, concept maps will help
organize the large amount of new data and help team members navigate the high level of
variation among Native American students along with the subtleties of discovering if HSSSW is
the best fit. Modeling, practice, and coaching will facilitate integration and mastery (Mayer,
2011; Schraw & McCrudden, 2009).
Motivation Recommendations
Introduction. The motivation influences in Table 5 represent the motivation influences
validated based on the categories and themes that emerged from the data. The most frequent gap
in motivation that emerged was that admission team members had not considered Native
American students as a group to target for recruitment in order to have a diverse student
body. While some study participants thought that strategies used to recruit students from other
diverse groups could be effective if adapted for recruitment of Native American students, prior to
the interview about this topic, only one respondent had conducted any outreach to Native
American students. One study participant thought that recruiting Native American students
would be too hard because of various obstacles external to the admissions team that are beyond
their control. Table 5 indicates these motivational influences and shows the recommended
interventions based on theoretical principles.

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Table 5
Summary of Motivation Influences and Recommendations
Assumed Motivation
Influence

Validated as
a Gap
Yes, High
Probability,
No
(V, HP, N)
Priority
Yes, No
(Y, N)
Principle and Citation Context-Specific
Recommendation
Admissions team
values a diverse
student body that
includes an increased
number of Native
American MSW
students.
Y Y People choose to do
what interests them and
are interested in adding
new skills and
enhancing
their expertise (Eccles
& Wigfield, 2002)
Make connection to
interest in having a diverse
student body and frame
this as an opportunity to
enhance skills currently
used to recruit other
diverse groups.

Admissions team
believe they can
influence the
recruitment of Native
American MSW
students and that lack
of progress to date is
due to controllable
influences.
Y Y Learning and
motivation are
enhanced when
individuals attribute
success or failure to
internal, unstable, and
controllable factors
(Anderman &
Anderman, 2009b).
Provide accurate feedback
that demonstrates when
and how individuals are
able to positively impact
outcomes when recruiting
Native American students.

Increase value placed on recruitment of Native American students. Although
admissions team members all placed a high value on diversity, they had not included Native
American students as part of what they considered to be a diverse student body. Because the
admissions team already values diversity and has strategies to recruit students from other diverse
groups, a recommendation based on expectancy value theory has been selected to close this
motivation gap. Eccles and Wigfield (2002) found that people tend to be interested in adding
new skills and enhancing their expertise in areas that already interest them. As the admissions
team is interested in recruiting for diversity and already has some skills in this area, it is
anticipated that making the connection between recruiting Native American students and
increasing diversity even further will enhance motivation. Furthermore, learning more about
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86
recruitment of Native American students can be framed as an opportunity to enhance skills
currently used to recruit other diverse groups.
Clark and Estes (2008) identified personal and team values as one of four key factors that
research has found to influence the three motivational processes of active choice, persistence,
and mental effort. Burns-Wallace (2009) found that highly motivated senior diversity admissions
officers placed a high value on recruiting diverse students based on a high emotional investment
in their job along with a high expectancy of success. This finding supports expectancy value
theory that states that activating personal interest and having higher expectations of success can
positively impact learning and motivation (Eccles, 2005). Thus, from both an empirical and a
theoretical perspective, it would appear that connecting the recruitment of Native American
students to the existing value the team members have for recruiting for diversity, and their
current success in increasing recruitment of diverse student groups other than Native Americans,
will galvanize their interest and expectancy of success.
Increase belief that team members can increase recruitment of Native American
students. Some admissions team members seemed to believe current strategies for student
recruitment could be successfully applied to Native American students; however, they also spoke
about barriers to increase student recruitment that are external and uncontrollable (e.g., lack of
resources or direction from leadership). One team member expressed the belief that even if the
organization made the recruitment of Native American students a priority it would be hard to
achieve, noting the many social and societal barriers for Native Americans to attend graduate
school. This team member felt strongly that these barriers were outside the realm of recruitment
specific activities, outside of their direct control, and were due to long standing social conditions
that were unlikely to change. Anderman and Anderman (2009b) found that motivation is
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enhanced if individuals attribute performance outcomes to internal, controllable, and unstable
factors. Therefore, it would be important to demonstrate to admission team members that they
can impact this performance outcome by providing accurate feedback about when and how they
have done this in the past and real time accurate feedback regarding future efforts.
While societal and environmental influences may be at play when recruiting Native
American students, it is the individual’s perception of the cause of an outcome that determines
whether they choose, persist, or apply mental effort toward a goal (Anderman & Anderman,
2009a). Attributional theory identifies the three causal dimensions of locus (internal or external),
controllability, and stability as influencing motivation (Anderman & Anderman, 2009a). Griffin
and Muniz (2015) found that graduate diversity officers spent most of their recruitment efforts on
activities they thought they could influence (internal, controllable, and unstable) rather than those
they felt were out of their control (external, uncontrollable, and stable). Therefore, it would be
important to identify and reinforce those aspects of Native American student recruitment that can
be influenced by the actions of the admissions team so they can focus their efforts on these
behaviors rather than those aspects that are out of their control.
Organization Recommendations
Introduction. Table 6 represents the organizational influences validated by the data. All
study participants noted that there is not currently a goal at HSSSW to increase the recruitment
of Native American students. Furthermore, several participants noted that without such a goal,
they would not be at liberty to reallocate time and resources toward this outcome. This aligns
with Gallimore and Goldenberg’s (2001) theoretical framework that considers the relative
importance of cultural models and settings as either facilitating or creating barriers to
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performance improvement. Table 6 indicates these organizational influences and shows the
recommended interventions based on theoretical principles.
Table 6

Summary of Organization Influences and Recommendations
Assumed
Organization
Influence

Validated as
a Gap
Yes, High
Probability,
No
(V, HP, N)
Priority
Yes, No
(Y, N)
Principle and Citation

Context-Specific
Recommendation
Organization needs
to provide
admissions team
with mission and
goals related to
recruitment of
Native American
students.
Y Y
Clear goals and
expectations are
critical for optimal
performance
(Buckingham &
Coffman, 1999; Clark
& Estes, 2008)
School leadership
establishes a clear goal
for enrollment of
Native American
students and ways to
measure progress
Organization needs
to provide
resources and
materials to
support outreach to
Native American
communities.
Y Y
High performing
workgroups have
sufficient resources to
do the job
(Buckingham &
Coffman, 1999).
Available resources are
aligned with
organizational
priorities (Clark &
Estes, 2008).
Administration
provides additional
resources, or
reallocates existing
resources, to support
needed outreach to and
financial support for
Native American
students.

Establish a goal. According to the study participants there are no formal recruitment
goals related to diversity in general or for recruitment of Native American students
specifically. Despite individual admissions team member’s interest in having a diverse student
body, absent administrative direction, targeted recruitment of Native American students will not
occur. Clark and Estes (2008) recommend that organizations set clear goals and expectations in
order to achieve optimal performance, supporting the recommendation that HSSSW leadership
establish a clear goal to increase recruitment of Native American students and identify methods
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89
to monitor progress toward meeting this goal. For example, HSSSW could set a goal to increase
enrollment of Native American students by 25% by 2022, and use currently available data
tracking tools to routinely extract data related to student contacts, applications, acceptance, and
enrollment by racial or ethnic student identification.
Gallimore and Goldenberg (2001) described cultural models as the mental schema or
generally agreed upon expectations of an organization. Research on successful work groups and
organizations has found that setting clear goals and expectations leads to better outcomes
(Berbarry & Malinchak, 2011; Buckingham & Coffman, 1999). Furthermore, Frølich and
Stensaker (2010) suggested that if goals are unspoken or not prioritized, the organization will
tend to rely on institutional history rather than diversity when it comes to student
admissions. Historically, at HSSSW the focus has been on meeting overall recruitment goals
rather than consideration of the specific make-up of the student body, so without clear direction
otherwise this will likely be the default. The literature would thus support the recommendation
for HSSSW to develop and communicate a clear goal regarding increased enrollment of Native
American students to the admissions team.
Provide or reallocate needed resources. Several study participants noted that while they
thought it possible to increase recruitment of Native American students, they would need either
additional resources or be directed to reallocate existing resources away from current efforts
toward this new goal. Once again, Clark and Estes (2008) provided guidance when formulating a
recommendation by stating that in order to achieve organizational goals, available resources
must be aligned with the organization’s priorities. If additional staffing or financial resources
cannot be provided to support the new goal of increasing Native American student enrollment by
25% by 2022, then current activities will need to prioritize targeting Native American
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recruitment. For example, attending recruitment fairs at schools and universities with large
numbers of Native American undergraduates and including specific requests for scholarships for
Native American students when fundraising.
Gallimore and Goldenberg (2001) described cultural settings as the more visible contexts
where the organization’s members conduct day-to-day activities and complete assigned tasks
including the distribution of human, financial, and administrative resources. From an
organizational perspective, Buckingham and Coffman’s (1999) research showed that in high
performing organizations, in addition to having clear goals and expectations, employees and
workgroups had sufficient resources to do the job. In the literature related to the recruitment of
diverse students, adequate financial and institutional resources have been repeatedly identified as
the key to successful outcomes (Cross et al., 2009; Goforth et al., 2016; Mosholder et al., 2016).
This supports the notion that if the HSSSW admissions team is to successfully meet a goal to
increase Native American student recruitment they will need to have sufficient resources and
materials to support outreach to Native American communities.
Integrated Implementation and Evaluation Plan
Implementation and Evaluation Framework
The recommendations for improvement at HSSSW use Kirkpatrick and Kirkpatrick’s
(2016) New World Kirkpatrick Model for implementation and evaluation. This framework
consists of four levels: results, behavior, learning, and reaction. While these levels are not
sequential, the New World Kirkpatrick Model shifts emphasis to behavior and results (levels 3
and 4) over reaction and learning (levels 1 and 2). This focus on longer term outcomes makes
sure that whatever training or program changes are made have the desired effect. It will not be
sufficient to have admissions team members enjoy a training and learn new information about
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recruitment of Native American students if they do not apply this knowledge during recruitment
and admissions activities. Furthermore, in order to verify that the recommended training,
support, and organizational changes are the correct interventions, there should be a measurable
increase in Native American student enrollment as a result. If this desired outcome is not met, the
implementation plan must be revisited.
Organizational Purpose, Need and Expectations
Currently, HSSSW does not have a goal related to the recruitment and enrollment of
Native American students. Based on a review of the data on enrollment presented previously, a
reasonable goal would be to increase enrollment of Native American students by 25% by 2022.
The data collected to date in this study strongly suggests that creating such a goal would be an
essential element of the proposed improvement plan. In this study, the stakeholder was the
admissions team, as they are directly responsible for student recruitment and enrollment. They
work year-round to meet annual enrollment targets, and have demonstrated success in increasing
recruitment of target populations in the past, e.g., military and veteran students. The admissions
team will be provided with the current baseline data of the number of enrolled Native American
students and provided with a numeric goal in order to achieve the desired improved outcome.
Level 4: Results and Leading Indicators
The leading indicators that will demonstrate that the admissions team is being successful
in recruiting more Native American students will be observed through the amount and the type
of contact the admissions team has with Native American students. An additional indicator will
be the amount of financial support generated for Native American students through philanthropic
donations. This data is routinely collected and entered into Salesforce and can be reviewed
regularly by the Dean (if needed), the Director of the admissions team, and the admission team
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members themselves. The desired outcomes, leading indicators, and measurement methods are
provided in Table 7.
Table 7

Outcomes, Metrics, and Methods for External and Internal Outcomes
Outcome Metric(s) Method(s)
External Outcomes
Increased desirability
of HSSSW as a school
of choice for Native
American students
pursuing a MSW
Number of unsolicited requests for HSSSW to attend
recruitment fairs and events from Native American
student groups/organizations/schools/colleges

Number of Native American students who apply to
HSSSW based on a personal referral or
recommendation (as opposed to via active efforts of
the admissions team)
Semi-annual review of tracking
form for recruitment event
requests/invitations identified
by organizational affiliation

Monthly review of data during
staff meetings extracted from
Salesforce filtered to include
race/ethnicity and referral
source
Internal Outcomes
Increased availability
of scholarships for
Native American
students
Amount of dollars raised earmarked specifically for
scholarships for Native American students
Monthly report from
development team reviewed by
Dean and Director of
Admissions and Scholarships
Increased recruitment
and enrollment of
Native American
students
Number of leads generated from Native American
students
Number of applications received from Native
American students
Number of Native American students admitted to
HSSSW
Number of Native American students enrolled at
HSSSW
Monthly review of admissions
team data dashboard during
monthly admissions team
meetings

Level 3: Behavior
Critical behaviors. The key behaviors that will demonstrate that the admissions team is
on track to meet the target goal include outreach to colleges or organizations where they can
meet with Native American students, designing a plan and timeline for completing targeted
outreach, and making direct contact with Native American students. These behaviors and how
and when they will be measured are provided in Table 8 below.

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Table 8

Critical Behaviors, Metrics, Methods, and Timing for Evaluation
Critical Behavior Metric(s)
Method(s)
Timing
1)Admission team members
contact colleges and
universities with high
numbers of Native American
students to request attendance
at recruitment fairs/events
Admission team
members’ outreach
logs
Admission team
members report out on
outreach efforts during
team meetings
Monthly
2)Admissions team members
create schedule of events
targeting Native American
student outreach to align with
recruitment cycle
Completed plan
approved by the
admissions team
Director
Plan submitted to
admissions team
Director by Supervisor
Annually
3)Recruiters meet with Native
American students at targeted
events to review suitability of
HSSSW for their MSW
education
Sign in sheets/log at
recruitment events
(to include column
for student to enter
tribal affiliation, if
any)
Admissions team
members review event
logs at team meetings to
identify number of
Native American
students met at the event
Monthly

Required drivers. Various organizational processes and systems will reinforce,
encourage, reward, and monitor the performance of these critical behaviors in order to support
achievement of the stakeholder goals. These required drivers and the critical behaviors they
support are provided in Table 9 below.
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Table 9

Required Drivers to Support Critical Behaviors
Method(s) Timing Critical
Behaviors
Supported
1, 2, 3 Etc.
Reinforcing

The Director of Native American students at the
university provides the HSSSW admissions team
with a list of schools, colleges, and organizations
identified as targets for recruitment of Native
American students into MSW education
Immediately, with
regular updates as
new information is
gathered
1,2
The Director of Native American students at the
university provides job aid for admissions team with
tips for recruiting Native American students
Provided at training
and updated as
needed
1,2,3
The Director of the admissions team adds the topic of
Native American student recruitment to the monthly
team meeting agenda
Immediately and
monthly thereafter
1,2,3
The Director of the admissions team adds category of
Native American to the data dashboard
Immediately 1,2,3
The Director of Development/Scholarships sends
email to all admissions team members when new
scholarship opportunity is available for Native
American students
As new scholarship
opportunities are
identified and on an
ongoing basis
3
Encouraging

Admissions team members discuss progress toward
goals during monthly team meetings
Monthly 1,2,3
Rewarding

Director of admissions team acknowledges progress
during team meetings and publicly recognizes team
members as they meet milestones
Monthly 1,2,3
Monitoring

Director reviews data dashboard to monitor progress
and works with team to develop new strategies if
enrollment numbers are not improving
Monthly 3
Supervisor and Director review logs, sign in sheets,
and data dashboards during supervision meetings
Monthly 1,2,3

Organizational support. The admissions team will need organizational support in order
to be successful in implementing these critical behaviors. Once school leadership sets a clear
goal that identifies target enrollment numbers for Native American students, the admissions team
NATIVE AMERICANS IN SOCIAL WORK

95
will have the necessary direction to make this a priority and organize their recruitment activities
to achieve this goal. To ensure accountability, the admissions team Director will need to report
out on progress toward this goal during monthly leadership meetings with the Dean as well as
provide annual data reports to administration for the school’s data dashboard.
HSSSW administration also needs to allocate resources to support goal achievement such
as a budget to cover required training for admissions team staff and faculty support. As the
critical behaviors will potentially require additional staff, travel, and creation of new marketing
materials, HSSSW leadership will need to determine if the allocated budget for the admissions
team will be increased to cover these costs or if current funding levels and related resources will
need to be reallocated. For example, if no additional staff are hired, existing staff will need to
spend time on these critical behaviors rather than completing other tasks. Similarly, if the
recruitment team currently has a travel schedule that does not include visiting Tribal colleges or
universities in parts of the state and country that have large numbers of Native American
undergraduates, they may have to determine which current travel activities and expenses will
need to be eliminated to free up time and funding for these new goal related tasks. If no new
resources are allocated for this goal, the admissions team may need additional direction from
leadership to realign activities not only with this goal but with other recruitment priorities for the
school.
Level 2: Learning
Learning goals. In order to perform the critical behaviors described above the
admissions team needs to learn how to:
1. Identify where, when, and how to outreach to colleges and universities with large
numbers of Native American students (D-F)
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2. Identify what financial resources are available for Native American students at HSSSW
(D-F)
3. Describe what support services and program attributes are available at HSSSW that may
appeal to Native American students (D-F)
4. Assess individual needs of Native American students to determine if HSSSW is the best
fit for their MSW education (D-C)
5. Create job aids and conceptual maps to assist in matching Native American student needs
to program features (M)
6. Value the importance of increasing enrollment of Native American students (M-
Expectancy Value)
7. Believe that they can be successful in increasing enrollment of Native American students
(M-Attribution Theory)
Program. The recommended training program to support achievement of the learning
goals for the HSSSW admissions team and key support staff that engage in recruitment related
activities needs to include multiple elements. The first part of this training can be provided via a
Learning Management System (LMS) and be a required module for all new staff or faculty
assigned to positions that directly or indirectly support the admissions team goal. Training
participants can move through the modules at their own pace and complete a knowledge quiz
periodically to ensure that they have absorbed key facts and concepts. Participants can retake
sections until they have received a passing grade. Additional reading, resources, and a contact
person are provided for training participants who have additional questions or wish to learn
more. As all study participants cited a general lack of knowledge about Native Americans, this
LMS based training includes general education about the history of Native Americans in the
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United States and the impact of past and current injustices on Native American communities.
Included in this general education is (a) information about both the commonalities and the
differences among the many Tribes in the United States; (b) an overview of common norms,
values, and practices; and (c) an understanding of the varying levels of assimilation and
acculturation they may encounter among Native American students. The training also addresses
common challenges facing Native American students pursuing higher education. This
foundational knowledge is necessary to know why recruitment of Native American students is
important, supports an explanation of the recommended organizational goal, and sets the stage
for the subsequent in-person training.
The admissions team members who engage in direct recruitment activities will need
additional training on both factual and conceptual knowledge in order to: (a) develop strategies
for outreach to Tribal colleges and other community resources that can link them with Native
American students, and (b) learn how to assess and connect potential students with resources and
supports at HSSSW and determine if an MSW at HSSSW is the best fit for the student. The
recommendation is that this be a half-day in-person training focused on both knowledge
acquisition and application. Through the use of scenarios and role plays, the individuals
responsible for direct recruitment efforts can practice application and receive real time feedback
from an experienced recruiter of Native American students in order to refine their skills.
The larger university has a Director of Native American Students who does outreach and
recruitment of Native Americans for the entire campus. This person is uniquely qualified to
assist with this training and provide hands on advice and guidance on how to locate, engage, and
recruit Native American students. Training participants can create conceptual maps, cheat sheets,
or other relevant job aids as part of the training to take with them into the field when recruiting.
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98
Staff and faculty assigned to recruitment and admissions in the future will receive copies of the
job aids developed by the training participants and can learn on the job by observing current
employees as they role model learned skills.
At this training, participants receive two important information sheets. The first contains
a list of all Tribal Colleges, universities with high numbers of Native American students, and key
community organizations and groups that can link HSSSW with Native American undergraduate
students interested in further education in the human services. The second includes a list of all
the potential scholarships, grants, and other funding sources that can support a Native American
student interested in pursuing an MSW at HSSSW. A volunteer will be recruited from the
admissions team to update these job aids annually or as new information is made available.
By providing the admissions team and support staff and faculty with the background and
rationale for the organizational goal, it is expected they will see the value in learning new skills
to be able to meet that goal. Receiving concrete information in the form of information sheets
and job aids along with an opportunity to practice skill application should increase self-efficacy
and equip the admissions team with the resources they need to be successful. Learning from an
expert in Native American student recruitment and observing his success is expected to increase
expectancy of success for the HSSSW team. Furthermore, it should shift their attributional
beliefs about recruitment of Native American students to be realistically internal, stable, and
controllable.
Evaluation of the components of learning. To ensure that the training is effective,
Kirkpatrick and Kirkpatrick (2016) recommended evaluation of knowledge, skills, attitude, and
confidence and commitment. Table 9 below lists the methods and activities recommended to
evaluate whether the learning goals have been met.
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Table 9
Evaluation of the Components of Learning for the Program
Method(s) or Activity(ies) Timing
Declarative Knowledge “I know it.”

Knowledge checks using multiple choice During and after
Pre and post tests Before and after
Procedural Skills “I can do it right now.”

Scenarios and role plays that allow training participants to practice
applying procedural and conceptual knowledge
During training
Feedback and guidance from an expert during in class application
activities
During and after
training
Creation of job aids/conceptual maps During and after
training
Attitude “I believe this is worthwhile.”

Likert-scale question in pre- and post-tests Before and after
Discussions of rationale and value During
Confidence “I think I can do it on the job.”

Likert-scale question in pre- and post-tests Before and after
Discussion of possible obstacles and barriers During
Coach and peer check ins After
Commitment “I will do it on the job.”

Individual action plans developed to apply new skills After
Post-training survey question After
Report out at monthly meetings After

Level 1: Reaction
The participants’ reaction to the training includes the assessment of engagement,
relevance, and customer satisfaction (Kirkpatrick & Kirkpatrick, 2016). This evaluation can be
formative, summative, or both. For in-person training, the value of formative evaluation is that it
allows the trainer to adjust course if needed and attend to any discomforts that may distract from
the learning. For the LMS-based training, summative evaluations can help understand
engagement and satisfaction with the materials and the LMS platform in order to drive any
needed changes to the content or the method of delivery. For example, if there is a general
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100
dissatisfaction with the LMS as a training delivery medium, perhaps due to the unavailability of
instructors to answer questions, the training can be supplemented with a real time webinar or in
person meeting.
Table 10 lists the methods that are recommended to determine how the training
participants react to the training components.
Table 10

Components to Measure Reactions to the Program
Method(s) or Tool(s) Timing
Engagement

Attendance Beginning
Post training questionnaire (LMS) End
Check-ins during in person training During workshop
Observation of verbal and non-verbal behavior of participants During workshop
Completion of practice scenarios During workshop
Creation of job aids/conceptual maps During workshop
Relevance

Pulse check via on-line poll (LMS) During LMS
Pulse check via discussion During workshop
Customer Satisfaction

Anonymous survey After

Evaluation Tools
Immediately following the program implementation. The program will be evaluated
via a survey immediately after completion of the LMS and the in-person training. There will be
two separate surveys for each training as the LMS training can be taken by any staff and faculty,
whereas the in-person training is specifically tailored to staff and faculty involved in the direct
recruitment of Native American students. Both surveys will evaluate reaction and learning
(Levels 1 and 2) and can be found in Appendices B and C.
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Delayed for a period after the program implementation. A focus group will be
conducted 6 months following the training, as this will provide sufficient time for the admissions
team to apply what is learned and see results from this application. A focus group is the preferred
evaluation tool after this period of delay as it will provide an opportunity to share successes and
explore any barriers team members may be experiencing in applying what was learned. The
interview questions will include items that will measure all four levels of the Kirkpatrick training
evaluation model. The interview questions can be found in Appendix D.
Data Analysis and Reporting
For level 3 and 4 data analysis and reporting, HSSSW can utilize a data analytics tool that
updates in real time from data entered into Salesforce (the university database). Admissions team
members enter data routinely into Salesforce to track student contacts, inquiries,
communications, application status, accepted admissions, and enrollment status. Currently,
students are asked their racial/ethnic identity when completing an application. In order to track
race/ethnicity during the outreach and inquiry process, the admissions team will need to add this
demographic to their sign in sheets and standard questions when they contact students. These
data points can be used to track progress toward the performance goal and to identify where in
the recruitment process the team may be encountering challenges or bottlenecks. For example, if
the data shows that the percentage of initial contacts with Native American students is
disproportionately lower than other groups, the team will know that they need to focus on
outreach. However, if the initial contact, applications submitted, and students accepted is
proportionate across groups, but drops off when it comes to student enrollment, they may want to
examine why Native American students are not selecting to attend HSSSW. An example of a
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data visualization that allows the admissions team to compare student inquiries with applications
by race/ethnicity can be found in Appendix E.
The data for level 1 and 2 can be collected via a Qualtrics survey embedded in the LMS
or during the in-person training via pen and paper. This data can be used to evaluate whether the
trainings are engaging participants and imparting the required knowledge. Qualtrics produces
visualizations of data collected via bar charts, pie charts, and written summary. The focus group
will generate qualitative data that can be presented via a written summary report from the
evaluator to the admissions team and the school leadership.
Summary
The New World Kirkpatrick Model provides a framework for an organization to plan,
implement and evaluate training recommendations in order to improve performance and reach
organizational goals. When designing a training and implementation plan to address
underrepresentation of Native Americans at HSSSW, it is important that the four levels of
evaluation are accounted for and that data is collected and analyzed throughout the
implementation process so that appropriate action can be taken along the way (Kirkpatrick &
Kirkpatrick, 2016). This study has noted throughout the multiple influences on the importance of
achieving this performance goal, emphasizing the role of organizational and societal factors in
addition to addressing the knowledge and motivation of the admissions team members.
Collecting both formative and summative data via both quantitative and qualitative
methodologies will allow the organization to make changes along the way and determine when
and how to activate organizational changes in addition to training. Furthermore, if performance
does not significantly improve despite implementation of training recommendations a change in
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organizational priorities to support this goal, the school may need to consider engaging in
activities to influence changes at the macro/societal level.
Strengths and Weaknesses of the Approach
All methodological approaches have strengths and weaknesses and understanding them
helps inform the reader of the value of this study to their organization. The Clark and Estes
(2008) gap analysis framework provided a systematic method to assess the possible influences
on the problem of practice and gave direction for potential performance improvement strategies.
The framework is broad enough to encompass an examination of multiple theories related to
knowledge acquisition, motivational enhancement, and organizational change. The knowledge,
motivation, and organization (KMO) framework guided the interview protocol, data analysis,
and recommended solutions. For this study, it became clear that there was a strong intersection
between these three areas of influence.
The application of KMO in such a systematic fashion could be seen as a weakness in
terms of leading the researcher to a predetermined outcome. For example, designing questions to
elicit KMO responses may have interfered with the generation of data supporting an alternate or
additional conceptualization of the problem. Similarly, although the data analysis used open
coding in addition to a priori coding, the researcher’s adherence to the KMO framework may
have ignored any other significant data that may have emerged during data analysis. Lastly, the
KMO framework does not account for the larger macro and societal influences that inevitably
impact organizational performance. This is particularly relevant in this study of a marginalized
population such as Native Americans. While intervening at the societal level is not necessarily
the purview of any one organization, it is important to consider this influence when designing
interventions as their effectiveness may be impeded by these external forces.
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A qualitative study of one case also presents limitations in terms of the generalizability of
these findings to other similar organizations. This study relied on interviews with only five
respondents in one school of social work in one region of the country. Others schools of social
work may face different circumstances that influence their improvement plan. For example, the
availability of resources and program supports and features as defined in the literature as
appealing to Native American students may vary greatly from school to school.
HSSSW is located in a community with a large Native American population, has both an
online and campus-based program, and has a robust diversity, equity and inclusion strategic plan
at the school and the university level. HSSSW also has several program features that could
potentially appeal to Native American students. Nonetheless, the admissions team has significant
gaps in knowledge, motivation, and organizational resources related to this population
suggesting that these findings could be relevant to other schools. The history of colonialism and
the subsequent attempts to eradicate and assimilate Native Americans in the United States has
inevitably resulted in their marginalization and “invisibility” as a group that deserves focus and
attention. This invisibility cascades downwards. The results of this study suggest that despite
being a school that pursues social justice through education, HSSSW has neglected to identify
this population as one in need of an organizational focus in regards to student enrollment.
Admissions team members, despite being committed to recruiting a diverse student body, have
not identified Native Americans as an important part of that diverse student body. All
respondents, representing various levels of hierarchy and job function within the admissions
team, identified a distinct lack of knowledge about Native Americans in general. All these
findings align with Campisteguy et al.’s (2018) portrayal of the invisibility of contemporary
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Native Americans in the United States based on their research data that encompassed focus
groups, in-depth interviews, and survey data collected from across the country.
Future Research
This study was limited to one stakeholder group within one school of social work. It
provided rich information about the performance of the HSSSW admissions team as it relates to
the recruitment of Native American students and provided valuable insights to drive a proposed
performance improvement plan. The findings may help inform other admissions teams at other
schools of social work, but in order to design an implementation plan specific to their
organization, a study of the influences on their organization would be warranted. Future research
on a larger scale could inform the profession by including more admissions teams across
multiple schools of social work across different geographic areas of the United States employing
a mixed methods approach. Such a study would make a valuable contribution to CSWE’s efforts
to increase enrollment of Native American students in social work education nationwide.
Future research would also benefit from including other stakeholder groups. For example,
the presence of Native American faculty and students is a desirable feature of an MSW program
for Native Americans (Cross et al., 2013; Weaver, 2000a), and thus exploring their perspectives
could contribute to further understanding Native American student recruitment and retention.
The admissions team is the first gatekeeper for the program, but if following the recommended
training enrollment is still low, this could be attributable to, among other things, the lack of other
Native American students and faculty. Furthermore, even if recruitment increased, it would be
important to study student retention. Ethical accountability does not end with the increased
admission of Native American students, as equality of access does not ensure equity of outcomes
(Bensimon, Hao, & Bustillos, 2007; Dowd & Bensimon, 2015).
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Three of the stakeholders in this study suggested that a focus group with current Native
American students would help inform their recruitment efforts. While Weaver (2000a) and Cross
et al. (2013) have conducted research with Native American social workers to identify challenges
in attending MSW programs, a larger study of Native American students across social work and
other graduate human services degrees would help inform the profession as to what current
programs are most attractive and why to inform those schools and professions struggling to
increase diversity.
The last time that CSWE commissioned a task force to explore this problem of practice
was 10 years ago (Cross et al., 2009). Despite creating a comprehensive document outlining
what schools of social work needed to do to increase recruitment and retention of Native
American students the needle has not moved and Native American students are still
underrepresented in the profession (CSWE, 2018). The author recommends that CSWE
commission an updated review of the issue to examine the barriers to improvement. If the results
show that the overarching societal structures and their consequences, e.g., lack of student
pipeline are significant contributors to this impasse, then the profession will need to seek ways to
intervene earlier and work at the governmental (federal and tribal), institutional, and policy level
to address this bottleneck.
As noted in Chapter 2, much of the research in this area used qualitative methodologies to
ask admissions officers and student recruiters their opinions regarding optimal approaches to
improve recruitment (e.g., Quarterman, 2008). Poock (2007) noted that diversity recruitment
efforts are rarely data driven. In a rare study of program effectiveness, Mosholder et al. (2016)
assessed the needs of Native American students in higher education, implemented programs to
address these needs, and then evaluated the success of these programs in increasing student
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recruitment. More research that examines what works would provide a significant contribution to
efforts to increase the number of Native Americans educated in social work.
Lastly, and most importantly, research into the educational and social service needs of
Native Americans should be conducted in collaboration with Native Americans “who hold the
knowledge and expertise of their circumstances past and present, and on positive change” (Putt,
2013, p. 1). Gaudry (2015) recommended that research on Indigenous populations should engage
the community and Indigenous perspectives, noting that the research product should be intended
for use by Indigenous communities and that they should be “the final judges of the validity and
effectiveness of research projects” (p. 248). This study was completed from the perspective of an
organization improving a performance outcome, but as there was no collaboration with Native
Americans directly it is not known if the community desires this outcome. The prior discussion
of historic distrust of education and social services and recognition of the effect of paternalistic
social work practice with Indigenous communities (Green & Baldry, 2008) requires a
collaborative approach to future research wherein Native American communities can directly
contribute to the study purpose, goals, and desired outcomes. Without a partnership between
Native American and non-Native American stakeholders, any recommendations run the risk of
incorporating racist and neocolonialist values.
Conclusion
Native American students are underrepresented in schools of social work, and at HSSSW
the number of enrolled Native American students has decreased in the past 3 years. The first face
of HSSSW for many students is contact with student recruiters and others on the school’s
admissions team, the stakeholder group of focus for this study. Using the Clark and Estes (2008)
gap analysis framework, this study looked at the knowledge, motivation, and organizational gaps
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that contribute to current performance outcomes and guided the development of performance
improvement recommendations. In-depth interviews with five admissions team members and
document review of the school website and syllabi discovered significant gaps in knowledge
about Native Americans in general and specific to student recruitment, a lack of motivation to
increase recruitment of this group based on this ignorance, and a lack of direction or support
from the organization to make acquiring the knowledge needed to improve this outcome a
priority. This lack of attention to Native Americans as a significant population requiring
additional attention and resources is reflective of the larger society, where contemporary Native
Americans have become largely invisible outside of Indian country (Campisteguy et al., 2018).
Providing education through training to the admissions team and other school staff and faculty
on the history of colonialism and the consequences for Native Americans in the United States is
a critical step in decolonizing social work education (Baltra-Ulloa, 2013). Although it was not
intentional, participating in this study was an intervention of sorts, in that it inspired the
respondents to want to know more and explore strategies for recruitment. Building on this,
training and practice with an experienced Native American recruiter who is closely affiliated
with and respected by urban and rural Native American groups locally and nationwide with
further enhance their ability to engage students.
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APPENDIX A
Interview Protocol
Introduction: Thank you so much for be willing to participate in this interview. This
interview will contribute to the dissertation research I am conducting as part of my doctorate
education into recruitment and admissions processes in schools of social work. As a participant
in this study your identity will not be revealed and the results will be presented as general
themes. If/when you are quoted or cited I will use a pseudonym and if you are worried about
protecting your anonymity I will share the document prior to publishing and dissemination for
your review and approval to ensure your identity is not inadvertently revealed. I would like your
written permission to tape record this interview, but you can request to stop taping at any point or
decline taping altogether and I can take written notes. If you do agree to be recorded, the tape
recording of our interview will be transcribed and will be stored in a locked desk in my home
office. I will destroy all records of our interviews at the completion of my EdD. If you do not
wish to answer any of the questions just state so, and if at any time you wish to end the
interview, please let me know and we can be finished. You are at liberty to end the interview and
withdraw from the study at any time.
I’d like to know more about the recruitment and admissions process at our school and
would like to hear about your experience working in this area of our operations. I am interested
in your thoughts and opinions about the process and your job, as well as understanding how the
recruitment and admissions team works to identify, recruit, and select our incoming MSW
students each year. This study seeks to understand how schools of social work can recruit more
Native American students and so some of the interview questions will ask specifically about this
population. Do you have any questions so far?
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1. Please describe your role on the Admissions team?
Possible prompt: What are the core activities you do in this role to recruit new students?
2. Some teams and workgroups at our school have a strategic plan and formal goals for
outcomes while others seem to have more informal goals or go with the flow in terms of
their operations. How would you describe the admissions team in terms of work planning
and goal-setting? (O)
3. Our school has a strategic plan for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. How does the work
of the Admissions team align with that plan? (O)
4. What are your thoughts about targeting recruitment at certain groups or populations? (M)
5. How do you feel about addressing specific issues related to an applicant’s protected
status (e.g., race, nationality, gender, sexual orientation, etc.) when you are recruiting
new students? (M)
6. What training have you received related to the recruitment of diverse students into the
MSW program? (K)

Now I’d like to ask you about the recruitment of Native American students in particular.

7. How familiar would you say you are with Native American populations across the U.S.?
(K)
8. Have you ever worked with an applicant that you knew was Native American? (K,M,O)
a. If yes: Did you consider it an effective interaction?
i. If yes: What do you think made it effective?
ii. If no: What would you have done differently?
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b. If no: If you were to interact with a potential applicant for the MSW program who
tells you that they are Native American what would you do?
9. If your team was asked to increase enrollment of Native American students where might
you go to meet with potential applicants? (K)
10. Please tell me about any resources you are aware of at our school that would support
Native American students applying to our program? (K)
11. If a Native American applicant was to ask about financial support if they were accepted
to our school, what would you tell them? (K)
12. If your team wanted to increase recruitment of Native American students, based on your
role in the team, what strategies would you suggest? What barriers do you envision?
(K,M,O)
a. Follow up/prompts: What knowledge would you like to have in order to improve
Native American student recruitment? What supports or resources do you think
you would need?

Thank you so much for your time today.

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APPENDIX B
Immediate Evaluation Instrument
Please complete the following survey in order to receive your certificate of completion:

1. The Learning Management System was easy to navigate

Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree

2. The course content was easy to follow

Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree

3. My learning was enhanced by the information presented

Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree

4. The information learned will help me do my job better

Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree

5. I know where to go to find further information about this topic if needed

Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree

6. How can this course be improved?

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APPENDIX C
Immediate Evaluation Instrument (In-Person Training)
Please rate the degree to which you agree with the following statements on a scale of 0-10 using
the following rating scale:
0 = strongly disagree 10 = strongly agree

• Please provide comments to explain your ratings

1. The training was relevant to my job 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
2. My learning was enhanced by the knowledge of the facilitator 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
3. I feel confident in my ability to apply what I learned 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
4. I believe that what I learned will help improve my performance 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
5. How can this training be improved?

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APPENDIX D
Focus Group Questions for Delayed Evaluation
Introduction: Thank you for participating in this focus group. Your feedback will help us
evaluate the value of the in-person training on recruitment of Native American students in to the
HSSSW MSW program and identify the need for any additional training, support, or resources
you may need to continue to work on this performance goal.

1. What is your name, job title, and key responsibilities?
2. What did you learn that was new to you as a result of this training?
3. What aspects of the training were most beneficial for you in the workplace?
4. What successes have you had, if any, as a result of receiving this training?
5. What kind of support did you receive from your supervisor to apply what you learned in
the workplace?
6. What barriers were there to applying what you learned in the workplace?
7. What, if any, additional training or resources do you need to support your ability to
recruit Native American students at HSSSW?

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APPENDIX E
Sample Data Visualization Comparing Student Inquiries to Applications During the First
Quarter by Race/Ethnicity

Abstract (if available)

Abstract This qualitative study examined the underrepresentation of Native American students at the Hearts & Science School of Social Work (HSSSW) to help develop recommendations for the school to increase Native American student enrollment. The researcher explored the knowledge, motivation, and organizational factors that influence student recruitment by the admissions team. The research methods included in-depth interviews with five members of the HSSSW admissions team as well as document review and an observation. The researcher obtained approval from school leadership and from the university’s Institutional Review Board. Data analysis revealed that the study participants lacked knowledge about Native Americans in general as well as specific knowledge related to location (where to recruit students), financial resources, and program features. This lack of factual knowledge hampered their ability to engage with Native American students and assess their suitability for the program. The lack of knowledge also impacted motivation, as respondents had not considered recruiting from this population (initiation) and believed factors beyond their control presented barriers to success (persistence). These barriers were organizational factors, such as a lack of direction and support from leadership, as well as societal factors, such as the small population size and limited student pipeline. The researcher proposes training for admissions team members to fill knowledge gaps and practice applying this new knowledge in a simulated environment with a Native American student recruitment expert. Additional recommendations include establishment of a goal to increase enrollment of Native American students coupled with development of supportive resources such as student scholarships.

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Asset Metadata

Creator Supranovich, Ruth Ann (author)

Core Title The under-representation of Native Americans in masters of social work programs

School Rossier School of Education

Degree Doctor of Education

Degree Program Organizational Change and Leadership (On Line)

Publication Date 10/30/2019

Defense Date 08/28/2019

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag Native American,OAI-PMH Harvest,Social work,student admissions,student recruitment

Language English

Contributor Electronically uploaded by the author (provenance)

Advisor Tobey, Patricia (committee chair), Green, Alan (committee member), Soto, Claradina (committee member)

Creator Email ruthsuprano@gmail.com,supranov@usc.edu

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-c89-229313

Unique identifier UC11675324

Identifier etd-Supranovic-7893.pdf (filename),usctheses-c89-229313 (legacy record id)

Legacy Identifier etd-Supranovic-7893.pdf

Dmrecord 229313

Document Type Dissertation

Rights Supranovich, Ruth Ann

Type texts

Source University of Southern California (contributing entity), University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses (collection)

Access Conditions The author retains rights to his/her dissertation, thesis or other graduate work according to U.S. copyright law. Electronic access is being provided by the USC Libraries in agreement with the a...

Repository Name University of Southern California Digital Library

Repository Location USC Digital Library, University of Southern California, University Park Campus MC 2810, 3434 South Grand Avenue, 2nd Floor, Los Angeles, California 90089-2810, USA