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African American college completion at Hillside College: an evaluation study

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AFRICAN AMERICAN COLLEGE COMPLETION AT HILLSIDE COLLEGE:
AN EVALUATION STUDY

by

Stephanie Kashima

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

May 2023

Copyright 2023 Stephanie Kashima

ii
Dedication
I dedicate this work to my parents, Brian and Seoung Lee Wilson, who taught me a love of
learning and the joy of persistent curiosity. And to my family, Rob, Maya, and Kati, who
supported me along this journey with love, support, empathy and positivity.

iii
Acknowledgements
I would like to acknowledge the support of my chairs, Dr. Bryant Adibe and Dr. Kimberly
Hirabayashi. Dr. Adibe supported me through a long and delayed process on my part. He
supported me with understanding, encouragement and confidence in my ability to get this
dissertation written. Dr. Hirabayashi stepped in to be my chair late in the process and helped me
make major revisions to get to the finish line. I would also like to thank my committee members,
Dr. Kimberly Hirabayashi, Dr. Raquel Torres-Retana and Dr. Courtney Mallory, for their
patience and support during the extended period (2 years) that it took me to complete my
dissertation due to changes in my professional life. I would like to thank my classmate, Gawin
Gibson, for his indispensable and generous help in gathering data for my study. Without him, I
would not have completed this study. I would also like to thank all of my professors in the
program at the USC Rossier School of Education OCL program. I was inspired and impressed by
the scholarship and outstanding pedagogy and curriculum implemented by these faculty. And I
would like to express my gratitude to my fellow-students, aka “the Saturday Crew” who
championed each other throughout the process and continued to support me long after they had
completed their dissertations. Here’s to lifelong friends.

iv

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Dedication ....................................................................................................................................... ii
Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................................ iii
List of Tables ................................................................................................................................. vi
Abstract ......................................................................................................................................... vii
Chapter One: Introduction ...............................................................................................................1
Introduction to problem of practice ..........................................................................................1
Organizational context and mission .........................................................................................1
Organizational goal ..................................................................................................................2
Importance of the evaluation ....................................................................................................3
Description of the stakeholder groups ......................................................................................4
Stakeholder group for the study ...............................................................................................6
Methodological framework ......................................................................................................7
Definitions ................................................................................................................................8
Organization of the project .....................................................................................................10
Chapter Two: Review of the Literature .........................................................................................11
Importance of Studying African American College Success Rates .......................................11
Influences on the Problem of Practice ....................................................................................13
Role of Stakeholder Group of Focus ......................................................................................18
Clark and Estes (2008) Knowledge, Motivation and Organizational Influences Framework
................................................................................................................................................20
Stakeholder Knowledge, Motivation and Organizational Influences ....................................21
Conceptual Framework: The Interaction of Stakeholders’ Knowledge and Motivation and
the Organizational Context .....................................................................................................32
Summary ................................................................................................................................35
Chapter Three: Methods ................................................................................................................36
Participating Stakeholders ......................................................................................................36
The Researcher .......................................................................................................................37
Interviews ...............................................................................................................................38
Data Analysis .........................................................................................................................43
Chapter Four: Results and Findings ...............................................................................................48
Research Question 1 Findings: Meeting the Organizational Goal .........................................48
Research Question 2 Findings: Knowledge, Motivation and Organizational Influences ......50
Knowledge Results and Findings ...........................................................................................50
Motivation Results and Findings ............................................................................................61
Organizational Results and Findings ......................................................................................67
Synthesis .................................................................................................................................70
v

Chapter Five: Recommendations ...................................................................................................71
Developed Themes .................................................................................................................71
Recommendations for Practice to Address KMO Influences ................................................74
Conclusion ..............................................................................................................................92
References ......................................................................................................................................95
Appendix A: Interview Script ......................................................................................................104

Appendix B: Informed Consent Form .........................................................................................108

vi

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1. Demographics of Hillside College Groups ....................................................................... 5
Table 2. Organizational Mission, Global Goal and Stakeholder Goals .......................................... 6
Table 3. Knolwedge Influences, Types and Assessments ............................................................ 25
Table 4. Knowledge Findings of Gaps and Assets ....................................................................... 59
Table 5. Motivation Findings of Gaps and Assets ........................................................................ 65
Table 6. Organizational Findings of Gaps and Assets .................................................................. 67
Table 7. Summary of Knowledge Influences and Recommendations .......................................... 77
Table 8. Summary of Motivation Influences and Recommendations........................................... 81
Table 9. Summary of Organizational Influences and Recommendations ..................................... 85

vii

Abstract
This evaluation study examined the influence of administrators’ knowledge and motivation and
organizational influences on African American student completion rates at a community college.
The college selected, Hillside College (a pseudonym), was a comprehensive two-year college in
California. The research questions examined the degree to which the college was meeting the
organizational goal of increasing completion rates for African American students by spring 2022,
the level of administrator knowledge and motivation related to the organizational goal, the
interaction between organizational culture and the stakeholder knowledge and motivation and the
recommendations for organizational practice to ensure achievement of the organizational goal.
The study used the Clark and Estes (2008) gap analysis framework to structure the evaluation
process. The results of the study identified twelve findings regarding administrator knowledge
and motivation levels and organizational influences on the goal. These twelve findings revealed
four themes: individual administrators lack comprehensive knowledge about what a sense of
belonging is among African American students and what strategies would imbue that sense of
belonging in them; administrators do not have a high sense of confidence or self-efficacy that
they can achieve the organizational goal; the college needs to provide more training and
resources to administrators; the college needs to establish benchmarks for the administrators to
reach to achieve the organizational goal. These results provided the rationale for a proposed
training program for the administrators.

1
Chapter One: Introduction
Introduction to Problem of Practice
Since the passage of the U.S. Civil Rights Act of 1964, which mandated the elimination
of racial discrimination in all publicly funded institutions, American institutions of higher
education have struggled to produce equitable outcomes for African American students. While
the proportion of African Americans who attend college immediately after high school has risen
considerably since the 1960s and now matches that of whites (Schneider & Saw, 2016), the
graduation rates for African Americans continue to lag significantly behind that of whites (Chen
et al., 2017). The Lumina Foundation (Dyce, Albold, & Long, 2012) found that over 30% of
white adults in the U.S. have completed at least 4 years of college, but only 18% of African
American adults have done so. The Children’s Defense Fund (Kirk et al., 2012) reports that
white students are twice as likely as African American students to graduate from college.
Organizational Context and Mission
The pseudonym selected for the organization which was studied in this research is
Hillside College. Hillside is a comprehensive, state-funded two-year college in northern
California with 17,885 students (CCCCO Datamart, 2022). It is part of the California community
college system which consists of 116 colleges whose goal is to prepare students for transfer to
four-year institutions and for entry into the workforce through vocational training. Hillside is a
one-college district located in a suburban area. The mission of Hillside College is to provide
educational and career pathways to the local community.
The college enrolls 37% of its students as full-time and 65% as part-time.
Hillside College is predominantly students of color (70%) (CCCCO Datamart, n.d.) with a
majority of this subset represented by Latino (20%) and Asian (35%) students. The remaining
2

racial breakdown is 20% white, 5% African American and 0% Native American, 5% mixed race
and 10% undeclared (These numbers have been rounded to protect the anonymity of the college).
Of the approximately 18,000 students attending the college each year, 20% receive financial aid
which is significantly lower than the state-wide rate of 58% of all students in a California
community college (Student Success Scorecard, n.d.)
Organizational Goal
The organizational goal established for Hillside College was that in 2020, the rates of
African American students transferring to the California State University system would increase
by 20% over 2019 levels and would remain there through 2025, and the rates for completion of
degrees and certificates would increase for all students by 10% over 2019 levels by 2020 and
remain there through 2025 The two goals together expressed an intent to improve African
American transfer rates, in particular, and overall degree and certificate award rates in general
(including for African American students). These goals were established by the college and
approved by the board of trustees on June 10, 2020 as part of the college’s 2020-2025 strategic
plan (Hillside Strategic Plan, 2020).
The transfer number for Hillside College African American students to the California
state university (CSU) system in 2019 was 11 students which was 2.4% of the total number of
transfers of 467 in spring 2019. The numbers for Asian students were 194 transfers out of 6607
enrollment which is 41.5% of all transfers, 85 transfers out of 3562 enrollments for Hispanics
which is 18.2%, and 81 transfers out of 3135 enrollments for whites which is 17.3% (California
State University Institutional Research, n.d.). This demonstrated a gap in percentage of total
population transferring for African American students in regard to CSU transfer rates when
compared to other ethnic groups. Although African American students were 2.4% of total
transfers in 2019, they were 2.8% of the total student population two years prior (the cohort
3

transferring). They were underrepresented in the transfer population as compared to the total
population. Hispanic students were also underrepresented among transfers. They made up 18.2%
of all transfers but 22.2% of the student population two years prior. White students made up
17.3% of transfers in 2019 but 19.5% of the total population in 2017. Asian students were the
only group which had a higher transfer percentage than their student population. The transfer rate
was 41.5% in 2019 while the student population percentage was 41.2% in 2017 (California State
University Institutional Research, n.d.). In order to reach the 2025 goal of increasing African
American transfers by 20% over 2019 levels in 2020 and remaining there through 2025 the
college would have to transfer 11 African Americans students each year between 2020 and 2025.
The degree and certificate attainment rates for African American students for 2019 were
19 students completing a degree and four students completing a certificate. These numbers
reflected 2.4% of total degree completers and 2.2% of total certificate completers in spite of
African American students making up 2.8% of the total study body two years prior. The degree
completion rates for white students in 2019 were 20% (despite making up 19.5% of the total
student population in 2017); were 42% for Asians (despite making up 41.2% of the student
population two years prior) and 27% for Hispanics (who made up 21% of the student population
two years prior) (CCCCO Datamart, n.d.). In order to achieve the goal of increasing degree and
certificate completion rates of African American students by 10%, in 2020 and remaining
consistent through 2025, the degree completers would need to have increased to 21 and the
certificate completers would need to have increased to 5 students.
Importance of the Evaluation
It is important to evaluate the organization’s performance in relation to its performance
goal of increasing the transfer and completion rates for African American students. As indicated
above, African American students at the college had significantly lower transfer and program
4

completion rates than that of Asian students or white students. Naylor (2015) provides evidence
that college completion is an avenue out of poverty. Those who have completed baccalaureate
degrees have median earnings 65% higher than those with only a high school degree (Naylor,
2015). Bohn et al. (2019) report that, for adults aged 25-64, college graduates have a 7.8%
poverty rate as compared to a 31.8% poverty rate for those without a college degree. This
demonstrates a fourfold higher chance of living in poverty for those without a college degree.
Therefore, ensuring high program completion rates is a critically important tool in reducing
African American poverty rates (Hagedorn et al., 2001). Given that students who complete a
certificate, degree or transfer requirements are far more likely to complete a baccalaureate than
those who do not (Shapiro, et al. 2013), continued gaps in community college completion rates
by African American students will only serve to perpetuate poverty rates in the African
American community in northern California. The failure of community colleges to address these
completion rates is also a violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which requires that all
publicly funded institutions be free of racial discrimination in any form.
Description of the Stakeholder Groups
The stakeholders in this study were faculty, staff, administrators and African American
students at Hillside College. African American students comprised less than 5% of the total
student body in 2020-2021, this amounted to approximately 500 African American students
(CCCCO Datamart, 2022). Students come to the college primarily from two feeder high school
districts: Nettles Unified High School District and Folsom Unified High School District
(pseudonyms). At the time of this study, Nettles Unified served a population of students, 40% of
whom receive free or reduced lunches, 20% of whom were English language learners, and the
racial breakdown of the residential community is 35% Hispanic, 35% Asian, 25% white, and 5%
African American (Nettles Unified Data, n.d.) and (Nettles Demographics, n.d.). Folsom Unified
5

served a population of students, 20% of whom receive free or reduced lunches, 15% of whom
were English language learners, and the racial breakdown of the residential community is 15%
Hispanic, 60% Asian, 20% white, and 5% African American (Folsom Unified Data, n.d.) and
(Folsom Demographics, n.d.). (These numbers have been rounded to protect the anonymity of
the organization.) The college administrators (deans, vice-presidents, president) at Hillside
College were a racially diverse group. Table 1 delineates the demographic breakdown for the
administration, faculty, staff and student groups at the college.
Table 1
Demographics of Hillside College groups
Group White African American Asian Hispanic
Administrators 40% 15% 25% 5%
Faculty* 50% 5% 20% 15%
Staff 25% 10% 30% 30%
Students 15% 5% 40% 25%

Note: Data retrieved from CCCO Datamart, 2022 for the fall 2021 term. Numbers have been
rounded to protect the anonymity of the organization.
*Data is for full-time faculty only
Table 1 reveals that representation of African Americans was highest among
administrators and lowest among students; however, in regard to Asians the highest percentage
representation was among students, and, regarding Hispanics, the highest percentage
representation was among staff. Perhaps not surprisingly given national demographic shifts, the
6

representation of white-identified individuals was highest among faculty (older average age) and
lowest among students (younger average age). The group that appeared to most closely mirror
the racial distribution of students was the staff. The demographic of the administrative group was
a consideration in examining the group’s knowledge and motivational influences in achieving the
stakeholder goal.
Stakeholder Group for the Study
Although a thorough analysis of this topic would have included a review of all
stakeholder groups, due to resource limitations, this researcher chose the stakeholder group of
college administrators. College administrators have a primary role in guiding distribution of
resources and creating campus culture and, thus, served as the key stakeholder group in this
study. According to Louis and Wahlstrom (2011) educational leaders have the resources and
authority to shift a school’s culture and lead organizational members to take responsibility for
institutional improvement. Thus, the administrative team was critical to meeting the goal of
increasing African American student program completion rates (see Table 2). The board of
trustees approved this goal as part of the overall 2020-2025 strategic plan in June of 2020
(Hillside Strategic Plan, 2020). This goal was measured by the spring 2021 and spring 2022
transfer and degree/certificate completion rates broken down by racial/ethnic demographics.
Table 2
Organizational mission, global goal and stakeholder goals
Organizational Mission
Hillside College’s mission is to provide academic and career training through certificate,
degree and transfer programs with excellent support services in an inclusive and equitable
environment to advance global citizenship and serve the community.
Organizational Performance Goal
7

The rates of African American students transferring to the California State University system
will rise by 20% over 2019 levels in 2020 and remain there through 2025 and the rates for
completion of degrees and certificates will increase for all students by 10% in 2020 over 2019
levels and remain there through 2025 consistently.
Stakeholder Goal
The rates of African American students transferring to the California State University system
will rise by 20% over 2019 levels in 2020 and remain there through 2025 and the rates for
completion of degrees and certificates will increase for all students by 10% in 2020 over 2019
levels and remain there through 2025 consistently.
___________________________________________________________
The purpose of this project was to evaluate the degree to which Hillside College met the
goal of increasing completion rates for African American students in 2020, 2021 and 2022. The
analysis focused on knowledge, motivational, and organizational elements related to achieving
this organizational goal. While a complete performance evaluation would focus on all
stakeholders, for practical purposes, the stakeholder group which was focused on in this analysis
was the college administration.
The questions which guided the evaluation, and which focused on the knowledge, skills,
motivation, and organizational elements for college administrators included the following:
1. To what extent is Hillside College meeting the goal of increasing completion rates for
African American students by spring 2025?
2. What is the stakeholder knowledge and motivation related to the goal of increasing
completion rates for African American students by spring 2025?
3. What was the interaction between organizational culture and context and stakeholder
knowledge and motivation?
Methodological Framework
This evaluation was a qualitative study. The study was an evaluative review dissertation
model and used interviews as the data source. There was no sampling as all dean-level and above
8

administrators were approached for an interview. The study used a modified version of the gap
analysis by Clark and Estes (2008) and reviewed the knowledge, motivation and organizational
influences on the stakeholder goal of increasing completion rates for African American students
at Hillside College by spring 2022.
Definitions
This section defines key terms used in this evaluation.
Campus racial climate: the perception by African American students of the college community
as either affirming, supportive and diverse or as hostile, exclusionary and mono-culturally white
(Wood & Harris, 2014).
Equity framework: lens to be used to view inequities in all realms of life including educational
outcomes; contrasting of three frames to illustrate problematic thinking in relation to equity
issues (Bensimon, 2005).
Five domains: the five areas of influence on African American student success (Wood & Harris,
2013).
Intrinsic interest: finding pleasure in an activity itself, without any need for external reward
(Eccles & Wigfield, 2002).
Locus of control: whether a person believes the causes of an event are a result of his or her own
behavior (internal locus) or outside of the person’s control (external locus) (Weiner, 2012).
Major certainty: a student’s level of certainty about their area of study (Wood & Harris, 2014).
Non-cognitive factors: the emotional and psychological responses of African American college
students to their environment experience (Wood & Harris, 2013).
Self-efficacy: the belief that a goal is achievable with the appropriate support and effort
(Bandura, 2006).
9

Sense of belonging: a feeling of being supported by others on campus, being connected to
others, being cared about and valued by the campus community and by individuals on campus
such as faculty, staff, administrators and other students (Strayhorn, 2012).
Two terms which require some elaboration are the equity framework (Bensimon, 2005)
and the five domains of Black male success in the community college setting (Wood, 2014). The
equity framework contrasts three perspectives regarding equity issues (Bensimon, 2005). The
first is the deficit frame which places blame on students themselves for not achieving the same
outcomes as their peers. The second is the diversity frame that celebrates diversity but takes no
responsibility for equitable outcomes. The third is the equity frame in which every person in the
organization takes personal responsibility for contributing to dismantling the system which
creates inequitable outcomes (Bensimon, 2005).
The “five domains” is a term derived from Luke Wood’s (2014) work on the domains of
Black male success in the community college setting. These five domains are the social,
noncognitive, academic, environmental and institutional domains. The social domain variables
include sports, campus peers and extracurricular activities. Those variables in the noncognitive
domain include sense of belonging, self-efficacy, locus of control and intrinsic interest. Variables
in the academic domain include faculty-student interactions, attendance, incomplete grades,
course repetition, major certainty and study habits. Factors in the environmental domain include
family responsibilities, employment, transportation and finances. And lastly, institutional domain
variables include college resources and campus racial climate (Wood and Harris, 2014). This
study focused on the college administrators’ knowledge of, motivational influences on and
organizational barriers regarding one of these domains: the non-cognitive domain.
10

Organization of the Project
The following sections of this study include a review of the literature regarding the non-
cognitive domain and its connection with student success. They also include a review of the
limited literature on the influence of administrators on African American student success. An
analysis of the knowledge and motivation of Hillside administrators regarding improving the
variables in the non-cognitive domain for African American students and the organizational
influences on this problem is a key aspect of this literature review. The Clark and Estes Gap
Analysis framework (Clark & Estes, 2008) identifying gaps in knowledge, motivation and
organizational factors related to the stakeholder goal is part of this upcoming analysis.
Additionally, there is a discussion of data collection and protocols and a section on the analysis
of the data.

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Chapter Two: Review of the Literature
Fifty-eight years after the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the U.S. still has not
found the will to address persistent and egregious inequities in educational outcomes at the
college level. African American completion rates lag behind that of white and students across
this country. The Lumina Foundation (Dyce, Albold, & Long, 2012) found that over 30% of
white adults in the U.S. have completed at least 4 years of college, but only 18% of African
American adults have done so. These inequities are tied to larger quality-of-life outcomes such
as poverty rates (Naylor, 2015) and mortality rates (Buckles et al., 2013).
This chapter includes a discussion of the importance of studying this topic and of the
influences on African American college completion rates using Wood and Harris’ (2014) five
domains theoretical framework. This will be followed by a review of the role of administrators
followed by an explanation of the knowledge, motivation and organizational influences’ lens
used in this study. Finally, there will be an analysis of the administrators’ knowledge, motivation
and organizational influences and a presentation of the conceptual framework underpinning this
analysis.
Importance of Studying African American College Success Rates
The following section identifies data which demonstrate the correlation between college
success and overall well-being. This section is a general review of such data which includes
reference to household wealth, adult mortality, infant mortality, life expectancy, poverty, adult
earnings, health behaviors and incarceration rates.
As discussed by Shapiro et al. (2013), in 2009, the median household wealth of white
families in the U.S. was $113,149 while that of black families was $5,677. One of the major
contributors to this gap was the lack of a college degree. The authors recommend broader access
to low-cost college options for low to middle income families and students of color that do not
12

require students to take on untenable debt to achieve the same levels of education as wealthier
white students. Buckles et al. (2013) demonstrate in their study that college completion reduces
the mortality rate of men aged 30-49 by a staggering 30%.
Furthermore, between 1910 and 2000, the percentage of the population which had
completed a four-year college degree grew by a factor of ten, while the infant mortality rate fell
by a factor of almost 20 (Grossman, 2015). For men, attaining a college degree lengthens life
expectancy by 9 years at age 30 as compared to those without a college degree. In her study of
the correlation between college attainment and adult economic well-being using a review of five
longitudinal studies, Torche (2011) finds that the completion of a college degree erases any
negative associations based on social origins (childhood economic status). In this sense, a college
degree is a great economic equalizer in regard to income, family wealth and occupation because
it allows people of different socio-economic backgrounds to reach the same economic status
simply based on completion of a college degree. In their research summary of poverty in
California, Bohn et al. (2019) report that higher education is strongly and consistently correlated
with lower poverty rates. For adults ages 25-64, college graduates had a 7.8% poverty rate as
compared to a 31.8% poverty rate for those without a college degree. In other words, those
without a college degree have a fourfold greater chance of living in poverty.
In their review of literature, Belfield and Bailey (2011) find that completion of an
associate degree at a community college resulted in 13% earnings increase for males and 22%
earnings increase for females. Furthermore, there is evidence that minority students experience
higher earnings gains from community college completion than whites, thus providing
compelling evidence of the importance of a community college degree in improving the socio-
economic status of African Americans. Belfield and Bailey (2011) add that the earnings premium
gained by college completion grew from 1980 to 2000 demonstrating an upward trajectory of the
13

economic benefits of college completion. Other benefits associated with years of college
attendance cited by Belfield and Bailey (2011) include reduced rates of smoking, reduced obesity
rates, reduced heavy drinking rates, and reduced reliance on the welfare system.
Lochner and Moretti (2004) found reduced rates of incarceration tied to increased years of
college attendance.
Influences on the Problem of Practice
This section addresses the factors, variables, and causes that influence African American
college success rates through a review of the literature. It begins with a review of general
theories of college success and departure and then turns to a review of more recent literature
regarding African American college student success including a review of related theories and
factors.
Research on College Departure, Persistence, and Completion
There is a variety of literature exploring factors underlying college departure, retention,
and completion including the seminal works by Tinto (1975), and Astin (1985). Using the
concepts of Maslow, Durkheim, Van Gennep and Spady, Tinto developed a Student Integration
Model which posited that a student’s commitment to a goal of completion and a commitment to
the college determines the likelihood of dropping out or persisting. Tinto further developed a
model of Student Stages of Departure (1975) which clearly delineated the stages followed by
students who leave an institution before dropping out. His model is loosely based on the Dutch
anthropologist Arnold Van Gennep’s (1960) theory of the transition of people from youth to
adulthood which includes three stages. Those stages are separation, transition and incorporation.
Using this theory of examining transitions as longitudinal rather than as a single act,
Tinto developed his theories of both student integration and student departure as multi-step
processes with steps that must be completed in a specific order. In his theory of student
14

integration, Tinto (1975) posits that, as per Van Gennep’s theory of transition (1960), there is
first a stage of student separation from their home culture and high school culture. For students at
a four-year college, this is promoted by providing students with on-campus housing. For
commuter students, this stage is more of a challenge (Tinto, 1975) because students are living at
home and still surrounded by their prior culture. The second stage is the transition stage (Tinto,
1975) in which students have initiated the separation from their past culture but are not yet fully
integrated into the campus culture. They have not yet formed strong relationships with people on
campus and are still getting to know the campus culture. They are in an “in-between” stage
(Tinto, 1975). This is the stage at which many students flounder. They don’t know how to seek
out resources needed to solve problems and may not yet have the maturity to engage in
successful problem-solving on their own (Tinto, 1975). This is also the stage at which students of
color may experience the greatest difficulty if their home cultures are significantly different from
the college culture (Tinto, 1975). This presents the opportunity for colleges to provide increased
services to students at this stage to reduce confusion and frustration and smooth this transitional
period so that students can reach the next stage of Tinto’s (1975) student integration model.
That third stage is incorporation into college. In this stage, students must adopt the norms
of the campus culture and form strong relationships with those on campus (faculty, staff,
students). Tinto (1975) states that college orientations, if robust and ongoing, can provide a
formal mechanism by which colleges can help students adopt the college norms and form
relationships. In regard to completion, Tinto’s (1975) theory is an important historical one
because it helps to explain why students drop out of college and why they do not complete their
programs.
Astin (1985b) developed a Theory of Involvement which asserted that students who do
not integrate into college life through social and academic engagement are more likely to drop
15

out. He bases his theory of student involvement on the results of a 1984 report from the Student
Group on the Conditions of Excellence in Higher Education which posited three conditions
required for an excellent learning environment: student involvement, high expectations, and
assessment and feedback.
Astin (1985b) believes that student involvement is the cornerstone of this theory and
went on to develop his theory of student involvement based on that theory. There are two basic
tenets to Astin’s theory (1985b). The first tenet is that student learning and personal development
are directly proportional to the quality and quantity of involvement by the student in their
program of study. In other words, students learn and grow by being involved in their academic
environment. This can be achieved by studying, spending time on campus, participating in
campus organizations, and interacting with faculty and other students (Astin 1985b). The second
tenet is that healthy levels of student involvement are the measurement we should use to assess
effectiveness of any educational practice or policy. Astin (1985b) further explains that his
construct of the idea of involvement is closely tied to the psychological study of motivation.
Astin presents “time on task” as an important factor in increasing student involvement.
He bases this in previous research demonstrating the correlation between student success and
other time-dependent factors such as full-time enrollment, time spent studying, living on campus,
faculty-study interaction, and extracurricular activities. Astin’s (1985b) theory of student
involvement is an important historical precursor to the more recent research on African
American student college completion which is reviewed next.
Theories Regarding African American Student College Success
There is a growing body of evidence regarding factors that are specific to African
American males espoused by Wood and Harris (2013), Harper (2013) and Strayhorn (2012);
however, Wood and Harris’ (2014) conceptual formulation of the five domains of influence on
16

African American male college success provides the most comprehensive framework for
understanding the evidence of factors that drive college success for this population. The review
of peer-reviewed literature on African American men at community colleges informed this
conceptual framework. This framework also encapsulates the influences impacting African
American women at community colleges based on a general review of the literature on African
American college student performance (Savenko, 2008).
The five domains as identified by Wood and Harris (2014) are social, noncognitive,
academic, environmental and institutional. According to Wood and Harris, each of these
domains reflects specific research-based and theoretically based influences on overall academic
success. Wood and Harris (2014) define academic success as successful persistence,
achievement, attainment and transfer. This definition aligns with the measure used by Hillside
College in assessing program completion rates of African American students. Furthermore,
Wood and Harris’ definition of academic success aligns with the California community college
system’s definition of program completion which is defined by first-time students with minimum
six units earned who attempted any math or English in first three years and achieved degree,
certificate or completion of 60 UC/CSU transferable units with GPA of 2.0 or better (CCCCO
Datamart, 2019) (Wood & Harris, 2014).
Non-Cognitive Factors Contributing to African American Student Success
Each of the domains (Wood and Harris, 2014) contains specific influencers of African
American college success as follows. The non-cognitive domain influencers are sense of
belonging, focus, self-efficacy, disidentification, degree utility, locus of control and intrinsic
interest. Due to limitations of time and resources, this study will focus only on the non-cognitive
domain.
17

Noncognitive Factors. According to the five domains theory of Wood and Harris
(2014), various noncognitive factors that impact African American male persistence and success
include sense of belonging, focus, self-efficacy, disidentification, degree utility, locus of control
and intrinsic interest. For the purposes of this study, the specific noncognitive factor under
review is sense of belonging. The literature demonstrates that sense of belonging has been
identified as a factor in student success. Baumeister et al., (1995) theorize that sense of belonging
is a basic human motivation and basic human need. In regard to Tinto’s model of integration,
Hurtado and Carter (1997) assert that it may not apply to people of color and that they may
require a sense of belonging to persist in college. Bean and Eaton (2000) assert that students who
are academically and socially integrated into the college develop positive feelings about the
college which increases their persistence. According to Osterman (2000), a strong sense of
belonging leads to greater engagement in school which consequently leads to academic success.
K-12 researchers, such as Rhee (2008), demonstrate that a sense of belonging is a requisite
underpinning to academic achievement, retention, persistence and ultimate student success. In an
expansion of the data on the utility of sense of belonging to students, Strayhorn (2012) theorizes
that African American men establish “sense of belonging” as a goal and pursue certain activities
to achieve that goal, such as:
▪ Studying hard so they can engage successfully in class
▪ Participating in study sessions to enhance skills
▪ Raising questions in class
▪ Visiting the writing center
▪ Visiting professors during office hours
▪ Participating in mentoring programs and clubs
18

According to Strayhorn (2012), these activities lead to a greater sense of belonging which is then
tied to higher college completion rates.
Role of Stakeholder Group of Focus
The development of the professional college administrator is a somewhat recent one only
becoming widespread in colleges and universities in the 20
th
century (Veysey, 1965). From the
17th century to the 20
th
, American universities and colleges managed with just a president, who
was a scholar relieved of some teaching duties. Presidents often taught and sometimes acted as
registrars, enrolling students while also conducting higher level institutional leadership duties
(Rudolph, 1990). After 1900, the administrative ranks expanded aggressively to include deans
and other professional administrators (Brubacher and Rudy, 2002).
Colleges and universities traditionally have a three-tiered structure of president, vice
presidents and deans to run the institution (Rudolph, 1990). The duties of college administrators
are to simultaneously manage the bureaucracy and provide ideological leadership (Kalargyrou et
al., 2012). Some language from the job descriptions for administrators at Hillside College
include “provide leadership to the college’s faculty, classified staff, and administrators in the
areas of instruction, student services, and general administration” ; and “to ensure student
success by strategically aligning resources of an assigned community college campus with
district and campus values and priorities” from the job description for the president (Hillside
President job description, n.d.). The vice-presidents are charged with planning, organizing,
directing and reviewing the activities and operations of their area of assignment (e.g., office of
instruction or student services division). Deans are charged with planning, organizing, directing
and coordinating activities in their area of assignment and supporting the vice-presidents.
Aside from these managerial duties specified in the job descriptions, another important
responsibility of administrators is to be perceived as a leader on campus (Fisher and Koch,
19

1996). Duignan and Macpherson (1993) further define the role of college administrators to serve
as “value-based leaders” whose role is to generate knowledge about and promote effective
teaching and learning. These are the generally accepted roles of the administrator group which
serves as the stakeholder group for this study.
There is limited literature outlining the link between college administrators and student
success. Kezar et al. (2015) assert that college administrators are critical players in improving
student success because they have control over resources which can be used to incentivize
faculty behavioral change through the use of professional development and performance
rewards. In a study of the impact of the values of college deans on the level of support for non-
tenure-track faculty, Gehrke and Kezar (2015) find that dean attitudes about the importance of
support for adjunct faculty are strong predictors of whether a college will have supportive
practices and policies in place to support adjuncts. This demonstrates the link between
administrator attitudes and actual levels of support for a stakeholder group in the college and
may suggest that administrator beliefs and motivations similarly may impact levels of support for
students.
Similarly, Bensimon (2007) asserts that successful educational programs, strategies and
policies are reliant on the knowledge, values and practices of those who implement them. In
other words, the knowledge and motivation of administrators are determinants in the success of
educational offerings, aka student success. According to her, these individuals are practitioners
and can be administrators, among others. And in her study of organizational change, Kezar
(2001) finds that institutional change directed at improving student success is more successful
when change agents (such as administrators and others) align the change strategy and the actual
desired change, which requires more knowledge about the cause of the problem requiring the
change. This requires the acquisition of knowledge about root causes by the change agents, such
20

as administrators. Kezar's work demonstrates the link between leaders' knowledge levels and
general outcomes.
Clark and Estes’ (2008) Knowledge, Motivation and Organizational Influences Framework
Clark and Estes (2008) offer a useful framework for identifying potential causes for
stakeholder performance problems. Their gap analysis framework begins with identification of
three levels of goals: long term, intermediate and day-to-day. The next step is to determine the
current actual performance of stakeholders and measure how far the performance is from the
three levels of goals. This identifies the gap in stakeholder performance. In order to close the gap
between goal and actual performance, the framework then requires an analysis and identification
of the causes for the gaps. Clark and Estes (2008) establish three primary influences for
performance gaps: (a) lack of appropriate knowledge and skills; (b) lack of appropriate
motivation to achieve the goal; and (c) organizational barriers such as lack of resources or
cultural resistance.
Krathwohl (2002) defines four types of knowledge which prove useful in this gap
analysis framework: (a) factual; (b) conceptual; (c) procedural; and (d) metacognitive. In the
process of analyzing the causes for the performance gaps, Krathwohl’s (2002) distinctions enable
a more refined identification of the specific types of knowledge missing from stakeholders and
needed to close the performance gap. In regard to motivational influences on stakeholder
performance gaps, Clark and Estes (2008) identify three primary potential sources of gaps in
motivation: (a) failure to actively choose the appropriate work goal or active choice; (b) lack of
persistence; (c) lack of appropriate mental effort. Rueda (2011) adds the following further
variables in the motivational dimension: (a) self-efficacy beliefs (beliefs about one’s ability to
reach a goal); (b) attributions (beliefs one has about the reasons for success or failure); (c) value
placed on a task; and (d) goals. Lastly, organizational influences on stakeholder performance as
21

defined by Clark and Estes (2008) include work processes, material resources and value streams.
These influences can negatively impact a stakeholder’s ability to achieve a performance goal.
The gap analysis conducted regarding the stakeholders’ performance gap includes
references to the above influences. First, there is an analysis of the assumed knowledge,
motivation and organizational influences on the college’s administrators which will follow the
discussion of the stakeholder goal. This references literature on the role of student sense of
belonging on program completion and on effective practices in retention, persistence and
program completion regarding African American students as part of the knowledge required by
administrators to achieve the stakeholder goal. The next section includes a discussion of the
assumed motivational influences at play with college administrators in regard to achieving the
stakeholder goal. It further includes discussion of the assumed organizational influences and
barriers to achieving the performance goal.
Stakeholder Knowledge, Motivation and Organizational Influences
Knowledge Influences

This section reviews the literature relevant to the assumed knowledge influences on
administrators at Hillside College in attaining the stakeholder goal of increasing African
American completion rates. Krathwohl (2002) defines four types of knowledge which prove
useful in this gap analysis framework: (a) factual; (b) conceptual; (c) procedural; and (d)
metacognitive. Each of the two selected knowledge influences will be categorized into one of
these knowledge types in order to identify the best solutions to each knowledge influence.
Different knowledge types benefit from different types of solutions (Krathwohl, 2002).
Knowledge Influence 1: Noncognitive Factors in African American Student
Completion. The first knowledge influence on Hillside College administrators in regard to the
problem of practice is what Wood and Harris (2014) refer to as noncognitive factors.
22

Noncognitive factors include affective factors (Harper, 2013) and sense of belonging (Wood &
Harris, 2014).
Sense of Belonging as a Factor in African American Student Completion. Knowledge
of how a sense of belonging among African American students impacts college completion is the
selected non-cognitive knowledge factor which influences Hillside College administrators in
their pursuit of their stakeholder goal. This goal is to increase the completion rate for African
American students at the college. This knowledge-type is conceptual. Harper (2013) has
established that a sense of belonging is tied to positive outcomes for African American men at
predominantly white institutions. He has found that African American male students who feel
they belong at the college and are respected by faculty have higher rates of baccalaureate
completion. Wood and Harris (2013) have also found that a sense of belonging in African
American males is tied to college success. Wood and Harris (2013) demonstrate that sense of
belonging is one of multiple non-cognitive factors linked to college completion for men of color.
Strayhorn (2012), in his literature review and discussion of his own quantitative and qualitative
studies’ findings found that African American men establish a sense of belonging as a goal and
pursue certain activities to achieve that goal, such as studying hard so they can engage
successfully in class. Other activities they engage in pursuit of that goal include (a) participating
in study sessions to enhance skills, (b) raising questions in class, (c) visiting the writing center,
(d) visiting professors during office hours, and (e) participating in mentoring programs and
clubs. Strayhorn (2012) found these activities lead to a greater sense of belonging which is then
tied to higher college completion rates.
23

Knowledge Influence 2: Strategies for Increasing African American Student College
Completion. The second knowledge influence on administrators at Hillside College is the
knowledge of strategies for improving program completion rates for African American students
in order to achieve the stakeholder goal of improving those rates by spring 2025. This knowledge
influence is procedural. Pena et al., (2006) described a method of turning practitioners such as
teachers and administrators into researchers through an equity-minded inquiry process. In this
process, practitioners develop questions about equity gaps, engage in collaborative dialog with
students and colleagues and then revise, implement and evaluate new practices and policies. This
process can lead practitioners to experiment and test new strategies with students until they reach
successful outcomes such as a high sense of belonging among students, including African
American students.
Bensimon (2007) asserts that institutions are not able to achieve equitable outcomes
because practitioners do not have the appropriate procedural knowledge specifically about
equity-minded practices that would lead to higher student satisfaction and success. Once
practitioners have completed the inquiry process and created new practices, behaviors and
policies, they are able to undo biased practices. There are four categories of strategies which
increase student completion: (a) faculty-based strategies, (b) peer-based strategies (c) classroom
and programmatic-based strategies and (d) programmatic and institutional-based strategies. This
literature demonstrates the importance of the specific procedural knowledge of equity-based
practices in order to address the stakeholder goal of closing the program completion achievement
gap between African American students and other demographic groups at Hillside College.
Faculty-Based Strategies Regarding Student Sense of Belonging. Evidence exists of
numerous strategies which faculty can implement to increase student sense of belonging which
thus increases student completion (Osterman, K. F., 2000). According to Newman, et al. (2015),
24

African American men’s sense of belonging is strongly influenced by receiving validating
messages from faculty. This is further reinforced by studies by the Center for Community
College Student Engagement study on men of color in community colleges (CCCSE, 2014).
Wood and Harris (2013) assert more broadly that student engagement with faculty in
general is linked to a sense of belonging for male community college students. Wood and Harris
(2013) further assert that the following sentiments by male students are correlated with a higher
sense of belonging:
▪ I talk with professors about academic matters inside of class
▪ I talk with professors about academic matters outside of class
▪ I talk with professors about personal matters (personal, family, current
events) outside of class
▪ I talk with professors about course grades
Rendon (1994, 2002, 2011) expands the circle of influence to include staff. According to Rendon
(1994, 2002, 2011), both faculty and staff validation increases nontraditional student sense of
belonging.
Bensimon and Dowd (2009) further refine the rules of engagement by proposing that
educators need to initiate the contact for validation to be meaningful. Lastly, Freeman et al.
(2007) posit that instructor characteristics of warmth, support of peer-to-peer interaction and
encouragement of class participation is linked to a sense of belonging among students.
Peer-Based Strategies Regarding Sense of Belonging. In addition to faculty-based
strategies, there are peer-based strategies which have been found to positively influence student
sense of belonging. Hausmann et al. (2007) posit that for students to feel a sense of belonging,
they need to be involved and engaged with peers. Strayhorn (2008) asserts that frequent
interaction with diverse peers is most highly correlated with higher sense of belonging. And
25

Mendoza-Denton and Page-Gould (2008) conclude that students of color who have cross-racial
friendships with white students have a higher sense of belonging.
Classroom and Programmatic Strategies Regarding Sense of Belonging. The literature
demonstrates that there are numerous classroom and programmatically- based strategies which
can improve student sense of belonging. Starting with programmatic strategies, Harper and
Quaye (2007) demonstrate that for students to feel a sense of belonging, they need to be engaged
with student organizations. Kuh et al. (2001) concurs with this perspective that for students to
feel a sense of belonging, they need to be involved with educational programs and services.
Some other sample practices which have been demonstrated to improve a sense of belonging
among African American students are activities that allow for development of meaningful
relationships with peers, activities that demonstrate faculty interest in students, and in and out-of-
class activities which allow students to feel alignment with the institution’s academic values
(Hausman et al, 2009).
Evidence exists of the types of pedagogical practices that are correlated with student
sense of belonging. Freeman et al. (2007) assert that instructors with well-organized classrooms
increase student sense of belonging. Karp et al. (2008) conclude that classrooms that encourage
discussions that lead to friendships may lead to a greater sense of belonging. Jehangir’s (2009)
findings demonstrate that first year experience programs for first generation college students lead
to a higher sense of belonging.
Table 3 shows the aforementioned knowledge influences, types of knowledge and
assessments that were used for each knowledge influence to determine where knowledge gaps
exist and to what degree. This assessment, described by Clark and Estes (2008) as a gap analysis,
identified which specific knowledge influences were missing from the stakeholder group of
administrators at Hillside College.
26

Table 3
Knowledge Influences, Types, and Assessments

Dissertation Model: _X_Evaluation __Improvement __Innovation __Promising Practice

Organizational Mission
Hillside College’s mission is to provide academic and career training through certificate,
degree and transfer programs with excellent support services in an inclusive and equitable
environment to advance global citizenship and serve the community.

Organizational Global Goal
The rates of African American students transferring to the California State University system
will rise by 20% over 2019 levels in 2020 and remain there through 2025 and the rates for
completion of degrees and certificates will increase for all students by 10% in 2020 over 2019
levels and remain there through 2025 consistently.

Stakeholder Goal
By 2025, the rates of African American students transferring to the California State University
system will rise by 20% over 2019 levels in 2020 and remain there through 2025 and the rates
for completion of degrees and certificates will increase for all students by 10% in 2020 over
2019 levels and remain there through 2025 consistently.
Knowledge
Influence
Knowledge Type (i.e., declarative (factual or
conceptual), procedural, or metacognitive)
Knowledge Influence
Assessment
Noncognitive
Factors in
African
American
Student
Completion

Source of
knowledge:
literature
Conceptual knowledge
Stakeholder knowledge of:
● Sense of belonging relationship with
positive outcomes for students of color

Interview questions:
What is your
understanding of the
term “sense of
belonging” as it relates
to college students?

How do you think an
African American
student’s “sense of
belonging” or lack
thereof impacts their
likelihood of
completing their
educational program?

Strategies for
Increasing
African
American
Student College
Completion

Procedural knowledge
Stakeholder knowledge of practices that result in:
● Program completion by African
American students

Stakeholder knowledge of:
Interview questions:
Are you aware of any
strategies that are
effective for faculty to
use to improve African
American student
program success rates?
27

Source of
knowledge:
literature
● faculty-based practices
● peer-based practices
● classroom and student services-based
strategies

What strategies do you
believe student peers
can use to improve
program completion
rates of African
American students?

Now please describe a
strategy that can be
used in the classroom
or by a student service
program that you
believe would improve
program completion
rates for African
American students?
Motivational
Influences
Motivational Type Motivational Influence
Assessment
College
administrators
should believe
that they are
capable of
increasing the
program
completion rate
of African
American
students
through their
efforts to create
programming,
dedicate
resources, and
model the
equity mindset.
Self-Efficacy Interview questions:
Discuss your level of
confidence in yourself
to improve African
American student
program completion
rates at Hillside
College.

If provided training in
the equity mindset and
strategies to improve
African American
student completion
rates, how might that
change your level of
confidence in your
ability to increase this
measure?

Cultural
Influences
Cultural Influence Type Cultural Influence
Assessment
Administrators
need guidance
on training
materials and
Cultural setting Interview questions: In
what areas would you
like to learn more in
order to improve
28

opportunities to
learn an equity
mindset
African American
student completion
rates?

Of all the support
administrators could
receive to improve
these completion rates,
where would you place
training in a ranking of
importance?
Administrators
need to have
clear
benchmarks set
for them to
reach along
with some
recommended
strategies to
achieve them
Cultural setting Interview question: Do
you see any value in
the college establishing
specific benchmarks
for administrators to
reach in regard to
African American
completion rates?

Motivational Influences
Motivation is the process that compels individuals to take action to resolve problems.
According to Clark and Estes (2008), motivation is an internal psychological process that is key
to getting us started on an action, keeping us propelled to continue with that action, and moving
us to complete the action. If knowledge is what determines how we perform a job and whether
we are performing the right actions, motivation is what ensures that we actually take action to
completion. This section will be a review of literature that focuses on motivation-related
influences on the achievement of the stakeholder goal of increasing the completion rates of
African American students at Hillside College.
Motivation is key to the attainment of this stakeholder goal because, according to Rueda
(2011), motivation determines whether an individual chooses to work toward a goal, whether
they choose to persist until they reach that goal, and how much mental effort they choose to
29

invest in achieving the goal. Thus, without adequate motivation, the stakeholder group of
administrators will not take any action to achieve the goal of increasing the completion rates of
African American students at the college. Rueda (2011) describes the following five influences
on individual motivation: self-efficacy, attribution, value, interest, and goals.
The definitions of some key terms are an important aspect of understanding the literature
on motivational influences. Bandura defines self-efficacy as “people’s judgments of their
capabilities to organize and execute the course of action required to attain designated levels of
performances” (Bandura, 1986, p.391). Attributions are the beliefs a person has about why an
action succeeds or fails (Rueda, 2011). Rueda describes value as the level of importance a
person assigns to a task (i.e., “How important is this task?”). Rueda further states that interest is
linked to motivational influence because the intrinsic motivation ties to the task based on
personal interest. Lastly, goals as a motivational influence is defined by Rueda as an
achievement a person wants to attain. Efficacy and attribution are the two most influential
motivational factors for the stakeholders in this review because, without them, it is unlikely that
any of the other motivational influences would develop for this set of stakeholders.
Bandura’s definition of self-efficacy (Bandura, 1986) is applicable to this study by determining
whether or not the administrators at Hillside College feel they have the capability to implement
strategies to increase African American program completion. If they do not, they are unlikely to
pursue a goal to achieve such an outcome.
Eccles (2006) further expands the concept of self-efficacy to describe motivation. In this
framework, the choices people make related to achievement (e.g., level of effort in an endeavor)
are dependent on two factors. Eccles describes those factors as, first, the confidence a person has
in his or her own ability to achieve an outcome and, second, whether the person places high
value on that achievement and outcome. Applying Eccles’ theory to this study, Hillside
30

administrators who do not have confidence in their ability to produce positive outcomes for
African American students and those who do not place high value on these outcomes will likely
not exert effort to reach those results. The following sections contain a discussion of the
motivational influence of self-efficacy from a research foundation.
Self-Efficacy Theory. Bandura (2000) describes self-efficacy as an individual’s self-
belief about their own capacity to learn or achieve. According to Bandura’s framework, an
individual’s belief in their own ability to be successful in a particular endeavor has a significant
impact on their choices and the ultimate outcome of that endeavor (Bandura, 2005). Pajares
(2006) describes self-efficacy within the framework of social cognitive theory. In this
framework, positive thoughts lead to higher performance and negative thoughts lead to lower
performance. This is a result of self-efficacy beliefs influencing self-regulatory practices used by
individuals to change or reinforce causal thoughts or actions. Eccles (2006) further posits that if a
person has confidence in their own ability to effect a positive outcome, and places a value on that
outcome, they are more likely to achieve the outcome
College administrator self-efficacy. College administrators should believe that they are
capable of improving African American outcomes through their efforts to create programming,
dedicate resources and model the equity mindset. This motivational influence is tied to self-
efficacy theory. In applying the theoretical work by Bandura (2002), Pajares (2006), and Eccles
(2006) to the Hillside College setting, one can theorize that if the administrators at Hillside
College have confidence in their own ability to improving African American completion rates
and place a high value on that outcome, they will be more likely to achieve that outcome. This
is, in part, due to the level of effort the students exert based on their sense of self-confidence and
self-efficacy. According to Pajares (2006), self-efficacy beliefs have a direct impact on the level
of effort exerted on a challenge, the degree of persistence to overcome that challenge, and how
31

resilient one is in the face of adversity. Increasing the completion rates of African American
students is a challenge which requires a sustained and substantial effort by administrators, and so
the self-efficacy beliefs of those administrators is key to the achievement of this outcome.
Table 3 shows the aforementioned knowledge, motivation, and organizational influences
and the assessments that will be used for each motivational influence to determine where the
motivational gaps exist and to what degree. This assessment, described by Clark and Estes
(2008) as a gap analysis, will identify which specific motivational influences are missing from
the stakeholder group of administrators at Hillside College.
Organizational Influences
Gallimore and Goldenberg (2001) posit that an effective way of looking at cultural
influence on an organization is to divide it into two distinct key concepts: (a) cultural settings
and (b) cultural settings. A cultural setting is a shared understanding by organizational members
of how things should work in an organization (Gallimore & Goldenberg, 2001). This includes a
shared understanding of what is valued, the roles of individuals, and the rules of interaction. A
cultural setting is a shared activity engaged in by employees in the organization to accomplish
something they mutually care about (Gallimore & Goldenberg, 2001).
Stakeholder Specific Factors. Institutions of higher education which produce equity
gaps in achievement rates of students of color are in need of a shift in both cultural setting and
cultural setting (Bensimon, 2005). cultural settingThe cultural setting shift which must occur is
the shifting of resources to train college actors (faculty, staff, administrators) on equity practices
and to then hold them accountable for using that training to produce equitable outcomes
(Bensimon, 2007).
Table 3 includes the cultural settingcultural setting influences on administrators’ ability
to achieve the organizational goal.
32

Conceptual Framework: The Interaction of Stakeholders’ Knowledge and Motivation and
the Organizational Context
A conceptual framework is a tentative theory in relation to a research question
constructed by a researcher based on existing literature, the personal experience of the
researcher, and thought experiments (Maxwell, 2013). The purpose of this framework is to
inform a research study’s goals, research questions, research methods, and validity threats to the
conclusion (Maxwell, 2013). The framework further clarifies the most relevant concepts that
undergird the research study. Specifically, in regard to the research methods, this framework will
influence the choice of sampling methods, types of data collected, and approach to data analysis
(Maxwell, 2013).
In regard to this study, this researcher identified the knowledge and motivational
influences on administrators’ ability to achieve the goal of narrowing the course completion
achievement gap between African American students and other demographic groups, and the
organizational influences on the attainment of that goal. These influences have been presented
heretofore as influences independent of each other; however, there are important ways in which
they interact with each other which will be explained and graphically represented next.

33

Graphic Representation
Figure 1.
Hillside College Knowledge, Motivation and Organizational Influences on African American
Student Program Completion

Hillside College
Equity Mindset Cultural Setting: The college needs to
provide more training and resources to administrators to
improve African American completion rates; and the
college needs to set benchmarks for administrators to
reach to achieve the organizational goal
Hillside College Administrators
Knowledge (Conceptual) – administrators must understand sense of
belonging and its relationship with program completion rates for
African American students;
Knowledge (Procedural) – administrators must know how to
implement practices which result in program completion for African
American students;
Motivation (Self-Efficacy) – administrators must believe that they are
capable of increasing African American program completion.
Increasing degree, certificate, and
transfer completion rates among
African American students
34

In the above Figure 1, the blue circle represents the organization’s cultural settingcultural setting
requirements to reach the goal, i.e., the organization’s area of responsibility to achieve the goal
of increasing African American completion rates. The green oval represents the specific
knowledge and motivations required by administrators at Hillside College to reach the goal. This
circle includes two knowledge requirements and one motivational requirement. The yellow
rectangle represents the stakeholder’s goal (administrator’s goal) of increasing African American
completion rates.
The stakeholder’s circle placed within the larger organization’s circle represents the
primacy of the organization’s role in achieving the stakeholder goal. Without the organization
providing the needed support through establishing the appropriate equity-mindset cultural setting
via clarification of expectations and via training, administrators will face obstacles in reaching
the stakeholder goal (Bensimon, 2005). The establishment of the organization’s equity mindset
culture makes possible the stakeholders’ attainment of knowledge and motivation (Bensimon,
2007). Thus, the organization’s circle is the larger outer circle which supports the smaller inner
circle of the stakeholder. This representation reflects the dependency of the stakeholder on the
larger organizational context to achieve the goal. This also represents the way in which the
stakeholder’s knowledge and motivation are part and parcel of a larger organizational culture
(Clark & Estes, 2008). When behavior leads to shared knowledge and motivation, it reflects
overall organizational culture and, thus, administrators who acquire the appropriate knowledge
and motivation and act on it will be creating the desired equity mindset culture.
The unidirectional arrow from the large blue organizational circle to the yellow rectangle
represents that the goal will be reached by the successful implementation of the organizational
cultural setting and, as a subset, of the stakeholder’s acquisition and development of the outlined
knowledge and motivation.
35

Summary
The purpose of this study was to examine the Hillside College administrators’ knowledge
and motivation and their organizational influences on African American student program
completion. The literature in this chapter presented some theoretical frameworks through which
to understand factors which are correlated with African American student program completion.
The first framework is the Wood and Harris (2014) theory of five domains of influence on this
group’s completion rates. The second framework is the Clark and Estes (2006) KMO influences
framework. This framework identifies the knowledge and motivation of the stakeholder group
(administrators) and the organizational influences on African American student program
completion. These KMOs were presented in this chapter. The Clark and Estes (2006) conceptual
framework with graphic representation showed the relationship between the stakeholder goal of
increasing program completion rates for African American students and the KMO influences.
The third framework is Estela Bensimon’s equity framework (2007) which promotes holding all
organizational personnel responsible for student outcomes. This framework is used to set the
expectation that all administrators must be held responsible via accountability measure to
achieve the organizational and stakeholder goal of increasing completion rates. The next chapter,
chapter three, will explain the study’s methodological approach.

36

Chapter Three: Methods
This study reviewed the knowledge, motivation and organizational influences on African
American program completion rates. The stakeholder group in this study was the administrators
at Hillside College. This chapter is a review of the research design and methods for data
collection and analysis. The research questions for this study were as follows.
1. To what extent was Hillside College meeting the goal of increasing program
completion rates for African American students by spring 2022?
2. What was the stakeholder knowledge and motivation related to the goal of increasing
completion rates for African American students by spring 2022?
3. What was the interaction between organizational culture and context and stakeholder
knowledge and motivation?
The remainder of this chapter includes a description of the stakeholder group and the
criteria for their selection, the selection criteria for participation in the study, and the protocol
and sample questions for the interviews conducted. It further reviews the data analysis of data
collected and then a discussion of the strategies used to maximize credibility and trustworthiness
and validity and reliability. Finally, there is a discussion of the ethical questions involved in
conducting the study.
Participating Stakeholders
The stakeholder population of focus was the administrators at Hillside College (a
pseudonym). Deans, vice presidents and the president made up this administrative group. This
was a group of 15 individuals. All 15 individuals were requested to interview and 11 participated
in the study.
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The Researcher
The primary researcher is the president of a community college in the western United
States and has served in multiple roles in various community colleges including faculty, dean,
and vice-president. Furthermore, she identifies as an Asian American woman. She did not use
her own institution for this study due to her role as supervisor over all middle and senior
administrators and the conflict this would pose in regard to placing undue pressure on
administrators to participate in the study for their own perceived job security, the potential for
participants to feel pressure to respond in a particular way in the interviews to meet perceived
expectations of the researcher/president, and the potential for the researcher/president to allow
responses of the participants to impact her supervision of these administrators. Instead, the
researcher selected another community college with whom she had no affiliation as the site of
her study to increase objectivity.
This researcher’s potential biases included biases which may have arisen from her status
as an Asian American woman interviewing white participants about their knowledge of racial
disparities. This may have presented a bias against those who did not demonstrate an expected
level of awareness of how to mitigate these disparities. Additional potential biases may have
stemmed from this researcher’s higher level of knowledge and training in the field of equity gaps
than her participants. There may have been a bias against participants who had a lower level of
knowledge and training. Merriam and Tisdell (2015) discuss the importance of a researcher’s
awareness of their own biases in order to mitigate them in the process of data collection and in
the discussion of the data.
In order to increase the validity of the study, the researcher selected a classmate in the
USC Rossier School of Education Ed.D program to serve as a research associate. The primary
researcher had assisted this classmate with interviews for his doctoral study prior to the onset of
38

this study. This research associate conducted five of the eleven interviews for this study. The
primary researcher conducted the remaining six.
Interviews
Interview Sampling Criteria and Rationale
Criterion 1. An administrator at Hillside College between fall 2021 and summer 2022.
This was the stakeholder group being studied.
Interview Sampling Strategy and Rationale

Because the stakeholder group was a small group of 15 people, all 15 administrators were
requested to interview. Eleven administrators responded to the request and were interviewed.
This was consistent with the conceptual framework because it produced a complete set of data
reflecting the knowledge and motivational influences of the entire administrative team at Hillside
College regarding African American student program completion rates.
Data Collection and Instrumentation
The conceptual framework served as the foundation of the data collection method of
interviews selected for this study. Because this conceptual framework called for identifying the
knowledge and motivational influences of administrators at Hillside College, this researcher
determined that interviews would be an effective method of identifying existing knowledge base
of these administrators regarding the completion rates for African American students, and the
relationship between one of the five domains of influence on African American college
completion (Wood and Harris, 2014) and actual college completion. Interviews provided in-
depth responses to questions and allowed the interviewer to ask follow-up questions.
The choice of interviews as a data source arose from Bowen’s (2009) assertion that they
provide a rich data source. By including in-depth interviews with administrators to determine
their knowledge and motivation this study had rich data which comprised low-inference field
39

notes and verbatim transcriptions of the interviews (Bowen, 2009). The interviews helped
examine the K, M and O influences on the institutional goal of increasing African American
completion rates. The interviews helped answer the research question #2 regarding the
stakeholder knowledge and motivation related to the goal of increased African American success
rates.
Each administrator was interviewed during the fall 2021 through summer 2022 data
collection period. Merriam and Tisdale (2016) emphasize the importance of finding a group from
which the most can be learned. This principle of extracting the richest data drove the decision to
seek to interview all the college administrators at dean level and above. The researcher and her
associate sent out an email requesting a Zoom interview via email to the campus emails of the 15
administrators with a message briefly explaining the subject of the evaluation study and a request
to respond to the email with available times to be interviewed. The interviews were anonymous
in that identifying information was not recorded for each interview by the researcher or research
associate. The message focused on convenience for the administrators in order to maximize their
participation. Given the time constraints (all interviews had to be completed by summer 2022
due to the deadline for dissertations for the USC Rossier School of Education’s Organizational
Change and Leadership Ed.D program), interviews were conducted in fall 2021 by a research
associate and spring/summer 2022 by the primary researcher. A research associate was used for
some participants, in part, to increase study validity. Five of the eleven interviews were
conducted by the research associate. The processing of data occurred in summer 2022.
Interview Procedures
Interviews were conducted during the fall of 2021, and spring and summer of 2022.
Interviews took place in the months of November and December 2021 and January, February,
May and June of 2022. This timing was selected primarily due to administrator schedules. The
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interviews required a one-hour commitment of time. Hillside College administrators were
available in November, December, January, February, May and June. The interviews were
anonymous in that no identifying information was recorded by the researcher or research
technician. In addition, the interviews were voluntary. The initial incentive offer to the
stakeholders was a $100 gift card for an e-retailer. After multiple requests for interviews were
sent out, the incentive was raised to a $500 gift card to increase participation. Due to the COVID
pandemic, the interviews were all conducted via phone or Zoom and were transcribed. The
transcriptions were used as the primary data source for analysis. The goal was to interview 75%
of the administrators (11 individuals) given the voluntary nature of the participation. An
additional incentive included in the original email was that the researcher would donate $1000 to
the Umoja program (an African American culture learning community) if all 15 administrators
participated. One individual requested that their gift card be given directly to the Umoja
program.
There was one interview with each of the 11 administrators at the college. Each interview
lasted approximately one hour. The total hours for all interviews was 11. These were semi-
structured interviews, with 13 pre-written questions, but also the option for follow-up probe
questions to extract more detailed data. According to Patton (2002), probes are useful in helping
get more detail from respondents on a particular topic. The interviews were conducted over
Zoom (due to COVID health concerns) and recorded using a transcription software called
Otter.ai. The transcriptions were housed on the Otter.ai site for storage until the data analysis
phase. The Otter.ai site is secure and requires a password which is only known by the primary
researcher. The choice of using Zoom was made to provide consistency across all interviews.
Data was captured both through audio-visual recordings and field notes taken by the interviewer.
Weiss (1994) points out that using an audio recorder might inhibit respondents from answering
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honestly, but Maxwell (2013) stresses the importance of rich data which includes both audio
recordings and descriptive note taking. This type of data can improve the credibility and
trustworthiness of the data (Merriam and Tisdell, 2016).
Interview Protocol
The researcher used a semi-structured protocol for the interviews. The interviews were a
standardized open-ended structure. This approach was the best for data collection for this
purpose because it preserved consistency but also allowed for some flexibility in exploring
meaning with subjects through probes (Merriam and Tisdell, 2016). In addition, as Patton (2002)
points out, the interview method is useful because it allows a researcher to gather information
that cannot be gathered through observation. Additionally, according to Patton (2002), it is an
exact instrument that is open to examination by others, it minimizes interviewer-based variation,
it is a highly efficient method of data gathering, and it facilitates analysis due to the ease of
locating responses and the similarity in the format of responses. The conceptual framework for
this study was that Hillside College needed to establish clear expectations and provide dedicated
training to administrators to meet the requirements of an equity mindset. The expectations
required to establish this mindset are that administrators accept their primary role in improving
the African American completion rate and that each administrator should be assigned specific
benchmarks related to African American completion rates which they are individually
responsible for reaching. The training the college needed to provide was in the concept of sense
of belonging among African American students, its relationship to college completion and the
strategies for increasing African American completion rates and sense of belonging.
The interview included questions about the administrators’ knowledge and motivation
and their perceptions of organizational influences, specifically in regard to African American
student program completion rates. The knowledge-related questions asked the administrators
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about their knowledge of practices that improve African American completion rates, their level
of expertise in knowing how to improve these completion rates, and their understanding of a
sense of belonging among African American students. These questions were directly tied to the
conceptual framework’s theory that these administrators should have possessed specific
knowledge regarding how to improve African American student completion rates in order for
them to have improved. This portion of the interview was expected to ascertain whether these
administrators actually had this procedural and conceptual knowledge.
The motivation questions included questions on the administrators’ level of confidence in
their ability to improve completion rates among African American students, how additional
training might have changed this level of confidence, and what they believed might have been
primary forces in improving these completion rates for African American students. These
questions were related to the conceptual framework in that the framework’s assumption is that
administrators need to have a minimal level of motivation (sense of self-efficacy) regarding their
ability to improve completion rates among African American students in order to be able to
actually make those improvements. The questions helped determine whether the administrators
had that minimal level of motivation.
The organizational barriers questions included questions regarding describing the role of
administrators in an ideal organization in relation to improving African American completion
rates, training needed to achieve the organizational goal, and accountability measures that should
have been in place for administrators to improve completion rates for this population. These
questions were tied to the conceptual framework in that the framework assumes that
organizational barriers must be removed in order for African American completion rates to
improve. These questions determined what those organizational barriers might have been and
what it might have taken to remove them.
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Of course, the wording of the questions was an important factor in making these
determinations listed above. According to Krueger and Casey (2009), the question must be
clearly understood by the respondent in order for the answer to be of value. Appropriate wording
of the questions was vetted by an expert in equity issues and a trained researcher. These
questions which guided the evaluation, focused on the knowledge, skills, motivation and
organizational elements for college administrators. See Appendix A for a complete list of
questions.
Data Analysis
The data which was analyzed for this study included transcripts of each interview and the
completion rates for African American students in spring 2022. The transcribed interviews were
analyzed using qualitative methods such in vivo and a priori coding and creation of an axial code
book. On the basis of this axial code book, themes were identified in each of the three categories
of study: knowledge, motivation and organizational influence. The researcher reviewed each
transcript and coded the transcript based on the variables studied and the conceptual framework.
Examples of potential codes are knowledge influences, motivational influences and
organizational influences. These coded references to the transcript were then analyzed on a
master grid by code category, interviewee, and frequency. Finally, the master grid was reviewed
for patterns of codes and themes in regard to the conceptual framework and research questions.
As an example of patterns, in assessing the in vivo codes (empirical) in the transcripts, the
researcher identified twenty-four unique a priori codes (deductive based on the framework) on
the topic of sense of belonging. The completion rates in spring 2022 were analyzed to identify
whether African American student completion rates had met the goals established by the
organization. Not meeting the goals meant that the first research question had been answered
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negatively and that the remaining findings regarding KMO influences could be seen as
explanatory as to why the organization had not met their goals.
Credibility and Trustworthiness
The strategies which were used to enhance credibility and trustworthiness in this study
included clarifying researcher’s bias and providing rich data. The use of rich data was a
recommendation of Maxwell (2013) to enhance credibility and trustworthiness. Rich data was
used by including in-depth interviews with administrators to determine their knowledge and
motivation. Audio recordings were made, and detailed field notes taken during the interviews
noting observations by the interviewer. These two methods are recommended by Maxwell
(2013) as a source of rich data. Maxwell (2013) recommends addressing researcher bias by
understanding how it might affect analysis. To reduce researcher bias, a research associate
conducted some of the interviews. This provided a mixture of sources of descriptive notes for
analysis and provided a mixture of interviewer styles to conduct the interviews and determine
how to ask the questions and when to ask follow-up questions.
Validity and Reliability
Maxwell (2012) describes validity as the correctness or credibility of a particular account.
He provides particular strategies to improve the validity and reliability of data being collected.
For the interviews conducted, the strategies recommended by Maxwell (2012) which were used
were rich data, respondent validation, and numbers. Both verbatim transcripts of interviews and
detailed field notes fall into the category of rich data, according to Maxwell (2012). These
transcripts and field notes were central to the data analysis performed to reach research
conclusions. Respondent validation is another method of improving data validity. This involves
checking with the stakeholder group on conclusions being drawn from the data to minimize
misinterpretation and bias. Preliminary conclusions on the data were shared with an
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administrative representative for feedback in this study. Lastly, numbers were used as part of the
data analysis. In addition to the pure number data of the completion rate of African American
students as compared to other demographic groups, the data included a numerical accounting of
the presence of particular codes in the interview transcript analysis. Patterns were identified
based on these codes and translated into a numerical accounting of the presence of particular
codes in each interview.
In order to minimize the perception and potential real impact of researcher bias, the
researcher conducted only some of the interviews. An objective interviewer was enlisted to
conduct some of the interviews. Weiss (1994) describes recording interviews as a method of
improving validity but with a cost. The validity is improved because there is a verbatim
recording of the words of the interviewee but recording interviews can also inhibit the honesty of
the interviewee.
One challenge in selecting a small (15) group of interviewees was to maximize
participation rate. Given the optional nature of participation in this process and the busy
schedules of administrators at Hillside College, there was a possibility that the timeframe for the
interviews needed to be extended into summer 2022 in order to maximize participation.
Administrators were contacted initially via email to request voluntary participation in the study.
A $100 gift card was offered as an incentive. Those who had not responded after week two were
be contacted again via email. Those who had not responded by week three were be called to
request participation. Those who had not responded by week four were called again. Due to a
lackluster response, the incentive was raised to a $500 gift card. Initially, five administrators
responded to the request for interview and were interviewed by a research associate. After the
collection of that data, and a new outreach message, an additional six administrators responded
to the request for interview resulting in a total of eleven interviews. It was possible that there
46

would be non-responders and the ethical standard of ensuring participation is voluntary prohibits
any pressure to participate. Each participant expressed an understanding that their participation
was entirely voluntary.
Ethics
This researcher’s responsibilities in regard to dealing with human participants were to
follow the highest ethical standards. As mentioned in Merriam and Tisdell (2015), the reliability
and validity of the data in a research study are wholly dependent on the integrity of the
researcher. The organization of focus was Hillside College which is a college within the region
of the country where the researcher works. This study has provided useful information to the
researcher in her efforts to eliminate the equity gap for African American students regarding
completion rates at her institution.
Glesne (2011) describes five principles which guide institutional review board decision-
making. These include (a) providing participants with sufficient information to make informed
decisions about their own participation; (b) clearly communicating to participants their ability to
withdraw from the study at any time with no penalties; (c) the elimination of all unnecessary
risks to the participants; (d) ensuring that all benefits to society and the participants outweigh the
potential risks; and (e) that experiments should only be conducted by qualified researchers. This
researcher provided participants with an informed consent form which informed the participants
that their participation was entirely voluntary. It further explained the purpose of the study and
how the data may affect their well-being. Lastly, it informed the participants that they may cease
participation in the study at any time. This was in alignment with Glesne’s (2011) model of
informed consent. Additionally, the informed consent form followed the recommendations of
Rubin and Rubin (2012) which state that participants should be informed of who the researcher
is, what the overall purpose of the research is, the participants’ role in the research, and any risks
47

the participants may encounter during their participation.
Data gathered in the study has been maintained securely on an encrypted file on a
password protected hard-drive in alignment with the ethical checklist found in Patton (2003).
Further, this data has remained confidential. Names of participants were not used in the
published study as recommended by Patton (2003). Any recordings made required the
permission of the participants in alignment with Rubin and Rubin’s (2011) recommendation.
This researcher’s potential biases included biases which may have arisen from her status
as an Asian American woman interviewing white participants about their knowledge of racial
disparities. This may have presented a bias against those who did not demonstrate an expected
level of awareness of how to mitigate these disparities. Additional potential biases may have
stemmed from this researcher’s higher level of knowledge and training in the field of equity gaps
than her participants. There may have been a bias against participants who had a lower level of
knowledge and training. Merriam and Tisdell (2015) discuss the importance of a researcher’s
awareness of their own biases in order to mitigate them in the process of data collection and in
the discussion of the data.

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Chapter Four: Results and Findings
The purpose of this project was to assess the degree to which Hillside College was able to
achieve the goal of improving program completion rates for African American students by spring
2022. This study focused on the knowledge, motivational, and organizational elements related to
achieving this organizational goal. For purposes of efficiency, the stakeholder group selected in
this analysis was the college administration at Hillside College, a pseudonym for a
comprehensive community college in northern California.
The questions guided the evaluation included the following:
1. To what extent is Hillside College meeting the goal of improving program completion
rates for African American students by spring 2022?
2. What is the stakeholder knowledge and motivation related to the goal of improving
program completion rates for African American students by spring 2022?
3. What is the interaction between organizational culture and context and stakeholder
knowledge and motivation?
Research Question 1 Findings: Meeting the Organizational Goal
Research question #1 reads, “To what extent is Hillside College meeting the goal of
improving program completion rates for African American students by spring 2022?” An
evaluation of the 2022 data revealed that the institution did not meet two of the three subgoals
and thus did not achieve its organizational goal of increasing certificate, degree and transfer
completion rates between 2019 and 2022.
In assessing the performance of the administrators in regard to the stakeholder goal, we
must restate the goal wherein by 2025, the rates of African American students transferring to the
California State University system will rise by 20% over 2019 levels in 2020 and remain there
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through 2025 and the rates for completion of degrees and certificates will increase for all
students by 10% in 2020 over 2019 levels and remain there through 2025 consistently.
In regard to the transfer goal, 11 African American students transferred in spring 2019.
This serves as the baseline number. In order to achieve the goal of a 20% increase 13 students
would have had to transfer in 2020, 2021 and 2022. The data reveal that there were fewer than 10
in 2020, 14 in 2021 and fewer than 10 in 2022. Thus, the organization did not meet the goal of
sustaining a level of 13 students for years 2020, 2021, and 2022 and so did not meet the goal in
regard to African American transfer rates.
In regard to the degree completion goal, 19 African American students were awarded
degrees in 2019 as a baseline. In order to achieve the organizational goal, 21 students would have
to complete degrees in 2020, 2021, and 2022. In fact, there were 17 African American
completers in 2020, 12 in 2021 and 21 in 2022. Thus, the college did not achieve the
organizational goal in regard to African American degree completion.
In regard to the certificate completion goal, four African American students completed
certificates in 2019 as a baseline. In order to achieve the goal, four students would have to have
completed certificates in 2020, 2021 and 2022. In each of the years, 2020, 2021, 2022, 7 African
American students completed certificates. Thus, this aspect of the organizational goal was
achieved. This review confirms the response to research question #1 which is that the
organization met one of the three subgoals established in 2020. The organization met the
certificate completion subgoal but did not meet the transfer or degree completion subgoals. In
sum, the organization did not meet the overall goal of increasing degree, certificate and transfer
rates for African American students.
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Research Question 2 Findings: Knowledge, Motivation and Organizational Influences
Research question #2 reads, “What is the stakeholder knowledge and motivation related
to the goal of improving transfer requirement completion and degree and certificate completion
rates for African American students by spring 2022?” These findings are organized by presenting
the knowledge findings first and the motivational findings thereafter.
Knowledge Results and Findings
One of the questions guiding this evaluation is what knowledge administrators have of
the concept of sense of belonging and its impact on African American college completion rates
and how that knowledge interacts with motivation levels and organization models to support (or
counteract) achieving the organizational goal. Krathwohl (2002) defines four types of knowledge
which prove useful in this gap analysis framework: (a) factual; (b) conceptual; (c) procedural;
and (d) metacognitive. This study focuses on conceptual and procedural knowledge to identify
gaps related to the research questions.
Knowledge Influence Finding 1: Administrators Do Not Have a Complete or Consistent
Understanding of What Constitutes a Sense of Belonging
Strayhorn defines the concept of sense of belonging as a feeling of being supported by
others on campus, being connected to others, being cared about and valued by the campus
community and by individuals on campus such as faculty, staff, administrators and other students
(Strayhorn, 2012). While each of these factors is mentioned by at least one of the respondents,
not a single respondent named all of them. Among the factors of being connected, being cared
about, and being valued, the factor of being valued was mentioned by the most respondents.
Eight out of eleven respondents mentioned the importance of being valued to the concept of a
sense of belonging, with Participant 3 indicating that students who have a sense of belonging,
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“feel like [their] voice is important.” Seven of eleven mentioned being connected as a part of a
sense of belonging.
In contrast, only two respondents mentioned the idea of being cared about. Participant 6
defined a sense of belonging as, “Knowing lots of people, having your own group of friends,
fitting in, doing things socially as well as academically, being accepted for who you are and what
makes you unique.” The only reference in this statement to a feeling about how you are treated is
“being accepted”, a broad reference which could refer to anything from not being bothered or
challenged in your identity (i.e. being left alone) to experiencing a deep sense of care and
compassion from all the staff, faculty, administrators and students at the college (being embraced
and loved). The limited references to a feeling of being cared about reflect a gap in knowledge
about the concept of sense of belonging. Only Participant 10 referred at length about the idea of
care and the importance of using an “ethic of care” in everyday interactions with students by
giving them the benefit of the doubt and demonstrating “authentic care”. This respondent said, “
… if all of our…services offices operated with this… ethic of care, I think that it would go far
with our students.” This respondent tied this concept to African American student completion
and success saying experiencing that level of care would impact student progress, completion,
and success and adding that, “if we could find a way to expand that and scale that, that would
work wonders for our students.” This respondent was the only respondent who identified each of
the three components of Strayhorn’s (2012) definition of sense of belonging. Thus, the other ten
respondents expressed incomplete definitions of this concept as defined by Strayhorn.
In addition to expressing incomplete definitions, the respondents expressed inconsistent
depth of understanding of sense of belonging. In assessing the in vivo codes (empirical) in the
transcripts, the researcher identified twenty-four unique a priori codes (deductive based on the
framework) on the topic of sense of belonging. One example is “feeling valued” and another is
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“having a bias-free experience”. The number of unique a priori codes each respondent referenced
ranged from three unique codes to thirteen unique codes. This represents a range of depth of
understanding. At the lower end, one respondent referenced the following three code categories:
feeling valued, seeing others of your race in the college community, and feeling a sense of
community. At the high end, a respondent referenced the following list of thirteen code
categories and descriptors for sense of belonging: feeling valued, seeing others of your race in
the college community, feeling a sense of community, feeling that college employees understand
your life outside of school, having a bias-free experience, feeling you belong, feeling you belong
physically, feeling you fit in, feeling empowered to ask for help, feeling safe to tell your story,
feeling that black students drive campus culture, feeling you understand how to succeed at
college, and feeling there are people who will challenge the internalized racism within Black
students. Three respondents had four or fewer descriptors and four respondents had nine or more
descriptors with the remaining falling in the middle. This demonstrates an inconsistency in the
depth of knowledge of this concept.
Knowledge Influence Finding 2: Half of Administrators Demonstrate Knowledge of the
Impact of a Sense of Belonging on African American Student Success
Strayhorn (2012), Wood and Harris (2013), and Harper (2013) have all established
positive outcomes tied to African American college students’ sense of belonging to their
institution. Harper (2013) has identified that African American male college students with a
sense of belonging have higher rates of baccalaureate completion. Strayhorn (2012) has found
that African American male students who engage in activities such as visiting professors during
office hours are tied to a greater sense of belonging which is then tied to higher completion rates.
Wood and Harris (2013) have found that sense of belonging is tied to college completion for men
of color.
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The interviews revealed that only six of the eleven participating administrators expressed
an understanding of the connection between sense of belonging and ultimate college completion
and success. The range of references to the basic concept of sense of belonging ran from thirteen
mentions by one administrator to three mentions by another. Two of the 13 interview questions
focused on this conceptual knowledge area. The first was, “What is your understanding of the
term “sense of belonging” as it relates to college students?” and the second was, “How do you
think an African American student’s “sense of belonging” or lack thereof impacts their
likelihood of completing their educational program?” The first question (Q1) sought to assess
knowledge of the concept where the second (Q2) focused on knowledge of the relationship
between the affective factor of sense of belonging and the ultimate successful program
completion of African American students. This Q2 tied a conceptual knowledge influence to the
stakeholder goal of increasing completions.
For Q1, there were 24 unique a priori codes identified on the basis of the participant
responses. Each participant referred to numerous aspects of sense of belonging as defined by the
literature. Students’ sense of belonging has been identified in the literature as a sense of
connectedness, representation, acceptance, being understood, and identification with the
institution (Strayhorn, 2012; Hausmann, Ye, Schofield & Woods, 2009). The 24 a priori codes
each fall within these categories and include the following examples: (a) feeling valued; (b)
seeing other African Americans on campus; (c ) having a bias-free experience; and (d) feeling
welcome. The total references to an aspect of sense of belonging as defined above were 127. The
range of references per participant was four references by Participant 8 and 25 references by
Participant 4. Participants sometimes referred to the same a priori code multiple times in
different ways. For example, Participant 3 made five references to the code of “feeling you fit in”
including the following quotes, “But then there’s also the belonging component, and feeling
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outside, you know, even outside of class or in the class that you belong there,” and “sense of
belonging…is the idea that…you have every right to be there just like any other student.”
For Q2, there was a single a priori code identified regarding the relationship between
sense of belonging and student completion. Six of the eleven participants indicated that there was
a relationship between these two factors. The other five did not respond directly to the question.
The literature, as described in chapter 2, outlined the relationship between sense of belonging
and African American student completion. In this chapter, scholars such as Wood and Harris
(2013; 2014), Harper (2013) and Strayhorn (2012) identify that students with a lack of sense of
belonging at their campus have lower rates of college success and completion and those with a
higher sense of belonging have higher rates of completion and success. The single a priori code
was the participants’ reference to the perception that a sense of belonging is a factor in
improving college completion rates for African American students. There was little variation
between the six respondents and little elaboration on this topic by the six respondents, thus a
single a priori code was created. As an example, Participant 9 stated, “I would say that if any
students and in particular African American students don't feel that they belong at the institution,
then the likelihood that they will continue is very small.”
Participant 10 said, “having a sense of belonging is critical for any student, but in
particular, [for] our marginalized students like our black students” and added, “a lack of sense of
belonging is probably one of the main reasons why our more marginalized students like our
Black students, leave our campuses”. This statement reinforces the idea that sense of belonging
is centrally important to completion by African American students and that cultivating that sense
of belonging is critical to both increasing completion rates and to stemming attrition rates. This
participant added that African American students leave colleges, “because they don't have that
connection, because they don't feel safe, because they don't feel welcomed and supported in
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those spaces”. This elucidates the perception of this participant regarding ways in which sense of
belonging manifests itself and how its lack leads to attrition.
Knowledge Influence Finding 3: Few Administrators Have Broad Knowledge of Specific
Strategies for Faculty to Use to Increase Sense of Belonging and College Completion
A review of literature reveals practices initiated by faculty which result in a greater sense
of belonging in African American college students. Newman, et al. (2015) posit that African
American men’s sense of belonging is strongly influenced by hearing supportive messages from
faculty. The work of Wood and Harris (2013) reveals that faculty engagement with African
American male students is correlated with a higher sense of belonging. The specific type of
engagement identified by Wood and Harris (2013) includes speaking with students about
academic matters in and out of class, speaking with students about personal matters outside of
class, and speaking with students about their grades. Bensimon and Dowd (2009) specify that, in
order for student faculty contact to be meaningful, the faculty must initiate the contact. Lastly,
Freeman et al. (2007) posit that instructor characteristics of warmth, support of peer-to-peer
interaction, and encouragement of class participation are all linked to a sense of belonging
among students.
None of the respondents specifically mentioned all of the above strategies identified in
the literature review. In fact, only one administrator mentioned meaningful contact outside of
class as a key strategy in increasing a sense of belonging, noting “... it's a joint effort by the
faculty and the administrators to reach out to these students and to catch them at an early stage
when they start showing signs of struggling in their classes.” So not all the above categories
were covered by the eleven administrators; however, a few of the administrators provided
extensive lists of strategies tied to improved outcomes for students, in general. Specifically, three
administrators listed eight or more different faculty-led strategies supported by the literature as
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improving student outcomes. One of those administrators provided a list of sixteen unique
strategies including reference to learning student stories and infusing them into the curriculum as
indicated in this statement:
I have them tell me a little about their story, how they got to be even here. And I have
them all do that. And I… collect that at the beginning. Because what I do is based on
students’ backgrounds, experiences, things about their family; I take those into account,
and I look at my syllabus, and where we talk about certain things that touch on their
ancestry, I tried to make sure that I'm including that in the conversation.

The above quote demonstrates a depth of knowledge by this participant on the topic of faculty-
led success strategies. Some of the strategies mentioned by the administrator with the broadest
knowledge (Participant 4) include providing frequent and early formative assessment and
feedback, intervening early with students demonstrating difficulty, asking students about their
experiences, infusing African American cultural references into the curriculum, and creating
study teams.
In a demonstration of a gap of knowledge on this topic, six of the eleven administrators
(54%) provided only two or fewer faculty-led strategies for improving sense of belonging for
African American students, including one administrator who could not provide a single strategy
in her knowledge-base, stating somewhat tangentially “ I'm not entirely aware of…anything
special that we're doing.” This relative lack of knowledge demonstrated by over half the
participants on a topic with such direct correlation with a sense of belonging among African
American students demonstrates a significant knowledge gap in areas key for administrators to
know in order to be able to allocate resources to and set priorities for solutions to the completion
rates of this population. The interview questions were designed to determine the knowledge level
of the administrators in regard to sense of belonging and specific strategies that are known to
increase sense of belonging. In light of the response to the question regarding knowledge of
faculty-led strategies to increase this sense among African American students, this demonstrated
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lack of knowledge has a potentially negative effect on the administrators’ ability to achieve the
institutional goal of increasing African American student transfer and certificate and degree
completion rates. This conclusion is based on the identified knowledge gap and based on the
Clark and Estes (2008) gap analysis framework’s concept that any gap in knowledge influence
related to an organizational goal can have a potentially negative effect on the ability of an
organization to achieve their goal.
Knowledge Influence Finding 4: Administrators Demonstrate Partial Knowledge of Peer-
Based Strategies to Improve Student Sense of Belonging and College Completion
The literature identifies broad categories of peer-based strategies which positively impact
a sense of belonging in students. Hausmann et al. (2007) posit that for students to feel a sense of
belonging, they need to be involved and engaged with peers. Strayhorn (2008) asserts that
frequent interaction with diverse peers is most highly correlated with higher sense of belonging.
And Mendoza-Denton and Page-Gould (2008) conclude that students of color who have cross-
racial friendships with white students have a higher sense of belonging. Administrator responses
covered the topic of peer engagement, but only one participant mentioned the importance of
students of color having cross-racial friendships with white students and two participants (#9 and
10) did not provide any peer-based strategies for improving sense of belonging.
Across all administrators, there were ten unique practices in this category mentioned by
the group, all peer-engagement strategies. Some of the strategies mentioned include peer
mentoring, peer tutoring, embedded peer tutoring, peer communities and African American peer
mentors for African American students (race-specific peer mentoring). Participant 10 indicated
that the ideal experience for a student with a mentor is one where the student feels that, “you
look like me, you're going through this with me and you relate to me in the same way… I
think[it] is really, really important.” Many of the practices mentioned were accompanied by
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mention that these were existing practices at the college with the implication that they were
viewed as effective. Participant 3 indicated that “we do have paid student support tutors that
provide that opportunity for students in both our RT and our nursing program PTA.”
It is important to note that, while nine of the 11 participants expressed awareness of at
least one peer-engagement strategy to increase program completion rates among African
American students, none drilled down to the actual scope of application of these strategies
needed to impact African American students as a group. To the degree that a “strategy” is not
just a practice, but also the application method of that practice, (for example, providing a success
coach to a single student may positively impact that student’s completion, but will not have an
impact on the overall completion rates at the college). Question #4 of the interview questions
reads, “What strategies do you believe student peers can use to improve program completion
rates of African American students?” Nine of the 11 participants mentioned at least one peer-
based strategy such as peer mentoring. But to address the second part of the question, “to
improve program completion rates of African American students”, there is a need for a
comprehensive application of these strategies in order to affect the overall rates and none of the
participants mentioned the institutional-level, comprehensive application of these strategies to all
African American students who could benefit from them.
According to Participant 5, Hillside College has an Umoja program which is a small
cohort learning community whereby African American students take an English composition
class and a counseling class together as a group and the pedagogy is focused on the African
American experience. This program has been demonstrated as an effective method of improving
success rates for African American students (Purnell et al., 2019); however, it is designed for
small cohorts and, by definition, is not being applied to all entering African American students.
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As mentioned, only one participant, Participant 11, referenced the importance of peer
connection based on non-racial commonalities, “You gather with those who you relate to, and
that may or may not be based on your ethnicity or your race. So it may be on socio-economic
status.” This perspective aligns with the Mendoza-Denton and Page-Gould (2008) assertion that
cross-racial relationships with White peers improves sense of belonging.
Knowledge Influence Finding 5: Administrators Demonstrate Depth Over Breadth of
Knowledge of Classroom and Programmatic Strategies Regarding Sense of Belonging and
College Completion
The classroom and student services strategies raised by the participants comprised the
highest number of strategies of the three categories (faculty-based, peer-based, student
services/classroom-based) at thirty-two strategies. Administrators identified significant numbers
of strategies in the categories of general student success strategies (nineteen) which were not
related to student sense of belonging. It is clear there is deep knowledge in the area of general
student services success strategies. However, they failed to make any mention of strategies
related to four of the primary strategies found in the literature review. The strategies identified in
the literature review include student engagement with student organizations (Harper & Quaye,
2007); involvement with educational programs and services (Kuh et al., 2001); activities which
build meaningful relationships with peers (Hausman et al., 2009); activities that demonstrate
faculty interest in students (Hausman et al., 2007); in and out-of-class activities which allow
students to feel alignment with the institution’s academic values (Hausman et al., 2009); well-
organized classrooms (Freeman et al., 2007); classrooms that encourage discussions that lead to
friendships (Karp et al., 2008); and first year experience programs for first generation college
students (Jehangir, 2009).
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The respondents identified multiple examples of strategies for having students involved
in educational programs and services including cohort programs, orientations to the college, case
management counseling and intervention services. Participant #2 explained that, “... it takes…
some[one] to sit down with the students and explain to them what the [college] environment is
actually like.” There were a few mentions of activities which would allow students to build
meaningful relationships with peers. Those included special programs for Black and brown
students, cohort programs, and organizing opportunities for Black students to openly discuss
issues they face as a minoritized community. Examples of activities that demonstrate faculty
interest in students included high touch interactions, early intervention, and referrals for support,
among others. And examples of in and out-of-class activities which allow students to feel
alignment with the institution’s values include setting high academic expectations and providing
well-resourced learning communities for Black students. As an example of setting high academic
expectations, one participant indicated, “it's imperative that students understand that [high] type
of rigor [in a professional program like nursing], and they need to be counseled on that.”
The literature review categories which did not receive any mention include student
engagement with student organizations, well-organized classrooms, classrooms that encourage
discussions that lead to friendships, and first year experience programs for first generation
students. This demonstrates a knowledge gap on the part of the administrators interviewed.
While general student success strategies were discussed in great depth, and some of the strategies
correlated with higher sense of belonging were mentioned, the key strategies just referenced
were not mentioned demonstrating an area of knowledge that would be beneficial for these
administrators to learn more about.
In summary, the data from the qualitative interviews demonstrate that there were
knowledge gaps among the college administrators which will interfere with their ability to
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achieve their stakeholder goal. These knowledge gaps will make it challenging for the
administrators to make appropriate programming, resource allocation and prioritization decisions
in order to improve African American student sense of belonging and, thus, completion rates.
Table 4 lays out the knowledge findings along with knowledge types and gaps listings.
Table 4
Knowledge Findings of Gaps and Assets
Category Finding Gap Asset
Conceptual Knowledge Administrators Do Not Have a
Complete or Consistent
Understanding of What
Constitutes a Sense of Belonging
X
Conceptual Knowledge Half of Administrators
Demonstrate Knowledge of the
Impact of Sense of Belonging on
African American Student
Success
X
Procedural Knowledge Few Administrators Have Broad
Knowledge of Specific Strategies
for Faculty to Use to Increase
Sense of Belonging
X
Procedural Knowledge Administrators Demonstrate
Partial Knowledge of Peer-Based
Strategies to Improve Student
Sense of Belonging
X
Procedural Knowledge Administrators Demonstrate
Depth Over Breadth of
Knowledge of Classroom and
Programmatic Strategies
Regarding Sense of Belonging
X

Motivation Results and Findings
The second influence on the problem of practice being studied here is the level of
motivation of the participants in regard to achieving the organizational goal. Clark and Estes
(2008) identify knowledge, motivation and organizational influences as the three primary areas
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of influence to study when conducting a gap analysis of goal to actual performance. Rueda
(2011) describes five influences on motivation including self-efficacy, attribution, value, interest,
and goals. There is one aspect of Rueda’s influences being studied in this evaluation: self-
efficacy. Bandura defines self-efficacy as “people’s judgments of their capabilities to organize
and execute the course of action required to attain designated levels of performances” (Bandura,
1986, p.391). This definition is important to this study because it applies to college
administrators’ belief in their own ability to achieve the established organizational goal.
Motivation Influence Finding 1: A Minority of Administrators Express High Confidence in
Their Ability to Positively Influence African American Completion Rates
Five of the 11 administrators interviewed expressed a high level of confidence in their
own ability to ensure the improvement of completion rates for African American students. One
of the five participants who did express confidence, Participant 8 said assuredly:
I believe that I have the capacity and I have the ability to respond to the needs of
particularly African American students, as long as I am involved in the conversation so
that I can understand and I can determine how I can be of best help to improve their
success rates.

Those administrators who expressed high confidence attributed their high confidence to their
successful experiences with African American students, trainings they have received, their
academic studies and their overall professional experience with equity issues. Participant 7, who
reported a high level of confidence in this area explained her past successful professional
experience with the detail, “, I took that [high school college-prep] program from 30% [success]
getting into colleges to almost 90%.” Participant 10 explained the impact of her academic studies
on her level of confidence in the area of equity issues:
I think I come from that… approach of understanding with students…through education
and experience… about how to structurally change a campus and what does it mean to
shift the culture … largely a lot of that came from my work as a doctoral student. I did
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my program at [college], the EdD program and so a lot of it came from that and in really
having a critical lens on what higher education looks like.

A number of those expressing high confidence attributed their confidence to the training they had
received or with applying success strategies, in particular. As an example, Participant 1 shared
that they would assess their confidence level at an 8 out of 10 and this was due to the trainings
they had received from the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office. Participant 1
stated, “We've gone through many trainings… through the Chancellor's Office and other trainings
about diversity, and also the roadblocks that are there, the blocks that are set up or hurdles that
are set up for African American students and Hispanic students.”
The remaining six participants expressed medium to low confidence in their ability to
improve African American completion rates. Two of those administrators openly admitted a low
level of confidence, with Participant 9 stating, “I don't think I have in my toolkit anything in
specific that enables me to help African American students distinctly from any other group of
students.” Participant 11 also expressed a low level of confidence in this area, stating about
administrators, “we don’t have that power…” The rationale for those with low confidence tended
to focus on a sense of powerlessness, as stated by Participant 11, and a sense that the primary
power to impact African American success rates resided with other groups, primarily faculty. In
this statement, Participant 4 expresses their discomfort, lack of confidence and overall sense of
helplessness, “I don't feel comfortable in… what I can do specifically in my role to intercede and
… work around some of the faculty…. I really, … feel like… what can I do?” Participant 11
elaborated on the sense that faculty have the primary role in improving African American
success rate in saying:
I can't change the faculty because [of] Assembly Bill 1725, which gives faculty purview
over their instruction that really change[s] the system that creates that confidence. And so
I can… tinker around a bit outside the classroom. And I can be a resource if they run into
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a wall that they can come to and I can try to fix it. But how many students never get to
have the [positive] experiences in the classroom…, and just quit and so while I do love
[the idea of making change], we don’t have that power …[and] our Senates prevent us
from truly implementing the change that we want to.

This statement demonstrates the relationship between administrators’ lack of self-confidence in
their ability to improve completion rates and their assignment of the primary role in making
these changes to faculty.
Motivation Influence Finding 2: Administrators Believe Additional Training Would Increase
Their Confidence Levels in Improving African American Completion Rates
A majority of the administrators (seven out of eleven) believe that receiving training that
consists of hearing African American student stories would improve their levels of confidence in
themselves to increase African American completion rates. Participant 1 shared a deficit of past
training they had received at the college with the comment, “...we've had a lot of trainings with
professionals in the field, but… I think the student perspective is somewhat lacking, hearing
directly from the students.” Additionally, one administrator (Participant 1) expressed that
training that allowed for a confidential space to discuss one’s biases would improve their sense
of self-efficacy (confidence) in regard to addressing this issue.
The most mentioned type of training cited as that which would increase administrators’
confidence levels was training that involved hearing from African American students directly
about the college experiences that most impacted their failure or success. Participant 8 stated,
“I'd like to learn more about the experiences of our students, what works for them, what doesn't
work for them because I think that's one way for us to really understand and determine and
develop a program and how we can best support them” Participant 10 expanded on this topic by
stating:
That training [on equity strategies and mindset] is really important, because as
administrators… we need to understand the why…And I find myself forgetting what that
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was …[we need] that direct contact and engagement with students… about that
why…Sometimes that…memory of what it was like to really hear from a student…gets
lost. And so I think that that training is really important to remind us of the why and …
how our decisions impact our students. You know, we make a decision… at a meeting,
but it trickles down to a student's experience and impacts them greatly.

And Participant 1 stated:
...being a white male, I can only… judge a situation from my experiences and also by
listening to others’… experiences. And to incorporate those into… my changing mindset
about…ethnicities and what we can do to help those in a community college level

Participant 1 also stated, “[Hearing directly from students is] a very productive way to… help
those students… to understand them from… a socio-economic background and also from…
what they've gone through in their life experiences about discrimination.”
In addition to hearing student stories, Participant 1 also indicated that receiving training
in which they were able to express their own implicit bias in a confidential setting would be
helpful in their effort to improve African American outcomes. They stated:
Having somebody, maybe externally or in partnership, that can help folks to have a safe
place to ask questions that many…of our white faculty may not feel comfortable asking
in a large public setting, because [it can be] shaming.

These examples demonstrate specific information participants indicated would improve their
self-confidence levels if provided through training, the most commonly-mentioned being hearing
directly from students about their experiences and how the college could do a better job at
improving their success rates.
Motivation Influence Finding 3: Administrators Self-Assess at a Low to Medium Level of
Expertise in Improving African American Completion Rates
Out of the 11 administrators interviewed, 10 expressed a low to medium level of
expertise in addressing this issue. This was expressed in a variety of ways including expressing
that they had room to improve in this area and expressing an outright lack of knowledge and
expertise in the area, with participant 9, as an example, stating, “I would be very unsure about
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whether what I'm doing is particularly helpful.” Only one participant, Participant 11, indicated a
high self-assessed level of expertise in being able to improve these completion rates stating, “I
give that an eight. … I feel pretty confident in terms of knowing what… we can do. But just
getting them done is a whole different ballgame.” The remaining participants either indicated a
medium level of expertise, a lack of confidence, a general sense of discomfort around the issue
or simply did not respond directly to the question.
Those self-assessing at a medium level of expertise, such as Participant 5, appeared to
express a combination of doubt and assuredness in their knowledge:
I would… say, I'm fairly comfortable, but I don't think I'm an expert.And…there's always
room to change. And I know, that's.. a changing dynamic. …nobody's an expert in it. I
would say maybe there's more… knowledge for some people, but it's… changing because
our student population [is] also changing. Right?

Others indicating a medium level of expertise demonstrated that they still had things to learn, as
with Participant 8:
I think it's a journey. And I will not say that I'm an expert… in general. It's a journey for
me just like everybody else. I think my comfortability if I read myself from a scale of one
to 10, with 10, being an expert, one being a very novice, I think I'm in the middle about
six or seven. I'm sure that there are some other things that I need to learn. I need to
understand and I need to expose myself in order for me to be an effective administrator in
addressing the needs of our students, particularly African American students.

The 10 administrators who did not express a high level of expertise on the topic of African
American completion rates also expressed a lack of comfort and confidence in their ability to
change classroom practices which they believed were central to the solution, with Participant 11
stating, “we don’t have that power or … our senates prevent us from truly implementing the
change that we want to.” Participant 4 also touched on this issue, stating,
The one thing in this…place I can impact…is faculty. I encourage faculty to go to
trainings; I can only encourage, I can't require them based on the union contract…. and if
they go,... I can't control for what they take or don't take from the trainings.

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These results indicate that the motivational level is low for these administrators as it relates to
self-efficacy and their own sense of expertise.
Table 5
Motivation Findings of Gaps and Assets
Category Finding Gap Asset
Self-Efficacy A Minority of Administrators
Express High Confidence in
Their Ability to Increase African
American Completion Rates
X
Self-Efficacy Administrators Believe
Additional Training Would
Increase their Confidence Levels
X
Self-Efficacy Administrators Self-Assess at a
Medium to Low Level of
Expertise in Improving African
American Completion Rates
X

Organizational Results and Findings
The third of three primary influences on performance as identified by Clark and Estes
(2008) is organizational barriers such as lack of resources or cultural resistance. Gallimore &
Goldenberg (2001) posit that an effective way of looking at cultural influence on an organization
is to divide it into two distinct key concepts: (a) cultural settings and (b) cultural settings. A
cultural setting is a shared understanding by organizational members of how things should work
in an organization (Gallimore & Goldenberg, 2001). This includes a shared understanding of
what is valued, the roles of individuals, and the rules of interaction. A cultural setting is a shared
activity engaged in by employees in the organization to accomplish something they mutually
care about (Gallimore & Goldenberg, 2001).
This study identifies two cultural setting influences at play: the college needs to provide
additional training and resources to administrators regarding the organizational goal and the
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college needs to set accountability benchmarks for administrators to reach to achieve the
organizational goal. Organizational Findings 1 and 2 relate to this influence.
Organizational Influence Finding 1: Hillside College Needs to Provide Additional Training
and Resources.
Administrators express a desire to receive more training on the African American student
experience, on specific strategies to increase sense of belonging and overall completion rates,
and on the impact of implicit bias on success. There was significant focus on the importance of
understanding and hearing the student experience with multiple administrators expressing a
desire to hear directly from African American students, “I think having that exposure, where you
can relate to the experiences of our students and really hear from them firsthand [is critical].”
This administrator added that hearing directly from students, “would really help us understand in
general, what are…are the things that we need? What do we have and what we don't have so that
we can help African American students?”
Administrators expressed their belief that understanding this experience was fundamental
to understanding the overall issue of the equity gap. Administrators also stressed the importance
of faculty receiving training along with skepticism that training alone would be able to improve
the behavior of resistant faculty. One administrator stated it thusly, “ I think there is the difficulty
of working with [some] faculty whom I think you know, probably have good intentions, but don't
do a great job with specific subsets of students, including African American students.” These
comments were related to their belief that faculty hold the primary role in improving completion
rates for African American students.
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Organizational Influence Finding 2: Hillside College Needs to Address Accountability Via
Benchmarks.
While most administrators accepted that establishing benchmarks for the college in
relation to improving African American completion rates was important, nearly all expressed a
belief that administrators should not be held to benchmarks as individuals. One administrator
stated it this way, “Saying that one person is responsible…deflects the responsibility from
everybody [else], you know, right? So it's not…just the Dean that's responsible; it's the faculty;
it's the staff, right?” The subjects further indicated that in order to establish accountability,
faculty should be given more training on implicit bias and success strategies and that white
employees should be trained to serve as allies to African American students. These responses
serve as a redirection of attention to those other than administrators as a focus of remediation
efforts. Given the responses to questions on self-confidence and sense of expertise, it is not
surprising that these administrators would feel uncomfortable being assigned benchmarks to
achieve. However, this is in direct conflict with Bensimon’s equity framework in which every
person in the organization takes personal responsibility for contributing to dismantling the
system which creates inequitable outcomes (Bensimon, 2005).
Table 6
Organizational Findings of Gaps and Assets
Category Finding Gap Asset
Cultural setting 1
Knowledge
Hillside College Needs to Provide
Additional Training and
Resources
X
Cultural setting 2
Knowledge
Hillside College Needs to
Address Accountability Via
Benchmarks
X
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Synthesis
The analysis of the interviews reveals an interesting combination of results in each of the
three categories of influence. In the area of knowledge, administrators demonstrate an
inconsistent level of conceptual and procedural knowledge about the idea of sense of belonging,
its impact on student success and specific strategies to increase sense of belonging. In the area of
motivational influences, the level of reported self-efficacy in regard to knowing how to improve
African American student completion outcomes was low to moderate with few reporting a high
level of confidence.
The analysis of the cultural setting influences revealed that administrators see a benefit to
receiving additional training in specific strategies and in better understanding the African
American student experience. These findings establish an environment that is primed for
responding positively to a comprehensive training and accountability program which combines
increased resources with increased expectations for administrators to lead the improvement of
these outcomes.

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Chapter Five: Recommendations
Chapter four revealed areas of strength and gaps in regard to administrator knowledge
and motivation and organizational influences on African American student completion of
transfer requirements, degrees and certificates. The Clark and Estes Gap Analysis framework
(Clark & Estes, 2008) identifying gaps in knowledge, motivation and organizational factors
related to the stakeholder goal is part of this analysis. This chapter aligns these areas of strengths
and gaps with recommendations for a comprehensive training program for all administrators.
Developed Themes
There were four themes which emerged from the analysis of the qualitative data. The first
theme is in regard to administrator knowledge of one of the noncognitive factors impacting
African American student program completion (sense of belonging) and the specific procedural
knowledge of strategies which would improve African American student sense of belonging and,
thus, program completion. As a group, the Hillside administrators identified most of the factors
named by Wood and Harris (2013), Harper (2013) and Strayhorn (2012). These included the
following, among others: the link between African American sense of belonging and college
success; the successful strategies of participating in study sessions, raising questions in class,
visiting the writing center, visiting professors during office hours, and participating in clubs; and
faculty providing validating messages to students. Additional strategies include faculty talking to
students about academic matters inside and outside of class; faculty talking with students about
personal matters outside of class; faculty talking with students about grades; staff validating
students; and faculty supporting peer-to-peer interaction during class. A final set of examples
include faculty demonstrating warmth of personality; students being involved with peers;
students of color having cross-racial friendships; students being engaged with student
organizations; faculty having well-organized classrooms; and first year experience programs for
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first generation students (those who are the first in their family to attend college). However, the
knowledge was not spread evenly across all administrators. There was a disproportion to the
knowledge base expressed with some demonstrating high levels of knowledge on this topic and
others demonstrating low to moderate levels of knowledge. Thus, the knowledge of what a sense
of belonging is for African American students is present collectively, but not individually.
The second theme that emerged through this study related to the motivational assessment
of the participants and the impact on African American student completion. Few administrators
expressed a high level of self-efficacy (confidence and expertise) in their ability to raise African
American completion rates on how to achieve this goal. Once again, there was an uneven
distribution of levels of motivation (self-efficacy) with some administrators expressing high
levels of confidence and expertise and others expressing medium to low levels. While five of the
eleven expressed a high level of confidence in being able to achieve the goal, only one
respondent believed they had a high level of expertise in this area. The high levels of confidence
appeared to be tied to a sense that those five individuals felt they understood the population and
the specific stressors on African American students. They further expressed that they had
experience in engaging in student success and equity work and felt they had been successful.
One of the 5 expressed an academic knowledge of the issues and solutions.
The third theme arising out of this analysis is the need for the college to provide
additional training and resources to administrators. There was a general belief that administrators
should have more training on all aspects of the problem including the experiences of African
American students in and out of the classroom, factors that impact success or failure of African
American students, specific strategies that improve African American success rates, and
leadership implementation strategies to lead the institutional changes needed to reach the goal.
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The data analysis additionally revealed that administrators lacked knowledge in the areas of
sense of belonging and the relationship of sense of belonging with college completion.
Gallimore and Goldenberg (2001) separated cultural influences on an organization into
two categories: (a) cultural models and (b) cultural settings. A cultural model is the collectively
shared understanding of what is valued in an organization, what the various roles are and what
the rules of interaction are, in other words, how things should work in the organization. A
cultural setting is a shared activity that all members of the organization participate in toward a
shared goal (Gallimore & Goldenberg, 2001).
One organizational cultural setting influence that emerged from this data was one where
the college has not provided the appropriate levels of training and resources to administrators in
order for them to be able to achieve the organizational goal. Thus, there was a gap between the
stated goal and the organization’s support for these administrators.
The fourth theme is also in regard to an organizational cultural setting influence. This
theme is that the college should set benchmarks for each administrator to establish accountability
in regard to the organizational goal. Setting benchmarks would serve to demonstrate a shared
value around accountability and the importance of achieving the goal. Each administrator would
be expected to achieve outcomes that would demonstrate progress toward the organizational
goal. The cultural setting organizational influence that emerged from the study was that there
was no existing system of accountability for administrators. This revealed a gap between the goal
of increasing African American completion rates and the organization’s system of accountability
toward achieving that goal.
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Recommendations for Practice to Address KMO Influences
Knowledge Recommendations
Krathwohl (2002) defines four types of knowledge which prove useful in this gap
analysis framework: (a) factual; (b) conceptual; (c) procedural; and (d) metacognitive. This study
focused on the conceptual and procedural knowledge needed by administrators to achieve the
goal of improving the transfer, degree and certificate completion rates of African American
students.
The second type of knowledge defined by Krathwohl (2002) is conceptual knowledge.
Krathwohl (2002) defines conceptual knowledge as the relationships between basic elements of a
larger structure that allow them to work together. This study focused on two areas of conceptual
knowledge, the first being administrator knowledge of what constitutes a sense of belonging. The
basic elements at play here are the knowledge of an administrator in regard to what sense of
belonging is, the understanding of how sense of belonging among African American students
impacts their success, and the ability of the administrator to implement strategies to increase that
sense of belonging and college completion rates. The data from this study revealed that
administrators need the knowledge of what constitutes a sense of belonging in order to achieve
the organizational stakeholder goals. Rueda (2011) posits that this knowledge can be gained
through instruction and training which informs the upcoming recommendations on addressing
the knowledge gap.
While administrators did not exhibit a high sense of knowledge of what constitutes a
sense of belonging in students, they did demonstrate some knowledge of the impact of sense of
belonging on African American student success. Furthermore, while the administrators did
indicate awareness that success for African American students does necessitate feeling included,
valued, and connected, there is still opportunity for administrators to understand some of the
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research behind this topic and the rich scholarly work on the direct connection between sense of
belonging and student retention, persistence and completion rates, especially among African
American students.
The third type of knowledge identified by Krathwohl (2002) is procedural knowledge.
Krathwohl (2012) defines procedural knowledge as “how to do something; methods of inquiry,
and criteria for using skills, algorithms, techniques and methods.” He includes the following
further delineation of procedural knowledge types: (a) knowledge of specific skills and
algorithms; (b) knowledge of subject-specific techniques and methods; and (c) knowledge of
criteria for determining when to use appropriate procedures. Because faculty are the primary
relationship for students during their college experience, there are strategies that only faculty can
implement with the above-stated procedural knowledge dimensions to positively impact African
American student completion rates (Wood & Harris, 2013; Harper, 2013). Some examples of
these strategies include faculty engagement with students outside of class, inside of class in
regard to academic matters, grades and personal matters (Wood & Harris, 2013). Additionally,
Bensimon and Dowd (2009) indicate that faculty need to initiate these contacts for the
interactions to be meaningful to students. Lastly, Freeman et al. (2007) identify that faculty
characteristics of warmth, support of peer-to-peer interaction and encouragement of class
participation are correlated with a sense of belonging among students. These strategies were
found to have positively impacted student sense of belonging overall and, specifically, for
African American students. The study found that administrators did not have a broad or deep
understanding of faculty-based strategies to increase sense of belonging among African
American students. Thus, the above literature suggests a need for training in that area for these
administrators.
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In addition to faculty-based strategies, scholars have posited that peer-based strategies
can be powerful drivers of sense of belonging among students (Hausmann et al., 2007)
(Strayhorn, 2008) (Mendoza-Denton & Page-Gould, 2008). Hausmann et al. (2007) identified
that students need to be engaged with peers in order to feel a sense of belonging. Strayhorn
(2008) reinforces this finding by positing that frequent interaction with peers is most highly
correlated with a high sense of belonging. And Mendoza-Denton & Page-Gould (2008) find that
students of color with cross-racial friendships with white students have a higher sense of
belonging. These findings are important for administrators to know to be able to implement
strategies to increase peer-to-peer activities for students. There are numerous models of
increasing peer-to-peer interaction at the community college level, including cohort programs
like the Umoja program and major-specific support programs like MESA. The administrators in
this study did not demonstrate a broad or deep understanding of peer-based strategies for
increasing African American students’ sense of belonging and so they would benefit from
training on the above-mentioned strategies.
In addition to faculty-based and peer-based strategies, there are numerous other research-
based strategies that are correlated with increased sense of belonging among students. Harper &
Quaye (2007) indicate that student engagement with student organizations increases sense of
belonging. Hausmann et al. (2009) further demonstrates that, in order for African American
students to feel a sense of belonging, they must have opportunities to develop meaningful
relationships with peer, engagement with faculty that demonstrate faculty interest in them, and
activities both in and out of the classroom that allow students to feel alignment with the
institution’s academic values. Administrators need to use this information to implement
programming that increases the opportunities for students to be engaged in student organizations,
to be engaged in meaningful relationships with pers, to feel an alignment with the institution’s
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academic values and to allow faculty to show interest in them. There are numerous examples of
programs which support these outcomes including the Caring Campus initiative, cohort-based
programs such as Umoja, Guided Pathways, and ASAP – Accelerated Programs in Associate
Programs (City University of New York). These programs increase student engagement with
peers and result in improved outcomes for all students involved. Administrators would benefit
from these types of programs and training in the areas mentioned throughout this section.
The responsible party for implementing these changes is the president of the college. As
the CEO, this individual is responsible for the overall direction of the college, and is charged to,
“Champion(s) high quality innovative teaching and learning and student support services that
lead to Student Success and higher completion rates for all students” (Hillside President job
description, n.d.). This Accelerated Programs in Associate Programs charge is given by the board
of trustees who establish the charge and the goals of the college president. Thus, each of these
recommendations is directed at the college president to implement.
Knowledge Recommendation 1: Increase Administrator Knowledge of Sense of
Belonging Through Training. In light of the findings of this study, the gaps in knowledge of
administrators at Hillside College in regard to sense of belonging and how to increase it among
African American students, the recommendation for remediation is for the college president to
increase administrator knowledge of sense of belonging through training. In the table below,
four out of five of the knowledge areas studied identified gaps in administrator knowledge at
Hillside College. The conceptual knowledge gap is defined by an understanding of what
constitutes a sense of belonging for African American students. The procedural knowledge gaps
consist of knowledge of specific strategies to use to increase sense of belonging including
faculty-based strategies (specific behaviors of faculty in and out of the classroom), peer-based
strategies, classroom-based strategies (strategies used in the classroom only) and institutional-
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level programmatic strategies. In Table 7, each gap is accompanied by the context-specific
recommendation to close that gap which is to increase administrator knowledge of a sense of
belonging. Each recommendation includes a further breakdown into a specific task
recommendation. The overall recommendation is to have each administrator complete the Black
Minds Matter course (Black Minds Matter, n.d.) offered by Drs. Luke Wood and Donna Ford
and to complete a college-designed African American Completion training program provided by
a professional trainer.
This recommendation should be implemented by the college president by establishing a
comprehensive training program required for all administrators which includes the Black Minds
Matter course and the African American Completion course. The offering of these trainings
would take place over a 12-month academic year. The Black Minds Matter course would train
administrators in (a) understanding how socially-constructed perspectives on Blackness lead to
educators’ implicit bias; (b) adopting the equity-mindset in relation to African American students
whereby each individual member of the college takes personal responsibility for achieving
equitable outcomes; (c) adopting an asset mindset in relation to African American students such
that strengths are recognized and celebrated; and (d) describing specific research-based policies
and practices that result in success for African American students throughout the educational
pipeline. The African American Completion course would result in administrators (a) describing
sense of belonging as a concept and specifically as it relates to college students and African
American students; (b) describing the impact of sense of belonging on college success and
completion; (c) describing community-college-specific research-based strategies which increase
sense of belonging in African American students and which increase overall African American
college completion rates; and (d) creating an implementation plan for increasing African
American sense of belonging and program completion to reach the organizational goal with
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strategies applicable to that administrator’s area of responsibility at the college (for example, the
dean of student services would focus on student service-based strategies). Each of these training
programs would include hearing directly from students about their experiences and how they
have impacted their success or lack thereof in school. This component is included to respond to
administrators’ statements about the type of training they would like to receive.
The African American Completion course would be designed by the college president in
collaboration with a professional trainer in the equity-mindset to lead to the above outcomes.
This course would be a follow-up to the Black Minds Matter course as an intentional means to
bring the training to focus on the community college experience and to require each
administrator to create a specific plan to achieve the organizational goal of increasing African
American completion rates. This plan would include benchmarks agreed upon by each
administrator and their supervisor.
It is critically important to implement this recommendation because of the relationship
between college completion and other well-being measures such as median household income
(Shapiro et al., 2009), mortality rates (Buckles, et al., 2013), infant mortality rates (Grossman,
2015), poverty rates (Bohn, et al., 2019), smoking rates, heavy drinking rates, obesity rates,
welfare-reliance rates (Belfield and Bailey, 2011), and rates of incarceration (Lochner and
Moretti, 2004). Those who do not complete college spend their lives with worse health problems,
higher poverty and incarceration rates, lower income and wealth levels and they die earlier. In
order to live up to the promise of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, we must hold our public institutions
accountable for producing equitable outcomes so that all Americans, regardless of race, have
equal access to a high quality of life.
Table 7
Summary of Knowledge Influences and Recommendations
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Assumed Knowledge Influence Gap Context-Specific Recommendation
Administrators Do Not Have a
Complete or Consistent Understanding
of What Constitutes a Sense of
Belonging (Conceptual)

Y Increase administrator knowledge of sense
of belonging: Have administrators complete
the “Black Minds Matter” course and
African American Completion course
Half of Administrators Demonstrate
Knowledge of the Impact of Sense of
Belonging on African American
Student Success (Conceptual)

Y (see above)

Few Administrators Have Broad
Knowledge of Specific Strategies for
Faculty to Use to Increase Sense of
Belonging (Procedural)

Y Increase administrator knowledge of sense
of belonging: As part of the courses, provide
detailed training on specific faculty,
program, classroom and peer-based
strategies to increase sense of belonging and
college completion
Administrators Demonstrate Partial
Knowledge of Peer-Based Strategies to
Improve Student Sense of Belonging
(Procedural)

Y (see above)
Administrators Demonstrate Depth
Over Breadth of Knowledge of
Classroom and Programmatic
Strategies Regarding Sense of
Belonging (Procedural)
Y (see above)

Knowledge Recommendation 2: Increase Administrator Knowledge of Strategies to
Increase African American Sense of Belonging and Completion Rates. As stated above, the
president of Hillside College should require every administrator to complete two courses: the
Black Minds Matter course (Black Minds Matter, n.d.) and the African American Completion
course. The Black Minds Matter course would train the participants in specific policies and
practices which lead to improvements in overall success for African American students in the
educational pipeline, in general. The African American Completion course would include
training on strategies that are specific to community colleges. These strategies would include
faculty-based strategies, peer-based strategies and classroom and programmatic strategies. An
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example of a faculty-based strategy that would be highlighted and studied includes the Caring
Campus Initiative (Caring Campus, n.d.) which teaches faculty behavioral strategies that are tied
to increased student sense of belonging and student success (for example, learning students’
names in the first week of class, creating moments that matter by meeting with students outside
of class, assessing early and often, creating a clear and detailed syllabus, and being situationally
fair). An example of a peer-based strategy would be assigning every African American student a
peer-mentor which addresses the importance of students being engaged with peers (Hausmann et
al., 2007) and its impact on sense of belonging. Harper (2013) emphasizes the importance of
having racial peers in the college setting to reduce the sense of isolation and to increase sense of
belonging and overall success. This peer-mentor strategy, especially if focused on assigning
African American students as the mentors would improve sense of belonging among African
American students (Harper, 2013).
A programmatic strategy that has achieved success in increasing a sense of belonging and
success rates for African American students (and others) is the City University of New York
ASAP program (Accelerated Programs in Associate Programs). This program is focused on new
students and requires them to enroll in 12 units; schedules classes for them in either morning,
afternoon or evening/weekend blocks to ensure they have time for family obligations and work;
places students in cohorts according to major; provides comprehensive advisement and career
development services; requires twice monthly advisement sessions for each student; and
provides over-and-above services to these students such as tutoring, leadership opportunities and
special seminars. The program, which started in 2007, focuses on increasing student sense of
belonging through a required 3-day summer seminar that creates connection and a sense of
inclusion and belonging. Research has demonstrated that students participating in the ASAP
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program (32% of whom are African American) are significantly more likely to complete a
degree, certificate or transfer than non-participants (Kolenovic, et al., 2013).
As mentioned previously, the college president should require each administrator to
complete both the Black Minds Matter course (Black Minds Matter, n.d.) and the African
American Completion course, which would be co-designed by the president. The Black Minds
Matter course would result in administrators being able to describe what constitutes a sense of
belonging and how it impacts student success in the educational pipeline in general. The African
American Completion course would focus specifically on community college students and
strategies. Part of the requirement for the African American Completion course would be for
each administrator to create an implementation plan for their area of responsibility to achieve the
organizational goal of increasing African American completion rates. Administrators could adopt
any or all of the strategies and models outlined in the course including those mentioned in this
section.
This recommendation is important to implement because of its relationship to overall
quality of life outcomes for African Americans. Administrators have a unique role in producing
positive outcomes for African American students at community colleges. They serve as “value-
based leaders” who are looked on to promote effective learning and positive outcomes (Duignan
and Macpherson, 1993). They play an important role in improving student success because of
their control over resources (Kezar et al., 2015) to apply to new programming (such as the ASAP
program) or to new faculty behaviors (such as improved syllabi) which have been demonstrated
to improve African American student outcomes (Kolenovic et al., 2013; Caring Campus, n.d.).
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Motivation Recommendations
Motivation is the second area of focus in the Clark and Estes (2008) model of program
gap analysis. Clark and Estes indicate that motivation is the key to determining whether or not
we start pursuing a goal and continue pursuing it and the level of work we put into it. (Clark &
Estes, 2008). They further posit that motivational researchers agree that there are three
motivational indexes or processes that impact a work environment, including (a) active choice of
a work goal; (b) persistence to achieve that goal in the face of many work distractions; and (c)
mental effort devoted to the goal, including how our self-confidence in achieving that goal
impacts mental effort (Clark & Estes, 2008).
In addition to the framework on motivation provided by Clark and Estes (2008), Rueda
(2011) posits that motivational issues can arise from a variety of causes and should not be seen
as a “one-dimensional phenomenon”. The administrators interviewed indicated a relatively low
level of confidence in the ability to positively influence African American student completion
rates. Most administrators indicated that faculty were the primary drivers of these rates and that
administrators did not have the ability to impact the rates one way or another (for example,
Participant 11 stated outright, “we don’t have that power…”). Given Rueda’s (2011) assertion,
this perspective by Hillside administrators could arise from a variety of perspectives. .
Table 8 demonstrates the areas in which there are gaps in motivational influence and the context-
specific recommendations to address those gaps.
Table 8
Summary of Motivation Influences and Recommendations
Assumed Motivational Influence Gap Context-Specific Recommendation

A Minority of Administrators
Express High Confidence in Their
Ability to Positively Influence
Y Provide opportunities for administrators
to interact with leaders who have
increased African American completion
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African American Completion Rates
(Self-Efficacy)
rates and to implement similar
approaches in their environment to
improve self-efficacy

Administrators Believe Additional
Training and Improved Services
Would Increase Their Confidence
Levels (Self-Efficacy)

N Provide training and the opportunity to
modify services and track improvement
data to support improved self-efficacy
Administrators Self-Assess at a Low
Level of Expertise and Ability in
Improving African American
Completion Rates (Self-Efficacy)
Y Provide data that demonstrate the
relationship between specific strategies
and improved rates along with training
on those strategies to improve
administrator sense of expertise and
ability

Motivation Recommendation 1: Develop High Confidence in Administrator Ability
to Positively Influence African American Completion Rates. The recommendation made for
this particular motivational influence is for the college president to provide opportunities for
Hillside administrators to interact with other community college leaders (administrative, faculty,
staff and student) who have actually increased African American completion rates and to
implement similar approaches at Hillside so as to improve their own sense of self-efficacy. This
can be done by bringing community college leaders from across the state to interact with Hillside
administrators. Christopher Shults (2001) finds that exposure to other leaders in the field in a mentoring-
type of relationship improves college leader performance and the qualities needed to take on an executive
role including confidence and courage. Thus, increasing this exposure to other leaders who have skills in
the particular area that the Hillside College administrators lack may improve their sense of confidence
and self-efficacy.
There are colleges recognized by entities such as the California community college
system, the Aspen Institute and the Campaign for College Opportunity as high performing
colleges in relation to outcomes for students of color. Two California community colleges were
identified as finalists for the 2023 Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence: Moorpark
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College and Imperial Valley College. This indicates that these colleges have a high rate of
success with African American, Hispanic and Native American students. The Campaign for
College Opportunity recognized Long Beach City College for their high rates of transfer among
Black and Hispanic students. The recommendation is to provide Hillside administrators with the
opportunity to interact with administrators from these recognized colleges via webinars,
conferences and direct invitations.
These encounters should be carefully planned by the president’s office to require each
administrator to study the practices and data from these colleges (Moorpark, Imperial Valley,
Long Beach City) to develop a foundational understanding of their stories. Specific questions
should be developed by the administrative team to send to these college’s leadership teams to be
prepared to respond to. The webinar or visit should focus on learning specific strategies for
implementation and to identify potential barriers and pitfalls to avoid.
This recommendation is important to implement because of the role that confidence plays
in the ultimate achievement of the organizational goal. Clark and Estes (2008) posit that
motivation is an internal psychological process that gets us started on an action and helps us
continue with that action until the desired goal is achieved. It is this process that allows us to
follow through on intentions to achieve needed outcomes. Given the organizational goal to
increase African American completion rates and given the key role that administrators play in the
organization (Kezar et al., 2015) in order to achieve goals, it is critically important that
administrators have motivation, a component of which is self-confidence (Eccles, 2006).
Motivation Recommendation 2: Develop Administrator Sense of Expertise and
Ability in Improving African American Completion Rates. Thus, the college must provide
data to the administrators that demonstrate the relationships between specific strategies and
consequential improved completion rates and follow that data with training on specific strategies
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to improve completion rates in order to improve administrator sense of expertise and ability to
improve outcomes. The data can be found in studies by Bensimon and Dowd (2009), Harper
(2013), Harper and Quaye (2007), Hausmann et al. (2009), Mendoza-Denton & Page-Gould
(2008), Strayhorn (2008; 2012), and Wood and Harris (2013), among others.
The college president, as a part of the African American Completion course, should
provide administrators with the data found in the studies above and training on strategies to
increase African American sense of belonging and program completion rates. As mentioned in
the knowledge recommendation section, there are numerous strategies related to faculty, peers
and programs that are currently in use in community colleges for which there is data
demonstrating their effectiveness and which can be duplicated at Hillside College. These include
the Caring Campus initiative for faculty-based strategies (Caring Campus, n.d.), African
American peer mentors (Hausmann et al., 2007; Harper, 2013) for peer-based strategies and the
CUNY ASAP program for program-based strategies (Kolenovic, et al., 2013).
Training administrators on strategies and data regarding the problem of practice will
provide them with a sense of expertise in and mastery over the subject area, which is a critical
component of a sense of self-efficacy (Pajares, 2006). Allowing individuals to develop their own
sense of expertise and mastery will improve their overall sense of self-efficacy on the topic of
African American college success. As Pajares notes,” Success raises self-efficacy; failure lowers
it,” (Parajes, 2006, p.2). Allowing administrators to succeed in learning the material, and in then
applying it by creating an implementation plan contributes to higher self-efficacy which then
makes it more likely that administrators will persist to achieve the organization’s goal.
This recommendation is important to apply for the same reason as Motivation
Recommendation 1: because self-efficacy is an important aspect of overall motivation which
plays a critical role in the likelihood of each administrator working to achieve the organizational
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goal. Without a high level of self-efficacy, which can be built through building mastery and
expertise, administrators will not have the motivation to start, continue and complete the tasks
necessary to increase African American completion rates.
Organization Recommendations
Organizational influences are the third area of impact on African American student
success. Cultural settings and cultural settings are two concepts that are useful in examining the
influence of an organization’s culture on outcomes (Gallimore & Goldenberg, 2001). A cultural
setting is a shared understanding by organizational members about how things should work in an
organization. A cultural setting is a shared activity among members of an organization to achieve
a shared goal (Gallimore & Goldenberg, 2001).
The data indicate that one cultural setting organizational influence that the college needs
to provide additional training and resources to administrators in order to ensure they have the
requisite knowledge to increase African American completion rates. The data demonstrate that
there are knowledge gaps and that the administrators, themselves, feel they could benefit from
receiving additional training and resources. They expressed they did not feel equipped to achieve
the organizational goal with the level of knowledge and expertise they had.
The second organizational influence identified was that the college needs to establish
benchmarks for each administrator to reach to achieve the organizational goal. Bensimon (2005)
posits as part of her equity framework that an organization cannot achieve equitable outcomes
until every member of that organization takes personal responsibility for those equitable
outcomes. The equity framework contrasts three perspectives regarding equity issues (Bensimon,
2005). The first is the deficit frame which places blame on students themselves for not achieving
the same outcomes as their peers. The second is the diversity frame that celebrates diversity but
takes no responsibility for equitable outcomes. The third is the equity frame in which every
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person in the organization takes personal responsibility for contributing to dismantling the
system which creates inequitable outcomes (Bensimon, 2005). This study has determined that
the administrators at Hillside College have not universally accepted personal responsibility for
this goal and, thus, setting benchmarks would be an institutional method of communicating the
primary role of administrators in achieving the organizational goal.
Table 9 outlines the cultural setting influences that relate to administrators’ ability to
achieve the organizational and stakeholder goals to improve African American student
completion rates.
Table 9
Summary of Organizational Influences and Recommendations
Assumed Organizational Influence Gap Context-Specific Recommendations
The college needs to provide
administrators additional training in
specific areas cultural setting
Y Provide administrators with additional
training regarding concepts and
procedures to establish sense of
belonging and improve completion rates
for African American students

The college needs to establish
individual accountability for
administrators via benchmarks
cultural setting
Y Establish specific benchmarks for
administrators to reach in order to
improve African American completion
rates
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Organizational Recommendation 1: Provide Additional Training and Resources
The first organizational cultural setting change that needs to occur is that the college
president needs to ensure that administrators understand sense of belonging, its relationship with
college completion and the specific strategies to be implemented that are demonstrated to
improve sense of belonging and college completion for African American students. This can be
accomplished via the Black Minds Matter course (Black Minds Matter, n.d.) and the African
American Completion course. This is necessary to instill the equity mind-set necessary to
achieve equitable outcomes for all demographic groups (Bensimon, 2006). The training courses
will, through their review of Bensimon’s equity mindset framework (2006), clearly communicate
the role of the administrator in effecting the necessary changes to achieve the organizational
goal.
As part of the African American Completion course to be designed by the college
president and an equity-focused trainer, each administrator will be responsible for creating an
implementation plan with benchmarks they must achieve which elucidates how that
administrator will help the organization achieve its goal to improve African American
completion rates. Establishing clear accountability measures, like individual benchmarks for
each administrator, is an important aspect of creating a culture of equity-mindedness in which
every member of the organization is held responsible for achieving equitable outcomes
(Bensimon, 2005). This recommendation is important to implement because, according to
Bensimon (2007), until each individual has the necessary knowledge of how to improve an
organization’s inequitable outcomes, an organization will not be able to achieve equity in
outcomes.
Organizational Recommendation 2: Increase Individual Administrator Accountability
Via Benchmarks.
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Dr. Estela Bensimon, in her 2005 article, “Closing the achievement gap in higher
education: An organizational learning perspective”, stated that:
…our work underscores that in order to move toward the reversal of unequal higher
educational outcomes, individuals who occupy positions of power and authority,... like
me and the other authors of this volume, we all need to learn to think from the standpoint
of equity. Unless that happens, we are not likely to even get started. (Bensimon, 2005)

While it is difficult to force individuals to change their thinking, establishing accountability
measures via benchmarks for administrators is one way to clearly communicate the primary role
of administrators in undoing inequitable outcomes. As Dr. Bensimon states above, it requires that
individuals in positions of power take the lead in making changes.
Institutional goals cannot be reached without specific plans to do so and having each
administrator establish subgoals in their own area of responsibility that will lead to the overall
institutional goal (a scaffolded approach) both establishes a clear strategic pathway to the goal
and establishes clear responsible administrative parties and benchmarks for them to reach. As
stated in the Knowledge Recommendations section, the college president should require all
administrators to complete both the Black Minds Matter course (Black Minds Matter, n.d.) and
the African American Completion course, to be designed by the college president and an equity-
focused trainer. The African American Completion course will require each administrator to
create an implementation plan which uses strategies learned in the course to apply to Hillside
College and will require them to establish benchmarks they must reach as an individual in their
area of responsibility (for example, student services). The establishment of these benchmarks
will
Limitations and Delimitations

There were anticipated limitations in the study that were outside the realm of control of
the researcher. This included the truthfulness of respondents, the participation rate of the
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stakeholders and technical issues such as the recorder malfunctioning during an interview. The
delimitation choices this researcher had made included the wording of the questions being asked,
the number of questions being asked, the time allocated for each interview and the timing of the
interviews during the academic year. The wording of the questions asked may have prompt
particular types of responses unintentionally. The wording of the questions were designed to
limit this type of bias to the greatest degree possible.
The number of questions and time allocated for each interview may have had an impact
on the results if the interviewee got tired and thus was not able to provide full and robust
responses to all questions. The timing of the interviews during the academic year may have had
an impact on the participation rate by administrators. The fall and spring terms, which run from
September to May, were a busy time for administrators and may have reduced participation.
However, this period was selected in order to align with the USC Rossier School of Education’s
deadlines for completion of the dissertation by January 2023. The choice to use interviews alone
did limit the richness of the data. Ideally, additional data sources such as surveys and document
analysis would have been used but these would have required resources and time that was not
available to this researcher.
The use of a second interviewer may have introduced inconsistency in the way the
questions were asked. The fact that the second interviewer was an African American man may
have influenced how respondents answered questions given the topic is focused on African
American students. The increase in the incentive amount from the original $100 to $500 may
have impacted the way respondents answered questions. An increase in incentive may influence
a respondent to try to appease the interviewer with a particular answer in order to feel more
certain that they will receive the incentive. After review of the interview questions and
completion of the interviews, the motivational influence of attribution was eliminated as an
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object of study for this evaluation because it was determined that the interview questions did not
effectively focus on where participants attributed primary agency for increasing the African
American completion rates. Furthermore, the organizational influence of cultural model was
removed because it was determined that the interview questions did not effectively focus on
impressions of the organization’s beliefs or values as a whole.
The final limitation is the selection of a single organization as the object of study. This
choice makes the findings non-generalizable to other organizations given the limited sample size
of the administrators and the fact that they all belong to the same organization. The findings are
not applicable to other organizations of different sizes, cultures, geographical locations, funding
levels and with different organizational goals.
Conclusion

This study sought to evaluate an organization, Hillside College, to determine to what
degree it was meeting its organizational goal and to determine how any gap in achieving that
goal might be influenced by knowledge influences, motivational influences and organizational
influences. The data used for the study was qualitative - interviews of 11 of the 15 dean-and-
above level administrators in role between November 2021 and June 2022. The interviews
consisted of 13 questions and sought to determine the level of knowledge each administrator had
regarding sense of belonging among African American college students and how that related to
overall completion rates. The questions further queried participants’ knowledge of specific
strategies that could be used to improve African American student completion rates.
Motivational questions focused on perceived sense of self-efficacy regarding the ability to
improve these completion rates. The questions regarding organizational influence focused on
perceptions of the impact of training on self-efficacy and areas of interest in training.
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There were 11 findings based on the data which can be summarized as gaps found in the
areas of knowledge, motivation and organizational culture. As a result, seven recommendations
were made to address these gaps including providing comprehensive training to administrators
on sense of belonging and its relationship with college completion; providing training on specific
strategies to improve African American completion rates; clearly communicating the primary
role of administrators as drivers of equity work at the college; establishing accountability
benchmarks for administrators to reach; and connecting administrators with leaders at other
institutions who have successfully increased completion rates as a learning opportunity.
The college president, as the CEO of the organization, is responsible for implementing
these recommendations. The recommendation is to do so in part through comprehensive training
of administrators through two course vehicles: (a) the Black Minds Matter course (Black Minds
Matter, n.d.) developed by Dr. Luke Wood and Dr. Donna Ford; and (b) the African American
Completion course to be developed by Hillside College president and an equity-mindset trainer.
These two courses will address many of the identified knowledge, motivational and
organizational gaps. It is hoped that through this comprehensive list of recommendations,
Hillside College can join the growing ranks of institutions of higher education which are taking
responsibility for their historic failure to produce equitable outcomes for African American
students and community members.
In sum, the importance of addressing these gaps (particularly the knowledge gap) is
described by Dr. Estela Bensimon (2007) from her article, “The underestimated significance of
practitioner knowledge in the scholarship on student success”:
Most of all, lack of specialized knowledge about the conditions that structure the
collegiate experience of minority students makes it difficult for practitioners to consider
that their everyday actions and responses could be implicated in producing inequalities. I
do not think it is possible to achieve the ideals of access and equity without examining
the funds of knowledge that practitioners have internalized about teaching minority
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students, nor do I think generalized knowledge can improve access and equity at the
institutional level. Thus, I conclude by suggesting that practitioners can develop the funds
of knowledge for equity-minded practices by working collaboratively with researchers in
contextualized problem-defining and solving. (p. 446)

As stated by Dr. Bensimon, it is the responsibility of the practitioners to develop the knowledge
and the gaps identified in this study and the ensuing recommendations that arise from them are
one way of enabling these practitioners to take the lead in improving college completion rates for
African American students, and, ultimately in increasing overall well-being measures for all
African Americans in the community.
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Appendix A
Interview Protocol
Moderator Interview Script

Audio Recorded Introduction
• Welcome. Thank you for taking part in this interview.
• My name is xxx and I will be facilitating the interview.
• The interview will take about an hour.
• I would like to record this interview using a special software. Please be assured that any
statements you share with me will remain confidential, as my goal is to identify
Hillside College administrators’ knowledge and skills about the variables influencing
African American student completion rates. The recording allows me focus on our
conversation vs. having to take copious notes. Do you have any concerns about being
recorded?
• I may ask follow-up questions. I am also willing to provide clarifications on any question,
as needed.
• My goal is to make you feel comfortable and I encourage you to share your thoughts and
opinions openly.
• I will be taking a few hand-written notes, mainly so that I can remember follow up
questions.
• Might I answer any questions you have about the study or today's conversation?

ASK: Do I have your consent to participate in this interview process, in accordance with
what has been shared? Please respond Yes or No. (Wait for a response, if "yes", proceed to
next question. If "no", end the interview.)

ASK: Do I have your permission to audio record?
Please respond Yes or No. (Wait for a response, if"yes", start audio recorder. If "no", end the
interview.)

Administer Informed Consent Form

ASK: At this time, please thoroughly read the Informed Consent document emailed to
you or indicate that you have read it and understand it.

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STATE: You may, at any time, choose to not respond to any question, for any reason. You
may also choose to skip a question for any reason. As a reminder, your participation in the
interview is strictly voluntary and you may opt out of the interview at any point without
explanation. Your name and identifying information will remain completely confidential, so I
would appreciate you being completely honest. Nonetheless, since demographics are a part of
the data analysis phase for this study, please provide a response to the following questions:

• Please indicate whether you are currently employed at Hillside College.
• How long have you been employed at Hillside College?
• What is your current assignment?
• How many years of experience do you have in your current role at Hillside
College?

Thank you. Next, we will move to the interview questions.

Interview Questions
Introduction: We will start by discussing your knowledge of effective practices around
completion.
1. What is your understanding of the term “sense of belonging” as it relates to college
students? (Conceptual Knowledge)
a. You mentioned xxx. Can you elaborate?
2. How do you think an African American student’s “sense of belonging” or lack thereof
impacts their likelihood of completing their educational program? (Conceptual
Knowledge)
a. Now I would like to ask you about how you believe the college could improve
success rates. (Transition)
3. Are you aware of any strategies that are effective for faculty to use to improve African
American student program success rates? (Procedural Knowledge)
a. How would that strategy work?
106

4. What strategies do you believe student peers can use to improve program completion
rates of African American students? (Procedural Knowledge)
a. Can you explain in more detail?
5. Now please describe a strategy that can be used in the classroom or by a student service
program that you believe would improve program completion rates for African American
students? (Procedural Knowledge)
a. Can you please elaborate?
Next, I’d like to ask you about your role as an administrator. (Transition)
6. Discuss your level of confidence in yourself to improve African American student
completion rates at Hillside College. (Motivation – Self Efficacy)
a. What specific efforts on your part do you believe would result in these
improvements? (Motivation)(Probing)
7. How would you describe your level of expertise and ability in knowing how to improve
African American student completion rates at Hillside College? (Motivation - Attribution)
a. You mentioned xxx. What makes you say that? (Probing)
8. Which constituency at the college (students, faculty, staff, administrators) do you believe
has the primary role in improving African American student completion rates?
(Organization – Cultural setting Influence 1)
a. What makes you choose that group?
9. Discuss what you see as the overall societal and individual benefits of improving African
American student completion rates. (Organization – Cultural setting Influence 2)
Now I would like to discuss training.
10. In what areas would you like to learn more in order to improve African American student
completion rates? (Organization – Cultural Setting Influence 1)
107

a. Why do you believe those are important to your practice? (Probing)
11. If provided training in the equity mindset and strategies to improve African American
student completion rates, how might that change your level of confidence in your ability
to increase this measure? (Motivation – Self-Efficacy) (Strauss, et al. - Hypothetical)
12. Of all the support administrators could receive to improve these completion rates, where
would you place training in a ranking of importance? (Organization – Cultural Setting
Influence 1)
a. Tell me why you say that. (Probing)
Lastly, I would like to ask about accountability. (Transition)
13. Do you see any value in the college establishing specific benchmarks for administrators
to reach in regard to African American completion rates? (Organization – Cultural
Setting Influence 2)
a. What makes you say that? (Probing)

In conclusion, is there anything you would like to add to our conversation today that you
believe pertinent to this study?

Thank you for your participation in this study. If you have any questions after today,
please feel free to contact me at my email address (which you have in your inbox from my
messages to you) or to contact Ms. Kashima. Ms. Kashima will be forwarding the gift card
to you in the next few weeks via email.

108

Appendix B
Administrator Informed Consent Form
Informed Consent for Research

STUDY TITLE: African American College Completion at Hillside College (pseudonym for
Hillside College): An Evaluation Study
PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR: Stephanie Kashima, USC Doctoral Student

RESEARCH ASSISTANT: Dr. Gawin Gibson, USC Doctoral Program Graduate

FACULTY ADVISOR: Dr. Bryant Adibe, Ph.D.

You are invited to participate in a research study. Your participation is voluntary. This document
explains information about this study. You should ask questions about anything that is unclear to
you.

PURPOSE
The purpose of this study is to determine the impact of administrator knowledge and skills and
and organizational barriers to African American student program completion at Hillside College.
We hope to learn what the key knowledge and skills are that are needed to positively impact
African American student program completion and any organizational barriers to maximizing
those completion rate. You are invited as a possible participant because you are an administrator
at Hillside College.

PARTICIPANT INVOLVEMENT
You are being asked to participate in a 1-hour interview with the research assistant via telephone
or Zoom call. This interview will be recorded so that a transcription of the interview can be
provided to the primary researcher. If you do not wish to be recorded, we cannot proceed with
the interview.

109

If you decide to take part, you will be asked to schedule the 1-hour interview with the research
assistant to occur before November 15.

PAYMENT/COMPENSATION FOR PARTICIPATION
You will receive a $100 Amazon e-gift card for your time. You do not have to answer all the
questions in order to receive the card. The card will be emailed to you within 1 month after you
complete the interview.

If all administrators at the dean level and above participate, the primary researcher will donate
$1000 to the Hillside College Umoja program.

CONFIDENTIALITY
The members of the research team and the University of Southern California Institutional
Review Board (IRB) may access the data. The IRB reviews and monitors research studies to
protect the rights and welfare of research subjects.

When the results of the research are published or discussed in conferences, no identifiable
information will be used. Participants will be identified in the research study only via number
(example: Participant #3).

The audio recording will be destroyed/deleted by the research assistant after the transcript has
been sent to the primary researcher. The primary researcher will remove all identifying
information on the transcripts at the conclusion of the study (in the year 2021). The redacted
transcripts will be maintained by the primary researcher in the year 2031.

You have the right to review/edit the transcript of your interview for 1 month after your
interview date. Only the research assistant will have access to the video/audio recording. Only
the research assistant and primary researcher will have access to the transcript.

INVESTIGATOR CONTACT INFORMATION
If you have any questions about this study, please contact Stephanie Kashima, Primary
Researcher at skashima@usc.edu, Dr. Gawin Gibson, Research Assistant at gdgibson@usc.edu
or Dr. Bryant Adibe, faculty advisor, at badibe@usc.edu.

IRB CONTACT INFORMATION
110

If you have any questions about your rights as a research participant, please contact the
University of Southern California Institutional Review Board at (323) 442-0114 or email
irb@usc.edu.

Abstract (if available)

Linked assets

University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses

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Asset Metadata

Creator Kashima, Stephanie Nauriene (author)

Core Title African American college completion at Hillside College: an evaluation study

School Rossier School of Education

Degree Doctor of Education

Degree Program Organizational Change and Leadership (On Line)

Degree Conferral Date 2023-05

Publication Date 01/26/2023

Defense Date 12/15/2022

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

Tag African American students,Clark and Estes,College administrators,college completion,community college,equity mindset,OAI-PMH Harvest

Format theses (aat)

Language English

Contributor Electronically uploaded by the author (provenance)

Advisor Hirabayashi, Kimberly (committee chair), Malloy, Courtney (committee member), Torres-Retana, Raquel (committee member)

Creator Email skashima@usc.edu,stephaniekashima@gmail.com

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-oUC112718983

Unique identifier UC112718983

Identifier etd-KashimaSte-11444.pdf (filename)

Legacy Identifier etd-KashimaSte-11444

Document Type Dissertation

Format theses (aat)

Rights Kashima, Stephanie Nauriene

Internet Media Type application/pdf

Type texts

Source 20230126-usctheses-batch-1004 (batch), 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 author, as the original true and official version of the work, but does not grant the reader permission to use the work if the desired use is covered by copyright. It is the author, as rights holder, who must provide use permission if such use is covered by copyright. The original signature page accompanying the original submission of the work to the USC Libraries is retained by the USC Libraries and a copy of it may be obtained by authorized requesters contacting the repository e-mail address given.

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

Repository Email cisadmin@lib.usc.edu