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dc.contributor.advisorBoyd, Barry
dc.creatorHarris, Danielle Alexander
dc.date.accessioned2007-04-25T20:12:53Z
dc.date.available2007-04-25T20:12:53Z
dc.date.created2006-12
dc.date.issued2007-04-25
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/1969.1/4921
dc.description.abstractCurrent demographics indicate that populations of color are on the rise across the United States. Although enrollments of students of color are increasing, first year retention rates are lower compared to their peers. Consequently, systemic changes are needed to produce changes in services and programs required by these students. Despite the modest gains in enrollment, students of color remain underrepresented at every degree level in higher education. Despite volumes of research, institutions still disregard the seriousness of the problem and continue to address retention with isolated programmatic approaches to change administrative, instructional, and advising practices with little evaluation. The purpose of this study was to develop an instrument assessing the organizational readiness of state and land-grant universities to retain students of color in colleges of agriculture as well as determine what definitions of retention were used to support existing retention programs and services. Since state and land-grant institutions previously engaged in retention strategies, an ex post facto study was conducted. A census of the population was conducted, where close to half of the population responded and expressed interest in seeing study results. State and land-grant colleges were selected as participants due to their unique inability to reach higher than average retention rates of students of color, specifically in agricultural fields. Statistical tests such as t-tests and analysis of variance were used to analyze data and further refine the instrument. Reliability for each of the instrument scales was high. However, further refining must be done before the instrument will more precisely indicate where gaps are in each readiness area in colleges of agriculture. This study determined that more information is needed on which definitions of retention are used to support programs and services within the college. Further investigation should be done to ascertain why more organizational diagnostic assessments are not done in this area considering the fiscal impacts on priorities such as retention. Although respondents indicated satisfaction with the college of agriculture to meet the academic needs of students, departmental administrators and faculty were still unclear of their role with retention. These findings indicate more research in this area should be conducted.en
dc.format.extent880767 bytesen
dc.format.mediumelectronicen
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdf
dc.language.isoen_US
dc.publisherTexas A&M University
dc.subjectretentionen
dc.subjectorganizational readinessen
dc.subjectdiverse studentsen
dc.subjectorganizational changeen
dc.subjectland grantsen
dc.subjectprogram evaluationen
dc.subjectorganizational behavioren
dc.titleDescribing the readiness for retention of students of color at state and land-grant colleges of agricultureen
dc.typeBooken
dc.typeThesisen
thesis.degree.departmentAgricultural Educationen
thesis.degree.disciplineAgricultural Educationen
thesis.degree.grantorTexas A&M Universityen
thesis.degree.nameDoctor of Philosophyen
thesis.degree.levelDoctoralen
dc.contributor.committeeMemberElbert, Chanda
dc.contributor.committeeMemberLindner, James
dc.contributor.committeeMemberStanley, Christine
dc.type.genreElectronic Dissertationen
dc.type.materialtexten
dc.format.digitalOriginborn digitalen


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