Teaching that’s “Radical Only in its Simplicity”
Private independent colleges play a critical role in advancing equitable career pathways, reports The Chronicle of Higher Education in its latest publication “New Pathways From College to Career: Preparing Students for a Rapidly Changing Work Force.” Of note: three of the paper’s five case studies are privates, including Dillard University, an HBCU in New Orleans and longtime ACUE partner. Its faculty are prominently recognized as ACUE Distinguished Teaching Scholars. We’ve presented together at the HBCU Faculty Development Network conference and are big fans of President Kimbrough and VP for Academic Affairs Yolanda Page’s inspiring leadership.
But what a difference a few years make! “Unprepared and Confused” opened a story in Inside Higher Ed on Strada Education Network and Gallup’s “Crisis of Confidence: Current College Students Do Not Feel Prepared for the Workforce.” It was their 2017 college student survey. Of the 32,000 students asked, liberal arts majors felt least prepared. “Only 28 percent… were confident that their knowledge and skills could lead to success in the job market.”
The finding concerned my friends at the Council of Independent Colleges (CIC). Their 600-plus institutional members are independent liberal arts colleges and universities. They are proudly student-focused “teaching institutions,” with smaller classes, more advising, and greater internship opportunities — all to develop the very skills that employers prize. But they’re vulnerable to negative perceptions as these smaller schools are tuition-dependent without large endowments.
Strada felt similarly, with good reason. Nationwide, independent colleges and universities enroll 3.7 million students — a substantial segment of higher ed. Across CIC’s members, 41% of students are Pell-eligible as compared to 38% at public/non-doctoral institutions, and the colleges enroll only slightly more White students than the national average. Plus, their on-time, 4-year graduation rates exceed comparable public institutions by 16 percentage points overall and for first-generation students. Their on-time rate is also higher for low-income students and for Black, Latinx, and Indigenous students by 14 and 11 points, respectively. As for career readiness? Their alums earn $4,000 more in starting salaries.*
We realized we had to do something, to match perceptions of career readiness with these positive realities. So in 2018, ACUE and CIC brought together more than two dozen institutions, including Dillard, into the Consortium for Instructional Excellence and Career Guidance, through Strada’s generous support. More than 500 faculty — from Mount Saint Mary’s University in Los Angeles to Husson University in Bangor and many colleges in between — became ACUE-certified in Effective College Instruction with a concentration in Career Guidance and Readiness.
As the Chronicle notes, the experience helped professors be more “explicit with students about why they were having them do specific assignments or tasks, and how the work relates to what happens on the job.” Another focus was group assignments, coaching faculty on how to coach students to self-manage inevitable inter-personal dynamics — “good preparation for working in teams in the workplace.” Professors also learned how to make connections between the core skills of their discipline and the occupations that require these skills.
At the outset, ACUE and CIC wondered how faculty and institutions that take such pride in their teaching would respond to the opportunity. To our delight, they were enthusiastic. Many more institutions applied than the Consortium could support. In one year alone, the 525 participating faculty reached 62,000 students. 95% of the professors found ACUE’s recommended practices relevant to their work; each implemented dozens of new, career-readying approaches.
An Albion College professor noted that “specific techniques are so workable in my class,” adding she wished she had this opportunity “in my early teaching years.” A Stillman College instructor appreciated the academic references backing recommended approaches, even noting that the “classroom activities are fun.” From Briar Cliff University, an educator shared how the experience “encouraged me to be more self-aware, reflective, and intentional within my classroom setting.”
Regarding career readiness, colleges participating in the consortium reported increased use of the campus career office. Dillard University sustained the work through grants from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. According to Dillard’s Dr. Page, “there’s a cultural change around increased awareness of preparing students for a career.”
These and other findings were reported by CIC and ACUE in “Creating Value,” published in Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning. The piece ties together the importance of great teaching, career readiness, and the value that students receive — and perceive — in their education.
In some ways, Strada’s 2017 findings make perfect sense. If I’m in a pre-professional major, I feel pretty good about my chances of entering that profession. But if I’m an English major (as I was) and don’t want to be an English professor (which I didn’t), what was I going to do with my life? (Which I was asked more than once…)
In other ways, the finding was completely perplexing. From AAC&U’s Essential Learning Outcomes and VALUE Rubrics, to NACE’s regular survey of employers as amplified by recruiters like Monster, it’s consistently clear what employers seek in college grads: the ability to write and speak well, to think clearly and analytically, to engage with evidence and ambiguity to solve problems, to work in teams and take initiative. All of these aptitudes rate higher than the “technical skills” needed to perform job functions, as employers likely believe: if you can “read, think, speak and write,” collaboratively with others, you probably can pick up the rest.
Intellectual capacities and dispositions are the hallmark of a liberal arts education. And as the Chronicle notes, the Consortium and ACUE’s approach was “radical only in its simplicity.” The work prepared faculty to make intentional connections between an assignment and life-long skills; between an academic discipline’s habits of mind to careers that depend on these skills; between the liberal arts and employment. When these connections are made, value gets created all around — in professors’ ability to inspire students about their fields, in students’ appreciation for their studies, and among grateful employers eager to hire thoughtful graduates.
*Data provided by the Council of Independent Colleges
