<p>This is a very long article by a New York Times reporter who spent months in Austin to write it. It makes me proud to be a Longhorn. I know my dad, a UT prof since 1965, works hard to help his engineering students succeed.</p>
<p>UT's success should help schools all over the country, if they pay attention to it.</p>
<p>Great article. I hope everyone reads it. It’s particularly heartwarming to read about a tenured prof at a big research university throwing his energy into student success. Profs in that position really aren’t paid/rewarded for doing that (though they should be); the ones who choose to do it are doing it on top of their other work.</p>
<p>I thought it was a great article, too. I especially appreciate that the prof who started the program was in the chemistry department! As Hanna said, here’s a guy who noticed a disturbing trend in his class and created a solution for that problem - even though it had little to do with balancing equations or redox reactions.</p>
<p>I found the concept of intervention fascinating. As well as the concept of belonging and ability.</p>
<p>Similar programs to TIP are in place across the country and have proven very successful. However, I don’t think any of them are to the scale of UT-Austin’s program. </p>
<p>I read it and came here to start a thread, but it was a long article and I got scooped. 
I really liked the article. I was awed by the power of the sense of belonging and ability. I kinda felt that the sense of ability was correlated with SES but the sense of belonging, or lack of it, was not. More to do with individual personality or trait, I thought.</p>
<p>I just finished reading it and immediately came here to see if someone had started a thread on it, too! </p>
<p>I found it fascinating that a few simple messages can have such a profound affect on so many lives. One can only hope this sort of thing is implemented, not only at the university level but in elementary & secondary educational institutions as well. </p>
<p>Great article. The program is very similar to the way my D’s 6-12th grade school works. Compared to some of the comprehensive HS I’m familiar with, the differences that belonging can make is striking. The smaller classes, high expectations and interventions on a one-on-one basis if needed have made for some very successful kids.</p>
<p>I wonder if I could get this implemented at my high school…</p>
<p>Honestly , this makes me soo mad , cause the top 7% rule is unfair , cause for her a 3.5 got her into her top 7% which guaranteed her admission compare it to my school which has 980 students in its senior class ; to get into top 7% you need a 4.56 UW(and to get this you pretty much take around 10+ Ap classes and preap since freshman year) , and at least a 3.8 W . Along with that 95% of the students in the top 7% have higher than 1800+ on their SATs . The top 7% is unfair as it gives people that go to easier schools in Texas the opportunity that many better qualified students should get that don’t due to their ranks</p>
<p>If you would read the article you would know that what is “unfair” is that those students were born into disadvantaged families and attended schools from K-12 that did not allow them to develop the emotional resources to deal with adversity- and that those students are every bit as capable as the higher SES students who attend your high school. </p>
<p>What is “unfair” is that these students can’t get this level of support and intervention much earlier. </p>
<p>As a public, taxpayer funded university – UT has an obligation to serve all families in Texas – not just the students who have the head start of having college educated parents or the good fortune to live in more affluent communities.</p>
<p>As a matter of public policy, the economic data shows that UT gets more bang for its buck when its universities succeed with students from lower SES backgrounds, because of the radical change in future earnings of those students with the 4 year degree. </p>
<p>One thing that struck me in reading this article was the similarity of Vanessa’s experience her first semester with an experience that my daughter had her first semester in college – but the very different type of response coming back from the parents. When Vanessa called her mom in tears after blowing an exam, the mom echoed her doubts, suggesting that Vanessa might have been better off going to community college. When my daughter called me in tears after blowing her first college midterm – I gave her encouragement and began with a little story along the lines of those essays the students in the TIP program were reading, pointing out that college is much harder than high school but that DD would be able to rise to the challenge. I also remember getting specifics from my D about the problem areas on the botched exam – I pointed out where she fell short and encouraged her to meet with the prof… My d. ended up with a perfect score on exam #2 in that class.</p>
<p>I don’t fault Vanessa’s mom for lacking the emotional reserves to help her daughter- the mom herself did not have the life experience to be able to give that support. I had both the confidence of a parent with a post-college professional degree and the actual academic experience to be able to give cogent advice. </p>
<p>But even before I read the rest of the article, a voice in my head was screaming “no!” when I read the paragraph describing that exchange, and I could see how the odds were stacked against poor Vanessa. I’m glad the rest of the article was about meaningful, targeted ways to address those issues. </p>
<p>While I appreciate what UT is trying to do by admitting the top 7 or 8% of Texas HS graduates, I think in the case of Vanessa they did her a disservice. The average ACT score to be admitted to UTA is a 28 with the middle 50% ranging from 25-31. I am deducing that a HS that would have a student with a 3.5 GPA, in the top 7% of her class and a 22 ACT likely does not have a very rigorous curriculum. If I were the king of Texas I think I would require Vanessa to take some college level courses at another Texas CC or university before guaranteeing her admission to her dream school. It would give her an opportunity to take some more rigorous courses without having to compete with students who had better opportunities while preserving her opportunity to go to UTA. </p>
<p>That being said, I am impressed with the program the Chem Professor has put together. I like the idea of identifiying students who may struggle early and working with them. I know of at least one university that has something call a YouCollege to meet the needs of students who may have qualified for admission but might not be truly prepared for college level work. It is hoped that they can raise them up rather than lowering their course standards or flunking students out. </p>
<p>Maybe they should try this with their law school, and their students could maybe pass the bar exam?</p>
<p><a href=“http://watchdog.org/130793/clout-scandal-emails/”>http://watchdog.org/130793/clout-scandal-emails/</a></p>
<p>But if you read the article – you’ll see that the remedial path doesn’t work – apparently it is demoralizing and simply reinforces feelings of inadequacy among the students who are sent down the path. The point is that with support aimed more at confidence building and metacognitive skills seem to be enough to enable students like Vanessa to perform on a par with more privileged students. The Chemistry teacher gave the same lectures and the same exams to his TIP group as he did to the large class - and they ended up getting the same ranges of grades on the exams. So the bimodal grade distribution was converted to a standard bell curve by a program which essentially was morale-building, not remedial. </p>
<p>When you look at an ACT score as a representing a test of ability, you are buying into the “entity theory of intelligence” that the researchers in the article have refuted – not by offering an alternative theory, but by gathering data from thousands of students. </p>
<p>The idea of giving the low SES students more remedial support as a prerequisite to university entrance seems to make sense on an emotional level – but the evidence is that it simply doesn’t work. If you put yourself in the position of the student being offered the “help”-- you can see how such measures actually work to erect additional barriers to the student., and simply reinforces the barriers they are starting out with. </p>
<p>I would assume that there’s a certain level of hype in the NYT article – the picture probably isn’t quite as rosy as it is made out – but the bottom line is that they are gathering statistical evidence that supports their approach-- and I think the stats tell a very different story when students like Vanessa are redirected toward remedial programs. </p>
<p>I don’t believe Vanessa needed remedial classes. However, the price of failure is likely to be that she loses her scholarship. Perhaps the professor can help her. However, if she had chosen to attend a school whose students mirrored her capabilities she likely would have been more successful. Once she had passed some college work then she might be ready to compete at a university like UTA.</p>
<p>bealonghorn.utexas.edu/whyut/profile/scores </p>
<p>I found it interesting that the students in the top 8% of HS in Texas attending UTA had lower scores than those they chose. I also found it interesting, but not surprising, that OOS had the highest stats. It surprised me that International students had the lowest stats.</p>
<p>@lvvcsf the point of the article is that Vanessa IS succeeding at UT Austin. She stumbled at first but is now doing well thx in part to this new program that instills confidence.</p>
<p>@fondmemories ok I’ll admit when I’m wrong. I hadn’t read the entire article, I had made it about half way through when I made my opinions. I just finished the article and saw that Vanessa was getting a 3.0 and the read the conclusions of the study. The balance of the article convinced me of my error in my initial judgement. Congratulations to Vanessa and cudos to Professor Laude. </p>
<p>lvvcsf:
Actually, even if it’s counterintuitive, research shows that for lower income and/or first gen and/or immigrant kids, they are more successful if they attend the most selective college that admitted them. Indeed, these colleges have the means to offer support to help smart but less-prepared students reach their potential. They also have more driven students, for whom college is a norm and who convey that value to their classmates who in turn carry a full load of classes, expect to graduate, etc.
In addition, you based your analysis of her “capabilities” off her ACT score. But for all you know, she took that test only once, with no idea of the format or any preparation for it - as is the norm for most lower-income students. And once they’ve taken it once, nobody’s there to tell them to prep and take it a second time. </p>
<p>Wrt international students: they’re taking the test in a foreign language for them; for that reason, they may score well on the Math test, but poorly on the CR test, which is hard enough already if you’re taking it in your first language. Can you imagine the CR test in Spanish, or Russian, or Arabic? Scoring anything about 400 on that test in a foreign language is quite good and is understood as such. (No such understanding is given to students from the UK, Canada, or Australia, of course.)</p>