The SH ELITE Program- Provide A Sustainable, Quality Program That Addresses The Disparity In Retention And Graduation Rates For Minority Males.
The Sam Houston Establishing Leadership In and Through Education (SH ELITE) Program is a male, minority initiative designed to promote the retention and graduation of male, minority (i.e., Hispanic and African American) students at Sam Houston State University (SHSU). SH ELITE promotes academic development and e encourages civic engagement, to exemplify the SHSU motto, "A measure of a life is its service."
Objective
The SH ELITE Program Will Provide Research Supported Initiatives Which Will Increase The GPA, Hours Completed, And Completion Rate Of Its Members
The SH ELITE program will provide the neccessary support and initiatives to help participants excel. This support includs mentoring, role models, study skills workshops, social activities, and career/networking skills. Academic performance data will support the success of these program components.
KPI
SHSU ELITE Program Effectiveness
ELITE members will be compared to an equivalent Full Time Enrollment (FTE) population (i.e., comparison group) in addition to the entire minority, male, first-time, freshman population in respect to the following topics in the hopes of achieving statistically significant outcomes in favor of ELITE:
Hours Attempted: There was no statistically significant difference between the Hours Attempted of the SH ELITE students and the comparison group or the all minority, male, first-time, freshmen group.
Hours Completed: All SH ELITE student groups had statistically significantly higher mean Hours Completed than the comparison group and the all minority, male, first-time freshmen group.
Mean GPA: The SH ELITE students (as a program) all had statistically significantly higher Mean GPAs than the comparison group and the all minority, male, first-time freshmen group.
Completion Rate = Hours Completed / Hours Attempted: All SH ELITE student groups had statistically significantly higher mean Completion Rates than the comparison group and the all minority, male, first-time freshmen group.
Action
Long-term SH ELITE Academic Impact
No statistically significant difference between the SH ELITE students and both the comparison group and the all minority, male, first-time, freshman (i.e., population) group concerning Hours Attempted means that all groups attempted the relatively the same number of credit hour. This figure by itself means little, but when analyzed in connection with the statistically significant difference between the Hours Completed and Completion Rate, the three figures indicate that SH ELITE students outperformed the comparison and the population group in relation to academic follow-through. Furthermore, taking into account SH ELITE’s GPA, one can say that the SH ELITE program has a statistically significant positive effect on participants’ academic success. In other words, the SH ELITE Program appears to be effective. As such, the KPI was met.
GPA and course completion are indicators of short-term program success. However, there are other indicators of long-term impact that of importance to institutions, specifically student retention rates and student graduation rates. As such, the SH ELITE participants will be compared to a comparison group and a population group for a keener view of program impact.
Objective
Increase ELITE Budget To $95,000 For 2014 - 2015 In Order To Serve 100 Freshmen And 30 Alumni.
The SH ELITE program has been funded primarily through grants from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB) and local funds (e.g., Student Services).
To increase incentives and to increase the number of student participants, additional funding will be sought from the THECB, the SHSU division of Student Services, and outside sources (e.g., ARAMARK). Funding for the 2013-2014 academic year was approximately $56,000. In addition, there was a THECB grant balance from the 2012-2013 academic year of $20,000, providing a final budgetary total of of $76,000. SH ELITE needs approximately $95,000 to serve 100 new freshmen and 30 Alum for the 2014-2015 fiscal year.
KPI
Request Funding From The Student Services Committee, THECB, And Academic Affairs
Funding will be solicited from several sources:
$15,000 will be requested from the Student Services Committee, a component of the Student Services division at SHSU;
ARAMARK, SHSU's contracted food servicer, will be petitioned for food waivers to allow the program to fund events at a cheaper rate;
$50,000 is expected from the THECB, as a furtherance of an existing grant;
additional funds (~$30,000) will be requested from the THECB to serve 30 additional freshmen (total of 100 for the 2014-2015 academic year) and 10 additional Alum (total of 30 for the 2013-2014 academic year); and
the Academic Affairs division of SHSU will be petitioned for any additional funding.
Grand Total: $95,000
Result
SH ELITE Funding
The following is a list of the entities petitioned for funding and the amount received for the 2014-2015 academic year:
$0 were recieved from the Student Services Committee, a component of the Student Services division at SHSU;
ARAMARK, SHSU's contracted food servicer, provided two food waivers thereby allowing SH ELITE to fund events at a cheaper rate;
$50,000 was recieved from the THECB, as a furtherance of an existing grant;
no additional funds were recieved from the THECB; and
the Academic Affairs division of SHSU contributed $13,000 to the 2014-2015 SH ELITE budget.
Grand Total: $63,000.
Action
SH ELITE Funding
Despite attempting to accumulate $95,000 for the 2014-2015 academic year, the program was only able to accrue $63,000. Despite this $33,000 deficit, the SH ELITE program was still able to serve 100 new freshmen and 30 alum for the year.
Unfortunately, the grant renewal for the 2015-2016 academic year was denied, leaving the SH ELITE program in a financial bind. As such, the central goal for the program is to identify and accumulate enough funds to continue the program from any and all avenues possible.