in nature. In the case of Miles College, information is given to
parents—whose cooperation, understanding, and approval is
necessary for their children to take part and succeed in the
super program. In
both instances, the project staff know exactly what information is
needed, and they make sure it is communicated by sending
"information messengers" into the community.
A
COMPLEX NEED FOR PLANNING
Another
aspect of the information problem is that many urbanoriented
institutions do not collect data they need to support purposeful
planning and program development. They do not, for example,
regularly assess student and community needs, and they do not
evaluate credit and entry-level skills courses with the same
attention they give to traditional credit courses. Basic skills and
related programs and services are usually understaffed, and there
are simply too few people to gather information and keep detailed
records, let alone to analyze them for larger institutional
purposes.
Another
constraint on gathering data is that part-time students, whom the
institutions serve so heavily, are harder to track. Further-more,
in most institutions the problem is compounded by the phenomenon of
students dropping in for several courses and then dropping out for
one or more terms. Urban-oriented institutions are often criticized
by education and government officials because of the high
noncompletion rates resulting from this practice of dropping in and
out. The truth is that neither the institutions nor outside
observers really know what the phenomenon means.
What should
be understood is that many students attend urban-oriented colleges
and universities only long enough to upgrade skills for economic
advancement; they are not after a degree. Recent studies show that
less than half of the entering freshmen at two-year colleges plan
to get a degree; the majority simply want to get a job, or a better
job.
For those who
do hope to complete all degree requirements, many have to pursue
their studies over several years (sometimes in more than one
institution), with interruptions for economic and personal reasons.
Lisle Carter, president of the University of the District of
Columbia, says that at his and other institutions, many students
take eight or nine years to earn a bachelor's degree because they
must work part-time. Yet institutional failure to accept this basic
fact is widespread and leads to the use of teachers and support
systems that are counterproductive to learning. It also leads to
state and federal policies that do not fit the realities. For
example, at the University of