PROJECT VISION

In order to learn more about the student experience, faculty and administrators across several community colleges in Tennessee, Texas, Connecticut, New York, and Colorado are organizing focus groups designed to gather student perspectives. One goal of these focus groups is to inform institutions on how they can create environments that support student belonging. Additionally, our research shows that participating in our focus groups significantly increases students’ sense of belonging.

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Belonging is an important aspect of the college experience and linked to critical academic outcomes (e.g., grades, retention). Implementing protocols intended to learn directly from students will enable us to identify which aspects of the college experience are most important for cultivating an adaptive sense of belonging. Identifying targeted areas for supporting belonging has the potential to help all students, and can be particularly powerful for students who are traditionally underrepresented in higher education and students who worry about whether or not they fit in.

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WHY SENSE OF BELONGING? 

A primary objective of the Student Voices Initiative is to examine student belonging in order to improve student engagement and success. When students are unsure whether or not they belong at their school, they are more likely to disengage from classes and drop-out at a higher rate. Our protocols are designed to encourage students to discuss what helps and hinders their belonging so that we can better support them in the future.

Providing students with the space to share their perspectives and learning across institutions also provides a blueprint for sustaining discussions about belonging beyond the scope of this initiative alone.

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