Remedial Education Programs and Student Success: Perceptions of Faculty and Administrators at HBCUs

ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to examine factors that contributed to student success in remedial education as perceived by faculty members and administrators at one public HBCU in the University System of Georgia. The five specific areas that contributed to student success and were identified for review were administrative factors, curricula and instructional models, academic support services, importance of placement tests, and the impact of financial issues. Each of these areas was represented in literature regarding the histories of remedial education programs and HBCUs, recent federal and state admissions and fiscal changes, and instructional best practices of remedial education programs. Literature from these areas and interviews were conducted to examine the impressions of faculty members and program administrators who worked to teach, lead, advise, and test remedial education students at one public HBCU in Georgia. Using a case study approach the researcher interviewed four faculty members and three program administrators who worked to teach, lead, advise, and test remedial education students at one-public HBCU in Georgia. The researcher believed that it was imperative that the voices and lived experiences of the faculty members and program administrators who worked closely within this program be examined. After interviewing faculty members and program administrators connected with the remedial education program at the designated institution, it helped the researcher link responses and commentary to better understand the problems that faculty members and program administrators who remediate students at HBCUs face. During this process, the researcher engaged the participants in conversations about their lived experiences; thereby obtaining the impressions of the participants and answering the research questions in this study. The results indicated that the faculty members and program administrators who worked to teach, lead, advise, and test students at one-public HBCU in Georgia had positive feelings regarding the program, students, and everyone who worked to teach, lead, advise, or test remedial education students; however, the overall impressions were negative in nature regarding the impressions of senior or top-level administrators and faculty members campus wide. The participants’ campus wide impressions did not positively contribute to the successes of remedial education students