AIM-ing for Student Success
This article was originally published in the September 1999 issue of CLASnotes.
In the spring of 1997, UF designated CLAS as the new academic and administrative home for its retention initiative for academically at-risk first-year students. Over the course of the last two years, the Achievement In Mainstreaming (AIM) Program has come to represent one of the college's primary missions—to provide undergraduate students with exceptional educational opportunities along with first-rate academic advising and other support-service and enrichment enhancements.
The cornerstone of any academic program is its students. The AIM Program assists in the university's effort to increase student diversity by working closely with the Office of Admissions to admit a select group of incoming freshmen each summer B term. The participation of underrepresented minorities in AIM has increased from 78.3% in 1997 to the current year's 93.1%. In addition, the program itself has grown from its initial group of 313 students to 375 participants this academic year.
AIM's year-long learning plan presents students with the opportunity to address specific areas of academic need while at the same time remaining on track in their intended majors. Typically, AIM students begin their undergraduate careers by enrolling in Summer Bridge writing and mathematics courses, directed by Diane Stevenson and coordinated by Tina Carter, respectively. These courses, which earn students both communication and computation Gordon Rule credits, help AIM participants refresh existing academic skills, as well as develop new skills critical to college success. The intensive instruction of the summer math courses, which meet for more than 12 hours per week, along with the communication and critical thinking practice provided by Summer Bridge writing classes encourages the AIM student's successful transition from high school graduate to college student.
AIM's commitment to providing its students with a comprehensive opportunity to succeed continues throughout the year. For instance, before advanced registration begins each semester, every AIM student must take advantage of CLAS's excellent academic advising team (LaCusia Washington, Kathy Rex and Reggie Tolbert) whose knowledgeable guidance ensures that students are registered for appropriate courses beyond those required by the program. In the fall term, therefore, most AIM students take two tracking courses in their major along with Gordon Rule courses in Mathematics and English, including an AIM-sponsored one-credit writing laboratory (ENC 1101L) that enhances the hands-on writing instruction of the three hour ENC1101 course. By the spring term, AIM students are mostly committed to the tracking plan laid out by the college of their intended major, though many students remain enrolled in two English courses—ENC1102 and ENC 1102L. By the end of their first year, AIM students who successfully complete the program's required curriculum have met the Gordon Rule computation requirement, as well as 75% of the 24,000 words of Gordon Rule writing instruction.
The AIM Program offers students more than its year-long curriculum and careful academic advisement. AIM also helps students establish contacts in the colleges where they eventually plan to earn their degrees. In addition, AIM coordinates the students' involvement with university offices such as Student Financial Affairs and the Division of Housing to minimize administrative snags so that AIM students can focus on their course work. In fact, one of the program's largest non-curricular contributions comes from CLAS's own Office for Academic Support and Institutional Services (OASIS).
OASIS, directed by Associate Dean Harry Shaw, and its Student Enrichment Services Program (SESP, directed by Betty Stewart-Dowdell) provide AIM students with various enrichment and support-service activities throughout their first year. Not only does OASIS offer one-on-one tutoring to supplement the outstanding tutoring program offered at the Broward Teaching Center, but its SESP also conducts valuable summer workshops and assemblies during the academic year that focus on such student-success issues as time and stress management, motivation, and study skills. Furthermore, OASIS, through the SESP, organizes a group of peer counselors—often former AIM students themselves—who offer current AIM participants the kind of face-to-face interaction only students can give to one another.
Of course, ultimately, the success of a student-centered academic program such as AIM can only be judged by the performance of its students. At the beginning of the 1999 spring term, the Office of the University Registrar reported that 94.4% of the 1998 AIM class and 80.8% of our 1997 group were currently enrolled for classes at UF, indicating that AIM students are remaining at UF at roughly the same rate as non-AIM students. Moreover, the 1999 class is off to a great start. Their average Summer B GPA was 3.03, and most impressively, 17 students earned a 4.0 GPA in 6 or more credit hours.
Credits
Writer
Dana Peterson, Director, AIM Program
