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Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, an unprecedented number of higher education institutions adopted test-optional admissions policies. The proliferation of these policies and the criticism of standardized admissions tests as unreliable predictors of applicants' postsecondary educational promise have prompted the reimagining of evaluative methodologies in college admissions. However, few institutions have designed and implemented new measures of applicants' potential for success, rather opting to redistribute the weight given to other variables such as high school course grades and high school GPA. We use multiple regression to investigate the predictive validity of a measure of non-cognitive, motivational-developmental dimensions implemented as part of a test-optional admissions policy at a large urban research university in the United States. The measure, composed of four short-answer essay questions, was developed based on the social-cognitive motivational and developmental-constructivist perspectives. Our findings suggest that scores derived from the measure make a statistically significant but small contribution to the prediction of undergraduate GPA and 4-year bachelor's degree completion. We also find that the measure does not make a statistically significant nor practical contribution to the prediction of 5-year graduation.

For decades, researchers have investigated the impact of faculty-student interaction as well as the contexts in which such interactions occur and are most productive (Astin, 1993; Kuh & Hu, 2001). Cox (2011) identified two consistent outcomes from this body of research: first, that interactions between faculty members and students have positive effects on student outcomes, and second, that such interactions do not occur as regularly as educators might hope. Yet positive exchanges and relationships between faculty and students can have a significant impact on students' college experience, influencing not only students' understanding of course-related issues such as grades (Cotten & Wilson, 2006), but also students' worldview and engagement (Grantham, Robinson, & Chapman, 2015, p. 130; Umbach & Wawrzynski, 2005). This article describes the Writers, Ink. Learning Center (LC) at Cabrini University--a small, Catholic, private, liberal arts institution outside of Philadelphia--was intentionally created to support first-year students identified as academically at-risk in writing.

Urban-serving research universities (USRUs) address issues of access, community engagement, and development within urban areas, but internal and external forces complicate their place-based missions. By embracing contradictions within stakeholder viewpoints, strategic planning can foster fruitful, institutionalized engagement. This mixedmethods study analyzed responses to a core values survey that was disseminated to stakeholders at a USRU to explore the question "What do the ratings of and comments about the community-minded value reveal about possible tensions and opportunities in how stakeholders describe a USRU's fulfillment of its community-minded value?" Through stakeholder and paradox theory, we examined how stakeholder perspectives uncover tensions and opportunities related to the community-minded value. Whereas stakeholder theory emphasized the importance of valuing the interests of all stakeholders, paradox theory illustrated how coexisting-but-divergent perspectives on defining, approaching, and engaging community could help to advance community engagement goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine a community-led afterschool program designed by Black women for Black youth from a low-income community through the lens of othermothering. Through interviews and focus groups exploring a multiyear community-university partnership in a large northeastern city, we find that the Black women staff-centered community needs to drive programming activities, provided wraparound supports for families, and created a familial environment within the program. We argue that these practices fostered a culturally relevant afterschool program that was driven by the knowledge and practices of Black women in the community. Supporting minoritized communities to enact their own culturally relevant afterschool programs may lead to the establishment of unique programs that view communities as assets instead of sites of domination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Universities are increasingly prioritizing engagement and collaboration with their local communities. While such partnerships can be mutually beneficial, they can often perpetuate and exacerbate power differentials, particularly when the community partners belong to racially minoritized groups. This qualitative paper examines the founding of a community-university partnership between a Black, low-income community and a predominantly White university. Through the theoretical framework of aspirational capital, we find that valuing the experiences and aspirations of the community helped establish a more equitable partnership forged to support a community-led, culturally relevant after-school program. Centering the aspirations of Black community members and the epistemologies of the Black women on the program staff also served to acknowledge and address power imbalances at the founding stages of the partnership. Recognizing and valuing the aspirational capital of community members also positively impacted the university-based staff's ability to function as boundary spanners between the university and community who could adequately articulate the desires and needs of program staff. We argue that by recognizing and valuing the aspirational capital already present in low-income Black communities, universities can create more equitable partnerships for positive social change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]