Validation and Student Success
Laura I. Rendón, Professor & Co-Director, Center for
Education Research and Policy
Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, UT San Antonio
TG Webinar – March 2012
How I Enter This Work—To Know
The Theory is to Know the Theorist
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Personal Background
Origins of Validation Theory
 National
Center for Teaching, Learning and
Assessment—Pennsylvania State University
 __Women’s Ways of Knowing—Belenky, et al., 1984
Who or What Helped You to
Graduate from College?
Who or What Interfered With You
Graduating from College?
Differences Between Traditional and
Underserved Students
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Family college-going culture
Finances
Expectations
Congruity between the world of the student and
the world of college
Differences in ways high schools prepare students
to attend college
Overall representation in higher education
Congruity of College World and World of
Middle and Upper Class Students
College World
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Values
Traditions
Conventions
Faculty
Curriculum
Students
World of Middle and
Upper Class Students
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Values
Traditions
Conventions
Family
Cultural Expectations
Worlds are similar
Worlds are connected
Privileged students face few, if any barriers getting academically and socially
integrated in college world
Incongruity of College and World of LowIncome, Underserved Students
College World
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Values
Traditions
Conventions
Faculty
Curriculum
Students
World of
Underserved Students
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Values
Traditions
Conventions
Family
Cultural
Expectations
Worlds are dissimilar
Worlds are disconnected
Underserved students face barriers and transitional problems crossing the
academic border
When they cross into the college world, they will experience incidents such as:
alienation, cultural assaults (i.e., racism, stereotyping, discrimination)
Key Points of Inequity
Education Achievement Gaps/Points of
Inequity
High School Graduation
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Each racial/ethnic cohort had more students graduate in the
class of 2008.
Yet massive gaps remain.
82.7% of Asian students and 78.4% of white students
graduated on time.
Only 57.6% of Hispanics, 57% of Black and 53.9% of
American Indian students graduated on time–Education Week,
2011.
Education Achievement Gaps/Points of
Inequity
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Test Scores. Black and Hispanic students, while doing better on NAEP reading
and math assessments in 4th and 8th grades, still continue to trail White
students—about 2 grade levels behind in 2009 & 2011.
High School Course Taking Patterns. Average number of courses has increased,
but White and Asian students twice as likely to take academically rigorous core
courses. Fewer than 10% of Black and Hispanic students participated in rigorous
courses in 2009.
Source: Education Week, 2011
http://www.edweek.org/ew/issues/achievement-gap/
Education Achievement Gaps/Points
of Inequity
Gender Gaps
 Only 68% of male students graduated on time in 2008.
 75% of female students graduated on time.
 In the long term, only about 50% of male students from
minority backgrounds graduate on time—Education
Week, 2011.
 As of 2010 36% of women ages 25-29 held a BA or
better versus only 28% of men in same age group—U.S.
Census Bureau, 2011.
Men of Color Faring Poorly in K-12
and Undergraduate Ed
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In large urban centers (NYC, Houston, Oakland, Atlanta,
Cleveland and Columbus) minority men graduating high school
at rates below 50%.
Challenges include: discrimination, misguided perceptions of
masculinity, lack of peer and community support, low
expectations, absence of academic role models, stigma
attached to excelling in education.
Espinosa, 2010; Sáenz & Ponjuán, 2012
Black Male Crisis
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Fewer than 8% of young African American men
have graduated from college compared to 17% of
Whites and 35% of Asians.
Overall, Black males suffer from low college
graduation rates, high levels of death,
incarceration, and unemployment—Kaiser Family
Foundation, 2006; National Urban League, 2007
What’s Happening to Latino Men?
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Latino males lag behind Latina women in terms of
college attendance and degree attainment.
Among 18-24 year old Latino males in 2010, 34.2%
had not completed high school, compared to 27.1%
for Latina females.
Sáenz & Ponjuán, 2012
What’s Happening to Latino Men?
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In 2009 Latina female college enrollment outnumbered that of
Latino males by almost 368,000 students.
In 2010 less than 40% of college degrees awarded to
Hispanics were earned by Latino males.
Latinas earned a combined 130,080 of associate or BA
degrees in 2009, or 52,713 more than Latino males.
Sáenz & Ponjuán, 2012
Leaks in the Educational Pipeline
Out of every 100 ninth graders:
 68 graduate from high school
 40 immediately enter college
 27 are still enrolled in their sophomore year
 Only 18 complete any postsecondary education within
6 years of graduating from high school
Source: National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education (2004)
100
Elementary school
students
48
Drop out of
high school
52
Graduate from
high school
20
Attend community
college
2
Transfer to a
4-year institution
Latino/a
Educational
Attainment
31
Enroll in college
11
Attend a four-year
institution
10
Graduate from
college
4
Earn a graduate
degree
<1
Earns a doctorate
Source: Padilla, 2007
Theoretical Frameworks Applicable to
Low-Income, First-Generation Students
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Validation Theory (Rendon, 1994; 2011)
ABC Model of Creating Inclusive Environments (Daniel
Tatum, 2007)
Community Cultural Wealth Model (Yosso, 2005)
Funds of Knowledge (Moll, 2001)
Liberatory Pedagogy (Frerie, 1971; Rendon, 2009;
Hooks, 1994)
Ethic of Care (Noddings, 1984; Valenzuela, 1999)
Students Want to Know
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I matter
Somebody cares about me
I am a capable learner
I can be a valuable member of this college community
What I bring to the college classroom is as valuable as
what others think and know (student voice)
The curriculum reflects who I am (inclusive curriculum)
What it takes to get into and complete college—a
clear pathway toward goal achievement
Validation Theory
Working with Latino/a Students
 Validation is an enabling, confirming and supportive process
initiated by in- and out-of-class agents that fosters academic and
personal development (Rendón, 1994).
 There are two forms of validation:
1. Academic -- when in- and out-of-class agents take action to
assist students to trust their innate capacity to learn and to
acquire confidence in being a college student.
2. Interpersonal -- when in- and out-of-class agents take action
to foster students’ personal development and social
adjustment
ADMINISTERING VALIDATION
Validation, when it is administered early in
the student’s transition to college, and
consistently throughout the college
experience, may be the key to helping
students get involved and believing they can
learn and achieve their goals.
Out-of-Class Validating Agents
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Spouse, Boyfriend, Girlfriend
Family: Parents, Siblings, Relatives,
Children
Friends: Classmates, College Friends,
Non-College Friends
College Staff: Faculty, Coaches,
Counselors, Advisors, Tutors, Teaching
Assistants, Resident Advisors
In-Class Validating Agents
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Faculty
Coaches
Lab Instructors
Teaching Assistants
The Puente (Bridge) Project As A Validating
Learning Community
Community College Puente Model
English
Classroom
• Reading Skills
• Writing Skills
• Research
Skills
Counselor
Mentor
• In English
Classroom
• Develops
Education
Plan
• Community
Member
• Give Back to
Community
Validating Agent: Barbara Jaffee
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Associate Dean, Humanities—El Camino College,
California
Professor of English and ESL—El Camino College,
California
Barbara Jaffey, English Professor, El Camino College
Academic Validation in English
Classroom
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Affirm real possibility students can be successful
college students—bring speakers to class that
resemble characteristics of students; allow students
to see themselves in what they are learning
Provide opportunities for students to witness
themselves as capable learners—research papers
call for high levels of critical thinking skills and
writing ability. Students submit papers knowing
they can meet these requirements.
Academic Validation in English
Classroom
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Affirm value of personal voice in the classroom—
knowledge can initiate from student personal
experience; writing assignments include essays
about how students got their names; research
papers on topics rooted in the student personal
experience.
Create a familia learning atmosphere—students
organize into familias for essay or topic discussions.
These evolve into study groups outside the
classroom.
Impact of Validation—Not About
“Coddling Students”
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Believe “I can do it”
Believe in inherent capacity to learn
Become excited about learning
Feel a part of the learning community
Become motivated or driven
Feel cared about as a person, not just a student
Students in the Puente Project at
El Camino College, CA
Daniela
Issis
Vanessa
VALIDATION THEORY: ROLE OF
ADVISERS
TG Webinar – March 2012
Validating Underserved Students:
Best Practices for Advisers
Build a relationship with students.
• Ask questions about their life, struggles they have been through.
• Emphasize the importance of education for their families.
Do not assume all students know how to get involved and how to
access campus information.
Advisors should take the first step in reaching out to assist
students and helping them to get involved in campus life.
Whenever possible, affirm students as being capable of collegelevel work.
Indicate to students that what they know and the backgrounds
they bring are as important as what others know and bring to
college.
Validating Underserved Students: Best
Practices for Advisers
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Call students by name. Be friendly, accessible,
supportive and helpful.
Praise student success.
Introduce student to other students in similar
situations.
Encourage students to validate and support each
other (i.e., students provide positive reinforcement,
form friendships, serve as peer support network).
Assumptions of Validation Theory
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Works with students as whole human beings.
Attention to intellectual, social, emotional and innerlife aspects of human development.
Is asset-based (as opposed to deficit-based).
Rooted in the experiences of low-income, firstgeneration students.
Works to promote equitable outcomes and to
promote inclusive classrooms
Makes students academically and personally
stronger
Shifts role of institution from passive to active
Improve Access, Experience &
Completion
Access
• College Ready P-20 Initiatives
• Recruitment
• Advising
• Financial Aid
• College Transition
• _____________________
• Validating Actions:
• Affirm students as capable of
college
• Provide support and
encouragement to attend
college
Student
Experience
• Faculty and Staff Development
• Teaching/Learning
• Advising & Counseling
• Engagement
• Learning Communities
• Service Learning
• Contemplative Pedagogy
• ____________________
• Validating Actions:
• Inclusive curriculum rooted in
student experiences
• Assist students to view selves
as capable college students
• Encourage study group where
students validate each other
Completion
• Graduate School Ready
• Workforce Ready
• GPA
• Certificates, Degrees
• College Completion Seminars
To Know the Theory is to Know the
Theorist
“What is going to be my legacy?...Clearly, what I
think I will be remembered for is that I made a
difference in the lives of people who grew up just
like me having no hope, and I made a difference in
folks thinking about the world in a much more
connected, humanistic, holistic way…The essence of
both of those things is love…(Rendon, quoted in
Osei-Kofi, 2011)”
Validation Theory: Key References
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Rendon, LI (1994) Validating culturally diverse
students:
Linares-Rendon, LI & Munoz, S. (2011) Special issue
of Enrollment Management Journal
Rendon, LI (2002). Community college Puente: A
validating model of education. Educational policy.
Vol 16, 4, 642-667