A Transformational Education

It's the difference between the Holiday Inn and The Ritz Carlton, Target and Bloomingdale's, a Honda Civic and a Mercedes Benz. The Holiday Inn, Target and Civic are all good at providing the services they do. You'll get a comfortable bed, a new outfit, and get where you're going, but there's a whole other level of potential greatness. There are the plush robes and velvet curtains, tailor-made designer clothes and luxurious leather seating, along with the smooth handling that is expected from places like The Ritz and Bloomingdale's and cars like a Mercedes.

"Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win" (I Corinthians 9:24 NASB).

The apostle Paul encouraged the citizens of Corinth to strive for excellence, to go beyond just "trying," but to run to win, to give their all. Those at Andrews University may have heard the catch phrase "good to great" buzzing around campus. Inspired by Jim Collins' bestselling business book, "Good to Great," former Provost Heather Knight encouraged the campus to strive for something more than just the status quo.

But what does it mean to strive for excellence in a university setting? For some, excellence seems to be second nature, the over-achievers who have a spotless academic record and list of extracurricular activities a mile long. But many students who step on the campus of Andrews University don't start out with stellar grades and test scores. Their high school record may be dotted with more Bs and Cs than As. But less-than-perfect grades do not mean that excellence isn't achievable.

Many of today's high school students feel pressure to gain admission to big name universities in order to be successful. This can stress out the hard-working B student, who may feel that open-ended state universities and community colleges are their only options. But as detailed in the article "A+ Options for 'B' Students," U.S. News and World Report's (USN&WR) Anne McGrath claims this needn't be the case. Instead of seeking a "name brand" university, students can find lesser-known schools with great programs that better fit their individual needs.

Included in its America's Best Colleges 2007 edition, USN&WR lists 300 colleges and universities which meet the qualifications—caring professors, smaller classes, solid retention rates, etc...—for what they consider to be "A+ options" for the non-valedictorian. Included on the list was Andrews University. With smaller classes and a favorable student-teacher ratio, students at Andrews University have professors who will remember their names, care about their success, and notice when they're not showing up for class. With the help of the Student Success Center and IVue's (Andrews University's custom student tracking software) flagging system, students are less likely to just slip through the cracks.

This caring and individualized approach to learning is highlighted by Andrews University's Department of Biology, which has demonstrated a record of unusual success when compared with other universities.

Beginning with the first semester of study for a biology major, students in the Foundation of Biology class quickly discover the intensity of individual care and passionate commitment to academic excellence.

"My goal is to develop a personal relationship with each student, discuss with them their professional objective, and then inspire and maximize learning in preparing my young friends to realize their dreams," observed David Steen, department chair and professor of biology, and teacher of the first semester of introductory biology courses. This personal care and attention continues throughout the student's academic experience.

"We knew our students were doing unexpectedly well," comments Jack Stout, professor of biology and dean of Scholarly Research. With freshmen graduation rates of more than 70 percent, rankings in the 90th percentile on Major Field Tests, and medical school acceptance rates of around 85 percent--more than twice the national average--the department had the statistics to make any biology program in the country proud. But these markers of high achievement take on special significance when examined a little more closely.

The department's demographics don't match up to the national norms. Andrews University is known for its breadth of diversity, being noted as both the 14th most diverse National University and having the sixth highest percentage of international students by USN&WR. This population is reflected in the Biology Department's make-up, with between 30-40 percent of its students from underrepresented minority groups. National figures for minority students in the STEM fields (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) are below ten percent.

Not only are students from diverse backgrounds finding success in Andrews University's biology program in record numbers, so are students who may never have had the chance to even study biology at other schools due to low test scores and GPAs. Knowing that students in his department were doing better than they "should," Stout did his own unofficial survey of ACT/SAT scores of entering freshmen in a dozen other church-affiliated colleges and universities. His results were quite amazing. Comparing the ACT/SAT scores of graduating biology majors with the scores of entering freshmen in any field in the other schools, Stout found that his students' scores were below the average of any entering freshman in any discipline. "We had a substantially larger number of students below the average test score," Stout stated.

Students entering the Andrews University Biology Department are coming in below average and leaving well-above average, with some of the best scores in the country. Something is happening during their time at Andrews that is helping them turn their Bs and Cs into As.

Stout calls it a "transformational education," a term used to refer to a comprehensive educational approach that creates an environment which appreciates students' strengths and talents, while developing their potential (www.tedweb.org). It's the type of education that literally transforms. But what is causing this transformation, this radical and unexpected change in the student's academic performance? This is the question that the National Science Foundation (NSF) is eager to help them find an answer to.

In 2003, John Stout and Gordon Atkins, professor of biology, applied for a $490,600 NSF STEP Grant to figure out what was causing the students' unexpected success. NSF funded this proposal, which was used to start a new behavioral neuroscience (BNS) program, an interdisciplinary program that combines behavioral science, biology, and mathematics. The idea was to create a program that would be attractive to students who might not normally choose a STEM-related field of study, and in this program, use the same five-step approach used in biology, which includes lots of personal mentoring and a strong emphasis on participation in research opportunities. They then would be able to study the results and figure out which elements were causing the "educational transformation."

The BNS program is in its second complete year and has already surpassed its targeted success, with more than 30 students enrolled in the program.

The study, however, took a turn during a meeting with NSF officers and other STEP grant recipients a little more than a year ago. NSF officials told David Mbungu, associate professor of biology and the project's evaluation coordinator, that they needed to take a different approach to assessing the department's unusual success, first learning what has been successful with the biology program before analyzing the new BNS program. "NSF said we were doing mechanical things, but that we needed to know what people who have gone through the program think is working," Stout explained. With the guidance of Elaine Seymour, an expert in science education assessment, and the School of Education's Larry Burton (professor of teacher education), a whole new assessment plan was developed that would evaluate biology graduates as well as current students. However, this new assessment plan would require an extra $100,000. The NSF encouraged them to apply for additional funding, and they should learn the outcome of their request in early April 2007.

Once the factors of the program's success have been determined (the project has a completion goal of 2009, if the second grant is approved), NSF plans to share the biology program's model with other universities around the country. "NSF considers our current biology program as one of the best models of transformational science education in the country," Stout said.

But it doesn't take years of careful assessment to note a few obvious differences about Andrews University's approach, which focuses on taking a high interest in the individual student's lives--personally, academically, and spiritually. It's a responsibility that the professors take personally.

"On the part of biology and behavioral neuroscience professors, there's a shared expectation that if one of our students has to drop our class or drop out as a major, we consider that to be our failure," said Stout. "That we, [as teachers], have not been successful. That is perhaps the most distinctive feature [of the program]."

This mindset alone sets Andrews University apart from most other science programs in the country. "Most commonly is the fact that [biology] is hard, and that you have to be smart," Stout continues. "One of the most important things you learn is that you're not cutting it. Science faculty think that one of their roles is to weed out, where ours is to help students study and find success. Of anything we say to others, that brings the greatest amazement."

"When my students begin to see themselves as capable of being scholars, and when they begin to draw connections between the material in the classroom and their daily lives and beliefs, I have helped them achieve success," notes Karl Bailey, assistant professor of psychology. "The best way to measure this is to watch students become self-motivated and take ownership of their research or for figuring out what is important in the class." Bailey was hired as the project's experimental psychologist, a position funded by the NSF grant, and he teaches several of the behavioral neuroscience courses. Bailey has actively promoted research among his students, integrating research projects into his classes and serving as supervisor on students' independent projects.

"God wants us to continue growing," states Mbungu, who teaches core courses in both the biology and BNS programs, on top of his involvement with the study. "We will never stop learning and growing, He wants us to continually grow. And so we have that responsibility--to grow, to take the opportunities, all the resources and the things God has given us, to continue to grow, to probe, and to understand."