Prescriptive vs.

Developmental:

The Advising Match of Three Historically Black

Colleges and Universities in South Carolina

Presenter: Twaina Harris, Ed.D., LPC

Claflin University

Presentation Outline/Agenda

Define and HBCUs

Define Prescriptive and Developmental

Advising

Advising at an HBCU/Case Studies

Student Perceptions/Research Study

Future Work

References

Questions

Historically Black Colleges &

Universities

Definition: Nationally accredited institutions of

higher education established before 1964 for the

purpose of educating blacks while being open to

all.

U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. (2010). The educational effectiveness of Historically Black

Colleges and Universities. Briefing Report. Retrieved from

http://www.usccr.gov/pubs/HBCU_webversion2.pdf

Academic Advising

“Academic advising takes place in "situations in which

an institutional representative gives insight or direction to

a college student about an academic, social, or personal

matter. The nature of this direction might be to inform,

suggest, counsel, discipline, coach, mentor, or even

teach" (p. 3).

Kuhn, T. (2008). Historical Foundations of Academic Advising. In Gordon, Habley and Grites. Academic Advising: A Comprehensive

Campus Process. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. - See more at: http://www.nacada.ksu.edu/Resources/Clearinghouse/View-

Articles/Definitions-of-academic-advising.aspx#sthash.MwgcvMyA.dpuf

Prescriptive & Developmental

Prescriptive advising involves limiting advising

sessions to academic matters such as course

selection, the process of registration, explaining

degree curricula, etc. (Drake, 2011).

Developmental advising that assesses the skills of

students in order to provide assistance with the

student’s overall development (e.g. cognitive, social,

academic, etc.) (Williams, 2007)

Advising at One HBCU

Deans and Department Chairs advise first

year students – faculty advisors;

Initial advising session – group setting;

Registration is an open process;

Advisors approval required before account

billing;

Advisor training is limited;

Primarily, prescriptive advising

Case Studies

Three case scenarios of actual advising

situations that occur at one HBCU

consistently.

Individual responses (5 minutes)

Small Group discussions (5 minutes)

Session Discussion (10 minutes)

Student Perceptions

Research Study

PURPOSE: To identify the most prevalent

academic advising approach used by HBCUs in

South Carolina.

QUESTION: Between the prescriptive and

developmental approaches, which academic

advising approach is mostly experienced by first

year students attending HBCUs in South

Carolina?

Instrumentation

Electronic version (Survey Monkey) of Academic Advising Inventory (AAI)

Approximately 10 minutes for completion

(Winston & Sandor, 1984)

Sample

4-Year HBCUs in South

Carolina

Percent of

Total

Responses

Number of

Responses

HBCU 1 5.7% 5

HBCU 2 90.8% 77

HBCU 3 3.4% 3

Total 85

Prescriptive vs. Developmental Advising Types Number of

Responses (N)

Mean Standard

Deviation

Prescriptive 26 25.81 (P)

16.23 (D)

8.68 (P)

7.32 (D)

Developmental 56 15.59 (P)

34.96 (D)

7.50 (P)

10.08 (D)

Unidentified 3 17.33 (P)

17.33 (D)

8.08 (P)

8.08 (D)

One-Way ANOVA

Prescriptive

Advising SS df MS F Sig.

Between 1860.49 2 930.25 14.93 .000

Within 5110.26 82 62.32

Total 6970.75 84

Developmental

Advising SS df MS F Sig.

Between 6626.98 2 3313.49 38.48 .000

Within 7061.21 82 86.11

Total 13688.19 84

Analysis for Predominately Prescriptive Advising (M = 25.81)

Analysis for Predominately Developmental Advising (M = 34.96)

α < .05

Student Satisfaction

Statement of Satisfaction PA Mean

(N) PA SD

DA

Mean

(N) DA SD

UNID

Mean

(N)

UNID

SD

1. I am satisfied in general with the

academic advising I received. 2.31

(19) 1.00

3.50

(46) .69

2.00

(2) 1.41

2. I have received accurate

information about courses,

programs, and

requirements through academic

advising.

2.57 1.07 3.40 .54 2.50 2.12

3. Sufficient prior notice has been

provided abut deadlines related

to institutional policies and

procedures.

2.63 1.01 3.30 .60 2.00 1.41

4. Advising has been available

when I needed it. 2.63 .83 3.58 .65 2.50 2.12

5. Sufficient time has been

available during advising

sessions.

2.57 .96 3.47 .65 2.50 2.12

Student Advising Preferences Advising Types Number of

Responses (N)

Mean Standard

Deviation

Prescriptive 21 25.71 (P)

18.95 (D)

6.15 (P)

4.85 (D)

Developmental 59 12.64 (P)

38.38 (D)

10.19 (P)

12.15 (D)

Unidentified 5 24.60 (P)

24.60 (D)

3.28 (P)

3.28 (D)

Similar Findings • Academic Advising Inventory (AAI) administered to 198 students at

a 4-year public Predominately White Institution in the southeast.

• Results showed that advisors used the developmental advising

approach and the students were satisfied with this approach.

• Davis & Cooper, 2001

Similar Findings • 429 students at a mid-south doctoral university completed the AAI.

• 360 of these students preferred developmental advising and 17

preferred prescriptive advising.

• Students who experienced and preferred developmental advising

were more satisfied than students who experienced and preferred

prescriptive advising.

Hale, Graham, & Johnson, 2009

Future Work

Repeat study with more HBCUs from other

states.

Other approaches should be added to the AAI.

References Barbuto, J.E., Story, J.S., Fritz, S. M., & Schinstock, J.L. (2011). Full range advising:

Transforming the advisor-advisee experience. Journal of College Student

Development, 52(6), 656-670. doi: 10.1353/csd.2011.0079.

Bigger, J.J. (2005). Improving the odds for freshman success. Retrieved from

http://www.nacada.ksu.edu/tabid/3318/articleType/Articl eView/articleId/135/article.aspx

Bland, H. W., Melton, B. F., Welle, P., & Bigham, L. (2012). Stress tolerance: New

challenges for millennial college students. College Student Journal, 46(2), 362-375.

Creswell, J.W. (2012). Educational research: Planning, conducting, and evaluating

quantitative and qualitative research. (4th ed.). New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall.

Davis, J., & Cooper, D. L. (2001). Assessing advising style: Student perceptions of academic advisors.

College Student Affairs Journal, 20(2), 53.

Drake, J. K. (2011). The role of academic advising in student retention and persistence. About

Campus, 16(3), 8-12. doi:10.1002/abc.20062

Earl, W.R. (1987). Intrusive advising for freshmen. Academic Advising News, 9(3), 1-2.

Retrieved from https://www.nacada.ksu.edu/Resources/Clearinghouse/View-

Articles/Intrusive-Advising-for-Freshmen.aspx

Fowler, P. R., & Boylan, H. R. (2010). Increasing student success and retention: A

multidimensional approach. Journal Of Developmental Education, 34(2), 2-10.

References Hale, M. D., Graham, D. L., & Johnson, D. M. (2009). Are students more satisfied with academic

advising when there is congruence between current and preferred advising styles?. College

Student Journal, 43(2), 313-324.

Lund, A. & Lund, M. (2013). One-way ANOVA in SPSS. Laerd Statistics. Retrieved from

https://statistics.laerd.com/spss-tutorials/one-way-anova-using-spss-statistics.php

Metzner, B.S. (1989). Perceived quality of academic advising: The effect on freshman attrition.

American Educational Research Journal, 26(3), p. 422-442. Retrieved from

http://www.jstor.org/stable/1162981

Williams, S. (2007). From theory to practice: The application of theories of development to academic

advising philosophy and practice. Retrieved from

http://www.nacada.ksu.edu/tabid/3318/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/181/article.aspx

Winston, R. B. & Sandor, J.A. (1984). Evaluating academic advising: Manual for the academic

advising inventory. Retrieved from

http://www.nacada.ksu.edu/Portals/0/Clearinghouse/links/documents/AAI-Manual-02.pdf