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Abstract
This Dissertation in Practice explored the impact of an individualized meeting with family members of low-income students on the family member sense of connection to the university and knowledge of campus resources. Parents and family members play an important role in higher education as influencers, stakeholders, fundraisers, bill payers, and meaningful supporters for their students' college experience. While family member participation in higher education has increased with the current generation of students, many institutions continue to use a traditional approach to family engagement, which fails to fully leverage the positive impact that family members could have on student success.
This study used an improvement science framework to develop a theory of improvement for one specific university system, review relevant scholarly knowledge, introduce a test of change into the system, and measure of the impact of that change. The improvement effort introduced was a one-on-one outreach meeting between university staff and family members of low-income students to discuss the family member's experience at the university. A mixed methods study used survey data from both the staff and family member participants to measure the impact of the interaction. The data demonstrated that the meetings had a positive impact on the intended outcomes of building a sense of connection with the university and increasing knowledge of campus resources. This test of change produced positive results upon which future iterations of the outreach meetings could be designed.
