Organizational Leadership at Public Two Year Colleges with Improved College Completion Rates for Black or African American Male Students

Abstract

Colleges have a responsibility to provide all students equitable access to a college credential. This mixed methods study examined organizational leadership practices at 2-year public colleges that exhibited the highest increases in college completion rates for Black or African American male students in the 5-year period between 2014 and 2019. The researcher used Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) data to identify colleges that achieved the highest percentage increase in college completions by Black or African American male students. Six academic leaders from those successful institutions shared their perspective on leadership, organizational culture and diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts in a semi-structured interview. The researcher utilized a data reduction process to identify how organizational leadership practices may contribute to an increase in college completions among Black or African American men. The interviews identified nine initial themes that the researcher distilled into four overall themes: college leaders are committed to their employees; those in the strongest college communities feel a sense of cohesion with one another; they craft and implement diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) organizational strategies thoughtfully and collectively; and they use disaggregated data to reflect, improve and inform policy and practice. This study concludes that 2-year public higher education institutions might improve graduation rates among Black and African American men by mirroring the best practices in the four organizational leadership themes revealed by this study.