Educational outcomes for foster youth and careleavers are dismal. In the United States, research has cumulatively shown that foster youth/careleavers are more likely to experience multiple school settings, attend poorer quality schools, and less likely to be involved in extracurricular school activities, than their non-fostered peers.
Undoubtedly, the impact of these characteristics are magnified during college. Simply put, many youth/alumni are ill-prepared for the challenges associated with higher (post-secondary) education. Poor academic guidance, an inability to deal and cope with complex social climates, and lack of external support systems make matriculating into college educational programs difficult for this population.
The consequences of this lack of preparation are straightforward: foster youth/careleavers are less likely to graduate college than their peers. Of the foster youth/careleavers who attend college, only 2–9 % will graduate. Indeed, researchers, practitioners, and policy makers must do more to ensure that individuals in and from foster care receive adequate supports to make degree completion a reality
This study reports on the use of Concept Mapping to outline a conceptual framework germane to developing academic support programs for collegiate foster youth/careleavers. Forty foster youth/careleavers attending university were asked to generate statements regarding key components of effective academic supports. Then, participants sorted these statements based on their perception of conceptual meaning. Data from these activities were analyzed via multidimensional scaling and hierarchical cluster analysis. Through these analyses, pictorial representations of the data were generated. The final analyses yielded a multi-cluster solution, or concept map.
The study contributes to an empirical knowledge base pertaining to support models for collegiate foster youth/careleavers. Perhaps most importantly, this project integrated the VOICE of foster youth/careleavers, a practice that is often overlooked. Participants who engage in this presentation will garner strategies for what institutions can do to better support foster youth/alumni attending university.
