The Buck Stops Here: Providing a Social Justice Approach to Retention through Online Writing Remediation for Graduate Students

This presentation will describe the innovative Adult Education Online Writing Program which has been made available to all graduate students in the Buffalo State College Adult Education Department. In response to concerns about student retention, graduation and employability, Adult Education faculty members created a proactive online writing program to ensure that students who have been underprepared by their K-12 and undergraduate education programs, receive appropriate writing support to become “masters” of academic writing at the graduate level. The Adult Education program is one of the first programs nationally to embrace the need for graduate-level writing remediation for its students. As the pressures of corporate school reform continue to damage opportunities for the development of high-level writing skills at the K-12 level, undergraduate and graduate degree programs must step up offer assistance with such skills. This is of particular importance at a comprehensive, urban college such as Buffalo State, which serves underserved and first generation college students who often enroll with writing deficiencies. Ultimately, it is the Adult Education Department’s contention that any student that is accepted to a graduate degree program be given the support needed to both graduate that program and become employable within a related field. This is a matter of social justice, which also serves to support efforts by the college to increase enrollment, retention, and alumni donations. A detailed description of the online Writing Program will be offered, and faculty will be available to advise departments on the development of such a program for their students.