Evaluation of a supplementary retention program for black allied health sciences students

The Medical College of Georgia's (MCG's) Minority Academic Advising Program (MAAP), which began in 1984, is a supplementary retention program for Black students. This paper describes an evaluation study of the effectiveness of MAAP within the MCG School of Allied Health Sciences (SAHS). The study sample consisted of 89 Black students who enrolled in the SAHS from fall 1978 to fall 1982 (preMAAP period) plus 129 Black students who entered the SAHS from fall 1984 through fall 1988 (MAAP period). The comparison group consisted of all other students who entered the SAHS (n = 1,884) within those same time periods. Using an evaluation design produced by merging a quasi-experimental and a time-series design, the authors found that the MAAP succeeded in increasing both the Black student retention-to-graduation rate and the time-persisted-in-program, to the extent that Black students achieved parity with other SAHS students.