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I was introduced to at-promise while reading Creating a Campus-Wide Culture of Student Success. After hearing Vice-Provost Dillard using the term as the Student Success Core Network started, I've read more about the term, including in the context of the PASS program and the Ecological Validation model.

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At-promise is a term that replaces the deficit-focused "at-risk" and speaks to the knowledge, skills, and abilities that first-generation, low-income, and minoritized students bring to their higher education experience. The term acknowledges that our educational system has failed to provide equitable outcomes for all students, and the promise that students in the above groups bring to the university must be met with a transformed higher education system that provides the support and opportunities that will allow them not only to succeed but thrive.

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While at-promise most often speaks to students who are first-generation, low-income, and/or from underrepresented racial and ethnic backgrounds, I believe we can expand this definition to include a broader array of students from diverse identities who face additional barriers to success in STEM, including women, transfer students, students with disabilities, veterans, and students members of the LGBTQ+ community.

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Transforming courses with historically inequitable outcomes by providing the resources and support to reimagine these courses with a stronger emphasis on what at-promise students bring to the classroom, more equitable methods of assessment, and a greater understanding of how to create learning environments that help all students thrive.

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Like Joe, I came across this term in the Ronald E. Hallett et. al. book on student success. I have discussed the term with my team of instructional consultants and reviewed online how the term is represented on a few campuses.

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I was introduced to the concept of "at-promise" at a NASPA Conference or Webinar a few years ago facilitated by the PASS research team. I was re-introduced to the "at-promise" when I began my tenure here at the University of Michigan and even more so, since the formation of OVPUE and the Student Success Network.

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When I think about at-promise broadly, I think about students who are historically underserved and underrepresented in Higher Education from an asset-based approach. These populations include first-generation, students from underrepresented racial and ethnic backgrounds, low-to-limited income students, LGBTQIA+, to name a few. From a STEM perspective, I would consider gender-minoritized students.

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There's so many to choose from that I would like to explore such as academic coaching, a centralized hub for our students, and strategizing ways and opportunities that foster student success and belonging for our at-promise STEM students at U-M.

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At-promise is a asset-and strength based term that aims to speak to the strengths, abilities, and assets that historically underrepresented students possess. At-promise also acknowledges that we have structures, policies, and practices that hinder equitable outcomes and successes. It's an opportunity to transform the higher education landscape so that our at-promise students can both succeed and thrive within an higher education institution.

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I've heard"at-promise used in education and youth development as a strengths-based alternative to at-risk, emphasizing students' potential rather than their challenges. It’s often used in DEI and social justice spaces to reframe narratives around marginalized youth.

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At-promise means focusing on the potential and strengths of students, especially those facing challenges, instead of labeling them as at-risk. It’s all about seeing what they can achieve, not just what they’re up against.

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A student is seen as at-promise when they show things like resilience, a solid work ethic, or curiosity, even if they face some tough situations. It’s about having the drive to succeed, support around them, and talents that just need the right opportunities to shine.

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Unfortunately I was not able to attend the first meeting.

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I had not heard of the term honestly until working with educators in the K-12 system. I appreciate the positive reframe and asset based approach the term represents.

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Elevating and centering the talents, skills, and capital that a student possesses. Addressing the system deficits, and celebrating a student's assets/potential.

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Students who have different access or preparation to collegiate opportunities, but have the potential and capacity to thrive when holistically supported. Students who may come from diverse communities that may have been historically underserved. Students who demonstrate grit, resilience, and takes initiative for their learning and success, even when the environment is counter to that success.

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At-promise is a framing for students from minoritized backgrounds that allows focus on strengths and resources rather than deficits. It promotes holistic evaluation of students' needs and potential, allowing creation of communities across groups. And it emphasizes institutional responsibility to provide support systems and structures, rather than requiring students to do that work.

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Leveraging current resources to expand their impact for these student demographics. More academic and co-curricular connections.

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I like Joe Salvatore's consideration of barriers to success. With the baseline assumption that every U-M student can succeed, at-promise students are those for whom success has demonstrably been made difficult.

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I am struck by the evidence for ecological solutions that provide a network of and for support. This argues for building connections between units and support structures, creating community and learning communities, and having proactive contacts with and support of at-promise students. All of these show up in various forms in the kick-off notes.

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I’ve encountered it in education / higher education literature a few times but haven’t heard it used very often in engineering or STEM-education contexts (until now!)

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The term at-promise promotes a focus on championing students’ strengths, knowledge, and interests and the ways educational structures and resources can best be leveraged to create conditions for students to thrive. In contrast to the framing of “at risk” that focuses on perceived student deficits, “at-promise” places the onus on educational institutions to address inequities and support student success.

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I would echo Joe and Joseph’s suggestions to consider the particular context of STEM in defining how students may be identified as at-promise and I think an expansive definition makes sense when considering strategies to validate and promote student success.

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There were a number of ideas related to how to foster students’ interest in, sense of connection to, and identification with STEM fields. This could involve greater attention to the curricular content of STEM courses and how they affirm students’ interests and motivations, resources that support students in identifying how can leverage their STEM knowledge in personally meaningful ways – both during college and in future careers, and ways to support building community connections in academic and co-curricular spaces.

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It was clear from that first meeting that there are many offices, programs, and deeply committed individuals working to support students on this campus. Finding ways for us to all connect would be important to ensure a shift in campus culture. We could attain measurable outcomes if we help support and connect the work many of us are doing to support students as they begin their academic careers. That would involve connecting faculty, advisors, and staff who help students succeed in their first year(s). Programs that impact gateway courses, efforts in academic advising, and early career counseling could work together to (re)define success in a host of ways and track our collective progress and impact.

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I was first introduced to the term "at-promise" in readings about asset- or strengths-based approaches to teaching and learning.

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At-promise is a term that foregrounds the potential (or promise) of students who have experienced gaps in opportunity created by inequitable systems in education. It is a term that also frames the responsibility (or promise) of an institution to provide students with meaningful resources and support that will help them thrive.

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I first heard the term "at-promise" in connection to K-12 GEAR UP scholars. The term was reinforced at this year's Pre-College and Youth Outreach conference by the inspiring presentation/workshop by Dr. Rosie Perez, U-M Professor in the CSHPE. I am really happy to see this work grounding our work in this STEM Success working group.

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At-promise emphasizes student potential focusing on the strengths and assets students possess. It reframes the responsibility from the students' to the institution providing the interconnected web of resources that ensure students succeed and flourish.

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I appreciate both Joe's contributions and others too. I want to reinforce Natasha's point about students who have differential access to STEM educational experiences and opportunities in their preparation to attend U-M. In a state with wildly inequitable K-12 education experiences based on zipcode this is very important to note.

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I think about students who are systematically disenfranchised to be placed at a disadvantage that decreases the probability that they will exceed their counterparts. I think of students with vast social capital, intellectual capacity, and creative energy-but who are given less than adequate accommodations to use their resources inside and outside of the classroom.

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At-promise is an approach that examines the assets a student has in order to maximize their college experiences. It invites students, staff, and faculty to reimagine new approaches to engagement, new measures of success, and new outcome-driven strategies that intersect at the points where multiple groups experience systemic barriers. The intention is to radically improve the potential of higher education to reach, teach, and advance as many students as possible, while being attentive to the data that demonstrates that all students need different approaches in order to be successful and that not all groups of students will need the same approach.

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I think the idea to expand away from high stakes exams in intro STEM courses to alternate assessment practices focusing on content mastery is something that could be measured for impact and could have a huge impact on outcomes for many students beyond the at-promise students.

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This is my first introduction to at-promise. I appreciate that it frames students in a positive asset-based way. I look forward to learning more.

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I just learned of it in the outreach related to this working group. It is an important shift in language.

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I initially heard about this term a few years ago, but it was such an anomaly that the institutional traction was not catching. Until arriving at UMich, there were no contexts where at-promise was used to describe students.

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A positive reframing and asset-based acknowledgment of students with potential to achieve and thrive within a higher educational context that was not designed to serve them.

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Joe Salvatore and Joseph Ballard II you both captured this question perfectly. I honestly do not have more to add.