Strategy Precedes Operational Effectiveness: Aligning High Graduation Rankings With Competitive Graduation Grade Point Averages

Abstract

Two pivotal and interconnected claims are addressed in this article. First, strategy precedes program effectiveness. Second, graduation rates and rankings are insufficient in any account of academic progress for African American students. In this article, graduation is regarded as the floor and not the ceiling, as it were. The ideal situation in the promotion of strategy is the alignment of high graduation rates or rankings with high graduation cumulative grade point averages. This strategic alignment is precisely what needs to be formulated in the first instance before making judgments about program development and/or operational effectiveness. The work of the Office of African American Affairs of the University of Virginia provides the context for observing trends in academic performance that illustrate the optimal alignment between high graduation rankings and correspondingly high grade point averages.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Maurice Apprey

Maurice Apprey, Ph.D., is Dean of African-American Affairs and Professor of Psychiatric Medicine and Neurobehavioral Sciences in the School of Medicine at the University of Virginia.

Kimberley C. Bassett

Kimberley C. Bassett, Ph.D., is Assistant Dean of African-American Affairs and Director of the Peer Advisor Program at the University of Virginia.

Patrice Preston-Grimes

Patrice Preston-Grimes, Ph.D., is Associate Dean of African-American Affairs, Director of the GradSTAR Program, and an Associate Professor in the Curry School of Education at the University of Virginia.

Dion W. Lewis

Dion W. Lewis is Assistant Dean of African-American Affairs and Director of the Luther P. Jackson Cultural Center at the University of Virginia.

Beverly Wood

Beverly Wood is a doctoral candidate in the Curry School of Education and a statistics tutor for the Office of African-American Affairs.