From the demographic information I gathered at the beginning of the semester, I find it interesting that that larger institutions have a harder time giving programs to students with disabilities. This is because from the basic information I gathered, 4-year and 2-year private institutions were more likely to provide services for students with disabilities than private. Usually, public institutions are larger than private institutions. This is probably because there are MORE public institutions. I also wonder if this speak on the quality of the institutions services. Maybe public institutions are more likely to provide services that maybe aren't as good.
From the services I gathered that are offered at Owens Community College, students can choose from 16+ different accommodations for each class that they take. I would consider Owens a larger institution and I think that their services are something that could be a good fit for everyone. However, there isn't a Counselling Center at Owens, which I believe can lead to very different types of problems. It appears that the organizational structure thinks that the recruitment and retention of the right kind of student is more important than making sure they help the students they already have.
For my other class I am working on a project about issues in higher education with a focus on change in regards of the institutional mission. I believe mission is what drives all of the organizational structures. With a mission statement that is geared towards serving students with disabilities, the organizational structure will follow. “The governance structure of the institution is one of the major components in understanding the mission of the institution and defining who will be served” (Barr, 2000, p. 31-32). The purpose of the mission is to guide how resources within the institution are utilized, what programs are implemented, and is the guiding force in all decision making processes within the institution (Stemler, Bebell, & Sonnabend, 2010, p. 384). The main purpose of a mission statement, other than showing the institutional goals, is to guide the decision making of the members within the community of the institution (Barr, 2000, p. 26).
Perhaps from my other project I have gained my own biases about how important an institutional mission is. There are some that argue that a mission is just words put together that guide nothing: I would disagree. Birnbaum (1998) explains that the main element of the organizational structure is governance, or “structures and processes through which institutional participants interact with and influence each other and communicate with the larger environment” (p. 4). What guides these structures in what they do? The institutional mission. If an institution has a focus on inclusion of all students, students with disabilities will more likely feel welcome upon seeing that mission statement, and organizational units will create programming and services that work to fulfill that mission. According to Birnbaum (1988) there are three levels of responsibility in an organization: the technical level, the managerial level, and the institutional level (p.18). The technical and managerial level are driven by the institutional level (which I believe is where the mission falls)
It all boils down to the institutional mission and what these organizational structures are driven by. If inclusiveness of all students (perhaps helping the minority) is a stable in there mission, students with disablement will feel more comfortable coming to an institution, and will receive the services they need upon attending.
Birnbaum, R. (1988). How colleges work: The cybernetics of academic organization and leadership. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. (Ch. 1-3, pp. 1-81)
Strange, C. (2000). Creating environments of ability. In H. Belch, Serving Students with Disabilities. New Directions in Student Services, Number 91. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 19-30.
Stemler, S. E. , Bebell D. & Sonnaned, L. A. (2010). Using school mission statements for
reflection and research. Educational Administration Quarterly, 47 (2), 383-420.
Barr, M. J. (2000). The importance of the institutional mission. In M. J. Barr & M. K.
Desler (Eds.), The handbook of student affairs administration (2nd ed.; pp. 25-
36). San Francisco: Jossey Bass
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