purposes of this subparagraph, Spanish- (e) Is, on the basis of the quantitative and qualitative factors set forth in Sections 169.12 and 169.13, respectively. (1) making reasonable efforts to improve the quality of its teaching and administrative staffs and of its student services, and (2) for financial or other reasons, struggling for survival and isolated from the main currents of academic life. 2 Definitions found elsewhere are not appreciably different. The search for a more precise, more functional, and hence, more useful, definition of the developing institution concept continues today. At its meeting, July 12, 1977, the Developing Institutions Study Group discussed the "identification definition" problem as extensively as time permitted. Some of the most sharply focused comments came from Elias Blake of the Institute for Services to Education and now President of Clark College. Pertinent excerpts from Dr. Blake's statement in summary are found below. I want to say a couple of things which bear the relevant age groups which changes according to census data year to year. But it does appear to me that we might be beginning to approach parity. I think the data has margins of error in it. When you look at the data you do not really know at a high level of probability whether in fact you are achieving parity. Ten years ago when the big push started for equality of educational opportunity in higher education, the two-year institutions did not really exist as a basic component. So, access was really aimed at four year institutions which would give you Baccalaureate degrees which in turn would give you a pull for the higher level graduate and professional school competences. So to make a long story short, the world has not really advanced very much for this "lower third" when you define it. When you put in the other minority groups who did not have an institutional base to start with; it is just beginning.. The question which I always raise in terms of national goals, has to do with whether there are classes of institutions which make a disproportionate contribution to achieve some national goal. Now, that is not racially exclusive. It also defines some white institutions who are involved in dealing with the lower third of white students. There may not be a Black student anywhere near the place. But if they are serving the lower third, then they are also serving a disproportionate role in terms of achieving a certain kind of educational opportunity in terms of national goals. There is a second disporportionate concept I would throw into this, that is the question of whether or not the service role is a modal servicing role. If the institution as an institution in its modal role is carrying this disproportionate responsibility, Blacks, poor whites, Indians, MexicanAmericans, etc., that institution begins to move up to the front of the line in terms of instutional support. The institutional support flows to an institution because of its institutional role... In other words, an institution is developing, in a disproportionate way, so that one shifts One focuses on an institution that has a disproportionate share of responsibility for achieving these goals. The second definition I talked about to review as one looks at the institution, one looks at what I call a modal expression of what the institution does, not what is involved in helping, but what is the modal activity of the institution; is it related to helping achieve, this national goal in a disproportionate way? Definitions in previous studies have generally described various levels of deficiency without due regard for the institutional mission, functions, and the societal context within which the mission is pursued and the functions carried out. This paper attempts a definition of "developing institution" which is weighted heavily toward an institution's mission as expressed through what that institution does and for whom. This definition assumes a legitimacy of both mission and function. The definition also assumes that institutions covered by it are performing functions which are evidences of vitality, functions which contribute to the general welfare and which qualify these institutions for assistance under the provisions of Title III. The functional nature of such a definition makes possible discriminating choices between developing and other institutions as well as among developing institutions themselves. Policy implications for applicant selection and placement along a scale are immediately obvious. The utilization of a definition based on the degree to which an institution bears a disproportionate part of the burden of providing higher educational opportunity to groups that historically have not been able to obtain it is a measure of the legitimacy of that institution's claim to the right to participate in the Developing Institutions Program and to share in Title III funds. There is a great deal of informed opinion in higher educational circles that holds that the proper focus of the Developing Institutions Program should be on fouryear colleges. Educators adhering to this point of view seem prepared to accept two-year institutions as a means of providing higher educational opportunity for the target populations, but they hold that the two-year institutional effort falls short of what is needed and desired. Instead they claim that the major purpose for broadening access for Blacks and other minorities was and is to ultimately place more minority professionals in the field. If minorities are to receive meaningful representation at the decision-making levels, in both the private and public sectors, attention must be given to increasing the flow of graduates from a variety of Baccalaureate and postBaccalaureate institutions. Yet, two-year institutions have their place in the higher educational scheme. original Title III appropriation through support from the private educational establishment. Since their percentage of Title III funds has increased twice during the life of the program, there seems little reason to assume that the two-year institutions are without champions today. Further, if two-year institutions are, indeed, out of place in the Developing Institutions Program, that circumstance is not an unmixed evil. As a power element the two-year colleges represent a potentially strong ally for the fouryear institutions. The converse is probably just as true. Two-year colleges also represent a significantly potent Hence, the source of support for the Title III program. The Title III Program and Theories of Institutional The success of the program to strengthen developing institutions depends upon selecting the appropriate institutions to fund, recommending the appropriate funding strategy, and placing each institution at the appropriate point on a developmental scale. Ideally, agreement on these basic points between the applicant |