During 2003-07, the Building Engagement and Attainment for Minority Students (BEAMS) project fostered data-based campus change initiatives using NSSE results at more than 100 four-year Minority Serving Institutions. The Institute for Higher Education Policy (IHEP) recently hosted a series of regional events to disseminate the BEAMS findings and promote the forthcoming release of the monograph, "Increasing Student Success at Minority-Serving Institutions: Findings from the BEAMS Project." The monograph is available for download on the IHEP Web site, http://www.ihep.org/Publications/publications-detail.cfm?id=96 .
The Building Engagement and Attainment of Minority Students project (BEAMS), is a partnership between the Alliance for Equity in Higher Education.* and the National Survey for Student Engagement (NSSE) funded by Lumina Foundation for Education. BEAMS is a 5-year initiative to improve retention, achievement, and institutional effectiveness at Minority-Serving Institutions (MSIs) that are members of the Alliance.
Participating institutions include Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Hispanic-Serving Institutions (MSIs), and Tribal Colleges and Universities. Through evidence from NSSE and other sources, each institution commits to analyzing the scope and character of students' engagement in their learning and to implementing well-designed action plans to improve engagement, learning, persistence, and success.
*Note: The Institute for Higher Education Policy replaced AAHE as a partner in the BEAMS project in 2005..