Gwyn Howard

Dr. April Perry

HESA 621

17 March 2022

Theory to Practice Reflection

I see student development theories in action when I conduct my work in the MAPS office

as an advisor. Different student scenarios call for different theories, requiring me to create

advising plans for my students on a case by case basis. A theory I find myself using frequently

this semester is Sanford’s Challenge and Support theory; it has significant applications to my LC

101 course.

Challenge and Support Theory

Nevitt Sanford’s 1967 theory explores student development through the duality of

challenging and supporting students. Sanford argued that the best service student affairs

practitioners can provide to students is by finding a balance between challenging them and

supporting them. Sanford explains that challenge and support alters the college environment to

foster student development. Problems arise if there is too much of one service and not the

other. Too much challenge can lead to students regressing, evading growth and becoming stuck

in current behaviors. In contrast, too much support causes students to become too comfortable

and not develop. In addition to challenge and support, Sanford names readiness as a third

student condition as a result from the college environment. Readiness is a result of students

receiving the right combination of challenge and support to foster personal development. A key

message from this theory is that practitioners must identify when students are ready to be

challenged and seize the opportunity to do so.

Student Cases: Addison and Seth

 I see Sanford’s Challenge and Support theory play out in my role as an LC 101 course

instructor frequently. LC 101 is a college success seminar for students on academic warning

with the university who are trying to return to good academic standing and continue their

education at WCU. This course is primarily conducted through a series of one-on-one meetings

with each student throughout the semester. Each student’s circumstances are different, making

my instruction plan for each student different as well. Although each student in the course has

the common goal of returning to good academic standing, they each have different reasons for

losing good standing and personal goals for the course. I recall two of my LC students’

experiences when discussing Challenge and Support Theory. Addison is a student who requires

mostly support, while Seth is a student who requires more challenge.

Seth is a student who responds well to being challenged and setting higher goals than

what is expected of him. Seth identified a lack of academic skills and personal motivation as the

reason he went on academic warning and had to enroll in my class. From completing our course

assignments designed to build academic skills in partnership with his personal drive, Seth has

grown greatly as a student and is currently passing all of his classes with high grades. Seth

does not desire to simply meet the minimum requirements to get back into good academic

standing with the university. Seth instead wants to have his best semester ever and earn the

highest grades he can. Because of this goal, my role as his instructor is to challenge him to take

more steps towards academic success and create a more rigorous academic plan compared to

students only seeking to meet minimum requirements. I also support Seth by encouraging him

to see the completion of his goal and validate all of the hard work he has put in this semester.

Addison is a student who identifies as a member of the LGBTQ+ community and deals

with mental health challenges. They identify mental health issues and the challenging process

of finding the right medications as the cause of their academic shortcomings last semester.

Addison’s mental health recovery and treatment plays a major role in how I instruct our

meetings, their only priority is not to pass their classes but also to care for their physical and
mental wellbeing. Because academic challenges are not the only challenges Addision faces, my

approach to their instruction is more holistic, where academic success is not the only goal I am

tracking. It is more important for Addison to be physically and mentally well than to have straight

A’s, which is why I focus on supporting them through their mental health journey and less so on

pushing them to meet academic goals not required in their learning contract. I support Addison

by celebrating self care (sleeping and eating well, seeing friends, receiving professional mental

health care, etc) as well as academic accomplishments they have achieved. Ways in which I

challenge Addison is to encourage the prioritization of their mental health and to complete their

coursework when they are struggling with motivation.

Implications for Practice

Challenge and Support theory gave me guidance for how to best serve Seth and

Addison as my advisees. This theory provides a guide for practitioners for how to serve their

students as they develop, instead of explaining how they develop. I cannot serve my students

well if I only provide one service to them; I must find the right balance of both challenge and

support for each of my students. For Seth’s case, challenging him aligns with his personal goals

and comes in the form of holding him accountable to the goals he set. For Addison, challenge

means pushing them to meet the requirements for good academic standing and to not let them

fall behind. Support looks different for each of these students as well: Seth needs validation and

tools to help him meet his goals while Addison needs encouragement to take care of herself in

addition to her academics. A key takeaway from this theory that will continue to impact my

performance as a practitioner is that challenging and supporting students comes in a variety of

forms, there is no one correct way to provide challenge or support. This theory is generalized

enough for me to apply it to most any student scenario which I value as a practitioner, I can use

Sanford’s foundational concepts and use them as I see fit. I value this flexibility in a theory
opposed to more rigid stages or steps that I must follow. Challenge and Support Theory will

continue to be a strong tool in my advising toolbox, especially for my LC 101 students.