Pour over data to set your goals and to benchmark against national data or peer institutions. How to define retention: A new look at an old problem. Regardless of said effort and research, confusion remains. Journal of College Student Retention, 8(1), 1-19. http://pixel.newscred.com/px.gif?key=YXJ0aWNsZT1mZGZlZGNjNjkxZjhmZjc1YzUyNTQ2MDZiYTYxODQyYQ==, Discover compelling stories impacting education today, Jason Wyrick Academic Trainer & Consultant, Pearson, Professional Development & Consulting Services, Pearson K-12 Online & Blended Learning Community, Retention: Creating learning environments that engage, Leadership development helps employees build presence, Classroom discussion: One way to get “rich”, Applying the science of learning to your classroom. Throw in attrition, graduation, stop-out, and drop-out and one quickly realizes why so much effort and research exists in the world of persistence and retention. To combat this issue, many universities are developing programs to help students successfully transition to college and persist through graduation. In this age of digital with people relying more and more on peer reviews and endorsements, alumni can help to raise awareness of an institution amongst the audience that matters - your students. While believing one can succeed in college is essential for persistence to completion, it does not in itself ensure it. I saw tears of joy at graduation and I stared into eyes of complete despair when a student thought their educational journey had come to an end. Use essays for admission decisions, and then take the time to truly understand why students are at your institution and discover their hopes, dreams, and goals. Improving student retention is not something that can be done by an isolated group at the college…or achieved through a single stand-alone initiative. Do not get me wrong, I cared and fought for students both as an administrator and as an instructor. Hagedorn does an excellent job of laying out a “new look at an old problem” and even moves into looking at retention from multiple angles much like Boyer did for scholarship when he dropped the Scholarship Reconsidered thought bomb in 1990. Registering for courses, securing financial aid, developing strong study skills, mastering difficult course material— students must overcome a wide variety of obstacles on the path to graduation. McLenney and Waiwaiole (2005) presented six strategies to promote student success. What does completing your degree mean for you? Why should you care about persistence and retention? Tinto (2006) observed that some 40 years ago student attrition was looked at mostly from a psychology lens and focused mostly on student “attributes, skills, and motivation” (p. 2). 89-105). Tinto, V. (2006). Research and practice of student retention: What next? These terms are used daily in higher education, often interchangeably. I played fast and loose with the “factors” I thought we could control as an institution and those that were completely up to the student. For that to occur, students have to come to see themselves as a member of a community of other students, faculty and staff who value their membership -- … and Waiwaiole, E.N. Are they really the same thing? Boyer, E.L. (1990). In a former life as a higher education administrator I was in these conversations. Student success, however defined, lives at the heart of every institution (I realize this could be challenged, but I have chosen to keep my cynic hat in the closet for today’s screed). Clear as mud right? However, that one-pronged approach has been thoroughly eradicated in the intervening years. If the logic square of your undergraduate years just jumped into your head bringing along with it a strange mix of nostalgia and mild anxiety, you are not alone. 28 Westport: Praeger Publishers. (McLenney and Waiwaiole, 2005, p. 40). The most important things instructors can do to help students succeed is to set high expectations for student success, provide good academic and career advising, support and encourage students, and promote their active involvement in … Our mission is to promote student achievement and preparation for global competitiveness by fostering educational excellence and ensuring equal access. Many community college students in the U.S. do not complete a credential or degree, facing dramatically reduced earning potential. Move away from thinking only about what students can do to persist and what institutions can do to retain. However, not all persisters will graduate” (Hagedorn, 2005, p. 6). No matter what you do proactively or reactively, never ever forget that at the heart of what we do in higher education is helping students achieve success. In A. Seidman (Ed. Improving retention rates is a collective responsibility: everyone—faculty, staff and administrators, along with the students themselves—must work together to promote student success. We find that students who make an effort to select a suitable major early in their college careers graduate in a more timely fashion. ... persistence, and graduation rates. In these times of financial cut backs, student retention, persistence, and success will continue to be a major emphasis on our college campuses. However, let us move away a bit from the what and into the why. Going to college can be an expensive and time-consuming endeavor. Why do institutions care about persistence and retention? Focus on student retention: Promising practices in community colleges. But average … However, they can control how they interact with students (Tinto, 2002). Improving student retention is not something that can be done by an isolated group at the college…or achieved through a single stand-alone initiative. College Transition, Developmental or Remedial Education, Persistence, Retention, Underrepresented Students: Coconino Community College : CCC2NAU a Degree Closer (MS Word, 78KB) Affordability, Cost Saving, Degree Attainment, Dual Degrees, Persistence, Retention, Time to … Student persistence. Dual Model of Academic Advising and Faculty Mentoring, First-Year Student Success and Retention: Making Achievement Possible, Academic and Student Affairs Partnership: Improving Latino Graduation and Retention Rates, Academic Advising Interventions to Ensure a Timely Graduation, Curricula Review to Ensure a Timely Graduation, First-Year Learning Communities and Mentoring, College Reading and Study Skills Embedded in Learning Communities, Accelerated Study in Associate Programs (ASAP), Retention, Progression, and Graduation Plan, Strategies to Increase Postsecondary Success. I read countless essays, all extremely earnest, detailing what the chosen graduate degree would do for each respective student’s future. Strategy #4 is by far my favorite – Collective Responsibility and Team Building. Student services that are effectively targeted and delivered in a timely fashion can do much to help students along and produce better outcomes. In all those meetings, in the midst of reading, or staring cross-eyed at spreadsheets, the one question I never remember asking any student directly was this. Hagedorn, L. S. (2005). According to Hagedorn (2005), the National Center for Education Statistics defines “retention as an institutional measure and persistence as a student measure” (p. 6). Improving retention rates is a collective responsibility: everyone—faculty, staff and administrators, along with the students themselves—must work together to promote student success. ), College student retention (pp. Set up committees or let activities organically happen from program to program. Persistion, anyone? However, I do not think I ever did an adequate job ensuring that persistence and retention came together not just as terms, but as binding activities creating shared success stories and ultimately creating a personal relationship between student and school. Abstract: We examine whether college students’ persistence in finding a suitable major field of study influences the likelihood of graduation. At the same time, increased competition and federal oversight result in schools scrutinizing student numbers in very different ways than ever before. We now have a range of models, some sociological, some psychological, and others economic in nature that have been proposed as being better suited to the task of explaining student leaving (Tinto, 2006, p. 4). I crunched the numbers. To wit, “starting with a commonly used definition of a graduate- a former student who has completed a prescribed course of study in a college or university, it is clear that all graduates have persisted. Student retention. Although changing majors is … Students want to know what happens at the end of the journey over and above graduation. Again, great work trying to understand why students do or do not persist or why institutions have fluctuating retention numbers. This boils down to institutions do the retaining and students do the persisting. Create a new model. Fewer Than 6 In 10 College Students Graduate In Six Years To unlock the benefits of going to college, you need to earn a degree. Institutions care about persistence and retention for myriad reasons, some altruistic and some very pragmatic. Princeton, NJ: Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. We surveyed students on individual courses, on overall program outcomes, and even asked graduates to tell us what we could have done better. McClenney, K.M. Define these terms as you see fit. While college enrollment rates have increased over the last decade, there are still a large number of students who do not complete their degrees. Scholarship reconsidered: Priorities of the professoriate. Community College Journal, 75(6), 36-41. Create the relationship.