Selecting interventions that succeed: Navigating through retention literature (original) (raw)
Related papers
Managing Student Retention: Is the Glass Half Full, Half Empty, or Simply Empty?
This critique summarizes a recent examination of studies of campus-based retention efforts and also considers what is known about the roles and responsibilities of retention coordinators on college and university campuses. The paper closes with a call for more research on campus-based retention efforts and for a closer look at the management of retention efforts on campuses.
2016
Efforts to increase collaboration between governments, community agencies, and schools have shaped the educational agenda of the 1990s. The challenge has been how to involve university educators with their public school colleagues. Developing teacher-training programs within schools has been one approach. An initiative within the University of Georgia's School Counseling Program set out to develop a service delivery model that could incorporate the relationships found in diverse public schools. It involved collaboration with school counselors to meet student needs, development of a model school counselor preparation program, and research on the effectiveness of selected counseling practices. One such collaboration involved the University working with school officials in one district concerned about the number of students failing to graduate on time. Accurate graduation and retention rates of students and the reasons why each student dropped out or transferred were studied. Resu...
RESEARCH AND PRACTICE OF STUDENT RETENTION: WHAT NEXT
Journal of College Student Retention: Research, Theory and Practice, 2006
After reviewing the state of student retention research and practice, past and present, the author looks to the future and identifies three areas of research and practice that call for further exploration. These concern issues of institutional action, program implementation, and the continuing challenge of promoting the success of low-income students.
Student retention: Moving from numbers to action
Research in Higher Education, 1993
This paper describes a multi-faceted approach to improving student retention at an urban public university. It is noted that the students at this institution are older, working people; few live on campus and participate in what would be considered traditional student experiences. The paper examines the physical setting and external environment; the internal environment; and key events (defining the problem, listening to student voices, and expanding data gathering and implementation of pilot projects). Described are the actions of a Retention Committee which used qualitative and quantitative methods to identify problems that create barriers to student success or contribute to student departure. A cross7cultural model, involving faculty, administrators, policy makers, and students, was found to be useful. A committee chairperson was chosen who could easily move back and forth among the subcultures with their different values, modes of behavior, incentive systems, and ways of communicating. Preliminary findings indicate that problems of student success in beginning math classes are more complex than was first imagined, that few faculty members who are viewed as the best teachers actually teach freshmen, and that advising and campus activities are major student concerns. The elements of a model for transferring information from the research realm into the policy arena are described. The paper concludes v.ith a discussion of the implications of the case study for the field of institutional research. (Contains 16 references.) (GLR)
Ellis, K. It Takes a Campus: 15 Initiatives to Improve Retention
Journal of College Student Retention: Research, Theory & Practice, 2020
into the history of retention practices at the institution, providing readers a timeline from 2008, when first-year retention at the University of Mississippi was 78.3% to 2015 when the first-year retention rate at the school was 86.5%. Early on, it becomes abundantly clear that the book focuses exclusively on freshmen retention, and the University of Mississippi's best practices on improving the retention of its first-year students. While firstyear retention is very important to overall persistence at any institution, the title of the book is somewhat misleading in that there is no indication of the freshmen focus from the cover or title. Misleading title aside, readers will find a workbook style format with reflection questions at the end of each chapter that allow the reader to review their own institution's efforts toward improving first-year retention, using each chapter's focus on retention efforts at the University of Mississippi as a template. The book includes interviews with individuals intimately involved in first-year retention efforts at the institution to provide an insider's perspective on each initiative. The interviews provide invaluable information on how administrators and "on the ground" professionals feel about first-year retention practices. After the Introduction, which provides the reader an overview of the book's focus, Dr. Ellis begins outlining the 15 first-year retention initiatives with a chapter dedicated to each one. Initiative 1 talks about the history of first-year retention at the University of Mississippi by detailing the creation of the Retention Task Force, when the institution's first-year retention hovered in
Keep Them Coming Back: Student Retention Strategies
College Planning and Management, 2011
With all of the effort that typically goes into recruiting new students, it makes sense to put at least as much energy into retaining them. Retention strategies have been used to increase degree completion in higher education for many years. Successful retention also affects the school's financial stability, student morale, and other important factors. This article reviews some of the conventional and experimental retention strategies.
This study examined the Stratil Counseling Inventory (SCI) used for identifying college freshmen prone to dropping out and a program designed to increase student retention which stresses early, frequent, and rewarding faculty-student contact. The SCI was administered to college freshmen (N=213) who became involved in a retention management program comprised of faculty-student. interaction, an orientation program, and appropriate use of resources. Results indicated that the SCI was able to accurately identify at-risk students; significant differences were found between scores of those who persisted and those who did not. Additionally, total retention increased from 61% in 1984 to 76.3% in 1986. Based on the significance of these results, it appears that dropout-prone students can be accurately identified at an early stage in their college careers, and a positive effect on retention can be achieved when a comprehensive program aimed toward the social and academic integration of students is initiated by the faculty of an institution.