ACADEMIC ADVISEMENT AND STUDENT RETENTION: EMPIRICAL CONNECTIONS & SYSTEMIC INTERVENTIONS

Joe Cuseo

The Case for Attention to Academic Advisement
Academic advising is one of the major academic and social domains of the college experience that affect student decisions about staying or leaving. Findings from national advising surveys, conducted regularly for the past 25 years by American College Testing (ACT), repeatedly point to the following elements as being essential to, but often absent from, academic advisement programs in higher education.

1. Formulation of a program mission statement that clearly articulates the meaning and purpose of academic advising.
Only 54% of postsecondary institutions have a written statement that articulates the purposes and procedures of their advising program (Crockett, Habley, & Cowart, 1987). At best, this suggests a lack of clarity about program mission and goals; at worst, it suggests that advising is not considered to be a bona fide educational program with important goals and objectives.

2. Provision of sufficient incentives, recognition, and reward for effective academic advising.
Approximately one-half of faculty contracts and collective bargaining agreements make absolutely no mention of advising as a faculty responsibility (Teague & Grites, 1980). Less than one-third of campuses recognize and reward faculty for advising and, among those that do, advising is typically recognized by giving it only minor consideration in faculty promotion and tenure decisions (Habley, 1988). A more recent survey of first-year academic practices at close to 1,000 colleges and universities revealed that only 12% of postsecondary institutions offered incentives or rewards that recognize outstanding advising of first-year students (Policy Center on the First Year of College, 2003).
In a review of national survey data relating to advisor evaluation and rewards, Creamer & Scott (2000) reached the following conclusion: �The failure of most institutions to conduct systematic evaluations of advisors is explained by a number of factors. The most potent reason, however, is probably that the traditional reward structure often blocks the ability to reward faculty who are genuinely committed to advising� (p. 39).

3. Established criteria for the recruitment, selection, and deployment of academic advisors.
Over two-thirds (68%) of postsecondary institutions surveyed have no criteria for selecting advisors (Crockett, Habley, & Cowart, 1987), suggesting lack of attention to professional preparedness of academic advisors and indifference to the identification of advisors most qualified to work with students who are at risk for attrition�e.g., underprepared and underrepresented first-generation students, or students with special needs�e.g., undecided students, transfer students, commuter students, and re-entry students.
It is also noteworthy (and disturbing) that academic advising effectiveness is almost never mentioned as one of the selection criteria listed in job advertisements or position announcements posted by postsecondary institutions seeking to recruit and hire new faculty.

4. Substantive orientation, training, and development of academic advisors.
Only about one-third of college campuses provide training for faculty advisors; less than one-quarter require faculty training; and the vast majority of institutions offering training programs focus solely on dissemination of factual information, without devoting significant attention to the identification of the goals or objectives of advising, and the development of effective advising strategies or relationship skills (Habley, 1988).
The upshot of the foregoing findings is encapsulated in the following conclusion reached by Habley (2000), based on his review of findings from five national surveys of academic advising: �A recurrent theme, found in all five ACT surveys, is that training, evaluation, and recognition and reward have been, and continue to be, the weakest links in academic advising throughout the nation. These important institutional practices in support of quality advising are at best unsystematic and at worst nonexistent� (p. 40). This conclusion, based on national surveys, is reinforced by national reports on the status of American higher education. For instance, a blue-ribbon panel of higher education scholars working under the auspices of the National Institute of Education (1984), concluded that, �Advisement is one of the weakest links in the education of college students� (p. 31). Similarly, a national report issued by the Carnegie Foundation, based on three years of campus visits and extensive national survey research, arrived at the following conclusion: �We have found advising to be one of the weakest links in the undergraduate experience. Only about a third of the colleges in our study had a quality advisement program that helped students think carefully about their academic options� (Boyer, 1987, p. 51).

Final Note: For strategies relating to assessment of academic advising, see the following URL: http://www.advising.hawaii.edu/nacada/assessmentlG/advising_assess_tools.asp,

Or, contact Joe Cuseo at: [email protected]

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