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STUDENT RETENTION:
UNDERSTANDING THE CAUSES OF STUDENT ATTRITION
AND IMPLEMENTING A PREVENTION PLAN
Joe Cuseo
Marymount College
TARGET AREA #2.
THE FIRST-YEAR EXPERIENCE:
PROACTIVE PROGRAMS & PRACTICES
UNDERSTANDING THE CAUSES OF STUDENT ATTRITION
AND IMPLEMENTING A PREVENTION PLAN
Joe Cuseo
Marymount College
2.1 Provide a substantive orientation program for new students that orients them to people (not just buildings), and gives them the opportunity to interact meaningfully with peers, faculty, and support staff.
2.2 Expose new students to experienced and trained peer orientation-week leaders during the orientation process.
2.3 Include a component of new-student orientation that is designed for students� parents and family members and discuss the role they can play in supporting first-year student adjustment and success.
2.4 Adopt a celebratory ritual at college entry�e.g., convocation ceremony�at which time new students are formally welcomed and �inducted� into the college community.
2.5 �Extend� new-student orientation into the critical first term by means of an extended-orientation course or new-student seminar.
2.6 Provide first-year students with the opportunity to co-register for the same block of courses during the same academic term so that they can develop �learning communities� (e.g., linking a new-student seminar with an English composition course).
2.7 Provide special high school-to-college transitional support for academically at-risk students before they encounter a full load of college courses (e.g., summer bridge or summer transition program).
2.8 Assess the basic skills of all incoming students at college entry to diagnose their academic preparedness and to place them in courses or programs that are commensurate with their entering levels of academic-skill development.
2.9 Disseminate current information on the characteristics and needs of first-year students to faculty, staff, and administration (e.g., via a first-year experience newsletter).
2.10 Increase the percentage of first-year courses taught by full-time faculty�as opposed to graduate teaching assistants, part-time or adjunct faculty.
(Note: This suggestion stems from research which indicates that, although the teaching effectiveness of part-time faculty is equivalent to full-time faculty, part-timers are less available to students outside the classroom�often because they are working part-time at other educational institutions or in other occupations.)
2.11 �Front load� experienced and effective instructors to teach first-year courses.
2.12 Increase the number of introductory, general-education courses taken by first-year students that have class sizes less than 25.
2.13 Maintain low class size for foundational, academic-skill development courses commonly taken by first-year students�e.g., elementary mathematics, writing (composition), and oral communication (public speaking).
2.14 �Front load� academic advisors who have the interest, competence, and commitment to effectively advise first-year students.
2.15 Adopt intentionally designed practices or procedures that ensure first-year students have contact with their academic advisors during the first six weeks of the first term (for example, by means of a class assignment in the new-student seminar or another first-term course which requires students to meet with their advisor and develop a tentative long-range, educational plan).
2.16 Utilize peer support programs in which more experienced student paraprofessionals are trained to facilitate new students� social and emotional development during their critical first year of college life (e.g., peer mentors, peer counselors, peer residential advisors).
2.17 Establish first-year residential programs that are intentionally designed to create an educational, �living-learning� environment in which there is meaningful student development programming and where academic experiences are integrated with residential life. (For example, make any or all of the following academic services available in student residences: computer access, peer tutoring, academic advisement, faculty office hours, seminars, colloquia, classes, test-review sessions.)
2.18 Maximize on-campus residential opportunities for �at-risk� students, and strategically assign students to particular residences, residential floors, or residential advisors with the deliberate intent of enhancing their retention, academic achievement, and personal development during their first year of college.
2.19 Intentionally assign roommates to campus residences in a strategic attempt to maximize social integration and friendship formation.
2.20 Develop an early-warning system for first-year students who are displaying excessive class absenteeism, in which they are routinely referred to their academic advisor or an academic support service.
2.21 Develop a �red-flag� procedure or system for identifying and connecting with first-year students who show signs that they are intending to leave the college (e.g., failure to pre-register for next term�s classes; failure to reapply for financial aid; failure to renew residential life agreement).
2.22 Acknowledge first-year student achievement by means of an end-of-the-year congratulatory letter or ceremony for students who persisted to completion of the first year in good academic standing, with special recognition for those students who achieved academic excellence or made significant contributions to student life outside the classroom.
2.23 Remember that transfer students are also first-year students who are new to the college; their transition and retention may be facilitated by the following practices:
□ offering a transfer-student orientation program or transfer-student convocation to
welcome new transfer students and integrate them with native students; □ allowing junior transfers the opportunity to live on campus in student residences with juniors and seniors�versus limiting their options to freshman dorms or off-campus housing;
□ providing transfer students with the opportunity to apply for campus housing and to register for classes at the same time as native students�as opposed to automatically placing them last on the list;
□ designating a particular member or group within the college community (e.g., staff member, faculty member, or cross-functional committee) to be in charge of coordinating orientation and transitional support programs for first-year transfer students�as opposed to letting this responsibility �fall through the cracks� of an administrative structure that is not explicitly designed to meet the needs of new students who enter the college after their freshman year.
RECOMMENDED REFERENCES & RESOURCES ON STUDENT RETENTION
Beal, P., & Noel, L. (1980). What works in student retention. The American College Testing Program and The National Center for Higher Education Management Systems. (Eric Reproduction Service No. 197 635)
Braxton, J. M. (2000). Reworking the departure puzzle: New theory and research on college student retention. Nashville: University of Vanderbilt Press.
Braxton, J. M. (Ed.)(2001-2002). Using theory and research to improve college student retention. Journal of College Student Retention: Research, Theory & Practice, 3(1), 1- 118.
Lenning, O. T., Beal, P. E., & Sauer, K. (1980). Retention and attrition: Evidence for action and research. Boulder, CO: National Center for Higher Education Management Systems.
Lenning, O. T., Sauer, K., & Beal, P. E. (1980). Student retention strategies. AAHE- ERIC/Higher Education Research Report No. 8. Washington, D.C.: American Association for Higher Education.
National Institute of Independent Colleges and Universities (1990). Undergraduate completion and persistence at four-year colleges and universities. Washington, DC: Author.
Noel, L., Levitz, R., & Kaufmann, J. (1982). Organizing the campus for retention. Iowa City, Iowa: American College Testing Program & The National Center for Academic Advancement of Educational Practices.
Terrell, M. C., & Wright, D. J. (Eds.) (1988). From survival to success: Promoting minority student retention. NASPA Monograph No. 9. Washington, DC: National Association of Student Personnel Administrators.
Resources: Journal of College Student Retention: Research, Theory & Practice. Amityville, NY: Baywood Publishing. (http://baywood.com)
Recruitment & Retention in Higher Education (Newsletter). Madison, WI: Magna Publications. (www.magnapubs.com)
Website: http://www.noellevitz.com (See profiles of campuses with award-winning retention programs.)