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Welcome: Why We Are Here
This Session Will
1. Furnish an overview of the retention literature2. Provide an exemplar of the literature put to action3. Attempt to foresee where the field is moving4. Give you something to take home5. Alter what you will be doing next Thursday6. Set the stage for my colleagues
Why the Increased Emphasis on Retention
1. Financial and legislative pressures on colleges and universities
2. Global economy and automation: Heighten the need for skilled versus semi- and unskilled labor
3. Death of a dream: Failure to graduate often leads to reductions in students’ income and quality of life
What Do You Need To Do To Reduce Attrition?
1. Identify at-risk students within first 6 to 8 weeks of college
2. Determine why a student is at-risk
3. Craft a powerful message that addresses that student’s issues
4. Quickly alter the direction of that student’s life
Don’t Go Mountain Climbing If You Are Afraid of Heights
OrWhy You Can’t Reduce Attrition While
Singing The Blues
1. Optimism
2. Count Your Victories Not Your Defeats
Two Ways To Address Retention
Broadcasting-Treats all students as if they were equally at-risk and presents the same message to all students (e.g., many freshman seminar classes)
Targeting-Focuses attention on those students who are at-risk and specifies the message for the individual or group
Broadcasting
Advantages1. Reaches a large group with few staff2. Relatively low per student cost3. Many curricula to choose fromDisadvantages1. Expends time and resources on students who are
not at-risk2. Often presents irrelevant messages to students
who are at-risk3. At-risk students may not receive the attention
they require
Targeting
Advantages1. Time and resources are devoted to at-risk students2. Students requiring more attention are more likely to
receive it3. Messages are more likely to address issues that are
pertinent to the studentDisadvantages1. Greater expenditure per student in time and cost than
broadcasting2. Scarcity of resources require most institutions to limit the
number of targeted students3. Identifying at-risk students and determining pertinent
messages requires significant thought and effort
Ways To Target Students
1. Focus on known at-risk groups (e.g., minorities, first generation college students)
2. Purchase commercial products to identify at-risk students
3. Do what works at other institutions
4. Rely on the retention literature to identify at-risk students and develop persistence-oriented programs
ACT Meta-Analysis: Variables Related To Retention
• Academic Goals• Academic-Related
Skills• Academic Self-
Confidence• Achievement
Motivation• ACT Assessment
Scores• Financial Support
• General Self-Concept• HSGPA• Institutional
Commitment• Institutional
Selectivity• SES • Social Involvement• Social Support
ACT Meta-Analysis: Academic Variables And SES
Variable Strength of Association
ACT Assessment Scores Moderate
High School GPA Moderate
SES Moderate
ACT Meta-Analysis: Non-Academic Variables
Variable Strength of AssociationAcademic Goals StrongAcademic-Related Skills StrongAcademic Self-Confidence StrongAchievement Motivation WeakFinancial Support ModerateGeneral Self-Concept WeakInstitutional Commitment ModerateInstitutional Selectivity ModerateSocial Involvement ModerateSocial Support Moderate
How Well Do We Predict Retention?
1. Academic, Non-Academic and SES variables explain 17% of the variability of college retention across students.
2. If your institution does not assess all of the variables in the ACT study then it is probable that less of variability is explained.
Temporal Availability of Variables
1. Before the first day of class: HSGPA, ACT, SES, Freshman Orientation Survey, Institutional Selectivity, Financial Support.
2. After six or eight weeks of college: Academic-related skills, Academic self-confidence, Academic goals, Institutional Commitment, Social Support, Social Involvement, Achievement Motivation, General Self-Concept
3. After the first semester: First semester GPA
Beck’s List of Invariably Violated Principles
1. The earlier the diagnosis the better the prognosis2. More information generally enhances the prediction
of at-risk students3. The more time you have to gather information the
more useful information you can acquire
A Tale Of Six Schools: Following The Literature
1. We believed that retention was a critical issue.2. We believed that with the right program attrition
could be reduced.3. We felt inundated with information. Prioritization
was a serious problem.4. We believed our current retention efforts could be
improved.5. We believed that the specific concerns of our
students and institutions and were not being adequately addressed.
A Tale Of Six Schools: Following The Literature
Angelo State University6,200 StudentsLarge Hispanic Population Comprehensive
Appalachian State University15,117 StudentsPrimarily Caucasian Comprehensive
A Tale Of Six Schools : Following The Literature
Greenville Technical College14,338 StudentsDiverse Community College
Troy University28,255 StudentsLarge African-American PopulationComprehensive
A Tale Of Six Schools : Following The Literature
Tusculum College
2,100 Students
Small, Private Undergraduate Institution
USC Upstate
4,600 Undergraduates
Working With Individual Students: What Counselors, Advisors and Faculty Need To Know
1. Who in their caseloads is most at-risk?2. What factor(s) are causing a particular individual to
leave the institution?
Working With Groups of Students: What Policy-Makers and Instructors Of
Persistence-Oriented Courses Need To Know
1. What factor(s) distinguish students at their schools who will persist and will not persist in their educations?
2. Are our retention programs effective?
Following The Literature: Our Greatest Unmet Need
1. Greatest Unmet Need: A better way of determining how students respond to the first 6 or 8 weeks of college
2. We need an instrument of great breadth that is applicable at many schools.
3. The instrument must provide information pertinent to personnel working with individuals as well as groups of students.
4. The instrument must identify the factors that most strongly govern retention at a particular school or for a particular individual.
5. The instrument must not be too long.6. Data must be immediately available; we can’t wait.
Why We Developed The College Persistence Questionnaire (CPQ)
Overcome Limits of Generalization: Successful interventions with one student, one group of students, or at one institution may or may not be successful with other students or at other institutions. Goal: To furnish faculty, advisors, counselors and policy makers with information allowing them to individualize their retention efforts at the level of the student and institution.
Development of the CPQ: Procedure
1. Conducted an extensive review of the retention literature
2. Identified at least 54 variables (WOW) that had been associated with retention
3. Wrote items addressing these 54 variables4. Automated the administration and data recording
system5. Administered the questionnaire to more than 2000
students
Simplify, Simplify, Simplify: Why Thoreau Would Like Factor Analysis
Reduces 54 variables to 6 factors
Scales tend to be more reliable than single items
CPQ Factors And Representative Items
Academic Integration
How well do you understand the thinking of your instructors when they lecture or ask students to answer questions in class?
Social Integration
How much have your interpersonal relationships with other students had an impact on your personal growth, attitudes, and values?
Supportive Services Satisfaction
How satisfied are you with the academic advisement you receive here?
CPQ Factors And Representative Items
Degree Commitment
When you think of the people who mean the most to you friends and family, how disappointed do you think they would be if you quit
Institutional Commitment
How likely is it that you will earn a degree from here?
Academic Conscientiousness
How often do you miss class for reasons other than illness or participation in school-sponsored activities?
CPQ Alphas
Factor Alpha
Academic Integration .81
Social Integration .82
Supportive Services .74
Degree Commitment .70
Institutional Commitment .78
Academic Conscientiousness .63
Two Measures of Retention
Institutional Commitment ScoreAdvantage: Provides a means of identifying at-risk students after 6 weeks of collegeDisadvantage: Is not perfectly correlated with who actually returns
Returning SophomoresAdvantage: Indicates who actually returns.Disadvantage: It is too late to help at-risk students when this data becomes available.
Using The CPQ To Better Understand An At-Risk Group
Compared to other freshmen Student Support Services students reported that:1. They had a bigger influence on such matters as course offerings, rule and regulations, and registration procedures 2. They were more satisfied with the academic advisement they received.3. They more strongly preferred tasks that make extensive use of their own ideas and allowed expression of their individuality.4. Fewer of their close friends were at Appalachian State.5. It was more difficult for their families to handle the cost of college.
CPQ Items Predicting Institutional Commitment: Community College Data Argues For Targeting
Item Business Nursing Arts & Sciences
1 Degree Commitment Degree Commitment Academic Integration
2 Degree Commitment Degree Commitment Academic Integration
3 Degree Commitment Degree Commitment Support Services
4 Academic Integration Academic Integration Acad. Conscientiousness
5 Academic Integration Academic Integration Support Services
6 Academic Integration Academic Integration Social Integration
Does the CPQ Predict Who Returns? The Angelo State Sample
Measures Explained Variance
HSR + SAT .09
CPQ .19
HSGPA + SAT + CPQ .23
Uses Of The CPQ: Individual Students
1. Identify Students most At-Risk2. Determine why a student is at-risk3. Suggest topics to further explore in counseling or
advising sessions4. Demonstration of the Advisor Portal
Uses Of The CPQ: Groups of Students
1. Determining the variables that distinguish students who will and will not continue their education at your institution.
2. Provide guidance to instructors of persistence-oriented courses and policy makers.
3. Contribute to an assessment of the effectiveness of your retention efforts.
4. Demonstration of the Administrative Portal
Free Copies of the CPQ Available Upon Request
That‘s All Folks