Getting Serious about Institutional Performance in Student Rentention

8/14/2019 Getting Serious about Institutional Performance in Student Rentention

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GETTING SERIOUS ABOUTINSTITUTIONALPERFORMANCE IN

Hossler, Ziskin, & Gross 2009By Edinburgh J. Williams, IVJune 17, 2009


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Retaining our studentsRetaining our students

Our Retention efforts require that we connect what we know aboutinstitutional retention practices with an empirically grounded sense of what

works


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Leadership from the top equals highpriority

Academic Affairs and Student Affairs

units need UNITYReward efforts for faculty are effectivemotivators

EFFECTIVE, QUALITY ACADEMIC

ADVISING IS IMPORTANT

Question: WHERES THE

PROOF???

What is known about Campus Based


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Which Strategies work inincreasing student retention??

How do institutions organizethemselves to enhance persistence

Research QuestionsResearch QuestionsResearch QuestionsResearch QuestionsResearch QuestionsResearch QuestionsResearch QuestionsResearch QuestionsResearch QuestionsResearch QuestionsResearch QuestionsResearch QuestionsResearch QuestionsResearch QuestionsResearch QuestionsResearch QuestionsResearch QuestionsResearch QuestionsResearch QuestionsResearch QuestionsResearch QuestionsResearch Questions


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All the stuff we talk about regarding retaining ourstudents and increasing our rates of graduationtakes:

Time, Willingness, and Commitment from

EVERYONE(NOT Just the ACCESS office)

Making this programs mandatory forincoming students

Provision of funding Proper and effective planning

TIME from administrators to assist inprogram delivery

SURVEY SAYSSURVEY SAYSSURVEY SAYSSURVEY SAYSSURVEY SAYSSURVEY SAYSSURVEY SAYSSURVEY SAYSSURVEY SAYSSURVEY SAYSSURVEY SAYSSURVEY SAYSSURVEY SAYSSURVEY SAYSSURVEY SAYSSURVEY SAYSSURVEY SAYSSURVEY SAYSSURVEY SAYSSURVEY SAYSSURVEY SAYSSURVEY SAYS


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Method: 4 year study seeking to (1)identifyand design programmatic interventions toenhance student persistence and success;and (2) evaluate existing and new

interventions to improve student retentionand student learning and success.

RESULTS:

Someone should be directly assigned toaddress the inefficiencies noted

Benchmarking is necessary for effectiveprogram planning

Assessment would be on oin in order to

Indiana Project on AcademicSuccessIndiana Project on AcademicSuccessIndiana Project on AcademicSuccessIndiana Project on AcademicSuccessIndiana Project on AcademicSuccessIndiana Project on AcademicSuccessIndiana Project on AcademicSuccessIndiana Project on AcademicSuccessIndiana Project on AcademicSuccessIndiana Project on AcademicSuccessIndiana Project on AcademicSuccessIndiana Project on AcademicSuccessIndiana Project on AcademicSuccessIndiana Project on AcademicSuccessIndiana Project on AcademicSuccessIndiana Project on AcademicSuccess

Indiana Project on Academic SuccessIndiana Project on AcademicSuccessIndiana Project on AcademicSuccessIndiana Project on AcademicSuccessIndiana Project on AcademicSuccessIndiana Project on AcademicSuccess


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Putting someone in charge of Retention efforts who has the Time to devote to the position(not half-time);and

Authority to implement and fund new programs

Benchmarking is the process of continuously comparing andmeasuring against other organizations - anywhere in theworld - to gain information on philosophies, policies andpractices in order to adapt them to ones own situation tosignificantly improve performance.

What are our peers doing?

We are looking for consistency in tracking performance andgraduation rates and its efforts in assessing programmaticinterventions.

REMEMBER..Each institution is different and what worked atUniversity of Old Dominion may not work at the Universityof Norfolk State

Benchmarked programs are targeted and tailored to itsperspective institution.

To put it simply, benchmarking is being humble enough to admitthat someone else may be better at something, and wiseenough to learn how to match and even surpass them at it.

Indiana Project on Academic Success


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Assessing Programs and Campus efforts in order todiscover what works by looking at ;

Academic Advising

Are policies uneven in quality??(LAST WEEKSARTICLE)

Incentives in place?

Orientation

Are the programs mandatory???

Are they informative or are they simply aplace to dump information?

Early warning systems

Is data collected relevant to the program?

Is it responsive to the needs of the students??

Indiana Project on AcademicSuccessIndiana Project on AcademicSuccessIndiana Project on AcademicSuccessIndiana Project on AcademicSuccessIndiana Project on AcademicSuccessIndiana Project on AcademicSuccessIndiana Project on AcademicSuccessIndiana Project on AcademicSuccessIndiana Project on AcademicSuccessIndiana Project on AcademicSuccessIndiana Project on AcademicSuccessIndiana Project on AcademicSuccessIndiana Project on AcademicSuccessIndiana Project on AcademicSuccessIndiana Project on AcademicSuccessIndiana Project on AcademicSuccess

Indiana Project on Academic SuccessIndiana Project on AcademicSuccessIndiana Project on AcademicSuccessIndiana Project on AcademicSuccessIndiana Project on AcademicSuccessIndiana Project on AcademicSuccess


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Most institutions are not investing a great deal of effort intrying to coordinate and manage retention efforts.

Few institutions are benchmarking their programs with peerinstitutions

Little to no empirical data published

Conclusions

Most institutions are not evaluating their retention interventions,

but rather conduct studies that are simply descriptive picturesof the intervention.

Efforts are put into place with out Sufficient staffing andfunding

(No surprise those initiatives rarely work)

College Board Project


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Retention efforts can be successful whenSufficient management and ongoing oversight;

Adequate resources go to training staff;

Senior campus administrators demonstrate ongoing interestand support for efforts to enhance persistence

How can institutions improve??

Designate one person to address retention efforts for

coordinating purposes Appropriate sufficient resources for retention efforts(not

always funding)

Develop clear set of goals for retention efforts

Report and evaluate annually evidence of effectiveness ofretention efforts

RESULTSRESULTSRESULTSRESULTSRESULTSRESULTSRESULTSRESULTSRESULTSRESULTSRESULTSRESULTSRESULTSRESULTSRESULTSRESULTSRESULTSRESULTSRESULTSRESULTSRESULTSRESULTS


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What would a project similar the oneconducted in the article depict about our

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Whosin

charg

eof

retentione

fforts

(camp

uswide

)??

Whatprogramsareinplace

to

directlyaddress

Doweh

ave

suffic

ient

resourc

esto

Arewebenchmarked???

We do that..but

Do We do that well???


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Principles of Effective Course Design: What I wish I hadknown about Learning Centered Teaching 30 years ago

We need to focus our course design on student need andnot our ability or expertise

Importance of, Responsibility for, and Satisfaction withAcademic Advising: A faculty Perspective

Its everyones responsibility to provide quality andeffective academic advising

Getting Serious about Institutional Performance inStudent Retention: Research Based- Lessons onEffective Policies and Practices

Effective retention efforts have one identifiable personresponsible who has the authority to implement and fundprograms in addition to conducting benchmarking with peer

institutions and effective evaluation

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Getting Serious about Institutional Performance in Student Rentention

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